We travelled by car to the second part of our trip and stopped on the way in Bageshwar for dinner in a hotel by the Saryu River. After 8 days of vegetarian food we all ordered a chicken curry, it was very good. We stopped and bought fruit, biscuits and kit kats for our next weeks trekking.

We had a hair raising 2 hour car journey along narrow mountain paths and we had to push the car up a couple of bits where there had been landslides slipping and sliding close to the edge.

The scenery was breathtaking. We arrived in Supi at 3 in the afternoon and met our guides Lokash and Balwant and moved into our new guesthouse which was the prettiest so far.

We sat around all afternoon reading and chatting, had dinner which was very good and then a good nights sleep. It was incredibly cold, the hot water bottles helped.

We walked around the other parts of the village which has 500 people and is the biggest we have been to. We are the first tourists of the season and we sent women and children scuttling away giggling with our Namastes.

We started after breakfast walking to the top part of the village, a 3k walk up. It was a fantastic view. It is also much higher than Binsar at 2100m we felt it in our lungs. My nose bleeds when I am high up. We came back down for lunch, the food is a lot different here we had spaghetti, slightly spicy, rice with cabbage and some fruit. In the afternoon we explored the main part of the village with the oldest house, built in 1701. The woodwork was beautiful. The villagers are friendly and shy and hardworking. The women carry huge chunks of rock with a band on their heads and ropes around the rocks and flip flops, they are incredibly hardy folk. There are a few new stone houses being built and the women are the labourers earning very little for backbreaking work.

We went to a newly built community centre built by Village Ways to teach the women to sew, they have 20 sewing machines. The bags they make are sold and the women get a small amount, it is a great project. They had an order for 1500 bags from an American company, it’s going well.

The women also get a very efficient stove for cooking if they join the group, a good incentive. We like Village Ways as they put a lot back into the community. They have also started a health and wellness course for all the women which includes hygiene and child care.

I wasn’t looking forward to the 1000 step walk the following day. It was brutal, right along an open mountainside but we made it to a viewpoint and watched Himalayan vultures and Kestrels rising with the thermals leaning over a huge flat rock for a better view.

We thought it couldn’t get worse but there was at least another 1000 steps after these, almost as vertical. My legs felt leaden and the altitude was making us all feel breathless, but it was worth it.

We arrived at the guesthouse in Jhuni found our rooms and all had a nap after lunch. They are very friendly and brought us copious amounts of chai and biscuits. It is 2300m and by 3.30 became very cold. We all put on thermals, hats and as many clothes as we had. The villagers lit the fire in the dining room, we were ready to eat and looking forward to hot water bottles. We are almost always in bed by 9.

On a walk around the village the guides were explaining it was a very wealthy village. They have 2 crops; caterpillar fungus which is a fungus that attaches itself to caterpillars, a parasite that kills its host and grows out of its body. They harvest it from the mountains when the snow has gone, 4000m up and they sell to the Chinese via the Indian Government for a million rupees a kilo. They also grow marijuana!!

They use the marijuana for making ropes (the stems) and they produce some of the best hashish in the world, I am reliably informed!! It’s the last inhabited village in India until you get to the Tibetan border. It’s awesome. The food in Supi and here Jhuni has been the best on the whole tour. We had kidney beans, spinach and potato, rice and chipati, delicious. We asked them if they made alcohol and they said they did from barley. Very kindly they brought us some after dinner, we all slept well that night.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the hike up to Jaikuni camp at 3100m. We were the first walkers this season and the snow had just gone. The guides assured us it would be ok, we could go slow and it was. We went slowly especially as we got closer to the top. Our lungs burned and legs were heavy. It was a hard climb the last bit through ancient oak and rhododendron forest.

There were lots of gnarly roots and stone steps and rocks to negotiate but as we reached the top it was spectacular and well worth it. The forest becomes very dark and dense closer to the top and then voila a big open meadow and our campsite. The tents were bigger than we expected, more like big safari tents with a bathroom. The toilet was housed in a separate small tent, a long drop.

Being with 2 Boy Scouts, Chris and David, we hunted for wood and built our own big campfire before the stove was lit in the dining room. It was very cold. We had about 8’’ of bedding and a hot water bottle, ice on the ground at 7am but an awesome view of the whole Himalayan range of mountains. That’s why we came on this trip. Words don’t do it justice.

We had breakfast and set off at 9. Only 2km uphill and 9 down a relatively easy walk, 4 or 5 hours, we carried our own lunch which we did everyday. As always on these trips it’s the people who make it special. They are kind, generous, shy, friendly people as curious about us as we are about them. They live an incredibly simple rural life and can teach us a thing or two about hard work and being happy with family and what you have in life.

We are now in a village called Dhurr for 2 days. Time to wash a few clothes and relax a little. We only have a few days left and time has seemed to stand still. I am trying to soak it all up, I really don’t want to leave.

We went on a walk down to the bottom of the valley and the Pindar River. The river comes from the Pindari glacier and many many kilometres downhill flows into the Ganges. We crossed wobbly iron bridges and went right down to the waters edge sitting on huge rounded boulders.

