We had left Agra and were on the way to Dehli. The train journey was quick only 4 hours or so. The station was huge and even with the other million or so passengers queuing for the train or the exit, touts quickly found us enquiring about our accommodation and taxi requirements... These guys didn't have a patch on the Agra touts and we managed to shake them in minutes. The hotel we deceided to stay at "Prince Polonia" was an upmarket choice in the old b...

What can we say about Agra, home of the Taj Mahal? Well, actually, nothing good! The Taj Mahal is even more magnificent than it looks in the pictures and was without a doubt one of the highlights of our trip, but Agra itself is (also without a doubt) the most horrible town we've ever been to in our lives! It is mind-blowingly filthy - streets covered in huge piles (taller than us) of rotting rubbish, open sewers, packs of mangy dogs and wall-to-wall with...

Our Train from Puttaparthi left about 20:00 so we had arranged sleeping accommodation on the train for the 20 hr trip North to Jalgaon. The trip went smoothly and we arrived in Jalgaon refreshed. The Hotel Plaza where we stayed was within walking distance of the station so no haggling with dreaded rickshaw drivers was required. The Hotel was everything we had heard, the staff very friendly and helpful, the rooms immaculate and best of all very cheap! We h...

Our flying visit to Puttaparthi (home town of Sai Baba, the guru with the magnificent afro) was an amazing experience - one that we'll never forget! Lisa, (my sister's friend - and now ours too) who joined us for a couple of weeks earlier in our trip thorough India, is living in Puttaparthi with her Aunty Joan and they invited us to come and stay with them for a couple of days. We happily accepted, eager to see the inside workings of an ashram (sort of a religi...

Due to solidly booked out buses, and in a desperate attempt to get to Puttaparthy but also avoid another dreaded sleeper-bus, we set out (against the recommendation of every travel agent in town) on an epic 2-day journey, via Madurai and Bangalore. An early start and we were down to the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu to catch one of the 50-year-old state buses on the 5-hour journey to Madurai. The 'road' was under construction - this was the first tim...