We took an overnight train and arrived very early in Bangalore for a day tour of the city before we would be leaving again on another night train to Cochin. I had seen footage of Indian night trains on TV and was expecting the experience to be more hectic than it actually was and we had more space than I had imagined. We didn't sleep too well, after all we were on a train with just a curtain to block out the light and noise but we were happy to find we get provided with a couple of bedsheets, blanket and a pillow all wrapped in cellophane to emphasise the cleanliness.

We spent the first hour of our day looking for a place to have breakfast as the majority of this city doesn't seem to open until after 10am. We did find a local Indian fast food restaurant and after watching the locals we walked up to the counter and pointed at a few pictures on a menu. The food was really cheap but a bit too spicy for us to call it breakfast but it did a job and Leanne is now a fan of the Dosa which looks a bit like a thick crepe.

We spent the day with a driver who we agreed a price with before leaving and visited the major sights of Bangalore starting with a view of the government buildings over a building site where a new metro is being built, then a small palace in excellent condition built by Tipu Sultan and used by the British during the colonial rule. We had to take a break after getting such little sleep on the train so wondered around the botanical gardens for a couple of hours before finishing our day at Bangalore Palace which was built to resemble Windsor castle. It was a bit pricey but worth every penny because as we left a six piece band started playing just for us and seemingly only to announce the end of our visit, they even had a bagpiper. We had to ditch our tuk tuk driver in the middle of traffic who had been trying to take us in to a 'friends' shop all day but after we were joined by another man to ensure we went, feeling uncomfortable with this situation we had to get away so jumped in to another tuk tuk James Bond style and headed for the train station.

Another night train shared with a very friendly family of five and we arrived in to Cochin station in the very early hours. Our hotel room was a suite with a giant comfy bed, after two nights on a one inch plastic coated mattress we would have been happy with almost anything but this was pure bliss. We organised a city tour that took in the old fort where we shopped, visited the Chinese fishing nets where a mechanism of weights did all the hard work for the fishermen and I took a lightning fast ball at the local cricket ground and managed to hit a boundary.