Dharamshala is the home in exile of the Dalai Lama, so it's an area which has become home to many Tibetans since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. The 14th Dalai Lama certainly knew how to recognise a great location. It's a mountainous area with stunning scenery, pine forests, Rhesus macaques, and fresh air. We've stayed in upper Dharamshala in McLeod Ganj, a town popular with travellers young and old. We came over on the night bus, so arrived at the hotel i...

Visiting Chandigarh I was looking forward to finally meeting my friend and Hindi teacher Apoorva Roshan in person. Knowing little about Chandigarh before we left for India we were both pleasantly surprised to arrive by train to find a town with trees and green spaces. Roads were laid out "Milton Keynes" style in straight lines, with the enclosed spaces being identified as sectors. The city was much cleaner than other places we had visited in India, and there seem...

Amritsar is 20 hours by night train from Ajmer, the nearest station to our last stop at Pushkar. Undaunted at the prospect we booked tickets in A/C 3 tier. Basically reserved bunks in compartments with 3 tier bunks each side, and a double tier along the length of the compartment. There were only 16 tickets left when we booked, but we had the choice of bunks so we opted for the double bunk. All the best plans.... as they say.......When we boarded the train we disc...

With train times somewhat inconvenient for the journey to Pushkar we opted for another deluxe bus trip. Clutching our ticket stubs we boarded the bus and found we were in seats 5&6 near the front of the bus. We immediately noticed the lack of storage for our backpacks as there were no lower level sleeping areas to stow under, only seats. Groaning at the prospect of having to sit cuddled up to our bags for the seven hour journey we threw our day packs onto the...

The Blue City turned out to be pretty much the same as any other, until that is you climbed up one of the nearby hills to view from above. The town is large and contains a large number of medical colleges and related establishments in the newer parts, but we were based amongst the narrow lanes of the Old Town. Having experienced Diwali eve in Jaisalmer we were expecting a noisy hectic night ahead. Indeed on stepping into the Sadar bazaar we found the place buzzin...