Before leaving India I headed north to Dharmsala and stayed with my friens Jeevan Kumar and his family in the Himalayan foothills. The scenery was very beautiful and the weather extremely chilly. The Dalai Lama who lives there had rather thoughtlessly gone to Italy the day I arrived, so I made do with other Tibetan lamas who were mostly busy drinking coffee or speaking on their cell phones.

Then Varanasi. What can I say... Burning ghats, Mother Theresa's hospice, The Ganges, millions of people, noise, smells, rickshaws, car horns, street food, colour, beauty and everything Slumdaog Millionaire has to leave out. Enervating, exhausting and wonderful at the same time.

Pictures hopefully to follow.