The flow was immense and must be a wide raging torrent in the monsoon. We walked 3 miles downhill and then we had to come back up. We all found it extremely hard in the midday sun and after lunch we refused the afternoon village walk and all went back to bed.

The last day is a walk mostly downhill to the last village we stay in called Karmi. It takes 4 hours. We arrived at the guesthouse to big smiles and home made lemon soda. We ate the contents of our tiffin boxes and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. We have walked 60 miles over 12 days of the 16 day holiday. People say I am like greased lightning on the descents and a sloth on the way up but we got there in the end.

Watching the children play in these villages, whoops of joy as they chase each other or you see 4 or 5 kids high up in a tree shouting ‘good morning’ is a real joy.

They don’t seem to have toys or balls to play with and definitely no iPads or anything our kids do but they all seem incredibly happy and playful, fit and healthy. How different it is to our kids at home. Complaining, overweight and worrying how many likes they get on their latest Facebook post. Worrying they haven’t got the latest trainers, barely leaving the house. It just shows how superficial our societies values have become; the irony that I am writing this on an iPad is not lost on me!!!! We could learn a lot from these village kids. Most of them look a bit grubby with a tatty woolen hat and jumper and repaired flip flops (unless they are going to school and then they look pristine) and best of all, huge endearing smiles. I know it isn’t all beer and skittles and there are many hardships but they live in a fantastic natural environment and are healthy and happy in extended loving families.

We have so far seen 75 species of birds. There are 6 different woodpeckers, many types of eagles, vultures and many other unusual and colourful birds. The animals are more elusive but we have seen the odd glimpses of wild goats, barking deer and evidence of leopards and porcupines. Black faced langur and rhesus macaque monkeys we saw often in the trees bounding around and lots of lizards basking in the sun. I have run out of superlatives for this place, it’s brilliant.

If you wanted to meet beautiful, friendly, shy, hard working people and walk in stunning mountain scenery. Eat home cooked and home grown vegetarian organic food. Be totally disconnected from the internet and electricity (quite often) but have simple and warm accommodation then this experience is for you. I cannot recommend it enough. It’s called:

VILLAGE WAYS; THE COMPLETE HIMALAYAN. You would not regret it. It’s not anything close to 5 star and it is physically challenging but it’s the most rewarding and authentic thing I have ever done. It’s been an experience not a holiday.

On the last morning lying in bed and watching the pale sunlight filtering through the thin curtain, listening to the birdsong and the distant barking of a dog across the valley I realised how much I would miss this beautiful place. The chattering of the family in the kitchen, the pounding of the spices for the morning sweet, spicy chai and the faint whiff of woodsmoke will stay with me forever, I will come back.

The last day we walked up to the road and had a five hour journey back to our original starting point of Khali Estate for one night. We then parted company with David and Ingrid who carried on to Delhi for their flights and journeys back to the U.K. and Norway. We still have 10 days in the mountains before we return to Delhi and go home.

We are going to stay in Kasar Devi for 8 nights only a few kilometres from Binsar. In the 1960’s Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary spent a lot of time there just chillin’ and that is exactly what we plan to do. Tune in, turn on and drop out. Woo Hoo.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

-Mark Twain

We arrived at our hotel the ‘Colonels Retreat’ a lovely colonial residence for the day before being taken to the overnight train from New Delhi train station to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand. We had a two hour wait in one of the busiest stations in the world. The train station was heaving with people, we decided we didn’t need a porter and set off with strict instructions not to talk to people who asked where we were going and to show them our tickets. We headed off in our little group of four to try and find the right platform. So many people, some sleeping on the platforms with their small bundles tied with string and small children by their sides, families off home, groups of teenagers and the desperately poor looking harassed and hungry. It was a scene of both delight and despair. There were children collecting plastic bottles in big sacks diving under trains and hunting through the rubbish, they all looked trashed and wide eyed. Trains full of people staring out of the carriages waiting for their trains to leave, it was a scene I will never forget.

The train arrived and we found our sleeper cabin for 4 and made up the beds. It was 10 o’clock by this time and we jumped into bed. The bunks are quite short so Chris and David had their feet dangling over the ends. It was 2nd class so it wasn’t a private room it was just a curtain. None of us slept terribly well and going for a pee at 3 in the morning I couldn’t find our bunks so there were a lot of ‘whoops sorry’ before I found David’s feet stuck out. Eventually we made it to 5am when the train stopped.

It was freezing cold and we hurriedly put on our coats. Our driver was waiting and we started the 4 hour journey to the Khali Estate in Binsar. Khali estate was originally lived in by an Englishman who was the commissioner of Amora district in the 1870’s and since 1988 it has been a wildlife sanctuary reserve. The house was built in a lovely colonial style. We were given very cute round cottages in the grounds with a view of the Himalayan range and a hot water bottle in your bed. The food and the people are lovely. We are all excited.

Binsar wildlife sanctuary is at an altitude varying from 1500 to 2500m where you can see Nanda Devi (India’s highest mountain at 7816m), Trisul and Panchachuli mountains. It is the only wildlife sanctuary where walking is permitted on the 62km of designated paths. Many luminaries from Indians history have walked here.

