Pushkar

Leaving Jaipur, I was ready to see a bit more of Rajasthan and took one of the least comfortable bus journeys of my life to Ajmer. Why to Ajmer, Tom? Because I wanted to visit the city of Pushkar, which is rather close to Ajmer.

So why is Pushkar not in the title of this blog post?

Because I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. The hostel I stayed in had so few people and there was not really a lot to do in the city. I spent some time on a scooter exploring the surroundings, ate some nice food, but all in all, it was probably my least favourite place to visit and certainly overhyped. My advice: If time is short, avoid Pushkar. You can imagine my joy at leaving to go on to Jodhpur, a city I had heard a lot of good things about.

Jodhpur

Commonly referred to as ‘The Blue City’, Jodhpur is a beautiful city with an incredibly impressive fort. My first evening was pretty typical: a little food, a little conversation and some plans for the next day, including visiting said fort. I walked up from the city, but eventually succumbed to the heat and flagged down a passing tuk-tuk, paying only a few pennies to go up to the top. Already the views were pretty impressive, but inside there was so much more to see.

One of the unfortunate parts of travelling in India is the lack of information available in touristic locations if you don’t hire a guide like I did in Jaipur. This was not the case at the Mehrangarh Fort. Included in the price of the ticket, all guests receive an audio guide (and headphones!) With these in hand, I was able to truly enjoy the fort, travel at my own pace and learn a lot about the city. If you visit Jodhpur, make sure to take advantage of this. As far as I can tell, it is a one of a kind in India and well worth the money.

Following the visit to the fort, I took part in a walking tour to the bluer part of the blue city, with a wonderful guide, Raj. The city is painted blue for a variety of reasons, such as mosquito repellent, prevention of the heat and most importantly to represent the colour of Krishna. Raj also showed us an incredible sunset location, BUT whilst here, in a rather remote place, the dreaded Delhi belly struck and I had to run (well…jog) to the nearest bathroom. Luckily, I was able to get back in time for the sunset proper. As we were walking back to the hostel, a lamp overheated and exploded just above my head, but I got out unscathed.

The next day I decided to take it easy and not risk any damage to my stomach. Did this stop me exploring? Of course not. I headed out to get some street food (recommended by my hostel and eaten by many locals). This included a samosa, omelette and lassi from three different vendors, each harder to find that the last!

Jaisalmer

From Jodhpur, I took a bus to Jasialmer, a city located in the desert, and with a fort inhabited by many people. The city itself though, in my opinion at least, did not have a huge amount to offer. This is not to say it wasn’t interesting. Walking around the inside of the fort was fascinating. I met a woman selling some goods (most of the sellers in Jaisalmer were men) who told me that part of her profits go toward helping woman in India get further education and fighting for equality. I would have loved to have bought something, but there really was nothing I wanted and besides, my bag had very little space.

Of course, Jaisalmer was not as dull for me as Pushkar was. No no, Jaisalmer was exciting because of the desert nearby. On a tip off from a guy in Jodhpur, I called a camel safari company and early the next day I headed out into the desert. For an hour I rode a camel deeper into the desert, stopping at a village or two, surveying the landscape. Eventually we stopped for lunch. Our guides, two great guys who came from the desert, cooked us some delicious food while the camels explored the surroundings. During the day, as I’m sure you can imagine, the heat in the desert was pretty unbearable, so we didn’t leave until about 3 or 4 o’clock. Riding for a couple more hours was quite uncomfortable, but finally we reached the sand dunes where we would spend the night.

A few things happened here. First of all, we saw a beautiful sunset and the night sky begin to appear. As the darkness grew, the stars came out (as well as a few planets) until the moon rose and obscured almost everything else. At this point, it was dinner time (before that it would have been difficult to see our food!) What a delicious meal it was. We were then shown our beds – mattresses on the sand dunes. I fell asleep quickly.

The end of my time in India

After the camel safari, we were driven back to Jaisalmer, from where I took a bus back to Jodhpur. On the bus, I was lucky enough to meet Gini, who was great company and met me the following day before my bus. Yes, another bus. This time to Delhi, from where I had a 24 hour train to Calcutta.

