J: So we left Goa and started heading up India towards Delhi. We got a public bus for the first part and the conductor put us riding shotgun with the driver for the journey. Everyone we passed was amazed at the white couple next to the driver, I know they were just trying to be nice and look after us but the front seat was bloody uncomfortable and I got a bruise on my butt! The route was amazing as we drove right over a mountain in the bus on a road which would challenge most 4x4's. The driver was funny though not slowing down for any wildlife (dog/cow/human) in the road and just sat on the horn. He even shut down a 3 lane main road to give a guy on a bike a mouthful for hogging the lane he wanted lol. I left him my sunglasses and he was so pleased you would have thought I left him a winning lotto ticket.

S: So I nicknamed the driver and conductors the "Indian Laurel and Hardy" although they didn't speak much English we had a few laughs especially when we caught the bus driver cleaning out his ears with the bus keys?? Then we finally reached Kolhapur and boy did the Lonely Planet book understate this place. It's like a mini Mumbai. We eventually found a room after 5 hostels were full, down a dark alleyway. Not sure it was the best room we would ever have. We had to keep the bathroom door shut to help stop the stench coming from the toilet lol. The bed was just a piece of foam on some wood and had some very dodgy looking stains on - I was extremely glad to have my sleeping bag!! So we had some street food - James was pleased as punch. On the way back to the hostel, a man on a bike stopped in front of us, James was confused but it was the conductor from the bus making sure we'd found a room and we were safe. What more can you ask from them??

J: We went to the local Mahalaxmi temple which is a working temple but didn't refuse travellers, we walked all around the shrines and walked through the main temple which was amazing, everyone praying and circling round, we were pushed into the flow by people encouraging us and it was brilliant! A woman sitting even blessed me and gave me some sweet food which I happily enjoyed.

S: We then went to the 'New Palace' which was a bit of an eye opener. The king really liked to hunt.... after seeing the set of 16 tigers and the Rhino ashtray; I was more than ready to leave. We then went to the Rankala Lake to walk round, and chill out reading our books. After we had been chilling for an hour a guy with his colleague came up to explaining he was from 'The Indian Times' and could he have an interview. James obviously obliged and we got in the local paper lol.