We arrived in the final country of our World trip in the early hours of the morning, and were immediately struck by the heat, poverty and sheer number of people. Even at 2am in the morning the driver told us it was over 40 degrees, the airport was run down and there were still loads of cars on the road.

Indian driving leaves a lot to be desired too!

On a normal three lane road there seems to be four or five cars driving along next to each other, and there is no concept of space. The car infront is generally only a few feet from your front bumper, as if you don't sit that close then someone else will squeeze into the gap. At least they stayed on the right side of the road, as we'd heard stories about cars playing chicken with each other, and for the two weeks we were there we saw a number of over-turned cars in ditches and even a bus in a ditch!

We arrived at our hotel which seemed to be in a particularly run-down part of town. The website said this was hotel central!

Delhi is the second-largest city of India, and with its more than 18 million people, the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population. It has been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC.

After the rise of the Delhi Sultanate, Delhi emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Indo-Gangetic plains. It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains. In 1639, Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled city in Delhi which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857.

After the British East India Company gained control of much of India during the 18th and 19th centuries, Calcutta became the capital both under Company rule and under the British Raj, until George V announced in 1911 that it was to move back to Delhi. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built to the south of the old city during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India.

Exploring our surroundings, we very quickly realised we would need a driver to navigate this heat and vast city, and also to avoid being stopped by curious people and people begging. Everyone seemed interested in where we were from, and most who spoke to us had family in England. Begging is also particularly bad, as people hang off you, shove their malnourished children towards you or wave missing limbs at you.

After hiring a driver for the day we visited a few of the sights, one of the most popular being the Delhi Fort, also known as Lal Qil'ah, or Lal Qila meaning the Red Fort, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

The Red Fort was the palace for Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's new capital, Shahjahanabad, the seventh Muslim city in the Delhi site. He moved his capital from Agra in a move designed to bring prestige to his reign, and to provide ample opportunity to apply his ambitious building schemes and interests.

Paying to get in we took our drivers advice, "No Ghandi, no money", as apparently any note without Ghandi on is not legal tender. Even a government-run business such as the Red Fort was trying to give us dodgy notes!

Also while we were in Delhi we visited Isa Khan's tomb and mosque. Isa Khan Niyazi was an Afghan noble who served Sher Shah Sur, then his son Islam Shah Sur, during the Sur interruption (1540-55) of Mughal reign in Delhi. His tomb, domed and octagonal in plan, is ringed by a deep veranda, and sits at the center of an octagonal complex to the west of Humayun's Tomb. It is thought that the Niyazi Tomb influenced Humayun's Tomb, for example its position in a walled garden enclosure.

We also visited nearby Humayun's tomb, which is a complex of buildings in Mughal architecture built as Mughal Emperor Humayun's tomb. In time of Slave Dynasty this land was under the KiloKheri Fort which was capital of Sultan Kequbad son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287). It encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun as well as numerous others. The complex is a World Heritage Site and the first example of this type of Mughal architecture in India. The architecture of the mausoleum is similar to the Taj Mahal.

After Delhi we moved on to the next leg of the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle consists of Jaipur, Agra and Delhi. The easiest (and surprisingly cheap) way of travelling around the Golden Triangle is to hire a driver. We hired our driver from our hotel for a week and also had our hotels all booked for us, for a very cheap price considering we were dragging this man away from his life for a week.

Our driver was a muslim called Khan, who was really nice but unfortunately was so professional that it was hard to get him to relax and open up. He did tell us about how his girlfriend was a different cast and that that meant they had to keep their relationship secret. They would meet at the market so that her parents wouldn't find out, which we thought was a shame, and he was shocked when we told him that we weren't married but that we lived together, and that we weren't religious also. He did also seem a little too interested in the benefits in the UK!

The first thing that strikes you when travelling in India is just how random things seem. For example only a few miles outside Delhi we were seeing Camels and elephants walking down the main road, lorries stacked so high that the load was hanging off the back almost touching the road and buses elaborately decorated with bright coloured flowers. These sights were quite magnificent. We also saw desperate poverty. Houses that looked like sheds housing several families, malnourished cows by the side of the street and people squatting at the side of the road using the gutter as a toilet.

Our first stop from Delhi was Jaipur, also popularly known as the Pink City. It is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, a Kachwaha Rajput who ruled from 1699-1744 and the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 5 million residents.

