Days 14+

I don't think we've done enough of interest each day to warrant a daily entry for the past four days, so I thought I'd just pick out the highlights.

We are back in Corbett National Park - in a different resort - a bit less plush than the last, but with beautiful grounds right on the river banks - and it is huge, so loads of space to play and relax. We have been swimming, played lots of football and a little bit of badminton and spent many hours playing cards and cluedo!

We have been on several more jeep 'safaris' and seen jackals and martens along with more birds and the ubiquitous monkeys and deer, more tiger footprints (pugmarks), scats (wees) and heard more stories from other people who have seen tigers - but failed to see any ourselves!! Oh well, another time.

We have also been on two elephant back safaris through the jungle - which were a quite bizarre sensation, but brilliant. I had no idea that an elephant rocked so much when it walked, nor that an animal that huge could possibly make so little sound with its feet as it moved. Apart from when it breaks down plants, it is almost silent - very strange. Anyway we really went into the deep jungle this way - and met people who had literally just seen a tiger where we were heading. But is had (predictably) disappeared by the time we got there. On balance though I'm not sure how keen any of us were about encountering a tiger without the protection of a jeep between us and them, so it was probably no bad thing.

Mia has had a couple of very important breakthroughs this week (though not a lot of tooth-growing) which have given her great delight and endless opportunities to demonstrate. She can now tie laces and click her fingers (not at the same time) and does both several hundred times a day.

And that is all I can think of for now!

Back to Delhi for a bit of shopping and then London here we come. And now I think we are all ready for it. It has been fabulous. We have successfully completed (well almost) our adventure without any mishap, accident or injury - which can't be bad. And despite everybody's warnings we have had no Delhi belly, so are all coming home fatter than when we left … ho hum ….

The children have been truly, truly amazing and taken everything in their stride and this is really what has made it a brilliant experience for us all.

But now we are looking forward to getting home and seeing you all. So, bye for now.

This time tomorrow ………

Love to you all from Nikki, Scott, Ellie, Flora and Mia (the adventurous A-Js) xxxxx

Day 13

Feeling very smug about having not much to do this morning and a nice hotel to do it in, we spent a lazy morning sorting things out and watching cheesy films before heading off on our first solo adventure - catching the train from Delhi to Ramnagar.

We got our own cab and arrived at New Delhi station in good time - so far, so good. Then it all somewhat fell apart when we discovered that our train left from Old Delhi station (45 minutes away we were told) in an hour's time. Whoops! After some skilled negotiation with a cabby (well actually they shouted quite a lot, waved their arms in the air, asked for money and we just got in the dodgiest looking cab ever and hoped for the best) we did actually arrive at Old Delhi Station, life and limb intact and still in time for our train.

OD station is a sight to behold - quite shocking even to the many Indian tourists we have met from other parts of the country. All human (and much animal) life is there in very close quarters. Despite this, once placed skilfully exactly outside where our carriage would be on the platform, we also negotiated getting bags and children on to the train and into our berths without incident, and the train journey was very easy and quite pleasant. We were sat by a very pleasant Indian man and his inadvertently hilarious wife who looked just like an Indian character from The Simpsons and farted her way noisily (but thankfully, odourlessly) throughout the entire journey.

Rather late, we arrived back at Corbett national park for our few days of relaxation and peace in the countryside, to be told that we had to be up at 5.30am for our first jeep safari!! Ho Hum….

Day 12

And so the last day of our 'grand tour' saw us sightseeing in Delhi.

We went first to the largest mosque in India - which apparently houses 20,000 worshippers at a time. It was surprisingly plain, apart from its huge size and two ridiculously high minarets, one of which Scott and the girls climbed, but which left me feeling dizzy even with my feet on the ground!

From there we went on to the gardens created on the site that Mahatma Ghandi (amongst others) was cremated. There is a large marble 'slab' (for want of a better word) and an eternal flame, to which visitors from around the world come, to honour MG's memory. It is set in gardens tended by very careful gardeners; one of whom old me he had been working there for the government parks department for the past 30 years and it was the best job in the world.

And on to India gate - based on and rather similar to the Arc de Triomphe it has the names of all the soldiers, Indian & British who died in several battles of the world wars and Afghanistan wars. It was somewhat ruined for us by the fact that it was probably the hottest day we have had here and the hawkers around the gate were for sure the most aggressive and persistent we have encountered anywhere. Still, once again, we proved quite as exciting at the attraction itself and are now featured in yet more Indian families' holiday snaps. One of the more surreal moments for Ellie was when she was asked to be in a photo and had a baby thrust into her arms for the shot!

Last on our itinerary was the outside of the president's palace (all 360 rooms of it are closed to the public except for a brief period in the summer when the gardens are opened to the public) and the government buildings. It has an approach very like The Mall and the whole area felt much like being in London around Buckingham Palace, except the topiary and much of the decoration was elephant themed - not all that evident in London.

After a well-earned restful afternoon back at the hotel, we had a last evening with Narindrar; a walk through the markets and a meal in a restaurant. In some ways it will be daunting without him, but in others, it will be quite nice to work out our own schedule and timings and have a few days peace before flying home.

