Well, I'm glad to say we're still going strong!

Kashmir wasn't necessarily a mistake but when you have thousands of soldiers around it does tend to inhibit the enjoyment that might have been!

Had a good time on a houseboat near Srinagar but the dodgy manager advising us that we shouldn't go out alone, or after dark, or at all, really started us thinking about an exit strategy as soon as we arrived. We escaped the city, which seemed like a good idea, to try and get closer to the militants that were living up the valley. Unfortunately they were all back in Srinagar but we made a good fist of it and spent a few days walking in the Himalaya. Why does that always sound prententious, Himalaya. Does Himalayas sound any better? I know it's wrong, but it sounds right. Anyway, the walking there was similar to walking up a very steep set of stairs for 4 hours then turning round and walking back down again. Actually, think of a cliff, put a slight incline on it, and you get the picture! Tough on the knees but amazing walking around up there with shepherds and gypsies and tribes from who knows where. Tigers as well apparently, but I guess they were scared off by the sound of creaking joints!

When I got back to Srinagar I thought it would be a good idea to shower. This is when I discovered something burrowing into my leg. It didn't have far to go to hit a major vein, and from there, who knows where. Luckily, though painfully, I managed to grab its hind legs and extricate the little creature - who, after all, was merely trying to pursue its life cycle - sending it scurrying away across the bathroom floor. What the was that?

Leaving Srinagar the following day by jeep with a 30 hour journey ahead of us and only mild diarrhoea, we managed to avoid, by 24 hours, some major goings-on in the city. Details are probably left unwritten! The jep driver was quite a card. He started with glazed, red eyes, smoking furiously, gobbing frequently through the window. He seemed to maintain his concentration with an endless supply of instant coffee which he would munch on while his eyes became more glazed and more red. He had only one rule when driving. "I must overtake". Be it a blind bend, be there an oncoming lorry or bus, be it on the inside or outside, be there a steep drop next to the road. Best way toovertake was on the inside, lorry approaching fast (possibly, you couldn't see it because of the blind bend), next to a vertical drop. If you didn't have loose bowels before, you certainly would after.

Spent some time in Agra (the Taj Mahal) and Varanasi (the Hindu Vatican?) over the next week. Both of which were beautiful and hot (48 degrees, believe me, that's bleedin' hot).

Enjoyed plenty of traffic jams in Varanasi. Rickshaws, lorries, cars (old type Ambassadors), bikes, cows, pigs, pedestrians, you name it. Everything stops, people shout, engines are turned off, nothing happens, people get out of vehicles (if they have them), walk around, distant shouting, general confusion, cows unmoved, engine starts in distance, everyone jumps back in to vehicles (if they have them), engines start, nothing happens, more shouting, one car moves a foot, general excitement, everyone moves a foot to fill spaces, everything stops, repeat ad infinitum.

Varanasi though was especially beautiful. Great people, bunch of hippies.

Now we're in Darjeeling in the NE of India and we've been sitting in a cloud for three days drinking tea. Heading off trekking for a fortnight from tomorrow in Sikkim.

Hope you are all well!

Lotsalove,

Ben and Kel

In de Delhi

Howdy folks!

Well, it feels like a while since I sat at a keyboard and that is, perhaps, overstating a "while". Funny, because now that I'm here, I wonder why it took so long, and why I put myself in a position where I am having to try and remember what we've been up to over the last month or so!

To summarise briefly:

We had a fantastic time in Australia.

We are now in India.

Clearly, more detail is required but if it is enough for you to know that we are both alive and well, then you can skip to the end, or go off and do the dishes, or whatever it is that you're putting off by reading this.

Starting with Australia, Adelaide is a fine city, and this is where we spent most of our time staying with Kel's folks, Kerry and Jeanenne. It was good spending time will them and also with Kel's friends but, as expected, time always flies and another trip (or more) beckons in the near future. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, as you would expect for Kel, but also for this particular Pom! Besides the people, Adelaide has a large number of fine eating and drinking establishments. I tried to reach them all but this proved impossible. Kel seems to have a mental list of all the places we never saw in Adelaide. My list is bigger.

Apart from the time in Adelaide, we spent three weeks in a campervan going form Darwin in the Northern Territories to Broome in Western Australia. We saw some amazing sights, my favourites being Kakadu National Park and the Bungle Bungles. The pleasure of seeing these sights was sometimes overwhelmed by the struggle of sleeping in an oven, but overall, and sometimes it is important to keep an eye on the horizon, the trip was good and maybe a bit of a taster for a future holiday. Next time though, we'll try and work out when the days are either a bit cooler or a bit drier which I think limits it to about 2 possible weeks a year!

Well, these two brief paragraphs don't really do justice to Australia, but we arrived in Delhi last night at 0230 and after a bit of a sleep this evening, my brain is fried.

It's decidedly hot here at the moment but fortunately the pollution stops the sunlight from reaching my frazzled brow! In a couple of days we're heading up to Srinagar in Kashmir (a la Michael Palin) to stay on a houseboat for a few days. All this hectic running about, we really need time to collect our thoughts! Do I detect even a smidgeon of sympathy? I should hope not!

Will write more when my brain is operational.

Take care,

Lots of love,

Ben and Kelly