After a very grateful goodbye to Uday and family, I flew to Delhi to meet my buddies, who'd flown out that day. During the conference that weekend, I'd been introduced to a Dr. Ghambir, the Vice Chairman of the Indian Medical Assiciation (IMA), who had sorted us out with some cracking accommodation in Delhi at the IMA guest house. Georgie, Tom, Neil and Rosie arrived first and settled in, before heading out for some grub at Connaught Place, a nearby street full of restaurants, where I met them (after my 3 hour trip through the chaotic delhi night time traffic). Full of smiles, we had our first meal together and I presented them all with a hand spun hank (which I'd bought in Bapu Kuti, Gandhi's home), a symbol of the simple way of life ghandi had led, and taught. Much appreciated in the 40 degree heat! (I forgot to buy myself one...)

That night, as lads do, we did a lad workout and lifted some lad suitcases and beds. I clumsily pushed a bed into the aircon socket, tripping the fuse and knocking out all plugs in the room...all at about 1 in the morning with no help around! The 3-way lad team did more lad fusebox trickery to resume the lad workout. A cool, peaceful nights sleep under my bednet.

Our day in delhi was spent in the searing heat chaking out the gigantic and impressive red fort. Georgie got sunstroke while George and Tom played like little kids in the sprinklers. Restaurant closed, no cold pepsi for the tourists. Post-fort we ventured into town to check out the bazaars. Bizarrely, all the shops were pretty much identical, selling tacky watches, cheap batteries (our speaker system lasts 2 songs on a set of eight...) and electrified-tennis raquet mosquito swats (had to buy). Our bartering was pretty awful at this point.

Our journey back was on the metro, which was very impressive! Very clean, spacious, cool and fast. London: take note. One journey was 9 rupees: 12 pence. The morning after we hopped on the train to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. Our hostel in Agra has views over the Taj Mahal: absolutely beautiful. I got out the tripod and had a little play with the camera in the dusk. Some great shots of the Taj. Although, this was the tip of the iceberg, the next day we had a look around it.

We were too late to have an aircon room, so we were absolutely baking in the 40 degree night time heat, and had abotu 2 hours sleep max. The other didn't get any...but if anything is going to wake you up, a visit to the Taj Mahal is definitely high on the list.

Described as a "teardrop on the face of eternity" the taj is 100m square, perfectly symmetrical, 81m tall, surrounded by 53 fountains and 16 gardens made of 100% non-porous indian white marble. Tom, Neil and I decided to get a guide: great decision. Although there were rumours of a "guide strike" (!!!) that day...

Although cloudy and raining, it was still a marvellous spectacle. Shah Jahan employed 80000 tradesmen of different skills to build the Taj, a morsoleum for his third wife, who died after giving birth to their 14th child (not giving birth to 14 children, which our guide lost in translation).

That evening we hopped on a train to Jaipur, much easier said than done. We've caught 3 trains so far, each one almost failed in 3 completely different ways.

That evening, we walked up to the monkey temple, a hindu temple high up on a hilltop overlooking Jaipur. Althught it was a pretty standard, yet breathtaking cityscape, some long exposure tripod photography produced some wonderful stars and light trails overlooking the city.

As always, Tom, Neil and I shared a double bed and Georgie and Rosie shared one too. Again, as always, we went out for a delicious dinner of ever increasingly spicy food (as our confidence (continence) gathers strength...). I am being as adventurous as possible with my order, generally getting something I haven't heard of (as if I have a choice...). Current favourites are "jungli roti", "lassi" and "rasgulla". We're compiling a little list of the foods so we can refer back later (Georgie's idea...very organised...keeps us all on our toes!). Getting a little tired of 2 curries everyday; fortunately italian and chinese are readily available. I've seen Chinese spelt incorrectly as Chinies and Chines...this list is growing I'm sure.

The next morning I led the gang on the lonely planet's walking tour of Jaipur. I'd had a great experience of these guides in australia (other blog) but the timings in this tour were a little optimistic! Perhaps a speed of 3kmh in the 45 degree heat was optimistic, especially considering the walk was primarily through market and we were with two shopaholics (guess who?)...

The tour ended at the observatory, which Neil and I (geeks) were keen to explore. It was an array of astronomical sculptures used for celestial calculations. The highlight was a 27m high sun dial. The shadow's tip moves at 4m per hour! (we went at midday...very little movement).

Us boys decided to try out a spot of golf afterwards, caddy and everything, all the trimmings. We arrived, and were quickly shot down by the apparent dress code, high price and grumpy club captain. We made the most of a bad situation and headed to the spectacular Prince Albert Museum, all of us shackled together by a 3-way split audio guide. As we shuffled around the building, we learned of numberous Hindu stories, each with their own fascinating moral, each with brilliant paintings/carvings. Nearly fainted due to heat, we were fan-hopping.

Met the girls back at the ranch and had another brilliant dinner. But hotter. I ordered Buddha delight ( a chyknees dishwith) Fire on Ice (a flourescent salt-sweet fizzy drink that "burns your throat as it soothes your mind". yummmm.)

Went for a failed, slightly scary venture in the dark pursued by a creepy schizophrenic towards a beautiful lake view (which we never found), before heading back to rest at the station to wait for our 12:30 overnight train to Udaiphur. Train arrived at 2am. Very little sleep on the train.

Arrived today in Udaipur and had naps all morning. Decided to take today pretty slow. Just been planning our trip, playing some didgeridoo (the owner is obsessed!), shooting some pool and bloggy blogging. Udaipur is the site of the filming of the famous scene in Octopussy of the Lake Palace. Dry season, so lake dried up. Less idyllic.

Slow internet so no photos, my apologies. You'll have to get your fix another time! All the best.