“Always check spare batteries are charged!”

On our last day in Delhi we chose to visit the Indira Gandhi Museum and Humayun’s tomb. After a couple of picture’s at one of the lesser, but nonetheless stunning, tombs at this world heritage site. The batteries ran out in the camera, no problem I thought, I inserted the spares. Which turned out to be dead as well you know. dead! There was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity to get any batteries, what a nightmare! Then boss-man at the gate sends one of the guards off to get me a new set. 10 minutes later he returns with new set of local ‘everready’ batteries. Unfortunately these don’t have the power to even turn the camera on. OK no problem we’ve seen plenty of fantastic buildings already and are sure going to clock up a few more by the end of the trip.

So we continue on around the tomb complex and through an arched gateway to be confronted with what can only be described as a breathtaking view. Ali nearly collapse’s on the floor laughing as he says “Wow, this would make a great picture!” To think that this building only gave the inspiration to the Taj Mahal, sharpens even further the excitement for what is yet to come.

Respect to Ali and Maisie, after battling trough a very crowded New Delhi train station at dusk with rucksacks that almost weigh the same as we do, I am relieved to get on the Shiv Ganga express train to Varanasi.
We are sat next to a nice couple who explain to us that we will be able to buy whatever snacks we want and that blankets and pillows will appear later. Sure enough within 2 minutes of us sitting down a man appears asking if we want Chai and there is chocolate and crisps to keep us going for a bit.
Maisie and I go and find the toilet, she makes me laugh when she uses the squat toilets like a pro local and announces to the carriage that “these squat toilets are ok aren�t they mom” (what planet is she on, I would barely describe them as ok and that is at the start of our journey but still they do the trick and when in Rome etc) I just thank god I packed wet wipes, alcohol gel for their hands and they had virtually all vaccinations known to man!
After a game of scrabble and a meal of cold curry, we were served last as in third class sleeper, we settle down for the night. I am only slightly disturbed when I see a mouse run over the end of my bunk, I must be toughening up a bit and after the rats in Delhi these mice seem quite cute.

I awake at 6.30 Maisie is leaning over the bunk whispering that she needs the loo, the poor thing has woken up with a streaming cold and a good going dose of the shits.
Still it makes her laugh when she realises that her squat toilet empties straight onto the track and I am relieved that she can find humour in anything as she does kook a bit pale.

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India, I have read that it is the spiritual centre of the Hindu’s universe and Hindu’s come to wash away their sins in the Great Mother (Ganges River), Varanasi is also a city of the dead, to die here and be cremated on the banks of the Ganges on one of the burning ghats is very good and releases Hindu’s from the cycle of rebirth.

Several hours later and we have arrived at the Scindhia Guest House, we have some banana porridge and chocolate pancakes for breakfast. After a bit of excitement when Maisie got locked in the loo for 15 minutes we go for a walk on the famous ghats.
It is absolutely boiling here, much hotter than Delhi and I think we will need a few days to get used to the heat so we make our way back.

Alister has been trying to teach me to play the guitar on and off for the last year and although I’m no good and haven’t really got the patience to practice enough, I am hoping to learn simple stuff whilst we are away (Just enough to get me by when I have had a few beers) and we spend a few hours sat in a tiny room with the fan whirring away listening to Ali playing.

At 5.30 we go on a boat trip up the Ganges, there is a festival on one of the ghats and we are going to watch. Firstly though we stop at Manikarnika ghat this is the most auspicious ghat to be cremated on and we count 15 fires, the logs are piled all around and there are 3 bodies on the steps waiting.
Tiny candles on little baskets of reeds and flowers are being floated up the river and it looks beautiful, I’m not sure what the significance of these are but as I float mine I make a wish anyway and cross my fingers just in case.
We didn’t take any photographs out of respect but watching the funeral pyres in the dark from a small rowing boat on the river was really indescribable and something I will never forget.

This morning was little disconcerting. I wondered, as we waited for our free hotel pick-up to arrive, whether we had taken a step to far to the wild side. Varanasi (or Vara-nasty as it is refered to in some quarters) is awash with touts of the worst kind trying to take you dodgy hovels and collect their commission. We were prepared for this, but still white faces generate a real feeding frenzy, and it can be a little uncomfortable when you are aware that there is a criminal element in this area that looking to not just fleece you, but rob you.