We spoke to a representative of the company Village Ways who have organised the tour and they explained our itinerary for the next 16 days. They also explained how they gave interest free loans to the villagers to build the guesthouses and employed local guides for the walks, thereby trying to stop the exodus of people to the cities for work. As people came on the tours they repaid the loans. They are all kept to a good standard with western bathrooms, quality bedding and one person from every village attended cooking and hygiene courses. You are not allowed to tip the people in the villages as Village Ways want them to feel like owners of the guesthouses and not servants which of course they are. It was this aspect that really drew me to this company, it’s admirable.

We started the walk at 9 after breakfast. We met our two guides Santosh and Khim who are from local villages and both work for Village Ways. It was an easy start and they are both fantastic guides, they know all about the local plants, animals and birds and they are extremely knowledgeable. We passed women digging clay which they use for the floors in the houses.

They mix it with cow dung to bind it and have to water it every 2 weeks to keep the dust down. They carry 35 kilos on their heads and they are only skinny little things. It was a big social group of women who laughed like drains when we tried to pick up the bags. David got down a hole and started digging they were very impressed and all giggled. Women carry huge weights of feed for the cattle and bedding on their heads it’s very impressive.

It was a 4 hour walk with a stop for lunch from our tiffin boxes. The last part of the walk uphill was excruciatingly hard. We stopped in Dalar village and found our very comfortable accommodation. It was very basic but lovely thick duvets and blankets and later a hot water bottle. Bliss. The food was excellent. Cauliflower curry, daal, rice and paratha followed by a semolina sweet. We also met Santosh’s extended family and were shown around their home and their garden.

Chris played makeshift badminton with his nephew and a good time was had by all. They were very welcoming and charming.

We were brought chai at 7, breakfast of porridge, omelet and chipati and we were ready to walk at 9. It is very cold at night and first thing in the morning, down to freezing. Once you start walking it soon warms up. We walked down to a larger village in 2 hours and had tea and then walked along the river. So far we have seen 50 different varieties of birds. The guides especially Santosh are amazing they have such skill first hearing, spotting then naming the birds. They carry a bird book so show you in the book and with binoculars. We walked 8 kilometres and arrived in Risal and again a lovely warm welcome and shown to our beautifully presented simple rooms. All the guesthouses have 3 twin bed rooms and a dining room for 6 with a wood burning stove and some easy chairs. Very adequate.

Dinner was pumpkin and lemon curry, daal, chipati and rice pudding. Lovely. There was a terrific storm with booming thunder rippling through the mountains like a deep low growl which you could feel in your chest. Hail stones covered the floor and it looked good for a clear view of the mountains.

The following day was going to be a longer tougher day. 700m straight up to the highest viewpoint in Binsar at 2420m. It was very tough but worth it for the fantastic views of the mountains.

We ate our lunch and recovered from the arduous walk just staring at the grandeur of the mighty Himalayas.

The terrain is different as you go higher. It changes from pine forest to Oak and rhodedendron forest on paths that used to be used by British soldiers on horseback in the late 1870’s to check on the villages.

The villages were more highly populated then. We arrived at our guesthouse, all downhill fortunately, tired and happy we had managed a really tough 15k walk. We had cauliflower curry, daal and paratha with semolina pudding for dessert.

We had a lie in until 7.30 when chai arrived, breakfast at 8.30. Breakfast was a big omelette, daal and chipati. Rice pudding and bananas. Walking was optional and I wanted to read my book, do my blog and try and let my bad chest recover after having a heavy cold. Everyone else went for a walk.

Lunch is rice with peas, spinach, chipati and fruit. It is spectacular with the Himalayan Range in plain view. Awesome. A nice easy day. We walked around the small village and met all the families. It is a very basic existence, cows, oxen and goats live downstairs and everyone else upstairs.

The walls and floors are earth and the rooms have very little furniture, most people sleep on the floor. Like in all homes the kitchen is the cosiest room with a wood fire in the corner for cooking and heat. They grow their own vegetables, garlic and onions and everything is organic. They interestingly had beehives in the walls. They made a small hole in the outside wall, made a larger hole on the inside and plastered it closed. When the queen bees made it their home, after a summer they took the plaster out on the inside and subdued the bees with smoke. They then removed the honey. Clever.

There are lots of young animals; dogs and baby goats to cuddle on the way round the villages

There are leopards in the forest, we saw leopard poo and scratching and one of our guides had lost 2 dogs to leopards which is very common. There are also porcupines, mountain goats, barking deer and other animals for the leopards to prey on.

We had a wake up at 7 with chai, breakfast at 8 and off at 9. I have discovered chipati and jam for breakfast with my omelette, the daal is wearing really thin.The porters overtook us down the steep rocky paths on a gentle trot, carrying a bag each, they are so strong.

They must think we are a right bunch of softies. It is an easier walk, 9km mostly downhill to a lovely guesthouse in a village called Satri which has 5 people and no electric. It is always a warm welcome with chai and big smiles. With fantastic views of the snow capped mountain range, we all sat and put our feet up. At 3 we get more tea and potato and onion pakoras, lovely.

