Hello there,

I'm glad to report that we are back in the land of the living and while we're still having to take it easy with the food, we have been out and about and covered quite a bit of ground since our last update. We hope this one is not too long for you.

First off, we checked out of Varanasi (having not seen the Ganges), taking the train back west to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.

A few words on riding the trains: There are several different classes which, starting from the bottom up, go something like - hard seat; soft seat; sleeper; 2nd class; 2nd class aircon; 1st class; 1st class aircon. I've probably missed a couple but you get the picture. The trains are generally oversubscribed, so to get anything in 1st/2nd class you need to book a day or two before, or longer at peak times or on peak routes. If you are really brave (or desperate) you can just turn up and ride in the bottom class, or buy an upgrade ticket that lets you move up if there is space available. When you book, it may not be confirmed immediately and you go on to a wait-list. There are a number of seats that are reserved for official use and when these don't get taken, your seats will be confirmed a few hours before departure. Its all a bit nerve racking to be honest. We haven't managed to get a straight answer as to what happens if they don't get confirmed, they just seem to know what will be and what won't be.

Anyway, we booked 2A/C for the 14 hour trip and were assigned a bunk each which thankfully were next to each other. The trains don't really get above a fast trot and for the most part just seem to roll along. We left on time at 5am, but nobody seemed really surprised or annoyed that by the time we arrived in Agra we were 5 hours late and it was after midnight. Just seems to be the way apparently. Given our recent condition, I should also mention toilets - some carriages have a choice of western or indian style. Ours didn't. It was indian style squat box or nothing. They were pretty unpleasant places, but not so disgusting you wouldn't use them if you had to. Mind you, they are generally more bearable than some of the station platforms!!

The next morning we got up, had breakfast then headed out to see the Taj Mahal. Extremely impressive and gleaming white, it's everything it looks to be in all the pictures that you see. Being there in person you appreciate the scale of the place a bit more; not just the Taj itself, but the size of the gardens it stands in - the whole place is huge and we spent the best part of an hour alone just strolling through the gardens on approach to it. There must have been a few thousand people there, but you could wander off the main pathways into the gardens for a quiet moment and the building is so big that it's never blocked by the people and you're never really competing for the best view. You can walk through the tomb itself, but it's one of those places best observed from a distance away, hence the lack of jostling I suppose.

Later that afternoon we set off for Ranthambhor National Park which is across the state border into Rajasthan. Although slightly more than our budget allowed for we booked a car and driver for this part of our trip which should give us a bit more flexibility in getting around and remove some of the hassle factor - money well spent whilst we recover.

Probably the most immediate difference we noticed passing into Rajasthan is the sudden use of camels for towing carts etc - this was all done by cattle a few miles back, but now exclusively by camels. They're suddenly everywhere. As we head further west toward the desert, I guess they'll become more common too.

Ranthambhor is one of the larger Tiger reserves in India and the one which we pass closest to on our intended route - about 32 Tigers in 400 square kms. We've two nights booked here and sorted out a couple of safari drives when we checked into the hotel. The first drive we were quite lucky (though we didn't know it at the time) - we had a seat in a 4WD Suzuki and trundled off into the forest on one of the quieter trails. The trails were rough, very rocky, but we saw quite a bit of wildlife - deer, monkeys and even a Leopard from about a mile away, barely indistinguishable from the rocks with the bare eye. No sign of a any tigers though.

The following day we were in a Canter for our drive - a 20 person truck. Cheaper, but louder and not as versatile as the smaller vehicles. Surrounded by other canters and 4WDs we trundled our noisy way through the forest barely seeing anything. There was a bit of excitement when the warning call of the Samba Deer (the Tiger's favourite prey) rang out in the dense woods near us - a good sign of a Tiger nearby apparently, but that soon died away without any sightings and the guides lost interest. There may be Tigers in the woods, but you're not going to see them like this!

All in all, it was a really disappointing experience and not something we'd recommend to anyone coming here. I think we may have been a bit spoiled by our amazing Timbavati experience in South Africa last year!!

From Ranthambhor, we continued our drive west to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, dubbed the 'pink city' after the colour of the buildings in the old town. We've got a nice little hotel here, but we're the only guests in residence which is a bit weird. They call our room for our dinner order and then call again when it's on the table ready. We go down, eat our food (usually accompanied with a chat with the waiter) and then they lock up the restaurant again afterwards! It would be nice to have other guests there to add a bit of atmosphere but at least the service is good!

We spent a day with a guide seeing the main tourist sights of Jaipur including the City Palace which is still used by the Jaipur royal family and the Amber Fort which sits dramatically on the hills outside of town looking down over the city. There were also a few more obscure sights including a park filled with astrological observation equipment for tracking the various stars of the zodiac across the sky and the world's biggest sundial. There is also a palace half submerged by a lake which the guidebook is silent on and nobody can really explain why to us. Very random.

We were also subjected to the tourist tour of jewellery and carpet making followed by the sob story of how things are made by some poor old woman who is so old and disabled they need to take the materials to her home 80 kms away for her to continue working. All a bit distasteful.

After all our sightseeing we decided we deserved a lazy day by the pool so spent today catching up on some washing (our universal travel plus and washing line have come in very handy on this trip - thanks Janet!) then spent the rest of the day reading by the pool. It was nice to have a day to ourselves with nothing to do except relax for a bit.

So, we leave Jaipur tomorrow and head for Udaipur for a couple of nights before we head back to Delhi to catch a flight to Goa. We are both really looking forward to getting to Goa and chilling out on the beach for a week.

Until then, its TTFN.

PS Thanks Dad for letting us speak to Charlie on Skype!

Keep in touch everyone, we love hearing from you.

Dan & Sue xxx