The journey from Sikkim to Delhi was a long one, after we rattled out of the mountains on our rickety bus we boarded the train for a marathon 30 hour journey. With our ticket not fully confirmed and initially only one seat between us we had an eventful journey that saw us sharing our cramped berths with a multitude of fellow passengers along the way. A family of three had also been allocated my seat and were eventually moved on by the ticket inspector at 1am. ...

It took us a couple of days to travel up to the ancient Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, sandwiched between Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and West Bengal. The capital Gangtok was our first destination where we were lucky enough to arrive just before the Tibetan New Year festival of ‘Losar’, for which there was some special dances on at the monastery in nearby Rumtek. We then headed out west to Pelling, which provided a base for several days of trekking through the mount...

Our journey up the East coast of India has been a whirlwind, covering about 2000km in a shade under 2 weeks. First port of call was Madurai, whose main attraction is its massive temple, Sri Meenakshi, which rivals the Taj Mahal as one of India’s great wonders. Next stop was the French colonial town of Pondicherry, where we enjoyed ambling through the shady streets enjoying what’s left of the Gallic heritage. From Pondy we had a long train ride north into O...

Leaving the elephants of Parambikulam behind we headed ever further south, first to the ancient port town of Fort Cochin and then onto Cape Comorin, the southernmost tip of mainland India. Much of our first day in Cochin was spent in search of Ratna, my father’s old housekeeper from his time in Cochin about 15 years ago. We discovered that the island she lives on has changed a lot since a bridge was built connecting it with the mainland and her old house demol...

After a night train journey south from Hampi we arrived in Mysore where we found a nice hotel located in the centre of town, the elderly room attendant literally jumped up and down with glee when we gave him a Rs. 10 (13 pence) tip for carrying our bags. We were very impressed with the brand new city bus station and its gleaming Volvo buses, one of which we took up to the top of nearby Chamundi hill to visit the temples and a massive 5m high Nandi bull. The food ...