The final day in Binsar is just a short 20 minute walk down to the road and from there in a 4×4 to the next higher valley up closer to the mountains, it’s a four hour drive. We will be sad to leave our guides Khim and Santosh they have been exemplary in their local knowledge and have been extremely fun company. Onwards and upwards literally. The adventure continues..

We picked our friend Ingrid up from the airport and the four of us left for Agra and the Taj Mahal. After battling through the Delhi traffic we eventually got to Agra 4 hours later. As we got into the city we picked up our guide who seemed like a real wide boy when we first met him. We were dropped at our guesthouse and arranged with the driver and guide to be picked up at 5 to get to the Taj for sunset. In the mornings it is very foggy and not good visibility. Our guesthouse owner Max said we were leaving it a bit late to get in as the queues are long. We spoke to the guide Raj and he said no problem I will get you in really quickly. He did exactly that, he got us to the front and right in ahead of a hundred people queuing. He seemed to know everyone and lots of handshakes with small notes were going backwards and forwards. He was an excellent guide and was very informative. He knew all the places to stand for photos and got the security guards to let us stand and look where you weren’t supposed to. It was brilliant. I am so pleased to have eventually seen it and had the whole history expertly explained.

The next morning we were picked up early and taken to Agra Fort. We were the first people in, we felt like VIP’s. It lasted about 20 minutes. Again it was way more interesting having a guide to tell us the history of the place. It took us about 2 hours to go round and it was very beautiful. We saw only 20% of the whole site because a lot of it is red sandstone and was being worn away so is now out of bounds to try and preserve it.

We wanted to stop in Mathura which is half way from Agra to Delhi and is the birthplace of Lord Krishna. It celebrates Holi with a passion, lots of processions and special ceremonies in temples. We asked our driver if he would stop but he didn’t seem happy and said we needed to ring his office. They said no way. Cars get damaged and everyone gets trashed on alcohol and bhang and there are thousands of people. It can be quite dangerous. We went straight back to Delhi, a little disappointed, it would have been fun!!

Stopping at a service station on the way back to Delhi these guys were in the car park. Folk singers from Rajasthan the young boy was the musicians brother and he danced like a puppet. They were very good.

We had breakfast early and put on old clothes and went downstairs. The hotel staff daubed us with paint before leaving and then we went wandering. It was good fun. Everyone shouts happy holi and attacks you with more paint. People throw water balloons with or without colour from the rooftops. A lot of people were quite intoxicated and absolutely covered in paint and that was 10 in the morning, it was going to get messy!!

We showered and checked out of our hotel and moved to our new base for the afternoon and evening before we take the overnight train to the Himalayas. The hotel is gorgeous, colonial elegance in a nice part of town. The Wi-fi is excellent which is how I can post the last couple of trips. The good news is we are back in for a night before returning home. So excited about the walking. The adventure continues.

We started our tour of Delhi by buying 3 day metro cards for 500 rupees £6 which gives us unlimited travel. It’s pretty straightforward the metro, part underground and part above the city. It’s way better than sitting for hours in traffic. We set off for the Red Fort and stopped at the large mosque which was teeming with people. It was a mass of vehicles and people buying, selling and wandering. We went to the market just below the mosque and bought nuts and fruits from the market. We walked from there to the Fort.

It is huge with a big square in front of it and hundreds of mostly Indian people going in.

When we walked back through Connaught Place Park there was a youth festival and we sat and watched some traditional dance with traditional music it was lovely.

The following day we went to a huge Sikh Temple. I have never been to a Sikh temple before. We walked in and a man approached us with perfect English and said he was a volunteer and would show us what to do and give us a tour. He gave us all headscarves, we removed our shoes and walked towards the main temple.

We washed our hands and feet and entered the temple. There was musicians playing and hundreds of people sat or praying, it was a very emotional experience.

He explained how he was a professor of music at Delhi university and volunteered like all Sikhs are expected to do. Everyone is equal, rich and poor, men and women. He took us to a big hall where they fed 30,000 people on a daily basis in the week and 50,000 on the weekends.

Hindus, Christians, Muslims, anyone all welcome. Lots of poor people went to eat it was very humbling. Chris and his uncle David sat down and had chipati, daal and pickle. I stood chatting to a woman from Mexico, both blown away by the scale of the operation and how brilliant it was, both of us in tears. We then had a tour of the kitchen all run by volunteers, it was like a factory. We were all very impressed by the visit and I now have a deep respect for what they achieve and do in the community.

We had booked a cycle tour which had been recommended. It was an early start, up at 5 to get into Old Delhi for 6.30. We met outside the only large old fashioned big screen cinema left in Delhi called the Delite. It’s supposed to be wonderful for watching Bollywood films.

Cycling through the old city dodging donkeys, bullock carts, dogs and everyone else who was up. The shops and businesses stay open late so a lot of them don’t open til 10 so it’s the only time you can do it. We looked at the spice market, old mansions called havellis, flower markets and learned all about the history of the city old and new.