Immediately it is clear that Varanasi is much dirtier than Delhi, which is saying something. Eventually the friendly face of our pick up arrives, carrying a little scrap of paper with “Mr Bowman” written on it. He walks us over to 2 auto rickshaws, Charlotte and Maisie in one and Ali and I in the other. I am slightly worried when the young boy sat in the front of ours turns out to be the driver and not just waiting for dad to get in. As soon as we go to leave the station car park he loses the other rickshaw in the melee. We then proceed to experience what can only be described as extreme rickshaw driving. He drives through the traffic like Ali playing on a Playstation racing game!

Still, we do actually arrive in one piece. How? I may never quite work that out! Arrive meant arrive at the point where the rickshaws could go no further. We then had to walk the rest of the way to the hotel, 2 minutes we are told. Every turn down the dark and dirty alleyways seems to take us further into some scary maze. I am really beginning to wonder if this is too ‘real’ for us, let alone the kids. Just as I am about to lose hope of getting to the hotel, and feeling in my shoulders, we turn a corner to look out over the Ganges glistening in the morning sunlight. From that moment it all seems worth it, the river banks are alive with the day to day comings and goings of Varanasi. “What was I worrying about?”

We had a 16 hour train journey from Varanasi to Agra. This time second class sleeper although “sleeper” train is slightly misleading as I don’t think any of us got much sleep. Still I enjoyed the journey; we sat next to a man who was a teacher in hand loom textiles and accompanying 10 students on a 20 day tour of India. We spent a couple of hours chatting to him about Indian politics, culture, the divorce rate in the UK and what we usually eat for breakfast.

I then spent an hour practising the guitar; Ali was laughing at me and said I reminded him of Phoebe from Friends! Guess I need a lot more practice but have learnt an Oasis song and going to learn Greenday Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) next Best song!!

The kids did an hour or so of school, we learnt about the life of Mahatma Gandhi and I tested them both on what they had learnt. Pleased to say they both did well in their test and I gave them a house point each. I told them they will get a reward when they get to 10 points.
We had set our alarm for 5.30 as the train attendant told us we were due at Agra at 6am, we finally pulled into Agra station at 9.30, by this time tired, hungry and all feeling generally crappy with sore throats.
I was feeling apprehensive about finding the hotel as we hadn’t reserved a room and didn’t have a pick up arranged from the station, but still after a bit of bartering with the taxi wallahs we set off in 2 rickshaws.

The hotel is absolutely lovely with a pretty courtyard, clean rooms and friendly staff. They tell us our room will be ready soon and point us in the direction of the rooftop restaurant. We climb up a small winding little staircase and out onto the roof to be met by what can only be described as the best breakfast view ever.

The Taj Mahal really is breathtakingly beautiful and all the cliches that have been said about it are true. The kids both agree it’s gorgeous and to see the white marble glistening in the sun, so close to where we are staying is really special.

We decide that we will visit The Taj tomorrow at sunrise when the visitor numbers are less and we are all a bit more with it after a good nights sleep. I spend the next few hours showering, drying and straightening my hair, plucking my eyebrows and generally trying to improve my “been traveling for ages appearance”.
After eating we spend sometime talking to a nice Canadian couple, he turns out to be a maths teacher and we take advantage of this and he helps Simon and Alister with some difficult algebra question. Of course if they had asked me I could have easily given them the answer!

Its 6pm now I’m going to check emails and then off to bed. Feeling completely knackered, this is taking ages to write and have a wonderful day ahead tomorrow. Going to see the Taj Mahal, the most visited monument in India and something I have dreamed of. So excited I just can’t wait.

The Taj Mahal has been described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love.
It was built over 22 years for the wife of the Emperor Shah Jahan after she died giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631.
We found out that originally two buildings were commissioned but the black marble building was never built. Also legend says that the 20,000 workers who built it had their thumbs cut off when it was done so they could never build another.

