So as I learned from the educational video I watched at the visitor centre in Ghangaria, the valley is famous for having over 500 species of flowers, creating great carpets of colour during the summer months. Sadly when I was there the weather was pretty misty, depriving me of the blue skies I had imagined and totally ruining my photos. The valley is surrounded by amazing 6000m peaks but you couldn't really see them for the mist, except at times when the tops of the mountains would break through like islands floating above the clouds. It was still gorgeous and the weather made for a very mysterious atmosphere, but it did not translate well to photography (not at my inexpert hands anyway). There were no more than about a dozen other people in the valley that ... read more

So as I was saying... Rishikesh. I didn't really plan on coming here (though to be fair, I didn't really plan on anything) but I wanted to get out of Delhi and Rishikesh, with it's chilled reputation and location a mere night train away, seemed an obvious choice. It's calmer and cooler than Delhi. I like it. I spent most of my first day here asleep because I just hadn't managed it on the night train (not the train's fault, think I'm still just getting over jetlag and the total ruination of my body clock after Glastonbury). Followed this with a bit of shopping to try and rectify my total packing failure (new camera but no memory card, no towel, no shoes other than mum's flipflops, bikini top but no bottoms, only three pairs of knickers...). ... read more

Delhi!! I arrived here more unprepared than for any trip I have ever undertaken. And that’s really saying something. In the last two weeks I have finished my (4th year med school) exams, moved out of my house, gone home to see my parents, spent a week at Glastonbury festival, made it back to Leeds for my results then to London then to India. And I have been accomplished all this despite being drunk pretty much the entire time. YEAH. Delhi is a mess. The whole city is in bits because the government is overhauling everything in preparation for the commonwealth games in October. Seemingly this involves, mercilessly ripping up every road in the place. I am staying in Paraghanj, the official backpacker ghetto (think Koh San Road but infinitely, exponentially grimmer), which is simply wrecked. ... read more

Ko Kong sounded so promising. It was supposed to be an area of fantastic natural beauty, just opening up to ecotourism. For some time it has been notable only as a border town, used as a stopover by tourists entering Cambodia by land and Thailand expats on visa runs. According to the guidebooks I read, its fortunes were on the up. Numerous ecotourism operations were for alleged to be setting up in the area, and the books confidently stated that by the time of going to press there will be a variety of exciting trips and activities available. It looks like the recession killed all this off, because when I got there I found nothing. I went to the nicest hostal in town, but I was the only one staying. I wandered around for a whole ... read more

Advice to travellers! If you sustain any injury more serious than a papercut, demand medical evacuation to Bangkok. I don’t know what the hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Riep are like, but in the provinces the situation is not great. I literally could not believe it when they told me they perform surgery at the hospital in Kampong Thom. How? It’s tiny. There’s no glass in the windows. The electricity goes off three times a day. There is a small herd of cows outside A&E. When I walked past this morning I saw a guy getting on a motorbike with an IV in his arm, attached to the handlebars with a drip stand made of bamboo. The conditions are poor, but the doctors are incredibly dedicated and hardworking. They never complain. They speak of the ... read more