7 weeks in India, 100,000 rupees...

India Stats
Modes of transport used in India: 16 (car, bus, train, taxi, motor rickshaw, cycle rickshaw, rowing boat, bicycle, motorbike, jeep, raft, plane, metro, kayak, ferry, foot)
No of different beds slept in: 20
No of overnight trains: 4
No of overnight buses: 3
Miles on the road in India: 3,488
No 0f McDonalds seen: 5
No of McDonalds eaten: 0
No of stray dogs: 134,672
No of times ripped off: 1 (for 40p!)
Maximum no. of layers worn: 8 (Pauline on overnight train)
Weight of Chapatis / Rotis / Naans consumed: 400kg (each!)
Current Rummy score: Pauline 17 Richard 9 ( Finally a game Pauline can seemingly dominate!)

This is a little late as we are now in China but we wanted to round up our last week in India. Since our last blog we spent one more day in Varanasi and decided we liked it but couldn't really decide why. I think maybe because it was more peaceful than the other cities with the river having such an influence on everything that happens there. It's a very spiritual place and apparently lots of people go there to 'find themselves'. We found a really nice bakery that runs a charity and a nice cosy guesthouse but we didn't really look for ourselves so can't really comment on that.

You can all officially stop being jealous of us being in sunnier climes. We have been freezing for the last few weeks and I hit a personal body temperate low on the very much delayed train from Varanasi to Agra. After shivering on the platform for 8 long hours we eventually boarded our train and tried to stow away in the posh (used loosely) carriage only to be literally thrown into the sleeper carriage by the very grumpy conductor. This wouldn't be so bad if we had been prepared like everyone else there and taken a blanket, it was baltic. Luckily for us there were some incredibly pissed Argentinians who happly shared their gigantic bottle of Whisky with us. That helped. In the morning some more new friends insisted on buying us chai everytime the sellers came round and refused to take our money. I think they were pleased that some wussy English folk were feeling the cold more than them. So our nightmare icy journey was actually a pleasure in some respects as we met some really freindly co-passengers. In fact, most of the people we have met in India go out of their way to welcome you, feed you, look out for you and ask you every possible question they can think of before letting you get away! It is a very friendly country once you settle in.

On to Agra, not the most vibrant or picturesque place we've seen but amazing for one, maybe two main reasons. Yes, the Taj Mahal is utterly breathtaking. We saw it from every possible angle, one of which is from Agra Fort which in its own right is worth a visit. I'd go back to Agra a million times to see it again but not for any other reason, sorry. We went at sunrise and were more than a little smug at beating the crowds.

On Richards' birthday we were in a small town called Bharatpur between Agra and Delhi. It's famous for the Keoladeo National park. We spent a morning on hired bikes spotting the wildlife which was more my ideal birthday than Richard's but he was happy enough taking photos. Apparently there is one tiger there but they aren't too concerned that you'll get eaten, they make you promise to stick to the paths and that's the health and safety briefing over. One problem, no signs anywhere. I was pretty nervous and peddled mighty fast passed the sunbathing jackals and wild boar. Weirdest sight had to be the domestic dog tucking into a huge cow carcass.

We finished our mini tour of India in the capital Delhi. We'd been told it was a bit dodgy and to steer clear so didn't plan to spend long there. Due to delays we'd lost a day or so as well so only had 2 nights to see what turned out to be a pretty cool place. There are some very modern parts of Delhi and it was a welcome change from the India we had grown used to. Contrary to what we had be warned, we felt very safe there and reflected over a cup of chai with our guesthouse owners that we were sorry not to have had more time to explore. We did manage to see India largest Mosque, the Jama Masjid and Delhi's red fort.

This is where I wanted to write my thoughts on India and my feelings on leaving etc, but Richard says it's too cheesy so no can do. On to a new adventure in China now and we'll try to make our updates regular and concise so we don't lose our audience yet!