Built of pink stucco in imitation of sandstone, the city is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets which are laid out into six sectors separated by broad streets. Within the sectors are quarters, and the Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. Another noteworthy building is Sawai Jai Singh's observatory, Jantar Mantar.

Initially the Maharaja's capital was Amber (city), which lies at a distance of 11km from Jaipur. He felt the need of shifting his capital city with the increase in population and growing scarcity of water. Jaipur is the first planned city of India and the King took great interest while designing this city of victory. He consulted several books on architecture and architects before making the lay out of Jaipur.

The main reason for our visit to Jaipur however was the Amber Fort. After briefly visiting the Royal Palace Museum, we headed to the Amber Fort, avoiding all the guides, elephant rides and people trying to sell you all sorts.

The Amber Fort is located in Amber, 11 km from Jaipur. It was the ancient citadel of the ruling Kachhawa clan of Amber, before the capital was shifted to present day Jaipur. Amber Fort is known for its unique artistic style, blending both Hindu and Muslim (Mughal) elements, and its ornate and breathtaking artistic mastery.

The fort is situated on a hill so you can survey the area for miles around. The architecture was very impressive, as were the elephants giving rides inside and outside the fort. As we drove away and through the town there were elephants walking along the street behind us.

After the fort we went for lunch, and this is where I let my guard down for once. The waiter gave us water in a jug and I drank a glass, thinking I would be OK. Think again! From this point on in India I was ill, which could be seen by the fact that I lost probably over a stone in the next couple of weeks.

Luckily we had a driver and air conditioning in the car, as without it I would have struggled to get through, as I was surviving on the occasional piece of toast, which stayed with me for about an hour a time. After this point I pretty much gave up on eating Indian food and managed to find a few Pizza Huts and McDonalds, which believe me I am ashamed about but was also the only thing that would have got me through. Allison was pretty much unscathed, which was also good as she took good care of me, and you need at least one of you healthy to fight off the people trying to rip you off all the time!

Whilst in Jaipur we also visited Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh Fort and also wanted to visit Hawa Mahal, but there was construction going on so we just stopped for a quick look.

Leaving Jaipur we took a detour to Ranthambhore National Park to see some wildlife.

Ranthambhore National Park is one of the largest and most famous national parks in northern India. It is situated in the Sawai Madhopur district of southeastern Rajasthan, about 130 km from Jaipur.

Ranthambhore was established as the Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955 by the Government of India, and was declared one of the Project Tiger reserves in 1973. Ranthambore became a national park in 1980. In 1984, the adjacent forests were declared the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary and Keladevi Sanctuary, and in 1991 the tiger reserve was enlarged to include Sawai Man Singh and Keladevi sanctuaries.

The park lies at the edge of a plateau, and is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. There are several lakes in the park. It is named for the historic Ranthambore fortress, which lies within the national park. The park covers an area of 392 km, and is famous for its tiger population, as well as being home to other wild animals such as the leopard, nilgai, dhole, wild pig, sambar and chital, many trees, plants, birds and reptiles.

We stayed just outside the park and were the only guests in a particularly run down hotel. We arranged for our safari the next day, but when we came to leave the guys organising it started trying to charge us more for the trip, even though everything had been agreed the day before. After much arguing we got our way and set off, but later left a night early as we weren't happy with the hotel manager trying to rip us off.

Before that though we drove down to the park early and set off in search of tigers. Entering the park we were surprised to see no real fences to talk off, and the entrance was pretty much a gate made up of two stone towers or pillars and a small hut. It appeared that it wouldn't be too difficult for the tigers to just walk out and into the small town nearby!

So driving in our jeep we were in contact with other rangers, and eventually got the call to say tigers ahead. We sped along and were lucky enough to see a mother with her young cub. It was such an amazing sight seeing these creatures in the wild, and they didn't seem too bothered by us, though all the deer and other animals had scarpered sharpish. We followed the tigers for a short time until they walked off into the rising sun, to, we were told, take shade for much of the day.

At this point the rangers thought the trip was over, after just an hour or so even though we had paid for a few hours. Another argument followed, mostly with the Scandinavian girls in our jeep giving the rangers hell, and eventually, much to their disappointment they drove us round to look at other wildlife. Every twenty minutes or so they would try to take us back and we would argue again.

Still the trip was so worthwhile as tigers are endangered and are truly magnificent, so to see them walking freely was amazing. If only we could have seen them for longer.

After Ranthambhore we headed to Agra and the Taj Mahal, stopping off at Fatehpur Sikri on the way.