You may be wondering why I took such a long journey from Jaisalmer to Calcutta and why I was even going there in the first place. Put simply, I bought my exit flight from India a while back and had planned to head east, but my plans changed. In the end, I took this route instead of flying as it was far cheaper and the experience of travelling on such a long train is part of the India experience. It was pretty good, actually! I had a good night’s sleep, ate some fun food and had chai pretty much on demand and would definitely recommend doing it should you visit India.

So, as I write this, I am no longer in India and have ventured further east into Thailand. I hope to keep you all updated as much as possible and would like to thank you for reading my journey so far. It is greatly appreciated!

When people talk about India, one of the first things that comes to people’s minds is of course the Taj Mahal, located in Agra and that’s exactly where I went. The last time I wrote, I was getting a bus from Rishikesh and let me tell you, it set the tone for my time in Agra.

I got to the bus stop and could feel the clouds gathering all around me. The definition of ‘bus stop’ is rather loose here, as it consisted of a small dirt area for buses to pull into and one or two little shops round the corner selling sweets, crisps and other snacky things. The setting sun was made far more dramatic by the clouds, but I had a bit of time on my hands and went to one of the shops to get something to eat for the journey. As I left to walk to the bus stop (only 30 seconds away) the heavens opened and I sprinted as well one can do with a rucksack back to the shop. I waited there for about 15 minutes until I had to get the stop. By this time, the rain had subsided a little, so I thought I’d be okay. Besides, the bus would arrive shortly, right….RIGHT?

WRONG

The rain started again, this time worse. I didn’t have time to get to the shop and didn’t want to risk missing the bus, so I hid inside a tuk-tuk, with my feet still feeling the brunt of God’s tears. This was ok until the tuk-tuk drivers who had so nicely allowed me to stay there all got in their vehicles and drove away! What was I meant to do? As it turned out, there was a tiny area covered with a plastic tarp. I hid there with a couple of local guys and just hoped the bus would arrive. Eventually it got there (30 minutes late) and I found my sleeper birth. Guess what, friends. It was wet. The window had not been enough to prevent the rain getting through, so I had to change to a different, smaller and far less comfortable bed, but it was okay and I slept through till the morning….Only joking, the bus tossed and turned and I hardly slept.

In Agra, I went straight to the hostel and rested the whole day. Fortunately, the hostel owner ordered some food (50% discount, so I wasn’t going to complain) and I planned to get up early the next day for the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal was constructed as a final resting place for the King’s great love. I really don’t think he expected it to become a massive tourist destination, with thousands of people walking around, clamouring for selfies and feeding monkeys on a daily basis (except Fridays…it’s closed on Fridays). I woke up at around 4:30 AM and walked up the road to the Taj Mahal, with a wonderful Japanese guy called Shuma. When we arrived, we got our tickets and waited for the gates to open at 6AM. After the standard bag check, we went through and were able to see the sunrise from within the grounds of the Taj Mahal. To be honest, it was stunning, but within 15 minutes of the opening, the gardens were packed. I was very fortunate to get some photos with very few people, but those going later in the day would probably miss out on this.

Shuma and I went to the mausoleum proper quite early, before many other people and from here we were treated with a beautiful sunrise coming toward the Taj, one which I think the others missed out on. Inside the Taj itself, one cannot take photos, but don’t worry, you really are not missing out on a lot. I think the reason they don’t want you to take pictures is that they know how disappointing the inside is and don’t want to put off any tourists! That being said, the grounds are beautiful, despite the swathes of people and I would still recommend it despite the hefty 1000 rupee price tag.

After this, I went back to the hostel with Shuma and again rested. Two consecutive days of super early wake ups had taken it out of me and I really did not feel well. This meant that sadly I didn’t get to see much else of Agra, as I was leaving the next day for Jaipur, the Pink City.

Jaipur

Unlike the journey to Agra, the journey to Jaipur was painless: A simple train journey and I was there. I arrived in the evening and made my way to the hostel. I’m not going to name names, but I was disappointed. There was hardly anybody there and it was not at all social, so the next day I decided to move to the Moustache Hostel. I’ve stayed at several of their hostels and the service they offer is excellent. Immediately on arrival, I knew this was the right hostel. As I checked in, a guy came to reception and the only word I remember hearing was ‘coffee’. We became friends right away and after dropping my bag off, we went to get some breakfast at a lovely little place. Super cheap and great iced coffee. The guy, called Jorge, came from Colombia and had been travelling for several months in Europe. He was super friendly and made everyone we came into contact with laugh.