I woke up at 6.30 feeling really excited, the Taj entrance is a two minute walk from where we are staying. The security at the gate is very strict and we are searched and patted down before being allowed to go through.
Sunrise is the best time to visit the Taj as the light reflects off the white marble, the building glows first golden, then pink and then blue. The visitor numbers are also less as many people visit the Taj in the evening on day trips from Delhi.

There is a huge red sandstone gateway and once you pass through this you see the Taj properly for the first time. It is absolutely beautiful and while I can’t describe it in any way that would do it justice, many people have tried to sum up its beauty calling it a “teardrop on the face of eternity” and “the embodiment of all things pure”.

We take lots of photographs from all angles; the fountains are turned off so the reflection in the water in front is not spoiled. Simon lies on the floor and gets some great shots but when looking back through our pictures later we all agree Alister actually snapped the best picture!

We are allowed to walk onto the mausoleum itself and go inside to view the tomb but not allowed to take photos inside. The marble in here is carved very intricately with flowers and inlaid with semi-precious stones and someone shows us with a torch how the moonlight shines through the translucent soft marble.

As I sit on a bench in front of this wonder of the world built for love, I think of all the people at home who I love and although Maisie gets a little bit tearful when she sees someone who reminds her of Nana Judy we all end up laughing when Simon points out a large American tourists elaborate hairdo that is an equally impressive feat of engineering and would I’m sure, also stand the test of time.

Following breakfast at the hotel Kamal, Simon spends 2 hours teaching the kids science, Ali learns about the states of matter and Maisie learns about the Earth, Sun and Moon. I hope they will at least have kept up with their classmates when we go home, preferably ahead in some things.

In the afternoon we go to Agra Fort, we learn that following the building of the Taj Mahal the Emperor Shah Jahan was imprisoned here for 8 years by his son, who didn’t want him to blast anymore of his inheritance on building another black Taj.
It is also very beautiful but by the middle of the afternoon we are all monumented out and catch a pony and trap back to the hotel where the kids watch Shrek 2 on the telly and we sit down to plan our route over the next 11 days through Rajasthan.

I will be sorry to leave here. At 6 pound 50p per room per night it is a bit more expensive than what we have been paying but hey I guess you have to splash out a bit every now and again and for the last few days experience here, I reckon it’s been worth every penny and then some.

We thought the kids were feeling a bit fed up tonight and asked them if they wanted to go to an expensive hotel for dinner. They said they didn’t but we headed off to a restaurant serving continental food. After ordering their meals we were told that continental food was off the menu tonight!
So on the way back we called in at McDonalds for McFlurries , I was recently laughing at my friend for feeding their son McDonalds for breakfast- how bad are we !!

I awoke at 6am this morning to the Muslim Call to Prayer. Slept ok, the beds are a bit smelly but comfortable enough.
We have our breakfast in the hotel restaurant which is nice and cheap and check a few emails from home. Have had an email from a Canadian family who are planning a trip like this with their children and its good to hear they are enjoying our website.

We return to our room and I have the best shower since arriving in India, lots of hot water and a good strong flow on the shower. (These things are important now and it’s the first question I ask when arriving at a new place)
I feel better after washing my hair and a bit of pampering. I guess with my hairdryer, straighteners, full range of make up and massive first aid kit we’re not the usual backpackers but then with two kids we’re not that usual anyway.

This hotel is full of backpackers, but we haven’t seen many other Brits and none to speak too. Other travellers have mostly ignored us although we have spoken to a few nice people. At breakfast today I saw someone wearing a Stevie Gerrard shirt but he was Chinese and it is a very different experience to when we holidayed in Goa a few years ago.

Simon then wins a gold star for being brave and sticks his hand down the toilet to unblock it. Oh my god it was completely horrible, the power went off and he was stuck in there with his arm submerged in the dark! Meanwhile me and the kids were outside laughing and encouraging him on and asking him what The black hole of Calcutta really was like.
What a vile experience and I have to hand it to him what a hero!

