Tips for travelling with children

I have been meaning to do this pretty much since day one but feared scaring off the childless audience... with few blogs left if any it had to be done! I also spent last night chatting to Emmy and Patrick - parents of a 14month old - and trying to encourage them (they didn't need much) to take the plunge.

The subject is a funny one - as we talked last night they mentioned friends of theirs who haven't left the UK since the birth of their 2 children... and I do have several friends who I love dearly - but will remain nameless - who think we are seriously insane for undertaking such an adventure.

But my overall, biggest, top, star, number one tip is DO IT!

yes there were awful moments as anyone who has read the blog knows - and yes there were every day intense challenges - but when I really think about it all I can think is 'why wouldn't you do it'. If you are fortunate enough to have time and money then go for it.

We have spent the last 3 months 24 hrs a day with our lovely 3 year old boy - seeing the world through his eyes, the world seeing us as a 3 and I know it has made him more confident, more sensitive...

anyhow onto tips

equipment:
babies are nowadays - like so much in modern life - an excuse to shop. I was pretty wary of buying crap that we didnt need for the trip... but handed over the job of stuff buyer to Matty who rather excelled at it.

Things we took:

Nomad Travel Bed (0-4) tent like structure with built in mossie nets, self inflating matress, weighs 2.5kg and fitted in our rucksack. Believe the instruction video - you can put it together in 5 mins! Altho Tobes grew out of it for the final month he used it for about half the time and it was a great home from home for him - he had practiced with it in the UK. It was familiar, clean and I could zip him up in it secure in the knowledge that no mossies and Probably not any other creepy crawlies could get in. Worth it's weight in gold in mossie infested areas. Also saves money as most hotels charge anything from £2 - £10 for an extra mattress.

Portable DVD player Matty had bought this second hand off a friend. I hated the idea of taking it. But we also took Postman Pat dvds, Thomas, Pooh Bear counting and then picked up some films for him and us in thailand. It was great as a time out for him from hectic cities, at the end of mad busy sightseeing days... a time filler on the big airflights out and back. We didn't use it on general public transport - would have been a bit much. Also bonus / bad parenting - on the occasions we were shattered and unable to get out of bed at 6/7am we did stick him infront of a film in our beds while we dozed!

IPOD and headphones + audio books Matty put Winnie the Pooh, Thomas stories, Mr Men all onto the Ipod before we left! We used this on the long 8-20 hr train journeys particularly - as a time filler and a calming tool. It was especially brillant for bedtime stories on the overnight trains - he would listen to an hour of it then we would turn it off, close our curtains round the bed and try and make it like as normal a bedtime as poss - seemed to work overall!

Ergo Backpack We originally planned to take no pram just this! I've had it since he was 6 months - he now weighs nearly 2.5 stone and I can still just about carry him in the back sling. I love this sling. It was fantastic - to put him in at manically busy airports/ train stations where we just couldn't risk him running round - we could then just focus on baggage and transport. We then also used it when we were hiking - when his legs gave in or the ground just was too tough for him, we used it on long days out when he was exhausted - he would sleep on my back with a sarong securing his head to my shoulders... in Varanasi it allowed us 2 long peaceful walks along the gats. I think he's just about getting too big for it now but I still love it!

Pram We ended up buying this our first week in thailand realising quickly it was the key to nights out! This was what we used it most for. We would put him to bed,wait till he was heavily asleep - then smother him in organic (!) mossie repellant, transfer him to pram and then head out for dinner - sleeping Tobes next to us at the table! It was fantastic and he only woke up once. After a few times I told him in the day that we were doing it - so occasionally he would flicker open an eyelid and then seemed to get what we were up to and be ok - as long as he was comfortable and safe. TIPS - buy a strong metal framed pram. M bought the cheapest one he could find in Tesco in bangkok and it broke on its way from supermarket to meet me! Also try and bring a mossie net that fits a pram too - nice extra security. NB Pram worked best in Thailand. India with its crumbling pavements was not great - esp in cities - altho we did do well in Kerala and Goa with it!

