I've finished my India trips now, I was quite sad to finish at the end, cos I did get to like India very much in the places where it was less touristy. We visited much more of those sorts of places in the second two weeks, in comparison to in Rajasthan, so it was nicer in some ways. Our group was cool, we had a good time, and I was sad to say goodbye to everyone at the end!

After Orchha, we went on to Khajarao, which had several dozen 1000 year old Hindu temples, all in botanical gardens, so that was pretty. We went back there later for a sound and light show, but it was a bit dull, the most exciting part of it was that it was voiced by India's most famous Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachhen, who is like the Indian Al Pacino. And he kept referring to some architect called 'Guru Dave', I was trying to laugh quietly..

We visited Panna national park the next day, its a tiger reserve but its a pretty sad story.. Even 4 years ago they had about 35 tigers in the park, but by last year every tiger but one male had been poached out of the park. They've brought two more tigers there from another park to start building back up the numbers, but its a losing battle, it really is.. Its a pretty park though, peaceful with a river, not many tourists and lots of other animals, we saw a small jungle cat about the size of a dog out patrolling, so that was nice. And the King of Nepal was having dinner in our lodge- though we didn't get to see him cos of his armed escort, we did receive his royal welcome cos when we drove up the greeting party all thought it was him and started their celebrations!

In Chitrakut we went for our boat ride on the Ganges, to see the ghats (bathing steps down to the river) at dusk. It was low key and no hassle there and still had all the market stalls and sadhus (holy men) and people bathing in the river and throwing flowers in the water etc, it was nice.

We had a brief stop in Allahabad for the night, where we started to see the preparations in earnest for the Holi festival, India's biggest aside from Diwali. It was pretty amazing. Its the one where they all throw colour on each other and it goes on for several days- first few days you see a few people with coloured faces only, then they have pre-Holi night, where they have giant bonfires in all the streets and they get mashed on bhang (derived from marijuana) and drink a lot and stay up all night. Then the next day the colouring begins in earnest! The whole (male) population is out on the street from dawn getting mashed and plastering each other with all the coloured tikka powders and paint they can get their hands on. We were advised not to go out on the street during Holi, and in order to ensure we didn't get caught up in the mayhem we had to leave Allahabad in the dead of night in order to drive to Varanasi before dawn so we wouldn't get involuntarily involved in it all..

So we left Allahabad at 3am and arrived in Varanasi before 6am by private jeep, fortunately everyone outside was passed out sleeping around the bonfire remnants so it was fine. We spent the morning watching the madness on the streets from the safety of the hotel, and it really wasn't safe to venture out! There were no women anywhere and it was just lots of drunken (but good natured) gangs of men roving round in warpaint, some with big metal sticks, which was 'a bit of a concern' as Catriona put it! In the end we had our own Holi festival on the hotel's roof terrace with a couple of the other Intrepid groups staying in the hotel, and everyone got coloured and drunk good and proper.. It was fun! It didn't wash off amazingly well though.. I still have pink hands and hair.

Then we had a couple more days in Varanasi, doing boat rides on the Ganges at the dusk worship time, and at dawn, and doing a flower boat ride where you put lighted flower baskets in the river and make a wish. We saw the burning ghats where they were cremating the dead, and the people bathing and doing hand washing. The Ganges is filth though, it is just a river of sewage and body parts.. I can't believe people wash in it, and get it in their mouths! They must have unbelievable immune systems. It was really nice there, and we bumped into our old group leader Pravar which was cool, he came to hang out with us!

Then we had an overnight train back to Delhi again, and it was over! So sad.. I'll miss our group, Ken and Christina what will I do without you guys around to look out for me and ask all the questions under the sun? And Anant was the best, what will I do when I want someone to lay down those Bollywood dance moves now eh? Sad times..

I go to the airport tonight for my flight to Cairo! x