We spend an hour doing schoolwork, we are alternately doing Literacy, Numeracy and Science and following the curriculum (loosely) Ali and Maisie are tired today though and not very enthusiastic so I choose something I think will be easy.
We practice writing formal letters and they both write a letter of complaint to the owners of the hotel. I give them a B for attainment but only C for effort and they both agree I am mean and tougher than their teachers.
We go to The Amber Fort; we spend a few hours wandering around here and visit the armoury museum, the kids seem to enjoy this although I’m feeling a bit queasy and don’t really have a good time. I have noticed if I don’t take my malaria tablets with food they make me feel really sick and vow not to do that again.

We then visit Hawa Mahal (The Palace of the Winds) this famous palace was built in 1799 for the Royal Ladies so they could watch the comings and goings of Jaipur without being seen from the street. We climbed to the top but as Alister is afraid of heights, we don’t stay up there long.
Following a bit of Christmas shopping in the bazaar for Maisie’s school friends we return to the hotel.

Its 9pm now had our dinner and emailed a few friends, I’m glad to hear they’re missing me and following our website avidly. (Keep it up mates!) Sat in bed watching James Bond (Not the latest to Ali’s disgust but good enough)
Feeling great now, so happy and looking forward to tomorrow. We are leaving for Pushkar at 10am and to be honest I can’t wait, it is a bit rank here and I’m optimistic that Pushkar will have more to offer. Bring it on.

Have to say it feels a lot longer than 12 days, not in a bad way. It is just that everything you do in India needs careful planning and execution, just crossing the road here, for example, is a major event. So this makes for tiring days and you quickly lose perception of how time is passing.

3 Cities, 2 overnight train journeys and now 3 days into an 11 day trip around Rajasthan with a car and driver.

Our hotel in Varanasi was the Indian equivalent of ‘Faulty Towers.’ The owner/head chef was a right grumpy old git, food was good but served with sneer. Varanasi was definitely worth the effort to experience, but we were glad to be getting away on the third day. Even though we were heading for another night train, I’ve found it hardest to sleep on the trains. I think that maybe it’s because I’ve half an eye open checking on our bags. We chain them to the bunks, but you know what it’s like check and double check. Have heard some real quality snoring of the highest order, funny Charlotte doesn’t snore like that at home normally(Joking! Joking!).

Arriving in Agra was a little challenging, got off at a different station than we planned and there was no official pre-paid rickshaw booth that we had expected. This is when you are most at mercy to commission touting rickshaw wallahs. We got besieged and headed outside to give ourselves time to take stock. We collected our thoughts and went for it with the 2 that least dodgy looking (This is a bit like grabbing a Cactus to find the bluntest needle!). True to form one suddenly needs petrol, while my driver shows me a book with recommendations about another hotel. Whilst telling me how dirty/bad/closed our choice is. We don’t take any bull off them and head for our choice, arriving we do get shown higher priced rooms than we had expected, but it is good and clean.

Walking upstairs to the rooftop restaurant was ‘cool as you like.’ It has a clear view right across to the Taj Mahal which is no more than a half mile away. We order a couple of drinks, and sit like the other few people there, staring at the view.

Booking the car and driver for Rajasthan is an interesting challenge, every agent has the best deal to offer. Not like everyone else, better driver, no hassle’s, go where you like, etc. We plumped for one option having made it clear on our terms. The driver picks us on schedule and we head off to first overnight stop of Jaipur, it soon becomes apparent that we will need to be on our toes. The lunch stop is clearly drivers backhander haunt, and we get stung for a more expensive the usual meal, won’t let that happen again. The ‘recommended’ hotel, as Charlotte has mentioned, was not acceptable so we passed on that. The guide waiting with our driver in our car, when he came to pick us up in the morning, showed that they will keep looking for an opportunity to make the extra cash.

I’ve come close a couple of times to losing my cool with the relentless touting of wares, but we try to remember they are only trying to a living. Sometimes it’s really hard to smile and say a polite ‘No. thanks!’ It does make the peace, when you find it, all the more enjoyable.

We head off to Pushkar later today and a bit less pollution.

7am- lying in bed listening to Dirty Dancing soundtrack, I like this it reminds me of a holiday with friends Nicky, Alli and Amanda in Turkey a few years ago. Allison and I got pissed one night, I got stuck up a tree and Alli still has a scar to show for it!
Anyway not up for any of that this morning. I’ve been coughing all night, have a banging headache and feeling all stuffed up. I will be so glad to get out of here.

