Just when you're thinking things over!!

And in a flash of light there you have it.....4 months, 1 continent, 2 countries, 13 states, 35 cities/towns/villages, 37 hotels.....of varying standards, 13 trains, 33 buses, 2 camels, 1 moped, 6 Metros, 5 boats, numerous rickshaws....& an unimaginable number of kilometres on foot....often to get places & quite fequently to retrace our lost steps!!

So what can be said of India! It is impossible not to be enthralled, mesmorised & baffled by this great country.....but almost as impossible to sum it up in words. To fully appreciate it in its entirety one must take the plunge & make the visit themselves. Between the 2 of us having done fairly well in recent years at covering the globe we found India to be unlike anywhere else on our fascinating planet. A crazy blend of love & hate, old & new, rich & poor, sun & rain which all contrive to stimulate, frustrate, excite & confuse albeit at the same time!! And in our 3 months there we still only managed to see a fraction of this wonderful place, from the mayhem of Mumbai to the deserts of Rajasthan.....the fresh mountain air of McLeod Ganj & audiences with the Dalai Lama to the mind boggling events of Varanassi......35 hour train rides along the East coast & to the hippiness of the Goan beaches!

Then of course you have Nepal, just across the Northern border & into the Himalayas, where the madness of its neighbours disappears immediately upon entry. A land of smiling faces, happy people, jaw dropping scenery, unsurpassed beauty & endless festivals.....from the tranquility at the lakeside town of Pokhara......to the vibrant capital Kathmandu......to the mesmorising towns of the Kathmandu valley. If you do nothing but do nothing in this country to us it would be time well spent & should be on every travellers must visit places!

No amount of planning could have prepared us, or anyone, for the events that took place over these past 4 months & although some situations were at times rather harrowing I would not change them for the world.

I have returned home an exhausted & satisfied traveller, captivated by both the people & places, who has accomplished a dream & is of course now awaiting the next adventure!!

One love. Namaste!