Me on the clifftops

Beach day

Wave watching Varkala beach

Sunset dip in the Arabian Sea

Kerala balcony

Kovallam beach, cool at 30 degrees

On the tube home

Mahalaxmi Dobi ghats

Where most of the laundry in the city gets done.

The magnificent Victoria terminus

Rather more spectacular than London Victoria!

Elephanta island

University of Mumbai

Prince of wales museum

We're in fabulous balmy Mumbai. Wish we had arranged for longer here, but it's great.

Kite museum, Ahmedabad

In the sleeper car

There was only one berth left so we're sharing. It's cold in here, i'm waiting for a station where we can get some chai.

Train food

Looks and smells good and fresh, although this is the first snack i've seen that hasn't been deepfried, but we're cautious eaters..

Waiting at abu road.

Dalit children collect plastic bottles and paper from the piles of rubbish on the tracks

The long and winding road

Mt Abu to Abu Road. 1,000 metres descent, free-wheeled by our driver. Hare-pin drops. I'm enjoying sitting still for a bit now. I was glad that the road was at least lined with very sturdy concrete bollards..

The lovely Indian taxi

Arrivals board at Abu road station

Arrivals board at Abu road station

Another spectacular walk

This time, we were lower than yesterday, and it was 42 degrees in the sun, 35 in the shade. Most of the walk was in the sun..

Tree house in the forest

We were offered an overnight stay here to watch the bears at full moon, but i'm afraid we declined..

Another trekking pic. Hot on the way up

We climbed to one of the peaks around Abu, with fabulous views to the valley.

Trekking in mt abu

Mt Abu kids playing cricket under the bunyan tree

Quiet and cool mount abu

Full of middle class Gujarati tourists, who are chatty and having fun. It's a bit like an english seaside town, ice cream and pedalos, and cooler than the plains.

It's wedding season

Mainly we've seen parades with a bride, this is the first groom we've spotted.

Udaipur wall painting

Amazing Rajasthani dancing

City palace at Udaipur

Today is steamy hot

Rooftop breakfast in Udaipur

Floating palaces and solar panels.. And poached eggs on toast.

Birds eye market view

Whilst its much quieter than other towns, there's still lots going on.

Holy cow

We're not allowed in the temples here but they're far from closed off to all.

Chilling out on the hotel roof

Caroline's in the swing

This is the main square in Pushkar

There are heaps of cows in the streets. There's no traffic to cause a jam though.

Sunset at Pushkar

Whilst this isn't the most spectacular pic, you can see pretty much the whole town from this shot.

Shopping in Pushkar

At the paint shop

A small traffic jam in Ajmer on the way to Pushkar

Seventh heaven in Pushkar

Just arrived at Pushkar. A small holy city by a lake in the hills. We are staying in a gorgeous havelli called seventh heaven. Its a bit too got to explore yet, 36 in the shade, Pushkar is a small town, 12,000, about twice the size of Cookham. It's quiet and my lungs are loving the absence of pollution.

Dawn at taj mahal

Taj from behind

More Fatepur

We're away from the tour now and can appreciate it more

Fatepur Sikhri

We're at a vast city abandoned by the mughal's in 1585, but today jam-packed with the most persistent hawkers we've met.

Room with a view

This is the rooftop restaurant view from our hotel. Just having mango lassi for breakfast.

Caroline at humayan's tomb

Precursor to the taj mahal in delhi. Today we're off to see the taj in agra

Bathing at the ghats

6 am in Varanasi and the city is awake and colorful

Traffic chaos