We went through the administrative section of Delhi, this lovely building turned into an Oberoi hotel

In the centre of old Delhi is the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest in India, which can fit 20,000 people in for prayers. A lot of people go there instead of Mecca for the Haj.

This also means that there are hundreds of desperately poor people with their kids living on the street below the mosque and getting by with money and food from the tourists and pilgrims, it’s heart rending.

You needed nerves of steel with 9 of us crossing 4 lanes of traffic as it got later in the morning, crossing from the old city to the new, but it all worked well. We got lots of info from a Hungarian girl who was our guide. It was good fun and can highly recommend it. We stopped for chai and matis (savoury biscuits) and towards the end of the tour had breakfast at a very famous restaurant called Karims (opened in the 30’s) and had goat curry and a big crispy Nan bread. Yum. We saw one of the biggest goats I have ever seen it was like a small pony and very very frisky… this picture wasn’t the goat in question as I was trying to dodge it on the street on my bike but just to show you how big they get!!

Our guide Naomi also explained about the red light district, one of the biggest in the world. It’s in one area not in sight and it’s rooms above hundreds of plumbing and tile shops. The woman are from poor families, they are forced to marry the pimps have children and then are totally trapped. If they have daughters, when they get to 12 or 13 they also forced into prostitution. Naomi visits the younger children of these women and takes them pens, paper, books etc and tries to help them as much as she can. She is a brave woman. It’s a very sad situation.

A friend Rachel who works for an airline flew in and we were invited that afternoon to the posh hotel she stays in. Such a difference to where we had been that morning, a little oasis. Rachel brought us some M+S fruit tea cakes which we had with our tea by the pool, such luxury. It was lovely to see her.

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Tomorrow we are off to the Taj Mahal, followed by the Holi festival, can’t wait.

We arrived in Jaipur at around 5, lots of traffic but not like Delhi. We were delighted to find the hotel we booked was inside the pink city which is a small area with the Palace, all the bazaars and right in the centre of the city. The hotel is fab, a recently restored building amongst small businesses. This area is where a lot of the film the marigold hotel was shot. The manager of the hotel was falling over himself to help us and couldn’t do enough.

We parked our bags and went out to explore. We sat and drank several cups of chai and watched the world and his elephant go by, literally!!

We walked for 10 minutes and found the Jaipur Albert Hall based on the London one built in 1876 and the foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales. There must have been a concert on before as it was playing loud Bhangra music on huge speakers outside.

We walked to the back of the city palace, a small square, and listened to a band who were playing for a posh wedding. There was an elephant and a horse that was all dressed up to take the groom after the music and dancing to the party, it was fab. Lots of people stopped and talked to us; where are you from? Where are you going? Let me take you to the winter palace in my Indian helicopter (tuk tuk) or I have a jewellery, clothes, something shop, come and look. It’s funny, they are friendly and want to talk but all have something to sell. One of the first phrases I learned was Nahi jai which means ‘no need’. It seems to work.

We were picked up early to go to the Amer Fort before all the big tourist coaches arrived. We stopped first at the Winter Palace the Hawa Mahal which has 362 windows and allegedly the maharajah had 360 wives almost one for every day!!. You cannot go in.

The Amer fort was the residence of the Rajput Maharajahs from the mid 1500’s. It’s on a ridge outside the city. We walked up not wanting the elephant ride to the top. It does look spectacular 30 or so elephants all dressed up and painted, with tourists sat on top winding their way up. But not for us. It was £6 each to go in, we refused the offer of guides and wandered around. It was spectacular. The soldiers who were dotted around followed us and asked if we both wanted to be in a picture and once he had taken the photo demanded money.

As we walked back down some of the elephants were refusing to move and were being beaten with big thick sticks on the top of their heads, not good to watch. This is how it is and they had a long days work ahead of them. Poor things.

We then stopped at the water palace which is where the king has parties in the middle of the lake. There is a wide track down from the fort for the elephants to take the King and his party guests to the lake. How the other half live….

Young girls on the street kept grabbing my hands and kissing them. I am in so many pictures and dozens of selfies. Not sure why they want pictures of me and Chris. Is it the blue eyed ginger alien thing again? It’s a bit weird but very sweet. In the Janta Mantar I had loads of pictures taken with a huge group of schoolchildren and their teachers. Also in the monkey temple, weird.

We left town to visit the Galta Temple, a Hindu Temple high on a hill. It has 3 pools fed by a sacred natural spring. People come to bathe in the waters and pay homage to Surya the sun god. It is also called the monkey temple. We stopped on the way to the temple and picked up Kanhaiya Sharma otherwise known as the ‘monkey man’. He is famous for being on a BBC documentary and a National Geographic programme about monkeys called ‘monkey thieves’. Such a nice guy who is a real life monkey whisperer. As we approached the temple the monkeys saw him and started to follow. He got some peas in pods off a vendor and we had to hold our arms out and hold the peas with a closed hand. The monkeys first sat on your head and then made their way along your arms to the booty. They prised your fingers open to get the peas. It was good fun. I only wish I didn’t have a white t shirt on! We stayed chatting and drinking chai with Kanha a very interesting man.