Washable nappies Toby was out of day nappies but still needs them for nightime. Many places we travelled to didn't have nappies so we would have been stuffed without these. They were great - dried quickly in the sun - and BIG bonus - you aren't adding to the imense litter problems in these beautiful places.

toys
we took 6 thomas trains, 4 tiny animals, 4 dinky cars, a small amount of mobilo ( a kind of junior lego) - enough for him to build a v.small plane/ boat, one puzzle, crayons, playdough... then about 8 books!
We had more than anyone else we met travelling with kids. But we lost some, replaced lots (don't forget that you can get toys anywhere - kids don't understand quality - one of Tobes favourite was a paper train I had saved after being given it free by network rail in the UK!!!), and towards the end gave a lot away. we also bought more books while we were travelling as we love reading to him and we were all getting a bit bored.
The toys were great for him. Whenever we reached a new room we would get them out first and give him his own little area for them.
He created imaginary worlds for them in rooms, on beaches, on lawns, on boats, trains... he told constant stories, drove them over us while we slept, shared them beautifully... Didn't really mind too much when he lost one - he realised he had more than most children we saw - esp street children -= and would hope they would be found by one of the children who had none or few. He coined the phrase - "home is where my cars are"

medicine
we had a lot and I would not have cut this down in anyway! Inevitably the first thing I needed was the one thing I had kept meaning to get and had forgotten - tweezers - he got a leaf stuck in his ear!!

But I would list these as vital:

-Calpol - infant paracetamol (I don't think ibuprofen is good for stomach ache - so make sure you do have just the plain paracetamol)
-rehydration salts: they did great ones in India that you just mixed with a litre bottle of water and sipped all day - orange tasting which toto preferred to diorahlyte - he called it his medicine drink. this was pretty much all that we treated the squits with. I am a firm believer of "better out than in" when it comes to squits!
- antiseptic wipes: bad for the environment but vital for every day first aid on the move I am afraid.
- plasters
- iodine antiseptic ointment - dries fast, you can see it clearly - good instead of the creams you get in the UK and v.cheap in asia
- ARNICA - cream and tablets - I love this stuff.
- Medised - paracetamol with a slight sedative effect - we didn't use this a lot - but it was v. good on a v.delayed overnight train where he got hyper and just couldn't calm down to rest.

i had a big first aid kit with antibiotics, needles, bandages, calamine, antihistimine (v.worthwhile just in case of nasty reaction to bites) etc. Then I took a smaller purse out with us each day!

Food
I will not pretend this was easy. We took enough vitamins to see us thro the whole trip - and this was a nice fall back! Someone also recommended giving kids up to 5 ... or older I suppose ... formula milk as again then you just know they are getting vits and minerals. We couldn't really find this so didn't - but it sounds like a good idea just for reassurance.

Tobes did not like spicy food and this did not change. He also didn't really like noodles. But he did like rice, eggs, cucumber, tomato, pineapple, bananas, bread, pasta, chips!!! And for 3 days he liked veg fried rice! Of and he did discover tomato soup in our last month in India.

We found a lot of places did porrige of varying quality - we would try and always start him off with this... supplemented at times with fruit salad, eggy bread, pancakes. Then we relied on a lot of plain rice, egg and chips, and then would dive into anywhere with Pasta if poss to fill him up.

There were good moments - he did once tuck into a thali - southIndian buffet and enjoyed the pappadums, yogurt etc.. But it could be difficult.

We also stocked up whereever poss on snacks - bananas, raisins, nuts, bread
TIP - take a knife and make your own fruit and veg snacks.

TIP - feed small amounts and often - as anyone with a kid knows - a hungry child is 100 X harder to deal with. There were days when he just ate bananas - as many as 10!

Sightseeing
STORIES - Make an effort to bring the place alive for them. We told Toby the stories behind the places we were visiting - albeit often very edited - and yes they did elicit endless "WHY Mummy, But Why"... but they also gave hima chance to really enjoy them.

He played soldiers (I had a long internal debate about telling him about war/ violence - decided I had to when it came to forts etc), Matty and I were held prisoner in small rooms in moghul forts/ tombs, he imagined the sounds of canons, he pretended to have a shop in old cities, he hunted for tigers, elephants, pretended he had lived in castles (either that or was reincarnated from some very wealthy maharajas). Our last night in the desert on a camel trek Toby and i wandered out into the dark dunes and pretended we had been travelling for weeks without food and water and had stumbled apon our camp. He was truly delighted and his own story telling is now extensive!

JOY RIDING We did feel it was worth letting him have the joy ride whereever possible - that did mean - the tired horse up a hill in ooty, or a ten minute camel bump about in Mysore... it was such a treat for him at the time

Animals win again and again and on a similar vein - really anything with animals is a bonus - from tame-ish squirrels in a moghul tomb to imagining the long dead elephants that inhabited ruined elephant stables in an ancient city. And of course safaris, elephant riding, bathing etc!

