Hello again everybody! This is it, our final post from India, it seems like it was only yesterday that we were heading for Heathrow but a month of our travels is already up! Just time now to tell you about our trip to Mount Abu.

Having enjoyed our trip on the Jammu (prison train) mail so much we decided that another sleeper train experience was just what we needed and booked our places on the Ashram Express from Delihi to Mt Abu. On first sight the?Ashram seemed to be?identical to our train north, but nothing we had experienced on the Jammu could prepare us for the most restless night of our lives (excpet David, who slept like a baby). 13 hours of?the most horrific snoring??ever was enough to leave Arun and Alex clinging to their iPods for any chance of sleep. (Alex still hasn't forgiven this man)?

Far from refreshed we arrived at Abu Road station early on saturday morning. Maybe it was sleep deprivation, or general madness, but the sighting of a mountain top nearby was enough to convince us that a short walk would serve us better than the numerous taxi's we were offered. 45 minutes into the desert and the sight of struggling camels told us that it was general madness after all, and convinced us to cut our losses and take up the offer of a cab to mount Abu. After a 45 minute drive straight up a mountain we were reassured that we had made the right decision. We took the drivers recomendation and stayed at the hotel Swagat, beautifully located just 5 minutes from the towns polo ground and staffed by an enthusiastic army of helpers. (NB- for enthusiastic, read cross eyed but warm hearted simpletons).

After a short doze we stepped out of our room to be swarmed by the manager and his entourage and were swiftly made the proud owners of 3 shiny new mopeds! We were ecstatic! We slapped on the factor 25 and took our new toys (mum: very safe and secure motor vehicles with helmets, padding and?2 week?intsruction?as standard) for a spin. We soon discovered how these nippy (mum: snail like)?'peds' were very useful?for getting around. On the first day we saw?2 Jain temples?aswell as a beautiful small Hindu temple where we spent a while relaxing watching the water buffalo in the neighbouring lake. Then we were back on our now trusty peds, and off to Nakki lake where we sat for a while before hunger struck and we had to drive all round the town looking for a nice place to eat. Which we found, and having filled our bellies returned to Swagat to sleep.

The next day we woke earlier than normal all eager to get back on the open road. From our relatively low position we set our sights on the top of the mountain. Our noble steeds did not flounder at the task and by lunch time we were enjoying the spectacular views from the peak over vegetable paranthas and some sweet lassi. All this eating and sitting however had tired us out, and by the time we reached the town again we needed a pick me up! So the next hour or so was spent over coffe, cake and smoothies in Cafe Coffee Day, about the most western establishment short of McDonalds in all of Rajistan.?From the window we overlooked the polo ground and on it were many local boys enjoying their one day a week off school by playing cricket and football. Given Alex's penchant for cricket we decided to give the locals a chance and challenged them to a game of football instead. Given the baking heat and uneven playing surface all 3 of us put in memorable performances (if not only in our eyes)?to triumph over the?home team. We?enjoyed that evenings sunset from the aptly named sunset point before retiring to the hotel to analyse the video footage over?an icy kingfisher.?

The last day in Mt Abu started earlier than we would have hoped as we struggled to meet the hotels 9 a.m. check out time and cram our belongings into our peds tiny storage compartments. We were successful though and soon hit the road for another morning of really pretty aimless driving, stumbling across beautiful views as we tend to do, and spent another couple of hours in Cafe Coffee Day. We also took a pedlo out onto Nakki lake and managed to get ourselves drenched in a fountain of rather suspicious water (Alex at the helm!) before lunch on the 'Titanic' (A small blue boat moored to the edge of the lake). That afternoon gave us just enough time for our rematch with Mt Abu F.C. before we had to say our goodbyes to this beautiful mountain town and return to the hustle and bustle of the Ashram Express and the smog of Delhi.

And that is India! Tonight were off out with Sirus, a freind of Aruns Dad, for dinner before leaving early tomorow morning for the airport to catch a flight to Singapore. Here we are sure to spend an action packed day of sleeping at the airport before heading off again to Bangkok for a week. We will keep you posted on the journey as soon as we get the oppurtunity, thank you for all your comments and keep them coming. (maybe not from you though Mick! remember if you cant think of anything nice to say....)

The boys