Together we explored Jaipur. We walked to the centre of the city and felt hungry again, so tried to find some good food. My word, that was difficult. After settling on one place, we were heavily disappointed from the food, so went somewhere else and finally got our lunch. A classic aloo gobhi and naan and we were on our way. First of all, we visited the minaret, which provided an excellent view of the whole city and then we went to the Hawa Mahal. Here, we made the decision to take a tour guide who showed us around not just this, but also the astronomical park and the palace. Though he was quite knowledgeable and shared a lot of information about Indian culture, we did feel rather rushed. My favourite part was the astronomical park. As a child, I loved learning about the stars and planets and it was amazing to see how people centuries ago studied the heavens. The park included an incredibly large sundial, but alas, we were not allowed to climb it.

After leaving the palace, we decided to get a tuk-tuk, but this started a whole crazy chain of events. First, we met our guide, Sheikh, who was not only super smiley, but had impeccable English. He even showed us a photo of him with Mirian Margoyles (she plays Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films). His charisma was infectious and he took us to the water palace (though we were not allowed to go in, we just got to look at it from afar) and then on to the textile factory. Here we saw how the textile designs are made. The printing process was all done by hand and made by organic plants and herbs. After much deliberation, Jorge and I decided to purchase a few tailor made shirts. As I write this post, I am wearing one of them. Though they cost a good bit of money, they are incredibly comfortable and I love the designs.

The following day I wanted to explore some parts outside of the city, including the famous Amber Fort. Together with Ari and Florian, two wonderful people I’d met in the hostel, we got in a tuk-tuk and went all the way there. At the fort, we got a tour guide who was incredibly informative and was able to tell us a lot about the fort. It was constructed in four main phases by different kings. One of these kings had nine, yes your read that right, NINE wives, who he housed in the fort, each in their own rooms. Not only this, he had secret tunnels, so he could visit whomever he chose without the others knowing. I’d certainly recommend visiting the fort and getting a guide if you visit. It was inexpensive and without his knowledge, I think we would have missed out.

That’s it for my current post. My next destination is Pushkar, a quiet town in Rajasthan and after that I’ll be heading on to Jodhpur. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post. If you have, please give it a like and share on Facebook.

Thanks,

Tom 🙂

PS, if you like my photos, there are more available here

I arrived in Rishikesh on yet another less than comfortable sleeper bus and was dropped on the furthest outskirt one can imagine. Naturally this meant yet another tuk tuk ride and 200 more rupees spent. Getting to the hostel, I met Alvaro and Axel, with whom I explored a little part of the city and climbed a rather impressive temple. On our way there, we bought some momos (a traditional Tibetan dumpling), but they were almost stolen by some ingenious cows and monkeys.

The next day was filled with surprises: The night before, I had met Lluvia, who told me about a music performance that we could attend, with music played by locals. Arriving at the music ashram, we sat down to experience some impressive performances, not least by a small child who couldn’t help but get involved in some of the drumming. The performance included an Israeli guest who played along, adding a guitar edge to the ensemble. I’m still not sure whether I preferred the addition, but all in all, it was a really good show.

But…this was not the big surprise of the day. I woke up and wanted to visit the Neer Garh waterfall, famous in the local area for its beauty and natural pools. I trekked up the road from Rishikesh, dodging the oncoming traffic and stray dogs…until….one of the stray dogs started to follow me. And it did not stop following me. I swear, I walked for about an hour and it kept up the whole way AND that was only as far as the start of the official waterfall park. The official park was all uphill and for the 40 minutes I was walking, it kept up the pace. Eventually I stopped to take a break, when two local boys on a motorbike stopped and asked if I wanted a lift to the top. Of course – I had no idea how much further there was. Hopping on, I said goodbye to the pup, not expecting to see it again. Boy, was I wrong! It sprinted up behind me, certainly panting by the time we reached the top.

But unfortunately, we couldn’t locate the waterfall. The boys offered to take me back down to the bottom, but in all honesty, I didn’t really feel safe on their bike, so politely declined and walked back down. (It was much easier walking back down) OH and the dog was still following me. I still don’t know why: I hadn’t given it anything When I reached the bottom, I popped into a small cafe and had a quick drink before hitting the road back. I had thought that the dog would stay there with the other pups hanging around, but it got up and came with me.

