A fleeting twenty-four hour visit to the capital, as we headed south again. And a bit of a shock: despite the almost universal horror stories about Delhi from fellow travellers, perhaps even rivalling those of that infamous toilet bowl Medan, we didn't think it was too bad! In fact, the main backpacker hub, Paharganj, could even be considered quite nice! Our hotel room wasn't, it was dingy and overpriced, as I gather one generally has to expect in Delhi (we weren...

Oh, the joy! My twentieth day in India, and the first day in which I've found myself in a truly nice place! Cool breezes! Fresh air! Views in every direction of the dark green, densely forested surrounding hills, with peaks sporting hats of heavy cloud. And these bisected by the famous River Ganges, rushing tidal-like along in this monsoon season, and twisting away into the distance. And peace and quiet, finally, away from honking horns and screeches of brakes!...

We stopped in Nagpur for just ten hours, the time we had to wait between arriving in the city on a bus from Wardha (the nearest large town to Sevagram), and departing on the first train we could muster tickets for to Agra. Nagpur had no redeeming features that we discovered, and there are no interesting or amusing anecdotes from our time there. We spent two hours getting our train tickets at short notice using "VIP" status (other than a rare, genuine VIP, perhaps...

Not the culture shock I'd been bracing myself for, I have to say. Naturally, over the course of travelling for just short of a year, we'd come across many people who'd already visited India, and I think that pretty much without exception the verdict has been the same: that you can't really prepare yourself for the poverty, the dirt, the intensity, etc; it's a tough country to travel in. But also amazing, in other respects. That old love / hate thing again (alth...

“Nusa Lembongan” – what a great name! It’s got to be up there with Timbuctoo and Tipperary; reason enough to pay a visit! But as chance would have it, it’s also an excellent spot for scuba diving (with the Mola Mola in season, as previously mentioned), and has a laid back backpacker vibe and friendly locals. So when Keith delivered this pitch to me and invited me to join him and Julia, it didn’t take much persuading. And then HannahMariya’s arm didn...