I;'m getting a bit sick of being ill, I was on the mend, and now I have retreated again, or got another bug or something. However, I have plenty of advice to follow, thanks for all that, so I am sure I will be fine soon enough. It sounds like varanasi is the place where EVERYONE gets ill though so I guess it's not too bad! Anyway, Im sure you dont want to hear about that do you. Before I forget though, bob's keeping a different blog on: blog.eyesopen.co.uk it's his photography blog so if you want to see super duper photos, keep an eye there. There will be photos here too though as soon as I am able to upload some, maybe even today, who knows... Actually, i've just seen that he's put pictures of ... read more

We have taken to eating our breakfast on the roof of a local hotel, where we stayed at first. The staff are really friendly and we can watch the boats go by on the ganges, and parrots and monkeys in the trees. All very nice. Until yesterday - a monkey came up to us really suddenly and bared it's teeth at me and lunged at me! i made some pathetic batting it away motion and it moved back but came at me again so I'm afraid to say I let out a bit of a scream! but it was quite terrifying actually - the thought of a monkey tearing chunks of flesh out of my hand urgh! Luckily, bob was there to jump up menacingly at it, and the restaurant staff ran over with sticks so ... read more

We're both suffering from uncontrollable (almost) diarhea, and it's getting beyond a joke! I wont go into details but suffice to say I've had enough of it, and what's worse is that I know what we're going through right now isnt really anything compared to what I've been through before or what will inevitably lay ahead! arrrrgggghhhhh! We were too ill last night to go out on the boat, but at around midnight, we got talking to a los Angeles man who seemed about mid 30s until we got closer, and I think he was actually in his 50s. Anyway, he has been converted by yoga, so we were quizzing him about everything, and he gave us loads of names of people to go speak to, yogis and sadhus etc. He used to be a photographer ... read more

We're here by the ganges, feeling really ill :( it's supposed to be the river of life, but almost as soon as we arrived we were struck with the dreaded runs, or delhi belly, or whatever you want to call it. We are taking it in turns all day and all night to run to the loo! We arrived in the morning of new years eve, and had a hairy rickshaw ride to our hotel - the rickshaw seats here are sloped and very small indeed so every bump is precarious and we both had 2 bags each so it's a wonder we didnt drop anything. When we got near our hotel we had to climb the biggest steps in the world up a huge height before we could stop, there on the roof, and have ... read more

We're here by the ganges, feeling really ill :( it's supposed to be the river of life, but almost as soon as we arrived we were struck with the dreaded runs, or delhi belly, or whatever you want to call it. We are taking it in turns all day and all night to run to the loo! We arrived in the morning of new years eve, and had a hairy rickshaw ride to our hotel - the rickshaw seats here are sloped and very small indeed so every bump is precarious and we both had 2 bags each so it's a wonder we didnt drop anything. When we got near our hotel we had to climb the biggest steps in the world up a huge height before we could stop, there on the roof, and have ... read more

Visited Countries Map Ah, finally I feel like I have left England! It took a while - we have been ripped off something cronic and even the ever cheerful-in-a-new-environment-bob was beginning to get irked with all the touts - in fact I thought he really was going to hit one of them today 'yes halo, I am here mister what you lookin for?" "just peace and quiet" snapped bob, how true! but it turned out that all this time we have been in the wrong part of Delhi! We've been in scamming central it seems, and we have only seen the difference now that we have braved the tourist area (thinking it would be worse) and it's great - there's touts but they're not aggressive, and when we walked into the veg market after dark, with ... read more

I think i still dont quite believe we're here yet! It kind of feels so very normal - pretty much everyone speaks English and people are trying to charge us English prices! Bob's totally excited though and has already met the picture editor of the biggest magazine here! Last night, after we'd slept off part of our jet lag we had a christmas meal of gujarati thali with a lassi and then wandered through the streets where people were packing down the market for the night - it was so beautiful and strange! I think the biggest thing to get my head around though is how much i seem to have taken for granted speaking Indonesian and my knowledge of that country. THings here seem very similar but where I would totally understand the way to ... read more