And this is where the real surprise occurred: Jorge and Ore, a Venezuelan and an Israeli stopped by me on their motorbikes and asked if I wanted a ride. This time I accepted the offer of a ride: I was tired, Ore had a helmet (and proudly declared he had a license) and the bikes looked much safer. When we got back to the city, we stopped by the bike rental place, one thing led to another and I ended up renting and driving a scooter for the first time in my life. We drove around Rishikesh, ate some more momos and planned to meet the next day to travel to Haridwar.

Early the next day, I awoke to a message from Jorge: he was ill and wouldn’t be able to come with us, but this didn’t stop Ore and me. We took our bikes and drove for 30 minutes to Haridwar. God it was fun. Not Haridwar – we didn’t really know what to expect and ended up getting pushed around in a temple, being asked to give money to the statues every 30 seconds, but the ride there was brilliant. Actually, even more brilliant was the ride back: we took a much quieter route, with amazing straights, beautiful views and much fresher air. There was only one hitch: a massive river to traverse. Fortunately, there were some tractors that took us over (for a small fee) and then we were on our way.

Though I was initially apprehensive about riding the bike, Jorge and Ore helped me massively. There were some scary times, but after about five minutes, I felt rather confident and would most certainly love to try this again (though maybe not in India).

But this was not all: I practised some more yoga. For two days, Lluvia and I had lesson from Krishna, a yoga teacher staying in our hostel. It was extremely useful to have this almost one-to-one lesson and in my few lessons here in India, I feel my flexibility improving massively. We had another lesson the next day, on the rooftop no less and had a great time. Krishna, thank you so much!

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My next destination is the famous city of Agra. I booked a sleeper bus (with a proper bed) in order to make the journey, but more about that in my next post!

Thank you for reading! If you’ve enjoyed it, please share my story on Facebook or follow me on Instagram at toaxbarlow 🙂

Leaving Amritsar on a six hour bus journey, I was excited by the prospect of getting away from the chaotic streets of a city and entering the calmness of the mountains. Tom, Gabe and I ended up on the same bus to Mcleod Ganj. The trip was uneventful, save for the fact that we stopped at Dharamshala, had to get off the bus and get on one of the most uncomfortable buses I’ve ever been on. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute ride up the mountain to arrive at the dimly lit Mcleod Ganj bus station. I got a tuk tuk to the hostel and proceeded to have a couple of drinks with the fellow travellers there.

The next morning I awoke to the news that Tom, who had initially planned to stay in a different hostel, would be coming to mine, citing reasons such as mould and lack of a bed. This was of course good news and after a quick breakfast, we decided to explore the local area, walking over to the next village, Dharamkot, a beautiful little town in the mountains, with lovely views…shame the fog ruined them. An interesting feature of both Dharamkot and Mcleod Ganj is the large number of Israeli tourists, so many that shops signs are written in Hebrew. After a quick lunch, we found out that there was a waterfall nearby and decided to trek up there. It was well worth it – the waterfall itself was stunning, but the gorge it ran down was even more picturesque. We had an early night, as the next day we would be getting up early to meet a very special man.

The Dalai Lama

Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama and during my stay here, he had organised four days of talks. This was an opportunity not to be missed, so we got up early to collect our radios (for the translation) and our passes for the talk. And we waited and waited for our passes. By the time we finally got them, the talk had begun and we missed the more interesting first half. The second half of the talk was much deeper philosophically and rather hard to follow: something about ‘rising giving cause to rising’…I’m not really sure what was going on. During the talk, several Buddhist monks came around offering butter tea. It really was what one must politely call ‘an acquired taste’. Nonetheless, it was fascinating to see such a large number of people showing respect for such an important man.

In the afternoon, we went back to the waterfall, hoping to walk a little further this time to take in the view from higher up. This, unfortunately did not occur. The rain was appalling and we got well and truly caught out, eventually spending about an hour hiding in a tiny little hiding hole with a few Indian tourists, including a recently married couple. As you can expect, it was not a pleasurable experience and set the tone for the rest of the day, during which we just relaxed.

Yoga

One of the most famous aspects of India, is of course yoga, and Mcleod Ganj is a hot spot for it. I took the opportunity to attend a beginners’ class and spent 90 minutes reaching a variety of asanas (poses) and really stretching my body to its limits. Perhaps the most interesting part was being suspended upside down, allowing the blood to rush to my head. I hope to take part in several more yoga classes whilst I’m in India!

