Hi EveryoneMerry Christmas to everybody and I apologise for the lack of cards this year but emails have been tricky enough to get out and I think cards may have arrived for Christmas 2008....just.I spent Christmas in the Bandhavgarh National Tiger Reserve and had a great three days there relaxing, eating lots and seeing loads of tigers. I think I saw about fifteen and got up really close to them on the back of an elephant on two days.They are beautiful animals an...

Hi Everyone Happy Christmas! We are currently in Varanasi, the place where everyone bathes and washes everything on the huge steps (ghats) next to the Ganges. We had quite an adventure just getting to our hotel Yogi Lodge and managed to not get drawn into quite an elaborate con by the tricksters who jump on you as soon as you get off the train. Basically because our hotel is known for not giving money to drivers to take you there, none of the tuk tuk driv...

Hi Everyone I went to see the Taj Mahal today and it was genuinely the most stunning building I have ever seen in my life. You have to queue for a while to get in and the security measures are tighter than at airports, but when you step through the main gate and look up across the gardens with all the trees lining the waterways and the Taj in the distance, it does genuinely take your breath away. It is more beautiful than in the pictures and is really huge. It...

Hi Everyone I am now in Jaipur and coming to the end of my journey around Rajasthan. We have spent two weeks travelling around with our driver Mr Singh who has shown us lots of good places and occasionally some not so good, which we suspect are places that give him tips for bringing tourists there. Since leaving Jodhpur we went to a place called Ranakpur, which is in the hills to see a huge white marble Jain temple. This looks a bit like Angkor Watt temple ...

Hi Everyone I have left Delhi following some more days of sightseeing which actually proved that Delhi was slighly nicer than my initial reaction of horror. There are some nice parks, markets, palaces, museums and pleasant areas that are not really chaotic. I am now on a two week tour around the region of Rajasthan in West India. We hired a driver to take us around as is a good way to get about and not too pricey. This area is where all the grand palaces...