Missing home
Toby missed his friends more than we ever anticipated. TIP we took 2 tiny photo albums/ flick books for him with pictures of top friends and family so he wouldn't forget faces and could remember times with them. He didn't look at them that much but when he did he really enjoyed it and I think it helped a 3 year old remember what home was too!

Routines
We didn't have a strict routine of times of the day - but instead we kept up a bed time routine what ever time it was and pretty much where ever we were - of bath, PJs (we took one pair), story and then sleep. Then our other main thing was just keeping to meal times and being quite strict on table manners. We did try to give him 4/7 earlyish (8pm) nights a week... too many late ones and we all suffered.

TIP - but obviously read your child and yourself... we think you can push them etc and do a lot at times - but equally don't ignore signs of tiredness and under the weatherness - stop and rest. Easier said than done - don't do the big walk - take a taxi etc!

Customs
Find out yourself and then explain these as much as poss to your child. Clearly not all customs but the ones that will effect them. For us one of the ones that effected T most was cheek pinching which a lot of Thai and Indian people do to children. Toby hated it. We also learnt to be firmer and say No/ Don't do that to people.

Bonus
We found the trip a great time to break habits - we certainly didn't think this would be the case. But Toby decided to give up his dummy one night in thailand and never picked it up again. he also gave up his favourite blanket which we had dutifully travelled with etc

Clothes We packed 2 pairs of trousers (both could be rolled up into shorts), 2 pairs of shorts, 3 t shirts, one thin sweatshirt, one long sleeved shirt, one pack-a-mac, one sweatshirt jacket, one pair of velcro sandal, one pair of leather shoes, 2 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of pants, 2 washable nappies, 2 sun proof swim suits. It worked well. We added to it 2 kurtas in India - long sleeve long shirts which were great!

Poverty
we saw a lot of this and Toby definately noticed it. We talked a lot about children living on the streets, needing money.

to be continued....

back to blue skies in Britain

We are back! First and foremost - congratulations to Laura and Kevin on the birth of Alexander Vaughn our last night in India! WOW - we can't wait to meet him. Apologies not for calling really anyone - bear with us as we slowly speed up to normal life again.



For one of the first times in my life I landed in a UK not to be met with grey skies and gloom - but instead clear sparkling blue skies, an intense cool sun and alarmingly early snowdrops and blossom! Beautiful! I do not feel I can discuss climate change that much in this blog given my guilty recent carbon contributions.



First impressions to our tired eyes... England is so clean and ordered and less brightly coloured. And Toto is ignored! Of course it is all very familiar. We are back in my family Oxford home and it is lovely and cosy and comfortable - we can eat everything, drink the tap water, the sheets are clean, we can wash all our grimy clothes. We stare with aching eyes at the bags and boxes packed up before we left and endeavour to remember where we put socks and jeans and warm things.



Despite India being 5 hrs ahead I stay up to 11.30 with Mum and Dad and Olly and Celine bubbling over with excitement at the chance of being able to chat to family and share our stories. The next day Tobes is bubbling with excitement at being back! He wolfs down cheerios and toast with jam and is over the moon at discovering some of his old toys.



And so our first 2 days back in the UK have continued. M has spent hours downloading and sorting our 1500 photos!!!! Check out the photo link to this to see. We all have jet lag - Tobes waking at 3am not being able to get back to sleep is not great - poor thing. Although shattered Toby is relishing seeing everyone, loving cycling, loving the comfort and ease of life here - loving being given food which he recognises and wants to eat! (perhaps giving children food they really don't like/ can't eat could be a cure for a fussy eater - I fear not and that this will be short lived).



I do feel different. Family keep asking what it feels like to be back... I don't feel that we are back really yet! I still don't really know what day of the week it is... I still don't really have a great deal to do!! I don't have a house to organise, to clean, a job to do, a life to juggle ... the thought of this (I try not to think about it) bewilders me. Our home is rented out until 15th March and so our return to normality will be staggered... matty back to work next week, then Tobes starting preschool, then me back to work, then back into the house.

I will really miss our nomadic existence - I look at our boxes of stuff and wonder what we will possibly do with it all. Although knowing where my pants are each morning will be good - better still having more than 3 pairs!

We have come back full of resolutions from a determination to experiment cooking the new foods we have loved, to the whetted appetite of knowing we want to see and explore so much more (altho it will be UK based for a while). I want this feeling of calmness, of peace, of not juggling my life to stay somehow.

from the ridiculous to the sublime!

