So today is the start of what I hope will be many blogs about my trip! There is so much to tell you all that it's hard for me to know where to start. But i'll start at the very beginning as it's a very good place to start as a wise lady called Maria Von Trapp would say

I arrived in Mumbai on the 21st of September in the wee small hours of the morning. As soon as I stepped off the plane my heart wanted me to turn back round again and go home but my head was telling me no no no! As I took my taxi ride to the hotel I got my first glance at India in all its insane glory - there were still people everywhere even though it was 4am, people sleeping on top of cars, people huddling in the middle of the motorway, people in tuk tuks, people in taxis like me. After a bad nights sleep I decided to venture out of my little room and into the streets of Mumbai. Well, I think I lasted about half an hour. Not only was there no possible way to figure out where I was (no map, no street names) but I was constantly and frighteningly stared at by everyone. So I decided to go back to my room, have a nap and wait until the evening where I would be meeting my Intrepid tour group. Only then did I feel I would be safe to attempt Mumbai's streets again. I did just that and after our introductions we went for a meal. My first chicken biriyani from real India! It was delish.

The next morning was an early train journey to Aurangabad. To be honest Mumbai had gone by in a jet lagged blur and I hadn't seen much of it. Aurangabad was 7 hours away and another bustling, busy town (not quite as intimidating as Mumbai). Aurangabad was our pit stop for the Ellora caves and the mini Taj 'Bibi Ka Maqbara'. The two days here were chilled as we aclimitised to our surroundings as much as possible. We even had time to watch a movie thanks to the technical wizardry of Nina who had brought a range of movies on her Ipod.

Wednesday took us to Jagaon via Ajanta. Ajanta is a massive horse shoe shaped rock which sits nice and tidely in the mountain side. All of the caves are Buddhist and everywhere you looked there were millions of big, medium and small Buddhas carved out of the solid rock.

After the stunning sites of our last two destinations it was time to change tact and visit the holy Om-shaped island called Omkereshwar. Although less well known Omkereshwar is an important place for Hindus featuring high on their list of pilgrimages alongside the famous Varanasi. Omkereshwar was the first place we encountered where the people were genuinely interesting and interested in us (without wanting to sell us something). The people really made this place special. On the first night we sat on the steps of the river and watched the Puja ceremony as the sun set. It was amazing to see the dedication of such young people to their religion and the whole thing was spectacular to watch.

Mandu was next on our list and has been one of my favourite places so far. We rented bikes and made the horrendous journey uphill to the lookout point to watch the sunset. This was slightly spoiled for me though as I was mobbed by a group of school children who wanted to know my life story so far as we know it! Not exactly the best way to enjoy a sunset! The next day we spent a perfect Sunday wandering the grounds of the Ship Palace and eating fruit from the market.

The peacefulness and relaxed atmosphere of Mandu was shattered with the longest journey so far to the busy city of Bhopal. Bhopal's pollution was suffocating and equally suffocating was seeing so many beggars on the street. Arriving late evening in Bhopal made everything seem eerie and I didn't have the strength to check my emails that night as I felt too drained.

Sanchi was a quick stop along our route to visit some beautiful Bhuddist architecture again. Now we're in Orchha. Orchha is the most touristy destination we've visited so far and we've even seen large groups of tourists trudging in the heat. We also decided to have a night off from Indian food and spent yesterday afternoon in a restuarant called 'Milan' where we all had pasta!!

India has seemed like a complete and utter whirlwind and endurance test so far. Now matter how much I describe it it's just impossible to understand what this country is like unless you've been here. It is so completely different to anything! It's been emotionally draining most days because of the constant stares and shouts of "Hello madaam" wherever we go....they follow. People seem to live with nothing and their priorities seem upside down to us.

Our next part of the trip is 3 weeks to the more touristy parts of India. This first part has been promoted to us as 'the real India' so it'll been interesting to see the comparison in the next few weeks.

Until then....