Bhagsu Cake

If India is known for yoga, then Bhagsu (the area of Mcleod Ganj I stayed in) is known for cake. If you’re from the UK, Bhagsu cake is essentially millionaire’s shortbread. If you’re not from the UK, it is shortbread and caramel and chocolate – delicious. Here, it is combined with ice cream and other sweet things to make a delicious treat and my final meal here before my next destination, Manali.

Manali

Through the night, I travelled to Manila, a beautiful town, in a valley in northern India. The night bus was incredibly fun! I watched movies, played games, just had a merry time! No, not really – I just tried to sleep and was semi-successful. When I got to Manali, it was 7 AM, so I slept before going on one of the most eventful walks of my life.

Injury and Going to the Doctor

Manila, being located in a valley, is surrounded by steep hills. This means that getting to the best walking locations requires walking up up up. At the end of the road, there is a great restaurant – Rockey’s, where I had a delicious breakfast, with an even more delicious view of the city, mountains and waterfall. As I exited, I carried walking up the hill, no longer guided by a road, but just a path of sorts. With it being monsoon season though, some of the areas were rather slippy, but I managed to avoid injury…for now.

Having reached what the map told me was a waterfall (it really wasn’t), I turned back, only to run into some other tourists who told me that there was a second waterfall further up. Together we carried on a little further than where I’d reached, but this is when the problems began: the path became muddier, my feet became less stable and after almost falling over once, I completely lost my footing a few seconds later, only to grab on to the nearest support to me: barbed wire.

OUCH

One of the people I was walking with was carrying some antiseptic hand wash – at least it was something, but I had to turn back and get to a doctor as soon as possible. The walk back was not comfortable. To make matters worse, my hostel was the furthest away! I did try a couple of hostels on the route back to see if they had something to help, and fortunately I was bandaged up a little, but on return to my hostel (the fantastic Moustache Manali), I was taken to a doctor, given some antibiotics and a tetanus shot and told to rest, so this is what I did. Unfortunately, that means I have not really got many pictures of this beautiful town, as I didn’t want to risk any more problems, plus it was raining quite a bit!I did spend some time walking around Manali, visiting a museum about Himachal culture and noticing a rather scary looking fairground, incuding the fastest ferris wheel in the world (or at least what looked like the fastest)!

So that’s me all up to date. Right now I’m in Rishikesh and hoping to take part in a few more yoga classes. Thanks for reading! If you have enjoyed it, please take a moment to share my story in Facebook – I’ll be forever grateful!

Imagine this: you book a train ticket to take you from one city to another. Expected journey time: 8 hours. You arrive at the station in time, but you don’t see your train – it’s late. In the UK (and possibly worldwide) this is not uncommon, but for a train to arrive seven hours late…that’s too much.

Fortunately, I was struck with great luck when Inder, a Sikh from Ludhiana, saw my plight and being in the same situation himself, offered to help me get to Amritsar. We were supposed to get on the train at midday, but at this point we knew it would be at least 6 hours late, so we decided to take a bus as far as possible. Having navigated the Delhi metro, Inder found a bus going up in our direction. BUT…I had no money, so I had to find an ATM. And how many ATMs do they have at the bus station? ONE. By the time I’d withdrawn my money, our bus was about to leave. Inder was running around the place looking for me (as he’d gone to purchase the tickets) and grabbed my hand and pulled me in a way that could only be described as Crystal Maze-esque.

We ran to the bus and just made it on in time. During the journey, Inder told me all about Sikhism, about why they wear the turban, don’t cut their hair and carry a knife at all times. When we arribed in a town south of Ludhiana, his dad and uncle picked us up and took me to the train station in Ludhiana, but we just had time to drink some chai. Then it was back on the road and the chaos of the train station. I’m not quite sure what happened, but Inder’s family got my on the train and by one in the morning I was in Amritsar. I took a tuk-tuk from the train station and hit the proverbial hay.

The next day, I met the guys in my dorm room (who I apologised for waking up in the middle of the night). We went for breakfast, then explored the Golden Temple grounds – a holy site in Sikhism. One of the fascinating parts of Sikhism is their duty to serve, which manifests itself in a free meal for anybody there. Considering the apparent disorganisation of so many things in India, this was a slick operation: Grab your plates, get a spoon, go upstairs, sit down, put your hands out, get some bread, wait for your plates to be filled with DHALicious food, eat. A beautiful experience and one everyone should do in Amritsar.

