Varanasi to Agra Smooth sailing out of Varanasi, except for a small run-in with a concrete pillar, an autorikshaw and a near death experience for a stray child running into our path, and some off-road riding across a building site, we wove our way over a paved street which eventually opened up onto a solid, tarmac, 4-lane freeway, beautiful! After a few kilometres we pulled aside for tea to celebrate a riding experience where the majority of the traffic was fol...

Back to India- Varanasi 　 Darkness descended as we inched our way through the hectic rush hour traffic in the centre of Gorakpur. We were let out in front of the main train station and thought it would be wise to go and try to organise train tickets for the following morning to Varanasi. Eek, a bit more tricky than we had hoped, signs were all in Hindi, long lines backed up behind every counter and the tourist information booth had closed and didn't o...

Lumbini to Sonauli We departed the luscious resort of Pokhara under cover of darkness by the tourist bus. Wholly disillusioned by our victory in snatching a cheap ticket, we realised at the bus park that our ticket went to an equally difficult to pronounce destination, in the opposite direction. We relented to pay the hideous asking price in order to avoid having to wait until the following day. The decent little 24 seater bus shuttled us out of town, picking up...

We arrived at Chennai Central Station very early with thanks to our professional driver who was wiping sleep from his eyes when we introduced ourselves, (not overly reassuring) yet maintained a full level of consciousness and a high state of alert all the way. Travelling anywhere in India has a certain level of danger, but at 5am its paramount to keep your concentration up. The wildlife seems more active at this time of the day as do the locals due to the cooler ...

An easy bus ride back along the ECR, we hopped off in what appeared to be a scene out of a Tarantino flick, set in the old west in the middle of nowhere. We walked the short distance in the blazing heat into town passing the routine livestock and run down buildings covered in faded murals and paintings of previous freedom fighters and revolutionaries. Sweat streaming out of our pores we could not wait to find Siva Guesthouse. Following the new rule of thumb Lana ...