Today we are travelling to Pushkar, this is according to Iram a 3 hour journey in the car and we have already booked a guesthouse in advance. So fingers crossed it will be nice and if not nice at least clean. Pushkar is a very holy town, mainly famous for its huge camel festival at the start of November and I have read that many travellers reach here and grind to a halt experimenting with spirituality, facial hair and marijuana.

Just found we have Abba in our music collection hurray! I can’t believe I never realised that- going to get up now and have a little dance around. Abba, 2 paracetamol and a hot shower and I reckon I’ll be well up for it!!

I have enjoyed the drive to Pushkar, the road was really good, the nearest I have seen to a motorway and we hared along. We spent the first hour or so learning more about the Hindu religion. The main manifestations of Brahman, which is eternal, never ending and always been there, are the gods Shiva,Vishnu and Brahma. We spend some time discussing them and then talk about Christianity and the Catholic faith.

The landscape is very flat but as we approach Pushkar we have to cross some mountains called Snake Mountains. Simon has found an expensive hotel with a pool and we call in there on our way to The Whitehouse Hotel. It will cost us 900 rupees (about a tenner) to spend the afternoon swimming there and one look at the pool and we decide to go for it.

Iram then decides to take us to another guesthouse which he insists is very good and cheap and to placate him we agree to go. It turns out to be lovely and fairly cheap but is in an isolated spot and the kids will have to sleep in a thatched hut
We tell him he must take us to our choice and when we get there are completely sold!
It is spotlessly clean with a friendly mum and son team who make us feel very welcome.

We quickly change into swimming gear and Iram takes us back to The Jagat Singh Palace Hotel where we spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool. The kids have a great time and I feel like I am on holiday- it’s absolutely bliss lying on a lounger reading Harrods magazine I have found peace already!

Today’s priority is to find a computer with a USB port so we can update the diary section. I probably won’t write it every day once we reach Goa as I guess there is only so much “I lay by the pool and did nothing today” that people want to read, although the main reason I am writing it as a record of the trip for us and Ali and Maisie.

We don’t get out of bed until 10.30 today, I am feeling tired with moving around a lot and still have a streaming cold. What a luxury to be able to think I’ll have a day off completely guilt free!

After breakfast Simon goes to sort out computer stuff and the kids I settle down to school.
Ali does 40 algebra questions and then joins in with Maisie’s science. We learn about the structure of cells and then go on onto draw and label the organs of the body. I pitch it at a higher level but Maisie seems to cope fine with this. We discuss the functions of the brain and are going to use the online encyclopaedia later to label it properly. This is a big section of work and is going to take a while to complete.

In the afternoon we visit the holy lake, Pushkar is a very mystical town and there are signs everywhere asking tourists to respect Hindu customs. No meat, eggs or alcohol, no photographs near the bathing ghats on the holy lake and no public shows of affection
.
Despite this though it does feel quite touristy, I think this may be because the camel fair has just finished and there is almost a sort of carnival atmosphere here although it is quiet
in comparison to other places we have visited.
We stop for lunch and have some pink soup; I read that because Pushkar is such a strict vegetarian town sometimes the restaurants do strange things to the food to liven it up a bit and I have certainly never seen tomatoes that colour before anywhere.

At 4.30 we leave the hotel to climb a mountain nearby and watch the sunset. The Savitri Temple is at the top and was named for Brahma’s wife. The Brahma Temple is at the base and the guesthouse owner tells us it is a fairly steep climb that will take us an hour. I am a bit worried about this as I’m not known for being particularly energetic and still have not really recovered from my experience of walking on Dartmoor last winter in my high heels.

Still we set off for what Simon calls Cardiac Hill and forty five minutes later we reach the top. I have drank a lot of water and asked Simon twice if he thinks I could have altitude sickness but I’ve made it!
I’m proud of myself as for me it’s a good achievement and well worth it as the views are great. Ali bounded up there and Maisie surprised us all by beating Simon and me to the top. (If there is anyone lazier in the world than me it’s Maisie!)

