To make up for the lack of posts.....

in the last week or so, we have finally got round to putting the photos on CD. So, from the bottom up - Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary at dawn (before i got the hang of previewing so was just guessing which picture 100_683 was and then couldn't delete), the Mosque next to the Taj Mahal which Paul greeted with the words 'I don't know why they bothered with this, it's shit compared to the Taj', the riverside palaces at Orchha which we were very excited by, well they are quite nice you have to admit, and spent about 2 hours climbing up and down, the bathing Ghats at Varanasi and, last but obviously not least, the Gaylords ice cream van. There are a lot of things called Gaylords in India and so far Paul has had to take a picture of all of them - for me the hilarity has waned somewhat but I didn't want you to miss out! Incidentally while Paul was framing this exquisite shot, I made the mistake of sitting down at which point a self-proclaimed 'holy' man enforced a blessing on me and then demanded 2000 rupees. Paul then announced he was about as holy as his arse and gave him a few rupees to stop going 'good karma' in our faces and we left. Varanasi, which is where this happened is an amazing place, very beautiful with old streets which you get lost in very easily and an atmosphere like nowhere else but at the same time it has the most persistent and downright rude touts in India that I've experienced. However the people visiting aren't much better - sticking their cameras in peoples faces as they try to bathe in the Ganges, or gawping at funerals or just being a bit twatty like the guys at our hotel who tried to get competitive over who was playing more games with the local kids (sample quote - 'Yeah but I was playing football and kinda fighting AT THE SAME TIME', truly bizarre). Still it says a lot about the place that we still loved it, especially when we went for a boat ride at dawn. Paul also found a yogi who he loved and did a lot of yoga sessions with - at one point I was slightly worried he might leave to go wandering India with him, but then I reminded him that there is a lack of loo paper in such situations which brought him back to earth.

We are now in Kolkata (Calcutta before the Bengali nationalists changed it last year) which the elusive Mr G can tell you about as I have now run out of time.

Love to all

Sophie xxxxxxxxxxxx