Sublime. Simply sublime. There is no better way to describe the Taj Mahal. This is one man's vision of love to his immortal beloved and you cannot help but immerse yourself in its magnificence too. When you find yourself looking at it, near or far, you can't help but marvel at its……at its……at its….. You can't really describe what it is that attracts your eyes to it. You cannot help but let your eyes roam over it. It is almost as if you are feeling it; ...

Before getting here, an old friend (Ed: not in age) reminded us that Agra is short for…..any guesses?.....aggravating! Here is the home of India's most famous icon - the Taj Mahal. But is also home to alleyways full of India's other famous icon - the salesman. In India, nothing EVER comes for free. Nothing! Since the Taj needed 20 000 people to construct it over its 30 odd year construction phase, the craftsmen all lived in a small little enclave called Taj G...

Jaisalmer sits right on the edge of the Great Thar Desert on the far western flank of Rajasthan. All that separates the masses of India and the multitudes of Pakistan is about 200km of desert. But it has not stopped the Indian military setting up here in strength! Bases of every kind seem to litter the horizon in the dusty wind driven haze. I am sure that every time an Indian Air Force jet takes off, its counterpart in Pakistan shadows its every move on their sid...

"Jaisalmer". Somebody was shaking my foot. "Huh?" Shaking the sleep from my head and very aware of being on an Indian night train, I was awake instantly. "Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer". "Thanks." A quick check to make sure that everything was in the same place it was 5 hours ago when I eventually drifted off to train motion induced sleep. If any b****** managed to get our kit, which was wedged under the bottom berth out unnotice...

It is undeniably impressive. Very impressive! So much so that it has moved many to write very descriptive prose about it. Kipling wrote of it saying that it must have been built by angels and giants. Huxely wrote that being here between heaven and earth must have been like the gods at Olympus. Each Maharaja from the very first has added to the fort they have inherited. But the very first founder of the mountain top fort needed to evict the hermit that was living...