Michelle and Terry

We had had a trial run with our new hobby caravanning,, so now as experts we looked forward to a holiday without hitches? However, when we joined the ferry queue at Portsmouth, we realised it may not be so simple, as Michelle noticed that our ferry had been booked for the following week. Terry advised her to start crying as this might persuade the man in the kiosk to look for a place for us. However, it was not necessary and the very nice man said we were lucky as he found the only caravan place left.The boat and our cabin were better than we expected and Terry soon realised that, after Michelle, he was the youngest on board. Caravans were in abundance and the chat seemed to revolve round caravans, motor homes and how much ... read more

We had decided to move to a beach resort called Varkala about 25 kilometres north of Trivandrum. We knew nothing about Varkala and, looking on the internet, most hotels were fully booked. Finally, we chose a hotel, based on internet reviews, with a vacancy and arrived by taxi which cost 1500 rupees (£19). At last we had hit the jackpot with the Green Palace. There could be many places to stay that were away from town and this we found would be a problem at Varkala, but somebody says it is “location, location, location” and we were right in the centre of the strip and the beach. Our days were now taken up by breakfast, Michelle sunbathing and Terry reading under a parasol, back to the hotel, showering and going out for evening meal. An elephant ... read more

We flew down to South Kerala so that at least for the last two weeks we could be warm at night and, hopefully, Michelle could lie on a beach. As we flew in and we could now see the houses below, Michelle was excited; “Look! It’s beautiful, just like Venice with houses alongside canals”. This is more like it after the dry bustle of Delhi. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm was soon dashed as our taxi driver told us of the rain the night before, how roads were flooded and some people had been killed. However the south is much cleaner with better roads and seemingly more affluent with no hassle. Our hotel, The Fortune South Park, seemed nice but smelt damp, maybe from the floods. It was New Year’s Eve and we had chosen to stay at ... read more

Veranasi is a holy city where people come to be married and to die or have their bodies burnt, and I can see no other reason to come – it is the pits. Taxi from the airport should be about 400 rupees but you may have to pay 500 depending on how many taxi drivers have dropped people off and are looking to go home. The centre places of tourism are the Ghats (steps) which, for about a 2 miles stretch, come down to the Ganges. There are several things going on; washing of clothes, men washing and most importantly the burning of bodies. Some are brought hundreds of miles to be burnt here. There are two burning sites, one can burn 50-60 bodies a day and the second one considerably more as bodies are burnt ... read more

We flew into Amritsar and had an expensive taxi ride £10 to our hotel The Akaal Residency, which was small but very friendly and very convenient for the sights. The roads are small like Jodhpur but in better condition and are cleaned each night. Traffic was normal Indian chaos where nobody ever gives way to anybody else resulting in blocked traffic at many junctions. If only they could see that it is quicker to let someone through rather than block him so that nobody gets through. Soon we were on our way to see the sight we had mainly come for ‘The Golden Temple’, which is the centre for the Sikh religion. First we had to remove shoes and socks and cover our head, then bathe our feet. They even produced scarves on loan and had ... read more

Agra turns out to be a real dump of a place but the hassle was not as bad as people had said and was easily coped with. We arrived at our hotel by 4.00pm and as usual it was good to find that they were expecting us. We had booked for two nights giving us a leisurely day seeing the Taj Mahal. “What are your plans in Agra” asked the pleasant receptionist. “Tomorrow we go to see the Taj Mahal”, we answered proudly. “Tomorrow is Friday, the Taj Mahal is closed”. Total shock! We had not taken this into account with our travel plans. It was explained though that we could go now, at this moment, as it was 15 minutes away and it did not close until 7.00pm. In 5 minutes we had checked in, ... read more

After Mumbai, Jodhpur was literally a breath of fresh air as at last we could feel the air when we breathed. Off we went to our pre-booked B&B, Hem Guesthouse within the city walls. We have been to many places in Asia but the tuk-tuks here are the worst we have seen (although we have plenty more places in India to go to yet). They use lawnmower engines and start by pulling a cord. Then the noise is horrific. Suspension is suspect and as the streets of Jodhpur could not be described as smooth, each bump is felt through your bottom, stomach and teeth. However, it is the only way to travel due to their width in the narrow streets We stayed with a delightful family who have turned their home into a B&B. They could ... read more