A nine o'clock pick by our driver Mr Anthony and we are off to Fort Cochin, about a 40minute drive. We are struck by the contrast between North and South India. The south seems a lot more modern, less rubbish in the streets, less traffic on the streets and there appears to a be a lot less poverty. There also seems to be more backpackers about. We meet our guide for the day Mary. We stop to watch Children's Day where all the local schools have there children dress...

Our flight out of Varanasi to Delhi and then onto Cochin isn't until 3.50pm but after our morning on the Ganges yesterday we did a tour of the city and visited sites such as the Bharat Temple which is dedicated to Mother India and the Banaras Hindu University. One of the main temples down near the ghats we decided to pass on visiting due to the huge line up to get inside due to all the people in town and celebrating Diwali. Our guide Sunny does take us to a silk ...

We are up at 5am ready to leave our hotel by 5.30am so we will be on the Ganges for sunrise. The roads are a lot quieter than last night but our 6 seater still has to jostle for space on the road along with the other cars,motorbikes, bicycles, tuk tuks, rickshaws, stray dogs and the odd goat. The cows meander at will across the roads, stopping to graze on rubbish left from the night before. But somehow this chaos seems to work. Most of the dirty old roller doors ...

On our morning flight from Delhi to Varanasi with Air India Laurie and I got bumped to business class, unfortunately the flight only takes just over an hour so we didn't have too much time to enjoy it. This afternoon we visited Sanarth, the place where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon. I thought this was going to something special but it just didn't have that feel that I thought it would :( Tonight was pretty special though. We joined the thousands of people ...

This morning we visited the Taj Mahal. None of of us were quite prepared for the effective this amazing monument would have on us. We were so lucky as the smog that inhabits all big Indian cities lifted this morning to show a clear blue sky. This monument of love is so memorizing when you see it, it's like a magnet and it's hard to draw your eyes away. We were all on such a high seeing this most famous image of India, photos cannot do it justice. Love love love