Look of the Day

Loving this outfit found on Lookbook, bang on trend combining both pastel shades with colour blocking to create that perfect chilled out Summer look!

Lip Therapy

I don't know about you, but quite frankly my lips are always chapped during the winter months. This is due mainly to the cold weather outside, however studies have shown that dry, chapped lips is often a result of dehydration. It is just as important to drink at least 2 litres of water a day in the winter as it is in the summer, if not more. During the cold season, your skin, hair and lips are much more prone to being dry to to the harsh weather and lack of moisture. So make sure you get your 8 glasses a day!
If you're drinking like a fish and your lips are still a little dry, all you need is a cucumber (bear with me).
Cucumbers have long since been used in beauty therapy whether on the eyes, reducing puffiness, or infused in water for a healthy drink and now it appears they help chapped lip syndrome! Wahey. The trick is to place a slice of it between your lips. The reasoning behind the magic is pretty simple. Firsty, a cucumber is 90% water, therefore rehydrating your lips. Secondly, they contain caffeic acid, which is an antioxidant that prevents free radicals that protect your lips from the daily elements. Thirdly, its high in absorbic acid which helps stimulate the production of collagen, which gives your lips that lovely fullness that we all desire. And lastly, they make one heck of a good salad. So come on, embrace the cucumber and pucker up!

The Taj!

I went to India and of course I went to the Taj Mahal.  And yes, it was absolutely stunning. 

India...it's been amazing. 

Beautiful Pushkar

Probably on a par with Hampi as the best place we went to. It is hectic, busy, dirty, sweet, colourful, packed and utterly beautiful. To me, it is real India.

There was so much colour - fruit and veg market stalls, samosas and chapattis being made right in front of your eyes, pigment paints piled up high, bangles, shawls, vibrant silks and fabrics embellished with jewels, sequins, ribbons and bells, buddhas, handicrafts, cows, pigs, dogs and cats roaming the streets, children laughing and playing, never failing to smile, houses with beautiful archways painted in pastel shades of pinks, blues, turquoises, greens, yellows and purples, people sitting in and out of doorways, motorbikes screeching through the tiny alleys, a temple around every corner, bindis, henna, prayer beads dangling from every shop, holy flowers in pink white and yellow, bargainings being shouted accopanied with greetings and smiles. It was just wonderful. 

During our time in Pushkar, we stayed in a little Guesthouse called ChaChas Guesthouse. It was so cute and friendly, run by an English lady and her Indian husband who have two sweet kids and two equally cute turtles roaming around the garden! We were made to feel very welcome, they gave us a map of the village and fed us everyday! They also introduced us to their friend who runs a camel safari company so we even got to venture out to the desert for the afternoon on our very own camels!! Some pics below show me with my very misbehaved camel Jody, the journey to the desert, Amy on her well-behaved camel, and very last picture was the instrument played by a man at the Sunset Point. It was beautiful and sounded a lot like a violin.

We also made friends with a jeweller named Vikras (above) while we were here, who was super friendly and made absolutely fabulous jewellery. I think he deserves a special mention. He even got up early one day to come in just for Amy and I even though he was ill! 

The Blue City

...Jodhpur! I have to say, as we flew in to Jodhpur, I had my camera ready for that birds-eye view shot of the blue city from above and was slightly disappointed to find not a blue house in sight! You had to venture slightly further in to the old village up near the fort for those views. Our stay in Jodhpur was so much fun.
The busy little streets were like a maze full of brightly coloured doors and archways, people sitting in their doorways, children running in the streets and cows EVERYWHERE. The market around the Clock Tower is pure madness, with bangle stall after bangle stall after bangle stall.

We did some shopping here, Rajasthan being known for it's leather, I purchased a wonderful brown leather satchel, some brightly coloured slippers and a couple of scarves from Baba's Art Emporium. We also splashed out at On The Rocks, a restaurant recommended in the guide books which turned out to be pretty steep in prices but absolutely delicious and the waiters all wear military uniform! We also went up to the Mehrangarh Fort, which gave us the most amazing views of all the blue houses! The fort is definitely a must in Jodhpur. In fact, Jodhpur itself is definitely a must if you are ever in Rajasthan, i really do recommend you take a nosy around...