Fatehpur Sikri is a city in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was the political capital of India's Mughal Empire under Akbar's reign, from 1571 until 1585, when it was abandoned, ostensibly due to lack of water.

The name of the place came after Mughal Emperor Babur defeated Rana Sanga in a battle at a place called Khanwa (about 40 KM from Agra). Then Mughal Emperor Akbar wanted to make Fatehpur Sikri his headquarters, so he built this majestic fort but due to shortage of water he had to ultimately move his headquarters to Agra Fort.

After the blessing of Sufi Saint Salim Chisti Akbar was blessed with a male child who became the heir to his throne. He was named Salim (after the name of Sufi Saint Salim), later to become Emperor Jahangir. The tomb "Salim Chisti Ka Mazar" was built in honour of Sufi saint Salim Chishti in 1571 by Akbar.

Fatehpur Sikri shared its imperial duties as a capital city with Agra, where a bulk of the arsenal, treasure hoards, and other reserves were kept at its Red Fort for security. During a crisis, the court, harem, and treasury could be removed to Agra, only 26 miles away, less than a day's march.

Innovations in land revenue, coinage, military organisation, and provincial administration emerged during the Fatehpur Sikri years. It is regarded as Emperor Akbar's crowning architectural legacy. Indeed, its numerous palaces, halls, and masjids satisfy his creative and aesthetic impulses, typical of Mughals. Some contemporary Indian architects, notably B. V. Doshi, have cited it as an important source of inspiration.

Fatehpur Sikri is a World Heritage Site.

About a mile from Fatehpur Sikri our driver Khan suddenly became very serious and warned us that when we arrive, we are likely to be surrounded by dozens of guides jostling for our business. He wasn't wrong! Driving up towards the fort the first of the guides ran towards the car and reached through the window to grab Khan, while the car was still moving. Khan braked and whilst being held by the scruff of the neck explained that we already had a guide, and eventually we were allowed to pass.

We pulled up outside and being the only white people there were immediately surrounded by about twenty guides and vendors, so much so that we could barely get out of the car. Eventually we squeezed out and Khan introduced us to our guide, and we walked off towards the sight with a trail of guides behind us.

Leaving our shoes at the door (this happens often in India), I also removed my socks for some reason. Bad idea, as the temperature was mid-40's and the sun had been pounding on the stone all day long. I skipped as quickly as I could to the shaded areas, escaping with just raw feet. We had a quick look around, as well as the usual, uncomfortable investigation of the mosque and then left, paying the shoe man 50 pence or whatever it was and jogged back to the car, trying to get away without being surrounded again. Not one of our favourite experiences of India! Finally onto Agra.

Driving into Agra was a strange and disturbing experience, as there was an elephant dancing in the middle of the road, which is not a pleasant sight. Hopefully people in second and third world countries will learn one day to treat animals better. India is still trying hard to stop people from keeping bears for entertainment, as you hear horror stories about how they make them dance by placing them on hot coals and playing music, so that when they hear music from then on they think they need to keep moving their feet around!

We arrived at our hotel and went for dinner (in my case something small) in the revolving restaurant at the top of our hotel, which had very distant views of the Taj Mahal (the waiter lent us some binoculars).

Agra is an ancient city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, mentioned in the epic Mahabharata when it was called Agrabana (or Paradise), and also by Ptolemy, the famous 2nd century geographer, on his map of the world. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.

The first place we visited whilst in Agra was the Fort. Agra Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is also known as Lal Qila, Fort Rouge and the Red Fort of Agra (yes, another one). It is about 2.5 km northwest of its much more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city.

It is the most important fort in India. The great Mughals Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb lived here, and the country was governed from here. It contained the largest state treasury and mint. It was visited by foreign ambassadors, travellers and the highest dignitaries who participated in the making of history in India.

Inside the Fort the architecture is amazing and exactly what you would expect of an Indian palace. From the highest buildings you can see the Taj Mahal in the distance, and some of the windows and gates frame it perfectly. As with most or possibly all Indian palaces and forts, there are religious buildings within the walls, and inside the Fort there were monkeys running around the walls of the buildings which was a great sight.

It was only after visiting many of the sights in India that we realised just how much of the history is Islamic, as nearly everything we visited, and especially the most famous of the sights were Muslim, even though now India is predominantly a Hindu country. Most of the decoration is Islamic, with the rounded windows and buildings facing in certain directions. Without knowing much about the history of India, I would assume it had something to do with the British splitting up the country. We're normally to blame!

