We have decamped to Rajasthan in search of some warmer weather. Well, that's sort of true anyway. We were beginning to get a little restless after nearly 10 very relaxing days in Himachal Pradesh doing very little except eating lovely food. We are now firmly back on the sight-seeing trail, and have been in Jaipur for the last two days. We came here on the sleeper train from a small junction town (read Royston Vasey) called Pathankot, which we came dangerously clo...

This week we have mostly been eating cake! We also found time to go and see the Dalai Lama (between mouthfulls). He was giving teachings all week at the temple, and on Friday we finally managed to fulfill all of the strict security criteria and actually get inside to hear him speak. Having said that, as he was speaking in Tibetan we had to listen to a (somewhat poor) English translation via a tiny radio which we bought for the occasion (and tuned into Temple FM!)...

We sadly left Dalhousie, and the bus journey to Dharamsala was equally as dramatic as the one to Dalhousie. Once I had taken the motion sickness tablet I almost enjoyed the way the bus sped down the hills and round hairpins without aid of the brakes. Still, we got here safely, and found a place to stay. It's not quite as cold here, but still chilly. Our room is surprisingly warm despite having no heating. We are now 1770m above sea level, so still feel the need t...

We have been relaxing and doing very little indeed. We are staying at the Grand View Hotel in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh. It really does have a grand view; from our room we can see the snowcapped peaks of the start of the Himalayas. We are at 2000m here in Dalhousie, so we are taking it easy, and avoiding altitude sickness by staying in bed as much as possible! We decided to splurge a little on the hotel, hence the grand view, the separate living room and bedroo...

We are in Amritsar, having flown from Hyderabad to Delhi, spent 11 hours at the airport, then flown to Amritsar. Still, it was quite cheap; we flew with India's budget airline, Air Deccan (just like Easyjet really, no allocated seats, or free drinks). We visited the Golden Temple today. It is really beautiful. The central temple is marble and the top half covered with gold. Inside is just as impressive, full of intricate patterns on the walls and ceiling, and im...