Our driver realised we didn’t particularly want a posh tourist restaurant so we sat in a car park at the back of the palace and ate chapatis and pickle and biryani and yellow soupy stuff? with all the taxi drivers. A feast for less than £3 for 3 of us with water. Brilliant.

We left the driver and headed for the City Palace, built in 1730 which has many buildings and large open courtyards and gardens. It was very beautiful.The museum and armoury was fantastic and all the textiles and especially the pictures. One of the maharajahs, Ram Singh Il, was a keen early photographer in the late 1860’s. He was known as ‘the photographer prince’.

Some of his pictures were amazing. He had adopted some western clothing and culture as the Raj were becoming more modern. He took lots of pictures of his harem. There were pictures much later of King George V in 1911 and Lord Mountbatten and his wife on state visits. The whole city was painted pink in honour of the visit of the Prince of Wales later to become Edward Vll and has become a trademark of the city.

From the palace we went to the Jantar Mantar which is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments and was completed in 1734. The monuments are huge and Chris was in his element. They measure time, predict eclipses, track stars and lots of other stuff Very clever for its time.

On the way back to Delhi the following morning we noticed hundreds of pilgrims in different groups with different flags on a walk to a temple 150 km away. There were tents set up in villages along the way for them to sleep in and eat. Impressive.

I would like to go back to Jaipur and hopefully stay longer. It has a really nice feel to the place and friendly people.

It was an easy 1 hour flight to Bangkok and then a 5 hour flight to Delhi. We just got on the plane and sat down and I saw coming down the aisle a woman who I thought I recognised. As she got closer and sat down right in front of me we both recognised each other instantly. Her name is Kanta and she used to come to my second yoga class on a Monday at the Marriott. She had changed jobs and consequently changed gyms a couple of years ago. She was always enthusiastic and bubbly and I missed her friendly banter when she left. It was fab to see her and her husband who were going to Delhi to see relatives. It’s a very small world. We are hoping to catch up in a few days.

We were supposed to be picked up by the hotel at 11.30 it was a late flight, but they never showed so we got in a knackered taxi and made our way into town. We couldn’t get anywhere near the hotel because the police had closed all the roads. It took us until 2am to get there and when we did it was nothing like the reviews on Expedia and it was in the seediest part of town. It was grubby and I got into bed almost fully dressed. Sometimes the reviews of these places are highly misleading.

After not the best nights sleep we got up and got a tuk tuk to book our train ticket to Jaipur, which was fully booked. We are now going in a car with a driver and having it for the whole time. We have also booked a different hotel in a nicer part of town. Sorted. Phew.

I may have called the traffic in Chiang Mai intense but it’s kids stuff compared to Delhi. It is the craziest traffic I have ever encountered. There may be 3 lanes on a road but there will be 5 lines of cars all jockeying for position. Cars , motorbikes, tuk tuks, trucks, bullock carts and the odd elephant. Our driver said to drive in India you need good brakes, good horn and good luck!!

I had also forgotten how noisy India is…. flipping heck!!! Car horns, dogs, people shouting it’s never quiet.

All your senses are assaulted by smells of food and drains and pollution you can cut with a knife. Visually it’s amazing with beautiful buildings, colourful saris and decorated trucks looking like xmas. There is also the obvious extreme poverty and people sleeping in the centre reservation on busy roads. No wonder they call it ‘incredible India’.

We got dropped off by the tuk tuk driver at India Gate, which is in memory for all the fallen Indian soldiers in the First World War. It’s impressive. It’s in a huge park with many people wandering around in a big green space and lovely to be away from the traffic. We were accosted by many sellers of everything and had forgotten just how pushy they can be!!

We ate on the street as we walked around in the day and later on in the evening at the main bazar in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the chaotic night bazar. We had aloo palak (potato and spinach) and daal makhani (lentil curry) with naan bread. Yum.

Off to Jaipur, looking forward to going and getting out of Delhi. Our driver Rama speaks good English and is a funny guy. We stopped on the way to Jaipur to feed the monkeys on the side of the road.

The landscape is very different, very sandy with palm trees and low lying hills full of monkeys, deer and strangely the odd camel! It was a long journey, 6 hours. We eventually get to our destination in a lovely heritage hotel within the pink city only recently opened.

Looking forward to this trip.

It’s time to leave Thailand. We will miss the people, our friends, the great food and the fantastic scenery especially roaming around the mountains. We love the freedom of living here. There are few restrictions, health and safety is in your own hands. If you injure yourself here there is no ‘blaming’ the council for a pothole or suing someone for your own stupidity. It’s refreshing to not have the nanny state with directives on everything and a blame culture which we have in the West. There is freedom to live your life as you choose and not the way government or politicians want you to live. Hurray.

Here are a few photographs we really liked but they didn’t really fit in anywhere;

Lots of pictures of monks

Lots of elephants

And lots of other animals

Very large golden orb weaver spider about 8” across

Interesting plants

Ob Khan National Park

Graffiti in the city

Interesting…….

Sunsets and beaches

what is there not to like about Thailand……….

