I left Trichy to go to Pondicherry by car. This city is now officially known as Puducherry but that only cuts the name down by one letter, so the old diminutive of Pondy is still in use - and sounds much nicer, I think. The French name is also very slightly shorter, as they spell it Pondichery with only one "r". But any advantage this may give them is lost because they use an acute accent over the "e". The journey here took about four hours and was a very interesting one. Soon after leaving the town we crossed some marshlands where I saw many people doing their washing in the streams and masses of clothes hanging up to be dried on washing lines stretched across the marshy land. Our way was briefly held up by ... read more

I have been staying at the Old Harbour Hotel in Fort Kochi. It is, as the name suggests, close to the old harbour and when I go down that way the first things that catch my eyes are the giant Chinese Fishing Nets which stand by the side of the sea. Kochi (or Cochin, as it used to be spelled) has been the centre for traders coming to India for millenia. The Chinese first came here many years ago. I would have expected them to have landed on the Eastern coast of India but there's proably some reason involving currents or winds which explains why they came here. Anyway, these Chinese nets were apparently first erected by traders from Kublai Khan's China (Xanadu, probably) about seven hundred years ago, and have been here ever since. Now ... read more

As I left Mumbai I saw a sign reading "Silent city - better city / Say no to honking". Mumbai is, in fact, relatively quiet as far as "honking" in Indian cities goes. Hyderabad is a whole lot worse. I noticed a shop here called Paradise Horns which adveritsed itself as selling and repairing horns for four, three and two wheelers. I'm sure it must do a lot of business. I am beginning to think that the length of time that a horn is sounded for is important. Indian drivers seem to be able to detect the positions of multiple other vehicles by the sounds of their horns and, if the sound is continuous, the Doppler effect may enable them to gain a good idea of the vehicles vector and velocity as well as of its ... read more

After leaving Udaipur I went to Amritsar in the North West of the country, near the border with Pakistan. My hotel was very close to the famous Golden Temple - in fact you could hear the chanting of the proests from my room. The Golden Temple is very different from most Indian temples - there is great ostentation, obviously, with the roof and much of the walls of the main temple area being covered in gold - but there are no idols and it feels a spiritual and friendly place. There is a massive kitchen and dining area within the compound as Sikhs have no dietary rules and anyone is welcome to eat there. In fact you can stay and eat at the temple completely free of charge, though they limit the stay to three nights. ... read more

The train journey from Delh to Jodhpur was overnight, leaving at night and arriving about 9 in the morning. We travelled in the three tier sleeper class without air conditioning and it was a pleasant journey and most of us slept well. I had a bottom berth as I though I might have to go to the toilet a few times in the night but, in fact, I only had to go once. The others are all much younger than me. Frankie, Sophie, Carl, Wes and Ed, who I met in Delhi are all 20 apart from Ed who is 24 and the Autralian girls (Liz, Elise, Tenniel and Emily) are even younger, about 17 to 19. At Jodphur we got into three auto rickshaws to go to our guesthouse. The rickshaws here have evolved even ... read more