Got to Agra quite late on the 7th and arrived at our home stay. The family were extremely welcoming, especially the mum of the house. They were a Hindu family, and Liz explained that it would be my birthday the next day and she replied that we must celebrate which was exciting! On the 8th we woke up earlier as we had planned to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise - early start at 5am! I opened all my cards that I had been saving since the start of the trip, (I had trie...

After a packed day in Mumbai we took the first day in Jaipur at a pretty slow pace, partly because we were tired and also because I was still ill and had decided to go to see a doctor to sort out the stomach infection I had had for about two weeks. Luckily the hotel was really nice and clean, and there was a great rooftop restaurant to look over Jaipur from and take in some of the city. The Dr's surgery was anything but clean- a nurse (some guy who Liz and I ha...

We spent Tuesday (Sept 3rd) sorting a few things out in Mysore in the morning before a 5 hour car journey to Bangalore. Pretty uneventful other than the monsoon down pour for the last hour of the journey. Flash flooding all over the India equivalent of a motorway. (There are no lanes on any of the roads here, at least none that are used, it is just a free for all.) Didn't see any of Bangalore other than the hotel as we got there in the evening and were leaving f...

So we got to Mysore two days ago now and it is hectic compared to the calm, relaxed Kerala! The traffic is manic. There are tiny roundabouts dotted all over the city and people will just drive into them then battle their way to the exit of choice. We stopped in traffic on the first day here because the palace elephants were being taken for a walk. There are also cows everywhere. It was normal to see in Kerala as it would be by the roadside in the country, but her...

We spent the rest of the day in Munnar (where the last entry finished) going to a tea plantation and a spice plantation in the mountains. At the tea plantation we watched an 'educational video' (like being back at school..) about how the plantation had changed over the years, and the way that green tea and black tea is made from the same leaves at different stages of growing. We had a really helpful guide who then showed us around a spice plantation, explaining h...