It is the last few days of our trip in Thailand. We will be sad to leave but are looking forward to the next part of our adventure, walking in India.

With that in mind we have always wanted to do the ‘monks walk’ along a rocky path through the forest to the Wat at 1060m near the top of Doi Suthep, one of the highest points in CM. This was the way the monks used to reach the temple at the top and still do, thousands on some occasions. It also passes our favourite temple Wat Pha Lat the ‘monastery at the sloping rock’ in the forest half way up.

This smaller temple is a real hidden gem; no crowds, food sellers and not many tourists. It’s not as bling and opulent as it’s big brother up the hill but is peaceful and serene with a waterfall in a very natural surrounding and a great view of the city below. It’s also a resting point half way up!!

The trail starts and after a few minutes uphill walking you are asked to enter your name at a little office, in case you get lost. The route is marked by strips of orange cloth attached to trees. You often see monks going up or coming down which is quite surreal and magical, wearing flip flops!

You need proper boots or trainers as the trail can be quite rocky and steep. You also need mosquito repellent as there are plenty of them about and at least a litre of water. We left early, 8 am, before the sun was too hot. The temperatures are now in the mid 30’s and rising with the humidity so early is best.

It took an hour to reach Wat Pha Lat clambering over roots and boulders along the way with some relatively steep bits. Passing small waterfalls and steep drops, stopping occasionally to look at lizards scuttling about and listening to birdsong (also to get our breath back).

We stopped at the small temple and used their facilities and had a quick sit down before tackling the more arduous second half up to the temple at the top. This part of the trail is more challenging and vertical in places and takes about an hour and a half. There are some tricky scrambles over rocks and big boulders and we took lots of breaks. At one point a guy in his 20’s just in a pair of shorts ran past us up the trail leaping over and around boulders. Gosh!! To add insult to injury he passed us on his way down and smiled as both times he found us sat on a rock catching our breath.

We eventually got to the top, 5.5 miles and 12,200 steps according to Chris and his Fitbit. We headed for a bite to eat and a sit down. We wished we had done the walk earlier on our trip. We climbed another 309 steps up to the entrance of the temple and had a look around . It was absolutely teeming with tourists unlike the wat below. It is Chinese New Year and very busy so we didn’t stay long and then jumped in a red bus and back to the city.

It’s the people of Thailand that make it such a magical place. They are friendly and inclusive with ready smiles, and a real sense of fun. The food and scenery is all fantastic but it’s the people that make us want to keep coming back again and again….

I thought I would like to talk a bit more about food as it’s everywhere here and it’s hard to resist. Which might explain my expanded waistline on my return home. A friend recently posted;

If I was run over on the road and they had to draw around my body it would be a circle!! If I stay here much longer it will be.

The food here is exceptional. It’s the freshest vegetables and meat or fish. Everything is bought and cooked the same day. You buy fish and frogs still alive from the market. The chickens are almost clucking. Thais would not entertain food that has a long shelf life or isn’t mega fresh.

If you buy meals to take home from the market they are normally about 50p (20 baht) and are packed in a small plastic bag, very deftly closed by a rubber band. There is a huge choice in take-away food.

There are a couple of places we frequent in the village. Friendly, very simple, great food.

We also go out to street food markets of which there are many dotted around the city. There are ‘street food tours’ you can go on but we do our own. They have many vendors and plastic tables and chairs arranged behind them on the side of the road. Like a very, very cheap Altrincham market night out (and far more interesting).

Here are a few of the dishes we really enjoy;

Pad se u. Thick flat noodles stir fried with Chinese kale and chilli with chicken, pork or shrimp

Pad Thai. Rice noodles, bean sprouts, tofu, spring onion, peanut, egg with chicken, pork or shrimp

Pad Kepow Kai Dow. Minced chicken or pork stir fried with holy basil and chilli with a fried egg on top (optional). It’s spicy.

Khao Pad. Fried rice with vegetables and meat

Penang curry with vegetables, meat or fish

Khao soi (egg noodle, yellow curry, chicken) with crispy noodles on top.

They cook pork until it is mega crispy with the crackling on and then really spice it up, it’s incredibly spicy. It’s lovely.

..

Khao Kha Moo. Succulent pork leg served over rice with sides of pickled mustard greens and a chilli garlic sauce. Found at the Chang Phuak night market and served by this lovely cowboy hatted woman. Yee Hah

With most rice dishes you get a bowl of clear broth on the side which is also delicious.

Then there are all the soups;

Tom yum goong (spicy shrimp soup)

Tom Kha Kai (chicken in coconut soup)

Som Tum (spicy papaya salad)

And a whole raft of noodle soups with pork balls and assorted meats and veggies.

In northern Thailand there are lots of different hotter dishes than in the south, and some quite different.

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There are Chiang Mai sausages, Sai Oua, which are hot and spicy, every one is different and mostly home made. They are too lumpy for my liking, but tasty. There are sausages with vermicelli inside. They are all a ring shape like a big Cumberland sausage. You buy them by weight and they are on every market. Some market stalls more popular than others

My favourite snacks wandering round the markets are curry puffs. Crispy, flaky, buttery pastry. It’s like a mini Cornish pastie filled with salted chicken, taro or peas. Yum. Chris likes the coconut little round things hot off the griddle, not sure what they are but are delicious. Very nice lady on Worrorot market who makes them.

