I'm in Bali! Just realised the last time I wrote I was still on the train in India almost a month ago and it's been a bit of a whirlwind adventure since then! I left the train in Ghazipur back on the 12th September and spent a few days in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in Utter Pradesh, working in the hospital of the lovely Obs and Gynae doctor who had funded the Lifeline Express project. Amongst trips to our favourite coffee shop - real plunger coffee!! - we d...

Cleft palate surgery started today! And wow what a day. Three surgeons worked all day on just seven cases, but I can't wait to see seven new sets of smiles in the morning! We spent yesterday screening all the patients who had turned up for registration and assessing suitability for surgery. Unfortunately most of the worst cases were just too complicated for the limited follow up facilities of the train and had to be referred on to Lucknow, but hopefully this wil...

I've made it to the train, hooray! I arrived into Ghazipur station, about an hour and a half north of Varanasi in Utter Pradesh, on Friday to the warm welcome of the Lifeline Express team and Colonel Vishwen, an old army colonel who pretty much runs the show. It's a fully functioning hospital onboard just several carriages of a converted train and provides free medical treatment throughout its stay to local villagers for whom hospital treatment would be otherwise...

Our camel trek was amazing, easily the best days in India so far...although not necessarily the most comfortable! Camels are hilarious, from the little tuft of blond hair between their ears to the natural upturned curve of their mouths and their bizarre bendy legs that seem to contort strangely as they sit down and stand up! We spent two days out in the desert with a company owned by the instantly identifiable Mr Desert, a truck-driver-turned-Rajastani-model-and-...

After a lazy two days in Pushkar I'm back in Jaipur and have met up with Jon and David before we head for some camel trekking in the Thar desert! Pushkar was definitely an experience, a tiny town centred on a huge lake surrounded by ghats - tiny bathing pools - and temples. Walking round the whole place took only about half an hour. And getting there was an adventure in itself, fighting to get on the local public bus while everyone argued who had reserved which ...