I can see why people stay here; it reminds me of festivals I have been to at home. As well as Indian music, I have heard Bob Marley and incense is being burnt everywhere.
The people are very friendly and although lots of people talk to us we haven’t been pressured to buy anything or asked for money by anyone. It feels safe and laid back here and I could definitely stay for longer.
We are moving on tomorrow though to the desert city of Jodhpur, Iram is picking us up at 10am so got to go get some sleep now.

Woke up at 8am today, we spent over an hour on the phone last night to home using Skype.This is good as it only costs a penny a minute. We have been using the internet a lot, most days and it’s good to keep in touch with everyone. It seems weird though to think it’s nearly Christmas and cold and wet at home. I don’t miss any of that and I can remember thinking to myself every single day last winter that in 2006 I would be in India.

We have our breakfast and leave Pushkar at around 10.30, Iram seems pleased enough to see us and we set off for Jodhpur. The roads are absolutely terrible, some of them are no better than rocky tracks. We are traveling over The Great Thar desert and Iram estimates it will take us around four to five hours.
I talk to Alister and Maisie on the way about money and wealth, this is one of the topics that Ali has to cover for R.E in year 8 and his teacher has been very good and supplied us with the curriculum. Having seen extreme poverty first hand it is easy for them to make comparisons between our lives and the lives of some people here. I’m pleased that they can discuss these issues in a sensitive and thoughtful way.

We don’t see much traffic on the way, only a few camel carts and motorbikes. The car we are travelling in is a small Indian made hatchback, called Tata Indicia. We pass through tiny villages and I notice that many of the women have their faces covered. The children are working on the roadside and we see a little girl mixing cement. She is smaller than Maisie although probably older, it’s difficult to gauge the age of children here as they are much smaller than our children.
This also means that Indian people think that our kids are older than they are and I have caught a few young fellas looking at Maisie. The Indian people we have spoken to have guessed that she is aged 13 although she is actually only 10.

We stop off at a truckers stop, Simon suggests we have some lunch but I’m having none of it and tell them to make do with crisps, biscuits and coke. I will try almost any food and I’m not a fussy eater at all but I wouldn’t choose to eat somewhere like that at home and am not about to start in India.
Also of the 4 of us I am the only one to not have had even the slightest upset tummy and I guess that is through being fairly strict about avoiding badly cooked “western food” and being a bit picky about meat.

Another hour or so goes by, I’m quite an expert daydreamer and the time flies by. The kids are being great, we brought travel Scrabble, dominoes, Suduko and cards with us and bought mini chess and a Rubix cube here but we haven’t really used them so far.
We also brought a small radio with us and use Ali’s MP3 player as a transmitter and play our C.D’s through it.. Its quite surreal driving through the deserts of Rajasthan listening to The Stereophonics and Razorlight and what Iram makes of it I’m not too sure!

We arrive in Jodhpur, around 2.30pm and head for The Shivam Paying Guest House, this place was recommended to us by the Canadians we met in Agra and turns out to be as nice as they said. We agree a price of 1100 rupees (6.40) per night; this is for a huge room that we all share. After lunch in their lovely rooftop restaurant, we spend the afternoon generally lazing around. Ali practices his guitar and Maisie practices her Nintendo DS muscles.
We are all knackered and decide to have a quiet day; tomorrow we are going to Meherangarh. This huge palace/fort dominates the city and we have fantastic views of it from our hotel.

I have a shower and wash my hair, we have all showered every day even if the water has been cold (Often) but I was super quick this morning as we were rushing. The shower heads are all fixed and very often nearly all the holes blocked up but large buckets and jugs are supplied everywhere and the best way to wash is to fill the bucket and then pour the water over yourself.
We had some clothes washed at Pushkar and it feels quite luxurious to be clean with clean hair and clean clothes. I have been hand washing a bit of our stuff but as the easy things to wash such as knickers need the most washing and it is very cheap to have laundry done I’m probably going to give up on that.

Simon and Ali go out to get some supplies ie drinks, fruit, crisps and chocolate. We decide we are having Saturday night in, in front of the telly, only difference from home I guess is that we don’t have to go so far for take out and it’s cheaper and better than our local curry house2