We have had a very busy few days after arriving in the crazy over populated but beautiful contry. We eased ourselves into the lifestyle of backpacking with an organised tour of delhi, agra and jaipur. We visited places of worship, forts and tombes in all of these places. India gate in delhi (a bit like marble arch), La Quila (a huge red fort), Lotus temple (used by many religions as a place of worship, very peaceful and thought provoking), Qutb Minar (an amazing tower and ruins), Raj Gaht (memorial of Mahatma Gandhi). This was all mainly in Delhi, I think you will find that Gorden Brown visited similar places a day after us; think his tour was a bit more upmarket but probably not as enjoyable as ours.

In Agra we visited another Fort which was beautiful and had the most amazing view of the Taj Mahal in the distance. The Taj was our next stop, we watched the sun set here and reflect the most amazing gold colours on the Taj.

Jaipur was very different, much more spread out with a hilly lanscape; our hotel had beautiful views of the scenery, town and yet another fort. There were monkeys, elephants and camels everywhere; as well as the usual cow, ox, pig and hog. We watched some young boys catch a wild pig, tie it up and carry it off home for dinner.

The people here are friendly and welcoming, they all want a picture of us but there is also the poverty that you hear so much about. It is everywhere, along with the terrible pollution here.

We started backpacking properly and did an overnight train journey to mumbai, we then got on a packed bus to find some cheap guest houses. We have chilled out in a park and watched some games of cricket. Tomorrow we are getting another train to Goa. Think there will be less to write then as i can't imagine myself doing anything else other than sunbathing and partying for a couple of weeks.