Goa

After a week or so in Kerala, it was time for us to move on further North to Goa! We took a 20 hour coach ride up to Panjim. Our plan was to head to Anjuna and hop from beach to beach until we reached Palolem. Anjuna for me was a massive disappointment and not somewhere I wanted to spend my hard earned money and precious time. The beach was dirty, with limited amounts of restaurants with poor menus. Trance music was played everywhere day and night, in shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, internet cafes, bedrooms, it was everywhere. To me it was like a run-down, wannabe-hippie festival. Horses for courses though, it just wasn't my scene. We had heard good things about Palolem, the backpackers paradise and decided to head straight there.

And oh my, what a delight it was to arrive here! Palolem beach is a huge stretch of palm trees lining a white sandy beach with blue blue waters. Behind all the bars and restaurants there are little beach huts dotted in and out of the palm trees, which everyone stays in. We ended up staying just over a week here, as the routine of lazy breakfast, sunbathing, swimming, dinner, drinking, bonfires began to kick in, we couldn't bring ourselves to tear away! Whilst we were here we met some amazing people, ate some amazing food (HOME restaurant in particular was absolutely delicious, I've put a couple of pics below to show you the delicious-ness of it all), got tanned and just had a thoroughly relaxing time. We were very sad to leave, but it was time to head to Hampi. I was excited, I'd heard great things...

Kerala

After nearly three days on a train (seriously), we arrived in Kochi, Kerala! It was so so different to what we had just experienced. We stayed in Fort Kochi, next to the harbour which was aligned with 700 hundred year old Chinese fishing nets. Here you could have your dinner caught right in front of you and cooked in lemon and butter in one of the stalls next door! The houses in this area is all very Portuguese/Spanish looking. Big spirally balconies, blue painted shutters. In fact, in Kerala any colour goes when it comes to your house. We drove for a couple of hours out to a beautiful waterfall one day and passed so many brightly coloured houses in shades of orange, blue, indigo, pinks, greens, any colour you can imagine! We also visited an elephant sanctuary where we got to see the elephants being washed. The highlight of my time in Kochi was probably the backwater canoe trip. We were taken through the back passages of the Backwaters, passing by small villages and spice plantations. It was a deep insight to how people live here. They use every ounce of resources, we were shown peppercorns growing on the trees, chillis, cashew nuts, tumeric and various herbs. We even saw a lady making rope from coconuts!

The food in Kerala is absolutey incredible. Seafood is definately their speciality. I had buckets of prawns and calamari. The fish above was cooked in traditional Keralan spices and wrapped in a banana leaf. It was amazing!!

We saw fields and fields of green, dragonflies, butterflies, flowers, elephants, peacocks, kingfishers, eagles and many a spice plantation, it was utterly beautiful!!

Mumbai

Our first stop in India was Mumbai. What can I say, this place is absolutely crazy. I don't think there's any way to be eased in to the madness of an Indian city and, after a hectic flight over, with little sleep, Amy and I were certainly underprepared for what was to come. We were greeted by a little man holding up a sign with our name on. We hopped in to the little piece of metal they called a taxi and headed off to the Travellers Inn where we had a hotel booked. The streets in Mumbai are mental, hundreds of auto rickshaws weaving in and out of traffic, lorries, cars, taxis, bicycles, walkers walking in the middle of the road, cars going the wrong way, horns beeping non stop (they definately have a different use for the horn in India), its utter madness. First impressions of Mumbai? Hectic, busy, loud, dusty. I'll admit that I didn't really enjoy the two days spent in Mumbai. At the time it seemed so alien to anything I've ever experienced. The streets were crowded and dirty and very male dominated. There were stares everywhere we went and a feeling that we weren't allowed to be here.

We did however visit the Gateway of India (above) and Chowpatty Beach (below) whilst here. We also stopped off at Leopolds Cafe for a bite to eat. It was then time to move on to Kerala, on a 36 hour train (pictured lastly below. We took sleeper class - pretty much the most basic you can get on an Indian train, good experience!)