24hrs of travelling, 2 trains, 1 bus and a short treck on foot, and we finally arrived in Pushkar! Thank goodness it's such a relaxed place to arrive in after such a mamoth schlep! A small town gathered around a lake, which was apparantly formed when Lord Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the earth. It is therefore one of the most important pilgrimage places in Hindu faith and as Varanassi was, a place to come and take prayers and bathe in the sacred waters to cleanse the soul. There are also loads of temples here, one which is the only [View Full Entry]

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Feeling hot...........Saddle sore........yet remarkably satisfied.! Ok so the next stop took us to Jaisalmer and 2 days and one night in the great 'Thar Desert'this is the no mans land that seperates Indian & Pakistan, at one point we were told that as we were so close to the border we may well be in Pakistan depending on who you ask.......in fact it has only just dawned on us how much of a real question we were asked when our guide ask us as we returned from a walk on our own "Which country are you from" "India or Pakistan". Nic [View Full Entry]

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Ok so.... Take one Ancient Fort Add an almighty desert thunderstorm A touch of imagination And you may just find yourself in a Medieval Indian Fairytale ...!!!! I say this as last night we had the most fantastic thunderstorm I have ever seen, Our guest house has a good view from the roof terrace of the famous hill top 'Meherangarh Fort' so with lightening striking behind it the hill was lit up and the silhouette of the fort walls were eerily imposing. We had visted the fort in the day so I knew all about the history of it and the [View Full Entry]

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Hi!...Back again! Rajasthan, the jewel of India??...It certainly is, and we've only seen a small part of it so far! Udaipur (As we were told about fifty million times) is famous for it's part in the 007 film Octopussy, the stunning white palace in the middle of a lake and a wonderful town on the surrounding banks. Unfortunately it isnt possible to visit the lake palace, which is now a hotel - unless of course you go for lunch at RS3000 per person (normal lunch approx RS75!!) or stay overnight $600-1200....unfortunately, miles off budget!...but it was nice to look at from [View Full Entry]

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Alright there...! Firstly we need to show some love & respect for the all comments and messages, you have no idea how much we look forward to reading them and hearing what is going on at home, we would like to reply to you all each time but the computers are so slow that it takes us hours to do each blog.!! KEEP THEM COMING!!! Nic - Sanchi is a tiny village, almost in the middle of no-where next to a hill which is home to Indias oldest Buddhist structures. We braved the dry heat (Similar to, but possibly hotter than, [View Full Entry]

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Helloooooo Ok after a train an overnight stay then a bus followed by a jeep we made it to Khajuraho let me tell you it's a very remote place indeed. However it was very much worth it as this place really amazing the temples here are out of this world the best we've seen by far. we didn't mind paying the foreign tourist price this time (Indian 20 rupees / Foreigner 250 rupees). The temples are famous for their erotic carvings (karma sutra is detailed with the carvings around the temples) and some images are quite explicit. To give you an [View Full Entry]

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Ahoy there ...............!!!!!! Well well well, They say this place is so sacred that even the gods themselves take a dip in the ganges of Varanassi once in a while. Ok so to start things off Varanasi is notorious for tout hassel these guys can really grind you down, however we're no ordinary tourists we're the Indian backpacker elite the best of the best of the best! and so these guys don't bother us so much anymore. Nic - Phew, it's even hotter here! And as they say "Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day heat" - Very [View Full Entry]

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......... Yes please, it's brass monkeys up here.!! ***SO MUCH TO WRITE SO PLEASE READ IT ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ***** Yes now in Darjeeling and what an amazing place it is. From the bottom of the mountain where the train dropped us we needed to get a jeep to the hill station which was bumpy to say the least. (mum I know you are worried about all this mountain transport were doing but these guys are pro's aren't they???? ) NIC - 4 hours later (after a stop at a relatives caf on the way!) we arrived with bruised buttocks, and heads [View Full Entry]

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Hey there! It's been a while, so lots to tell you! Kolkata was our first stop from our last blog. We weren't very sure about visiting here and almost missed it off our itinery completely as we'd been told that it was quite a depressing and poverty ridden place with not much else.....Very glad we didn't listen to them! Kolkata is a beautiful city with tonnes of character - yes, the majority of buildings are almost derelict and it's a wonder that they stay up, but there's a certain magic about this place, a feeling that the city and the buildings [View Full Entry]

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We made it to Hyderabad, the capital of Andra Pradesh and a city with a lot of islamic inflences - a fantastic change of scenery and loads of interesting architecture! Dan - For some reason every bloody lodge in the city was full, dragging a backpack around the city in 40oC heat isn't the greatest fun, 'But he who dares Rodders, He who Dares', with a bit of persistance we managed to get a lodge manager to bung us in a four bed family room for the price of a double (think he felt sorry for our sweatty, tired, greasy, dirty [View Full Entry]

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