The next day we visited the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum that was built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The Taj Mahal (also "the Taj") is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish, Indian and Islamic architectural styles. In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."

While the white domed marble and tile mausoleum is most familiar, Taj Mahal is an integrated symmetric complex of structures that was completed around 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally considered to be the principal designer of the Taj Mahal.

We arrived at the Taj first thing the following morning and queued to be one of the first to get in. To get in was reasonably expensive in Indian terms, I think around £10, although for Indians it was about 70 pence.

Arriving early we managed to get our pictures with barely anyone else in (including the famous Diana pose), although for many of the Indians it was the other way around. Allison must have had about a dozen picture requests (generally from blokes), and one group of three blokes had an old camera that probably only took about twenty-four pictures, yet they used about six on Allison so that all the lads could have a picture with her in. There was me taking about a hundred and fifty shots of the Taj Mahal while everyone else just wanted a picture of Allison!

The Taj was truly beautiful though, and although there's not much inside the main building, the grounds and other buildings are really pretty too. We spent a large part of the day, sitting in different parts of the grounds and looking at it from every conceivable angle before heading back to the hotel and leaving the following day.

On our way back to Delhi we visited Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Raj Ghat is a simple black marble platform that marks the spot of Ghandi's cremation on 31 January 1948. It is left open to the sky while an eternal flame burns perpetually at one end. It is located on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi, India. A stone footpath flanked by lawns leads to the walled enclosure that houses the memorial. Two museums dedicated to Gandhi are located near by. The memorial has the epitaph Hē Ram, (literally 'O' Ram', but also translated to 'O God'), believed to be the last words uttered by Gandhi.

It has become customary for foreign dignitaries visiting India to pay their respects to Gandhi at the Raj Ghat by laying flowers or wreaths on the platform. As a sign of respect, visitors are required to remove footwear before approaching the memorial. A commemorative ceremony is held every Friday, to mark the day Gandhi died. Prayer sessions are held at the Raj Ghat on Gandhi's birth and death anniversaries.

Raj Ghat loosely translates to King Court (where King alludes to the importance of the place). We also visited one of the Ghandi museums, which houses the blood-stained clothes Ghandi was wearing when he was shot dead.

Arriving back in Delhi we decided to change our flight home, as we hadn't realised that the monsoon rains had already started in the south, and originally we'd planned on travelling down there to Mumbai (formally Bombay) to travel around.

Before saying our goodbyes to Khan, he took us to an Airline's office to change the flight, and somehow they forgot to charge us the £150 or whatever it was to amend the location of the flight. Oh well, we deserved a bit of luck after being ill for days!

Now we'd changed our flight home to leave from Delhi instead of Mumbai, we took the train to Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple, where we thought we could travel to Daramsala, home of the Dalai Lama in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Amritsar (meaning: The Lake of the Holy Nectar) is in the state of Punjab, India, and the city has a population of around 1,500,000. It is located in the northwestern part of India, 32 kilometres (20 mi) east of Lahore, Pakistan. Some have taken the name Amritsar to derive from Amŗit-saagar, meaning "The Ocean of the Nectar of Immortality".

It is home to the Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, and is the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion. This important Sikh shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal in Agra and is the number one destination for non-resident Indians (NRI) in the whole of India. This city is known for the incidents of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919 under British Rule and Operation Bluestar in 1984 under the late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.

The train journey from Delhi to Amritsar was eventful, as firstly we fell asleep and were awoken by the conductor touching Allison's leg, and then as we waited in a station there was a cow looking through the window, actually stood on the platform in the station. This kind of stuff is normal in India though.

Arriving in Amritsar we walked off looking for a hotel. This was our first real experience of walking with our back packs in this heat, and it wasn't very enjoyable. 40 degree heat and 20kg's on your back don't compliment each other. Eventually we found a decent hotel and relaxed for the day.

The reason for our visit to Amritsar was to visit the Golden Temple or The Harmandir Sahib.

The Harmandir Sahib is considered holy by Sikhs because it is the eternal Guru of Sikhism, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, is always present inside in it and its construction was mainly intended to build a place of worship for men and women from all walks of life and all religion to come and worship God equally. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the holiest literature in the Sikh religion, the tenth Guru of Sikhs, Sri Guru Gobind Singh on 7th October 1708 made it the eternal Sikh Guru and the leader of Sikhism. Anywhere in the world where the Guru Granth Sahib is present is equally holy and precious to Sikhs. Harmandir Sahib has been built with four doors to show every religion or faith is allowed to go in to meditate or just listen to the prayers for peace.

