23rd December ’11 Ranthambore to Bundi Another 9 am start – I hope we don’t get lulled into a false sense of security! It was minibuses this time and a 3 hour journey. Today’s pee and tea stop was on the outskirts of a village beside a lovely lake. The toilet was the bushes and the tea plus shop arrived with one man and 2 bags! It was brilliant soon we were all drinking chai and tucking into red hot pakoras which blew your mouth off (so Howard had 3 plus 1 other strange thing no one else could eat). Most of the village then turned up to look at the strange people and slyly photograph us!! We arrived at Bundi at lunchtime (oh my god they had chocolate pancakes!!!!!!!) and we stayed at the amazing ... read more

20th December ’11 Madhogarh to Jaipur After waking up and opening my cards and presents from Looci and Andrea which was a lovely way to start the day, thanks! We reluctantly left the fort, walking down the hill as the transport today was an enormous bus! It took about 4 hours to reach Jaipur – partly as the bus was so huge it was awkward trying to get it along the narrow country roads. We entered Jaipur through the ruins of a deserted palace entranceway which then led into the town. It was a huge sprawling place teeming with people, cows and pigs! We really don’t remember seeing pigs in India before, they certainly never have pork on the menu and are apparently kept to eat the rubbish and there does seem to be less litter ... read more

16th December Karol Bargh, Delhi The overnight train was the usual experience except that this train was slightly cleaner and the toilet didn’t start off stinking, bonus! Neither of us got much sleep unfortunately so we were shattered when we arrived at Delhi at 6.50 am and then had to find the tube station, queue for tickets, but soon we arrived at Karol Bargh, which hadn’t changed much at all. The hotel was pretty close and just off the main street which was full of shops, market stalls and food places. When we checked into the hotel – the Pooja Palace (great name shame it didn’t quite live up to it though) we met Sarah also from England and on our trip and also a smoker! As we all had to wait for rooms to come ... read more

Monday 12th December ’11 Train to Jaisalmer contd I went to sleep on the top bunk, having braved the stinky squat toilet one last time and praying I wouldn’t need it again during the night! I went out like a light then suddenly bam! The lights were all on and people were shouting…… we had stopped at another station! I tried to ignore it all but realised I was freezing cold so re wrapped the blanket round me and fortunately I was soon fast asleep again. I woke up about 8 am so I was pleased with that and just laid there putting off the inevitable visit to the loo! When I opened the curtains and climbed down I got a surprise when I realised that the Indian family opposite had vanished and been replaced with ... read more

8th December ’11 Stockton to Dubai via Newcastle Airport Billy stayed up to see us off and our dear Debs came to pick us up and take us up to Newcastle Airport. It was quite sad saying our goodbyes. We got checked in fine and the flight boarded on time and then we sat on the tarmac for an hour as one bag had been discovered without a tag! Finally it must have got sorted and off we went. Due to time differences we arrived in Dubai at about 1am and spent ages and ages queuing to get through immigration. Eventually we got through, got our bags and jumped in a taxi and were soon at the lovely Rydges Plaza Hotel. This was a cheap option for Dubai but was really lovely and the bed was ... read more