Agra, the home of India's main attraction the Taj Mahal...and one of the hottest places we've been so far. Getting the train there from Khajuraho was a bit annoying, since there's only two trains that run per day, one leaving at 9.10am and arriving around 5.30pm or one that leaves at 6.20pm and pulls into Agra at 2.20am...the latter being fully booked every day. If we went to the train station to get the ticket it might have been possible, but there wasn't a chance on cleartrip, so we ended up getting the morning train. The first day we'd spent (other than on the ship to Andaman) actually travelling from one place to the next....a waste of a day and the train was super hot. After about nine hours of a sitting on a train we ... read more

As the title suggests we weren't overly impressed with Mumbai. I've been here before on my previous trip and only stayed one night because it's that bad. The train station is in the top 10 things to do! Followed by a park...etc you get the picture. Already knowing there wasn't much to get up to other than spend money, we'd planned to be in and out in a day. We arrived from Pune around 11pm and headed to Colaba, the tourist district. This is home to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, and for just £400 per night you can have a royal experience. Of course, if you're on a budget you could always stay in one of the cheaper £200 per night rooms situated OUTSIDE of the actual palace. I'm fairly certain (The internet had gone ... read more

Where to start with paradise?! I don't think I’ve ever been happier than when I was living on Havelock! The perfect beach, the perfect beach hut... It's an absolutely amazing place and I urge everyone to go...or don't go actually, keep the tourists down. When we arrived we didn't know what to expect, we assumed we'd be sitting around in hammocks reading all the time, having early nights and spending the days on the beach. We thought we'd spend a few days on Havelock, the most developed island, and then head to some of the other islands. We had no interest in diving because it was too expensive! We stayed on Havelock for about 30 days, and we could've stayed way longer if we had the chance. Down to bad luck and poor organisation on behalf ... read more

Having “three” days to chill before the boat to Andaman we decided to kill the time in nearby Mamallapuram, an hour and a half bus ride from Chennai. Mamallapuram is home to some of the oldest architecture in India, ranging from circa 1500 - 500 years ago. The Pallava dynasty (circa 1000-1200 years ago) had an architectural impact throughout southern India, going north as far as Ellora (Near Mumbai, we'll be heading there on our way north), and due to their excellent maritime capabilities their influence even reached parts of South East Asia. Ankgor Wat in Cambodia (One of the wonders of the ancient world) was influenced by the Pallava dynasty. Although today it's a Buddhist monastery, I believe (I'll find out in a few months time), it was originally built as a Shiva temple. The ... read more

The best place to start this post is the bus journey to Bijapur. We'd booked the bus to leave from Mapusa (the closest town to Anjuna) at 9PM and were due to arrive around 7AM. It is officially a sleeper bus, so you do get a bed, but sleeping on these buses isn't possible! Take into account the natural swaying of the bus, gently rocking you side to side as you go to sleep. That sounds quite attractive to me, slowly drift off to sleep like the baby Jesus, rocking in his manger. In reality, once you factor In the atrocious Indian roads you're spending 10+ hours getting thrown around a mattress (which is actually quite soft, the bed alone is better than most of the beds we've slept in so far), that's barely long enough ... read more