Its name literally means House of God. The fourth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Ram Das, excavated a tank in 1577 which subsequently became known as Amritsar (meaning: Pool of the Nectar of Immortality), giving its name to the city that grew around it. In due course, a splendid Sikh edifice, Harmandir Sahib (Temple of God),was constructed in the middle of this tank which became the supreme centre of Sikhism. Its sanctum came to house the Adi Granth comprising compositions, Sikh values, philosophies and teachings of the Sikh Gurus and other saints of Guru Nanak's time, e.g. Ravidas a Hindu Guru, Baba Farid a Sufi Sant (Saint) and Kabir, all of whom the Sikhs refer to as the Bhaqats.

The compilation of the Adi Granth was started by the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Arjan Dev.

Originally built during 1574 AD, the site of the temple was surrounded by a small lake in a thin forest. The third of the six grand Mughals, emperor Akbar, who visited the third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Das, at the neighbouring town of Goindval was so impressed by the way of life in the town that he gave a jaqir (the land and the revenues of several villages in the vicinity) to the Guru's daughter Bhani as a gift on her marriage to Bhai Jetha, who later became the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das. Guru Ram Das enlarged the lake and built a small township around it. The town was named after Guru Ram Das as "Guru Ka Chak", "Chak Ram Das" or "Ram Das Pura".

During the leadership of the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev (1581-1606), the full-fledged Temple was built. In December 1588 the great Muslim Sufi saint of Lahore, Hazrat Mian Mir, a close friend of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, was asked to lay the corner stone (December 1588).The story has been told that a mason then straightened the stone, to which Guru Arjan said, as you have just undone the work of such a holy man, who knows what disaster might come to the Harmandir Sahib. This story has been used to offer a reason why the temple has been attacked so many times by the Afghanis and Mughals and even the Indian Army in 1984, during Operation Bluestar, which sparked the Khalistan insurgency that lasted into the 1990's.

The temple was completed in 1604. Guru Arjan Dev, installed the Adi Granth in it and appointed Baba Buddha Ji as the first Granthi (Reader) of the temple on August 1604. In the mid 18th century it was attacked by the Afghans, by one of Ahmed Shah Abdali's Generals, Jahan Khan, and had to be substantially rebuilt in the 1760s. However, in response a Sikh Army was sent to hunt down the Afghan force. They were under orders to show no mercy and historical evidence suggests none was shown. Both forces met each other 5 miles outside Amritsar where Jahan Khan's army was destroyed. He himself was decapitated by commander Sardar Dayal Singh.

Arriving in the pouring rain, we weren't allowed to enter until we had picked up our turbans to cover our heads. I was given a fetching pink one. Then we had to remove our shoes and wash our feet before entering.

Walking in is quite a sight, as in the middle of the lake is the Golden Temple, there are a number of buildings all around the edges of the pool and the pool is full of men bathing themselves in their pants.

There must have been thousands of worshippers within the walls (us and another couple being the only white people), as walking around the grounds took a long time. The queue to enter the Golden Temple itself was hundreds deep also, and being India there was no personal space with people just crammed in against each other, so this and the fact that it was pouring with rain helped us decide to just look from outside.

We jumped in a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and dried off. Unfortunately after doing some research in Amritsar, it turned out that getting to Daramsala and back was expensive and would be a rush, and also we found out that the Dalai Lama was touring Australia at the time, so with that in mind we decided to give it a miss and head back to Delhi instead a couple of days early.

The last few days of our World trip came and went, and before we knew it we were at the airport awaiting our flight home. More arguing as when we checked in we were told that we had to pay about £150 to change the location of our flight home, but after telling them it was their mistake and we wouldn't had done it if we had known (a lie), they let us off as long as we paid 10 pence or a similar amount to show we had paid something, as otherwise due to their rules we would not be able to go ahead with the flight. Cheekily we even told them it was our last flight and asked for an upgrade, and we were given premium economy seats!

Arriving back in London was great. We knew that in a years time we would probably do anything to have just a couple of weeks of those experiences to live through again, but we were ready to come home after being on the road and living out of bag for 49 weeks.

It was tiring but relaxing, hard but wonderful, and something that we will always remember with the fondest of memories.