There are many temptations including the roti woman, in our village, who does the loveliest roti filled with egg and banana and drizzled with forest honey chopped up into chunks. I have just had one and I’m still sticky…and I don’t really eat sweet things!!

There are lots of sweet things wrapped up in a leaf, it looks like a milky jelly wobbly thing!

If you do get fed up with rice and noodles there are lots of places for western food. A good breakfast can be had at the UN Irish bar or a place called sausage King just out of the city. They supply all the bacon and sausages for the hotels and some supermarkets. It is run by a guy called Robert from Bolton, who cures all his own bacon and makes the sausages.

You can get French, Italian and all styles of European food here as well as Korean, Japanese and all the other world foods. It is a food lovers heaven.

The fruit here is lovely. Sweet juicy oranges, strawberries, tamarind, dragon fruit, grapes, pomelo, guavas, papaya, mango, avocados all grown locally. I should eat only fruit and leave the curry puffs alone.

No wonder we’re getting fatter!!!

It is an endless culinary delight here, love it but need to run round a bit more. Feeling hungry just writing this……

With only 2 weeks before we leave CM we thought we should visit a couple of places we haven’t been to before in the north. We packed a small rucksack and set off to Chiang Dao which is 90km away. We have wanted to go since last year.

We set off early and had a lovely trip stopping at a couple of places along the way. The scenery as you get further north gets very mountainous, different to the mountains around Chiang Mai. There are larger verdant valleys, full of crops and small villages bubbling with rural life. There were many enormous Buddhas and stupors glinting gold in the sun sat atop many hills, we stopped and looked at a few. Lots of wows spoken.

We arrived in Chiang Dao and headed for the cave. You have to have a guide (200 baht) who takes you in with a large kerosene lamp which gave an eerie light to the journey inside. Some of the caverns were enormous and some very tight places where you squeezed through really small gaps. We have been in many caves on our travels and without fail the guide always says; this is a horse, or elephant, or snake and they never really look like anything. This one had an elephants lung!!! It was fun and bigger than we thought it would be.

Doi Chiang Dao is one of the biggest mountains in Thailand and the cave is part of the mountain. A friend said to go through the wildlife sanctuary in the National Park which surrounds the mountain and ride all the way to the other side, around the base. It took 2 hours to get to the other side, the scenery was amazing. We stopped for lunch in a tribal village and word must have got out because lots of small children turned up to look at the ‘strange folk’. It was a good lunch and very entertaining surrounded by dogs, cats, chickens and children!!

I don’t think I have the words to describe it but the pictures do. The best scenic 4 hour bike ride ever.

We stayed just below the mountain in a small bungalow on a farm stay by a small river. There were only 3 bungalows, the other 2 had friendly Korean couples in. The bungalow was very simple but perfect and only £10 for the night. Breakfast was an omelette with tomatoes and onions, a large salad which was gorgeous and lots of toast and marmalade. All the produce was from the farm. The picture below is of the owners.

We were heading from Chiang Dao to the Burmese border. We stopped a few miles from the border at a little coffee shop. As we pulled up we could see the girl panic; oh no farang…… this happens a lot. She called her friend who spoke a little English and then relaxed. They are so kind they brought us bananas with our coffee and couldn’t do enough for us. We set off for the border.

There is a road that runs parallel to the border with Myanmar. It twists and turns and some really steep bits where I had to get off and walk to the top of the hill many times. We need a bigger bike!!! There are many hairpin bends and potholes. It made for an interesting ride especially when Chris informed me that the front brake wasn’t too clever. We went slowly which was good to take in the absolutely awesome scenery.

We came across the highest campsite in Thailand with the most breathtaking views across the mountain ranges. We have said we would like to stay there next year. The only problem is that it gets very cold at night and in the morning, you would have to take lots of warm clothes. After a full day on the bike we needed to get back to a town and get new brake pads. With help from a very friendly girl in a Honda garage we found a Yamaha agent who changed the brake pads £7, sorted. Only then did Chris tell me how worried he was about the brakes.

We had planned to go further which wasn’t possible because of the brakes so ended up back in Chiang Dao, just before dark looking for somewhere to stay. We didn’t want to be out on the mountain roads in the dark, it’s scary enough in the light. We looked on Expedia and got a very posh bungalow on a resort all mod cons for £20. It was a bargain last minute deal, should have been £60, it was lovely.

Before we left to come home we wanted to climb to the top of the mountain to see a temple called Wat Tham Pha Plong. It is 510 steps to the top and was well worth it. The Wat at the top is in a cave. All the way up the stairs are sayings pinned to trees:

I would put Chiang Dao second on my favourite places in Thailand, we will be back.

‘To me a mountain is a buddha. think of the patience, hundreds of thousands of years just sittin there bein perfectly perfectly silent and like praying for all living creatures in that silence and just waitin for us to stop all our frettin and foolin.”

― Jack Kerouac