<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } A:link { so-language: zxx } --> 3 nights in Varanasi and one on the way It took us a while to get out of Agra due to a combination of low bridges and road closures, and then we had further delays at lunchtime but we were kept entertained by a huge crowd that milled around the truck. Honestly haven't these people got anything better to do? They were quite polite though and spoke English well...

We left Jaipur and headed across the dry plains of Rajasthan for most of the day, arriving at the town outside the Ranthambhore NP at about 3. We arranged for a tour company to take us into the national park in a big open-top truck thing, and a few people paid extra to go in a jeep. The entrance to the park is a bit Jurassic Park but the forests inside are very dry at the moment and a lot of trees won't get leaves until the monsoon arrives. We didn't see any tig...

2 nights in Jaipur We headed out of Delhi and along the motorway into Rajasthan, only stopping just outside Delhi at a McDonalds that was along the highway. It got hotter as we got further south, but we stopped again at a Coffee Day that magically appeared along the highway for iced drinks (even though the aircon wasn't working inside so it was actually cooler outside). We got into Jaipur at about 5 and were greeted by almost all of our long-lost travel buddies ...

3 nights in Delhi We got into Delhi during the day on the 15th after camping near Chandighar next to a roadside tearoom thingy. We stayed off to the northwest of the city at a hotel called Orchid Garden, although Shane and I slept on the hot truck the first night for security and missed out on the nice aircon'd rooms for one night. I spent a lot of our time here feeling unwell and ended up going to see a homeopath who gave me some white pills to take which help...

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> 4 nights in Mcleod Ganj After leaving Amritsar we headed north into a more hilly area. Soon we could see mountains with snow - a sight we haven't seen since Turkey! We climbed and climbed into the foothills until we reached the town of Dharamsala, where the truck stayed for the next few days. When we all got in taxis to make the final climb to Mcleod Ganj, we could see why the truck would...