Hi,

Hope this will just be the first of my updates on travelling around the globe.

Have now been in India since Wednesday morning. Plenty to report.

India is everything the books say it is, most importantly that nothing can quite prepare you for it, even the experienced traveller. It is the most frenetic, chaotic place imaginable. This email may highlight something of that...

I was due to arrive 0125 in Delhi and get the 0815 train to Jaipur. The flight ran late so I was quite ok about that as it meant less time to wait for the train. At the airport, despite reading all about it I still managed to get scammed by the taxi deal, however, now I should know better, so will not go into detail and spare my blushes.

As it was between 0200 and 0300 the taxi driver saw fit not to even brake when approaching red lights and I stopped counting after he took ten on the red at normal speed. He suddenly braked before one and then I saw the cop car waiting on the other side...

Now my impression is that as Delhi has a 12.8 million population there would be a big station and I would sit in a cafe with a coffee and a book until the train was announced. Turns out this train leaves from a 'small station' . The driver couldn't find it. 'I know its' behind these houses somewhere' he said. Then he got out of the taxi, leaving me in the middle of the road whilst he went to knock on a door to ask,allegedly. This got a bit alarming as images of robbery and kidnap got into my napper. I got out as well and was prepared to leg it. He was back in two minutes and we got to this building with no sign. Imagine Bridgeton station,no signage, with about 8 people sleeping on the ground completely wrapped from head to toe like mummies. 'Surely this can't be the place/', I said to him. 'Is this safe?'. He agreed to come in with me.

There was a window at the entrance with no one behind it. We entered the first platform and there was room for two tracks but no line on them, just rubble. The place looked like it had been partly demolished and then bombed. Imagine Clydebank station just after the Blitz and you get the idea. I remonstated with the driver. An elderly man in a turban approached and using pidgen English, he indicated that I needed to cross a bridge. where the train would arrive in 4 hours. I headed over. This time there WERE tracks with a long platform. No facilities. Apart from 10 people lying out covered up wraith like from head to toe the place was emptier than a Scottish pay toilet. Is this me for 4 hours? I needed to make a call of nature so headed back to the main building where I saw a door with a light coming from it.

Opening the door there were two men behind a desk, one pressing buttons on a vast board beside him. I introduced myself and had it confirmed (they had little English) that my train was due to leave from there. The men turned out to be the station master, the yard manager and a driver who I was asked to join on a bench opposite. After some brief chat I broke out some chocolate which was kindly given to me by my friends in the Glasgow FP manse the day previously. This improved relations even more, the Indians seem very polite and well mannered. another two men came in to meet me and were sent to get tea. Where they got it at 0330 in the middle of the back of beyond I don't know but they came back with six full cups and sat down to chew the fat. Apart from the station master who answered the phone regularly and then changed positions on his board (it's just like a computer, he told me solemnly), no one seemed to be doing any work.

After a while our mutual English was drying up and I asked them if there was a place I could sit and write my travelogue (knowing full well there was no waiting room in the shack). 'You must use my office' said the stationmaster and I was ushered into a dusty office where the light and a/c was switched on, and I was put behind a desk with swivel chair. I passed the time writing until the station master's boss turned up at 0700. We were introduced and more tea was called for. He had better English and after a chat at 0730 I headed back to the platform as I was told the train arrives an hour before departure. The sun was rising, people were pouring into the platforms and all sorts of stalls were being set up.Although this was my first glimpse of India in daylight I slept most of the way to Jaipur. Quite a start to the trip.

Once I got to my hotel I heard a noise outside in the landing which was an open verandah. I opened the door and there was a monkey on a nearby table trying to drink out of an empty coke bottle. I startled it and it jumped onto the back of a light chair which immediately fell over smashing the bottle and throwing the monkey to the ground. it scampered off in two seconds and everyone came running out of their rooms. I was left with the rather lame...'it wisnae me, a monkey done it and ran away' line.

Over the verandah wall two women down in the courtyard were sitting in the dirt and a cow and a goat were tied up. Must get a photo thinks I, Disaster. Camera not working. (i can hear some of you cheering and I know who you are). First day and no camera. Had to take it to a shop and buy a disposable while it was being checked out. Bear in mind I was leaving the city next evening to go to a smaller city

Next day I started sightseeing. My rickshaw driver was on hire for the day from 0900-1800 for a fiver. The driving in India is simply not describable. You have to be there. it doesn't just make The Whacky Races look like the Queen going down the Mall, Everywhere you have to contend with cows just wandering the streets. imagine driving from St Georges Cross along Great Western Rd and metting about 5 cows en route, completely oblivious of the traffic because they are deferred to and people just gently swerve around them, never mind pigs eating rubbish at the side of the road everywhere and scabby dogs running everywhere mixing it in the traffic with the best of them.

I visited a number of temples, palaces, museums and a massive fort. Anyone into architecture will love this place. Not so sure about the feminists. Most of the people digging drains and shifting dirt in and out of holes and carrying it away in pails on their head are women wearing full coloured national costume.

Bad news for some of you:the camera is fixed and a film tested. Only two films used this week but then I didn't arrive until Wednesday.

Next night did an overnight on the train to Udaipur which is set on Lake Pichola. Back to the traffic. When I was visiting a temple in Udaipur I looked down on an intersection where four ways met and managed to take a picture with the following, all on the junction: motorised rickshaws, motor bike, bicycles and elephant, plus of course a cow.

Interestingly a museum I was in today paid tribute to the work done by William Carey and Alexander Duff in not only spreading Christianity in India but in improving education and helping the poor.

Udaipur is a romantic city and well worth a visit. It is probably the wealthiest place in India but that is relative. Everywhere you meet beggars, many of them seriously deformed. Technology seems to be moving into place, however, if that will benefit them

Anyway, enough for a start. Quite honestly I have had to make major adjustments to adapt to this type of life again after a very long time, and am still not quite up to speed, but every day seems easier. It is a real adventure as you can see from the above, even if it is not always comfortable, but I'm getting there and am very conscious of peoples thoughts and prayers.

Will be great to hear from any of you, especially with news of home.

Will write again soon, towards the end of my time in India..

Take care

Murdo