Day 11

Another sad day today as we left our second jungle home and headed back towards Delhi. No-one wanted to leave, not even our guide, nor our driver, who had become good mates with the lodge boys. It was the first time this place had been used by our travel company - in fact it only opened last January, so was a bit of a journey into the unknown for everyone - but a HUGE success.

So, all a bit subdued, we headed back along the bumpy, dusty river bed and headed into Rishikesh for a look at this peculiar town. Made famous in the UK by the Beatles visit here, it seems to have become a magnet for 'enlightenment seekers' from across the world. You want to learn any type of yoga or massage, then Rishikesh is your place, and every building, wall or lamp-post proclaims it. There were more foreign tourists here than any other place we have been to and dreadlocks, piercings and bare feet abound. I found it quite fascinating, but not everyone in the family agreed!!! There were also some huge and quite ornate temples here and an iron suspension bridge, connecting the two sides of town (which span the Ganges) built be the British when the old wooden one was washed away in a flood. We crossed the bridge a couple of times (too wobbly for Mia's liking) and had a good look round the market stalls selling a huge array of hippy clothes, but even Ellie came away pretty much empty handed.

After a few hours and suitably enlightened, we drove back to Haridwar to catch the evening train back to Delhi. I was well and truly 'had' by Narindrar (our guide) as we watched hundreds of people trying to cram themselves and all their huge number of belongings into the sleeper cars of a train before ours, when he told me we should expect that sort of scrum on our train too, as it was the end of Diwali. Suffice to say I was not happy - until he confessed to winding me up!! In the event, ours was a fabulous 'seater' train - with better seats and more leg-room than the plane and we were plied with food and drink for practically the whole journey. All trains should be like this.

And finally, about 11pm we arrived back in Delhi, to the same hotel we started off at 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow is the last day with our guide, then we break free on our own for a few days before heading home. Mixed feelings in our group about whether we are ready to go home yet, but on balance we are all happy to have a few more days, but won't now have either the luxury of a guide to sort everything out for us, nor a hectic sight-seeing schedule. It will be interesting.

We are not sure what internet access will be like in the next place, so don't worry if we are a bit quiet - we'll keep you posted when we can. Nxxx

Day 10

I think today may have been my favourite day of the whole trip (I can't speak for any of the others, but I think it has been a high point all round). We woke up in really warm and comfy beds in our tents and headed up to breakfast. Just like in our other 'jungle lodge' we are the only people here because the season has only just started and places are starting to reopen after the monsoons. So we got exclusive attention from all the really nice staff here.

One of the 'boys', smiley Sanjay, then took us on a walk straight up the mountain (and I mean STRAIGHT up the mountain) at the back of our camp. We are in the foothills of the Himalayas, but haven't seen the proper mountains since we climbed Cheena peak days ago because the foothills are too high to see over. It was a really steep climb, but on a well worn path, because right at the top was a settlement of about 5 houses in which an extended family live. Because it was Diwali everyone was home and they happily took us on a tour of their homestead and talked to us about their lives. It took approximately 30 minutes for Ellie to decide that she was going to move up here to live. She has even picked out her future husband!!!!

Our main guide was one of the sons who now works as an accountant in Haridwar and he introduced us to his brother (aged about 12 I guess) who is away at boarding school and (I think) his cousin who is a local priest and who was busy preparing a new house for his impending marriage (on 6^th Nov). There is no road up to their 'village' so to get to any town, they need to walk down the mountain and along the river bed for about an hour to a place where 2 rivers meet where a few cabs arrive between 9 and 10am to take them to Haridwar or Rishikesh, both about another hour's drive away from there. They explained how they can occasionally get a jeep to bring big items to the bottom of the mountain, but no vehicle can make the steep climb. Which explains why the girls thought they had seen a group of people walking past our camp yesterday carrying a double bed - they had - it was the new bed being brought up ready for after the marriage! They also told us how the local children (if not at boarding school) walked 7km to the public school each morning and then 7km back home again each afternoon - one way always vertically up the mountain!!

After our amazing morning visit, with more photos of our new friends, we headed off after lunch back down the river bed to the nearest temple (at the top of another part of the mountain) where we shared Diwali rice pudding with the Brahmin and admired the stunning views and the incredible peace of the area. We were also shown the water powered mill which local farmers brought their grain down to be made into flour and then Scott and the 2 younger girls had a really great swim in the river, which was surprisingly warm having recently emerged from under the ground in the mountain. We seemed to have inadvertently hit rush hour at the river - hordes of goats and cows were being walked home from all over the area through the ford - it was incredible how many people seem to live in this wilderness and how far they all walk for work or fun every day.

After dinner, our fabulous day was rounded off with an impromptu Diwali celebration round the camp fire. The 'boys' from the camp all came down to dance with us to local music played on a mobile phone and our guide had bought fireworks. They were all particularly impressed with Mia's instinctive display of what they thought was a fine example of 'punjabi dancing' - priceless!!