Venice of the East

Commonly known as the 'Venice of east' or the 'City of Lakes', Udaipur is famous for its serene environment, picturesque lakes and spotless gleaming palaces. We got here in the early morning after a flight and a rather bumpy overnight train trip. The city is beautiful. That is the first time we have said that about an Indian city! The lake is wonderful and the surrounding scenery spectacular.

The Lake Palace ($250 a night!) is stunning in the middle of the lake. Octopussy (James Bond) is shown in many restaurants every night and every local has a tale of when they filmed it here. The city is great for shopping and simply sitting in the many rooftop restaurants enjoying the sunset and views.

We splashed out and spent two nights in a 3* hotel with bath, sauna and jacuzzi. Luxury.

Ibiza of the East

We arrived in Goa 6 days ago and are in the middle of our Indian "holiday'. Benaulim beach is peaceful and secluded compared to the mayhem of the rest of Goa. We have been lazing on the beach, eating some great food, chatting with new friends and generally enjoying not being in 'real' India for a few weeks.

We have rented a great apartment for 1000 IRS a night (Tansy Cottages). It is huge and even has a dining room and kitchen. We will go on a day trip to see Old Goa Town if we have the energy, if not it is back to the beach.

We have decided to miss out Mumbai and fly straight to Rajasthan as we were having a nightmare getting trains for the trip up there (three overnight trains). The flight is 2 hrs and means we only have to get one overnight train. Hoorah for cheap (and hopefully safe) Indian domestic flights!

The happy Australian

We are just recovering from a 12 hr train journey from Mysore to Hampi (one night in Hampi) and another 12 hr overnight bus from Hampi to Goa. We have booked into an expensive (19 pound a night) hotel in Benaulim and it is luxury - swimming pool, 100 channel TV, beach at the end of the road. More about that later....

Hampi was a quick stop over to see the ruins of a 17th Century Indian civilisation. The ruins and surrounding scenery were stunning, but the town itself was disappointing. It was dirty with loads of mossies and hassle.

We had only been in town an hour when we we offered drugs and by 5pm the air was thick with the smoke of hundreds of young Israeli's trying to escape the horrors of their recent military service. Still, we battled through the smokey haze and enjoyed the sights and smells as much as possible.

We have taken a lesson from a happy Australian we met at Bangalore train station who was on a two week holiday. He was getting ripped off by rickshaw drivers and shop keepers left, right and centre. He was completely oblivious to this however and was loving every minute of his trip. We vowed to take a leaf out of his book, while at the same time remembering that we do not have a 100 pound a day budget.

EYEsore

Sarah MacDonald in her book 'Holy Cow!' states that "India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. India defies understanding..."

Mysore is a typical Indian town. You walk out of your hotel room after doing battle with two cockroaches who have made home in your bathroom, to be accosted by a beggar with open sores over his whole body. Three rickshaw drivers are shouting at you to get in to their cabs for a tour of the city and you step in fresh cow dung and wish you'd put your boots on instead of sandals.

All this happens before you've had a cup of tea and this seems to make it worse. You search seven different restaurants and hotels desperate for anyone who makes English tea and has something edible for breakfast. Eventually you stumble exhausted and stressed into a quiet place and have a pot of Brooke Bond and some chips. Only after an hour and a half do you feel able to venture out again into the madness that is India.

On a brighter day we visited Mysore Palace with its 25,000 lights and walked up Chumundi hill - all 1000 steps. We have been to a bird sanctuary and wandered around an amazing market. In India I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth; breathe deeply and try to remain calm!

More tea vicar?

From the madness of Allepey and Kochin we have retreated into the tea plantations of Tamil Nadu. High up in the hills, the weather is cool and the air crisp and pleasant. The British planted the tea here in the early 20th century and there are still miles and miles of these plants still alive and giving us a crop of tea every 10 days.

Munnar is a small town full of plantations. We went with a guide around his plantation and saw how they live and work. A simple life, but certainly not a poor one. The work is difficult in the monsoon when it rains constantly and the leeches come and attack the pickers.

The biggest town in the area is Ooty, where we stopped with our friends the Nibletts who work at a school here. We had a great time catching up with them - eating their food and drinking their tea and beer!

They recommeded we go to a small town via a miniture railway called Coonoor. We stopped at the Brookland Christian Guesthouse set in the tea plantations. We were waited on hand a foot and had some great walks. CMS have an orphanage here which we looked around and met some of the kids.