Following this, myself and Tom, another guy from the hostel went to the border with Pakistan. Was I already fed up with India? Nope, you see, every evening, the border is closed in the most surreal of ways. There is a huge ceremony, including gallant walking, intimidating stances and incredibly cheers from the crowd. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life and incredible to see the patriotism emanating from both sides. Though I have attached some photos, they really do not do this surreal activity justice – it really is a must see in Amritsar.

The next day, we had wanted to enter the Golden Temple, but unfortunately the queue was far too long. Instead we visited the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. A terrible loss of life in which the British Colonel Reginald Dyer ordered his soldiers to shoot on a group of peaceful protesters. The bullet holes can still be seen to this day and the site is a commemoration to their lives.

After this, Tom and I caught our bus to Mcleodganj, the next stop on both our journeys. On the bus however, I saw a familiar face – a friend from my time working in Colombia – a small world.

Thank you for reading my blog! If you’re still with me here, please like my page on Facebook and follow me on instagram at toaxbarlow

My two full days in Delhi were rather similar (hence why they have been clumped together like this). Lots of walking, lots of old Delhi and lots of muddy streets. The night before I had met Leon who was about to leave India following his adventures here, but he was happy to show me around old Delhi and guide me to a couple of sites. We talked about things to be aware of in India, drank plenty of chai and dealt with the ever pervasive tuk tuk drivers. Lunch was a roti filled delight, but this did not stop us from trying some delicious street food. Already missing English breakfasts, I opted for the hash browns, which were crisp, puffy and hot with a sweet and spicy sauce to match it. In the evening, we did nothing but chill out, play cards and sit around exchanging stories. A beautiful way to end the day.

Friday was pretty much the same, but on my own. I took the time to visit the Jama Masjid, but unfortunately it was closed – still got a couple of photos from outside though. Following this, I visited the Red Fort, a wonderful piece of cool and calmness – but just outside lay the chaotic streets of this city. I took several photos before going back to the hostel to eat some food and plan some activities in my next destination, Amritsar.

I must also thank the wonderful HOG hostel where I stayed in Delhi. They not only welcomed me in early in the morning on my arrival, but were happy to direct me to places to eat, help with my Indian SIM card and provided a wonderfully positive atmosphere throughout my stay.

The Flight

My journey starts in Kiev airport. Having arrived here two and a half hours ago, I sit and wait for my overnight flight to Delhi, India.

The plane is half-empty (or half-full if you call yourself an optimist), but is antiquated. No personal TV screen, only a few songs to listen to or a mediocre film to watch. None of that appealed though, as I simply wanted to sleep the seven hours of the trip.

As I said earlier, the plane did not have many passengers, so I got a row of four seats to myself (as well as four blankets!) Did I sleep the whole way uninterrupted? No, of course not. But considering how uncomfortable flying on planes usually is, I was rather happy with how I slept.

I was awoken by a smiley Ukrainian woman offering me a croissant. Suffice to say, the croissant was probably the worst tasting thing I’ll eat during this entire journey of mine. After an uneventful landing, I made my way through Delhi airport immigration, booked a taxi and made it to my hostel in one piece. In Delhi the time was 7 AM…in my mind it was about 2 AM. So despite the rest I had on the plane, I took to my bed and napped.

Delhi and the Lotus Temple

A few hours later I woke up and began to explore a little of Delhi. My hostel is near to the Lotus Temple, so that was my first destination (after breakfast 😉 ). It took me about 40 minutes to find the temple because I went the wrong way, but it was worth it.

On approaching, we were told to not take any photos inside the temple, that we had to queue up and we must remain silent inside. This means I have no photos from the inside, but it was truly beautiful and acoustically fascinating. The rule of silence does not apply to birds that have flown in. Every chirp, flap and song these birds made echoed and reverberated around the temple. It truly was majestic.

The rest of my day was spent relaxing, eating and getting to know a few people from the hostel. India during August is known for horrible weather, which we experienced in the afternoon, but otherwise it has been a wonderful start to my time in India.

Thank you for taking your time to read my FIRST of many blog posts. If you have enjoyed it, please share on Facebook, Twitter, whatever your social media is – and I shall be incredibly grateful!