Wed 25 OctWe spent the day in Mumbai and saw the Gateway of India, Taj Mahal hotel (one of the poshest hotels in India), Flora fountain, Horniman Circle, Victoria Terminus, University buildings.  Most of the buildings are grand old victorian british built but some are crumbling away.  We walked along Marine Drive and went to the most mediocre aquarium ever!  We then walked along Chowpatty Beach then went to the Hanging Gardens.  We were asked ...

Wed 18 Oct  Arrived in Varanasi at around 7.45am.  Ed hardly slept as he is allergic to indian trains!  We then went to a restaurant - Lisa had an english breakfast....oh well, it was the first of the trip, and Ed had american pancakes with maple syrup - all very indian!  We all then went for an orientation walk along the ghats (steps along the river bank).  There were absolutely hundreds of people bathing in the river - apparently t...

Monday 16 OctoberAnother early start - got up at 5am for a bus ride to Fatehpur Sikri.  This is a fortified ghost city which we didn't think was particularly amazing but we were tired and it was flippin' hot and we had to walk up a big hill to it!  We had a guided tour around the city and the mosque.  We then got another local bus for an hour for the final leg of the journey to Agra.  We got electric cars from the bus station to Hotel ...

Sat 14 OctoberGot the bus from Pushkar to our hotel, Diggi Palace.  The hotel was 1km out of the main part of the city, all set around a large lawn and a bit of peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Lisa went with the rest of the girls in the group to a couple of vocational schools for street kids.  The children either go to school or learn a vocation such as jewellery making.  Most of them had run away from home as...

After a hearty breakfast we had another long bus journey to Pushkar.  There were another few hairy moments where the bus missed a few lorries by millimetres - they just swerve away at the very last second!  We changed buses and got a more local bus for the last 45 minutes.  There was one bus which had about 30 people on the roof all shouting and waving at us ........ which turned out to be our bus!  Luckily there were actually some seats left,...