alton towers?!

well, ive gone from being a princess in a very posh hotel to a wanna be princess in a very tacky castle! im now in hyderabad in a place called amrutha castle,it sounds really nice on the net and in the rough guide! i was expecting it to be standing on its own maybe on a hill or something but no its slap bang in the middle of hyderabad with 2 hotels either side! its a bit of an eye sore! would look fine if placed in the middle of alton towers or somewhere like that! i walked into reception and had to stop myself laughing! theres a huge stained glass window behind the desk, wooden floor, huge wooden booths, one for reception, one for info, etc, theres a ye olde english pub (which is closed tonight, on a friday?! come on!), some big wooden tables for another restaurant then you go up in the lift and all the rooms are positioned around a central turret and the carpet is bright green! my room is named 'percival' is really big and basic but nice, huge bed, desk that makes me look like the president sitting infront of a big picture window (that looks out onto rocks and a really scabby workers entrance!), big deep bath (mmmm!), tv, all the usual and then a big pillar right in the centre to make an archway!! hehe. had a massage today which was lovely and planing on maybe going swimming in 'the lake' (a tiny pool on the roof!) tomorrow!

did the last of my ikat research today and visited a village where most of the people did the weaving. i met a guy who was a friend of someone i knew from bangalore and he showed me round. it was really cool and all the houses had the warps stretched outside their houses drying, while people inside either carried on dyeing other threads or were finishing weaving a previous piece. it was really interesting and alot more was happening here than in gujarat, the other good thing was that the weaves werent as expensive either (made from cotton not silk) so ended up buying a sample!

yesterday i was in delhi. i can see why alot of people who first arrive in india and are faced with delhi would not like the place, but i thought it was ace! it was really grimmy and busy and the narrow streets in the old part of the city made some amazing photos! i saw all the tourist spots and snapped away with my camera (got so many photos now, it getting a bit silly!!) i definately want to go back there and spend more time seeing as i only had one day.

the day before that was the best though - the taj mahal. one thing to say.....WOW! it was fantastic! it was alot bigger than i expected and so much more beautiful. also because it was off season there werent many people there so my photos arent just of crowds, you can actually see the tomb! unfortunately we arrived a bit early for me to wait there untill sunset but the sky was really blue and the sun was shining, it was perfect! :-) i knew i had to see it before i left india and i finally have. smiles all round! its another thing id like to see again though, but this time at sunset or sunrise.

well its back to good old bangalore tomorrow and im really excited to see everyone again! i also have to check if cosmo's still standing without me having been around for 3 weeks!! "oh danny boy, the pipes the pipes are ca-a-ling!"

xxxx