Udaipur has been called the ‘most romantic spot on the continent of India‘, the ‘Venice of Rajasthan’ and the ‘City of lakes’. The old city, sitting on Pichola Lake, is a cupola crowned area of hues of icing sugar, creams and honeysuckle. The ‘new’ city is an unimaginative collection of undistinguished buildings that has grown […]
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Blue Bundi

The blue town of Bundi feels like a touch of old India. It is off the tourist trail and, as yet, uncorrupted by the hordes of visitors that we have encountered elsewhere. It’s a captivating place with narrow twisty lanes, grand old town gates, little shops and bazaars; a place where we can wander without […]
Varanasi: the holy dump

Varanasi is the holiest of Indian cities and stands proudly on the banks of the River Ganga (Ganges). The city draws pilgrims from around the world to worship, to meditate but, above all, to bathe. For a Hindu, it is the place to be born and the place to die. We came here because we […]
The stunning Taj Mahal

We have come to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It is one of those must-see, must-do, not-to-be-missed sites that is almost mandatory for any visit to India. And it’s worth every moment spent there. We arrived on the 0600 express train out of Delhi, a surprisingly pleasant experience other than having to step around […]
New Delhi and old ways

In Delhi at this time of year you can either be fried or baked depending whether you are inside or outside. The daytime temperature is in excess of 40c and the sun is like a furnace that wilts all living things below, especially a couple of white-fleshed English who think that a temperature of 30c […]
Monks on the move

We are back in Phnom Penh for 48 hours because we have to collect our visas from the Indian Consulate. Our Indian friends have learnt the craft of bureaucracy from the British but have turned it into an art form. I won’t bore everyone with the process but it involves a lot of queuing, a […]
Back to the seaside

Having had enough of the city and the Khmer Rouge, we went off to the south for a few days while we waited for the Indian Government to decide if we were the worthy sort of people to whom they would grant a tourist visa. We took a bus for the 130Km, four hour journey, […]