After another train journey we arrived at Gwalior - a town famous for its fort, decorated with colourful tiles.  There are even fewer Western tourists here. We had breakfast at The Indian Coffee House -an Indian institution.  A co-operative restaurant where the staff wear white uniform with a colourful  cumberband and a white turban hat with a tall white fan! Very reminiscent of the Raj!..  After visiting the fort and a delicately decorated palace,  we head ...

After safely arriving at Ranthambore, our hotel booked us on our first safari the same afternoon. Unfortunately, we could only get on a cantor (a 20 seater converted truck), rather than a jeep. A truck full of noisy and excited Indians, who don't understand the need to be quiet, isn't very conducive to wildlife spotting.. Fortunately, the guide told us that we would be going into Zone 2 of the park where a male and female tiger had been seen that morning with ...

Wow - what an awesome sight.  Nothing can prepare you for seeing the Taj for real.. We arrived in Agra on Thursday, planning to visit the Taj Mahal on the Friday - then we found out that as the sight contains a mosque, it is closed to visitors on Fridays! Luckily we had 3 nights in Agra, so we were able to visit on Saturday, which was all the more lucky as it rained nearly all day on Friday, but was dry on Saturday..  We arrived at the Taj Mahal early to try an...

We left Corbett National Park on the Corbett express train, less grand than it sounds. An overnight train, we took sleeper class again £4.50 for the two of us. Arrived in Jaipur 14 hours later, a little tired but a fun way to travel. You get a good idea of the real India on the trains , the sights and smells of the residential areas that back onto the railways are an assault on all the senses at once. Amazing where people will toilet - in full view of people on ...

Corbett national park is the oldest in India, started by a big white hunter made good. A huge area in the foothills of the Himalayas offering protection to wildlife. We wanted to get there by train but couldn't get tickets so hired a car and driver, took 6 hours to cover 250 km on incredibly busy poor roads. There was a terrible storm on our first night and we feared a wash out but the next morning the sun shone. We set off for the forest In a little Suzuki jeep ...