I'm not in Kansas anymore...

The blue city of Jodhpur,an 'Evertonian's delight!' No sooner had we beaten a path out of dusty Jaisalmer, than I realised that I had left my flip flops behind at the guest house.  I know you're thinking "why the heck is she talking about flip flops?", but stay with me on this one. You might recall that in both Goa and the ashram, I was repeatedly being told to "let go" of my earthly attachments, that the universe would provide so long as I trusted and surrender to this possibility. Living the London media lifestyle where everything in my life was perfectly scheduled and controlled by none other than me, this was a difficult concept for me to grasp. Put simply, what I was lacking in, was faith. The first time I attempted to put having faith into practice was in the ashram.  Siva temple at sunset c/o 'FotoSol' One morning as I rose for a forbidden trip out of there with some other renegades for a pre-sunrise temple visit, I came do...

View of Jaisalmer fort from our guest house rooftop We finally left the confines of Lal Ghat and continued on our merry way to the desert town of Jaisalmer. I would like to say that the journey was comfortable, but  we endured a 15hr bus journey where temperatures reached below freezing. Thankfully, the poo Gods were kind to poorly Liz and she managed to last the journey on a couple of toilet stops. However, we were cursed with an overzealous bus driver with a penchant for going over the bumps too fast which resulted in breakdown and replacement bus (not cool when you've popped a sleeping pill, having to change buses in a dark late night service station). However, we finally got there around lunchtime, the dusty desert town of Jaisalmer. Arising from our glamorous tent When in Udaipur we had booked a 'tent' instead of a room and had had romantic notions of arriving to a desert marquee, hung with Indian silks. Not so. We were shown to an Ikea-style two man tent...

Absolutely nothing! Or so it would seem..... Our first Rajasthani town had other plans for us.... View of Lake Pichola from our guest house  After another epic journey from Hampi involving a semisleeper bus to Mumbai followed by a flight, Liz and I found ourselves in the wondrous north of India. It was everything we had been waiting for, the labyrinthine streets, the marble palaces, the glassy lakes. We were in no hurry so spent the first night with a lovely couple of lads we had picked up at the airport chilling over a few beers. We took a room at Lal Ghat, a 300 year old stone house, complete with courtyard and view of Lake Pichola. Our boudoir was very romantic, we slept by candlelight in a tiny stone room, two iron cots and - for the first time - sheets, a quilt and blankets, which served to keep the chilly Udaipur air out very well. Donkeys in the streets of Udaipur However, on the first morning - disaster. Liz awoke with muscle pains and th...

So, readers...we reluctantly left behind the sleepy Keralan backwaters to spend a day exploring the historic town of Fort Cochin. Due to our tight onward schedule, we had to go at lightning speed,  hiring a rickshaw driver to take us around the main sites. Doubtless our lack of time had something to do with our impression, but I couldn't help but feel shortchanged by Cochin - I was expecting the rich history of the maharajas and the spice infused intensity of Rushdie's A Moor's Last Sigh . In reality we got the Western menus, pollution and hassle of tourist town. We were pleased to leave it behind and snuggle into our double bunk on the overnight bus to Bangalore.  All dressed up in Bangalore Liz is a DJ and music producer and has been looked after by various music promoters at points during her trip. We were really lucky to receive more famous Indian hospitality from one of her business contacts on arrival in Bangalore: collected from the bus and taken to a serviced...