Karen Padley

the tourist board tagline is "Incredible India". and i am not going to argue with that at all. i have had a great last day, doing a bit of mooching and getting lost, but also saw India Gate, Connaught Place, the parliment buildings, Gandhi Smriti, which was very moving (the spot where he was assassinated) and the Akshardam temple. the last in particular is amazing, breathtaking. it's a kind of modern temple, only finished in 2005, over 20,000 idols all hand carved. it's very spectacular. delhi has such contrasts, some bits are so modern and fancy. i got the metro back from the askshardam, and it's just like the tube in London! there is a person employed especially to try and make sure people let people OFF the train before trying to board. what a thankless ... read more

well one brilliant and v v exciting thing happened in chandigarh!!! but it was not down to chandigarh's credit. shortly after i got back from the internet i popped on the tv in my room, to some generic bollywood music channel. when... yes! fame and fortune WILL be mine! there was a trailer for the movie we were in in mumbai! whoot! there's no way you can see me in itor anything, but you can see the scene we shot and one especially annoying routine that it took Karina about a million takes to get right. it's a bit deal, it's just out in cinemas and THE movie of the season, i think. well it IS the beloved Karina. it's called "We Are Family" i suggest you try looking up to see if the trailer is ... read more

i am sure that when i get home one question lots of people will ask me is "what was your favourite place". and i know i will be unable to answer this routine question, as everywhere has been so great and so different. however, if anybody wants to ask me what is your least favourite place i now have an answer for that question... sorry, Chandigarh, you have taken the prize of the least nice place in India! which is ironic, because everyone is so proud of Chandigarh, it's supposed to be a model modern city, it's tagline is "the city beautiful", it was all architect designed, it's all based around a very american-ised grid system. the roads are all straight and wide, with traffic lanes and lights etc. however, the architect forgot all about character, ... read more

well, as it turns out, the lonely planet was not far wrong. the road continues a bit further than manikaran and then gradually degenerates into a slippy muddy bit of the mountain and then eventually into just a big pile of rocks and mud. from there there is a rickety footbridge and a path up to the village. definately no rickshaws! i found the guest house okay although the guy from goa wasn't there it was run by really friendly people and plenty of other travellers around. the village so far is unspolied by the tourism, just a few guesthouses on the edge of the village. it's so beautiful, the building all piles of stone and wood, inexplicably in himachal pradesh the building style seems to be wood towards the bottom, some layers of wood and ... read more

sorry it has been so long since i updated. but i was doing so little in old manali it never seemed worth updating! it was just very very relaxing. it was the only place in india (apart from goa) where there is some nightlife. most nights would be a jam session, it was amazing, all sorts of musicians from all over the world,. who just met, and produced some amazing music together. mostly there was drums and guitars, but also one night a guy turned up with a saxophone! also people travel around the world carrying didgeridoos how they manage it i have no idea. i was two weeks in old manali after Monica left and in theory it was so nice i could have stayed the whole rest of my time here. but i started ... read more

sorry not much update, but i have been quite stationary. still in manali, staying in the area known as old manali which is very nice and the road is very steep. monica has gone home now, and i am going to stay around for a while here, because i have already got to know several people, other travellers and local people and so it's really nice to hang around. i have already been here a week and a half, which is longest i have stayed on one place since amarpurkashi, so it feels a bit weird! i only now have four weeks till my visa expires and haven't booked anything out of india, so i suppose i will have to start thinking about soon. but at the moment i am so relaxed and taking each day ... read more

finally did the evil bus journey. well, could've been worse i suppose, i wasn't sick or desperately in need of the loo or anything, but it was soooo uncomfortable. it was a deluxe bus, but the words "deluxe", "luxury", "express" etc are all used somewhat randomly here i think. the seats went back just far enough to crush the knees of the person behind you, meanwhile the person in front is effectively laying in your lap. i managed to get some sleep, but even as i slept i was aware of exactly how uncomfortable each muscle was. i kept hoping we would reach a motorway, so that at least the ride would be in a straight line, but alas, no motorway across the foothills of the himalayas..... everytime i glanced out of the window we would ... read more