I had to write tonight - our last night of nights - but due to our expensive last night hotel treat the costs for internet are extortionate and I am about to run out of time!!!

We cannot believe our adventure is nearly over. We spent our first night in Mumbai in a windowless cockroach filled room above the famous Leopolds Bar (famous as one of the oldest bars in Mumbai and also as a key location in the amazing book Shantaram)- I insisted we do this as a condition to matty who then wanted to move to an expensive hotel!

Now we are in a weird but very comfortable and very pricy - it hurts - bubble of the Leela hotel - which sadly we failed to realise was on the edge of town. It is lovely but it is not India.

We have come to really love India and understand it just a little - I plan to bore this blog with details of this later - but needless to say it is not an easy country! But it has given us some of the biggest adventures of our lives - and we are so proud to have done this - to quote M earlier - with me the workaholic, him the homeaholic and above all with the energetic Tobes! - T promised earlier to stop being a rascal - I asked instead if I could have lots of good t but still a bit of rascal T - he also then said he wanted to stay forever and ever here.

Anyhow - back to loving India. It is the most honest place I have been to. Here you see the poverty - you see the rubbish - you see people's emotions - I think you see more than anywhere else I have been

Neither of us like this bubble - we like the bath and the swimming pool and being clean - my god you should have seen us after we got here.

I said to the porter - by way of some excuse - "we have been travelling for a long time" and he looked at me and said "i can see madam!"

The other night on the safari a Korean lady said the same thing - she said youlook like you have been in India a while... so goodness knows what we must look like

We were very excited about coming to Mumbai - the home of Ahaan's mummy Poornima, key location in the book we both loved - Shantaram, a buzzy city we had heard so much about! Our first night we leave our luggage in left luggage and so make it 8 days for our dusty set of Rajastan clothes ... but thank gxd as our room is tiny and yukky. After Leopolds we wander down to the deco Marine Drive and walk for 2 hours in the dark to Chowpatty beach - Toby pretending to be a car running madly - us musing and marvelling at the Mumbai skyline. It is a great last-ish night. Chowpatty beach is like a mad small funfare and Toby zooms around in a mini jeep - they looked like they were battery powered but the battery turned out to be a young guy who ran behind pushing him. We sleep badly 3 in the tiny bed - and leap out early - step over the staff sleeping in the corridor and head for the gateway to India. It seems apt that one of our last 'sites' is this symbol of Europe's arrival in India... Tobes is more impressed by the cement mixer next to it!

Then we head out of the centre of Mumbai to our 5 star bubble - reluctantly leaving behind the more real india and stopping to marvel at the Laundry Matty's Mum had told us to visit - an amazing place where most of the city's hotels have their laundry is done - a walled city of stone outdoor wash tubs with men thrashing wet sheets, shirts, skirts and then hanging them in colour order like pencils in a box, different shades of white, green, blue ....

Our last full day is spent on a shopping mission looking for last minute pressies in a fairtrade shop then looking for Anokhi - which we finally find and is closed... hot and dusty we gratefully return to the ice cold hotel pool and bath tub.

anyhow - I hope you will all see soon. Must dash as my most expensive internet experience is about to run out. We love you all and can't wait to see you - thank you for all your encouragement, help, M&D having buzz , etc etc and onwards for more adventures

Blogging from the past - planes, trains and autorickshaws

We haven't blogged for ages due to a combination of mad timetables and then erratic electricity connections in Rajastan. It's our last night away as I attach this belated bit of the blog....but imagine us 4 nights ago....


I write from inside the walls of Jaisalmer Fort - with Jamin our host at Ganesh Homestay watching a Hindi Cartoon network cartoon / cricket(now Discovery channel - very distracting) beside me as the rest of the family sit around a fire in a bowl outside! We have had a hell of a day! We set of from Jodpur at 5.30am for our 6.30 train - only then to wait for 3 hours for the Delhi Express to arrive!! Fortunately for us we discovered a waiting room for 2nd class passengers that was heated - the rest of the passengers were camped on the floor outside in the cold covered by various blankets! At 9 our train finally arrived and we had found an omlette man on the platform- thank gXd as it turned out to be our last proper food all day until we arrived and then got out to eat at 6. The travelling caught up with Tobes today and we pretty much had tantrums the entire 6 hour journey as he refused to eat and then demanded cake constantly (clearly this he has inherited from me - kate). Of course he fell asleep 5 mins before we arrived. So our journey through the desert was less appreciated than it might have been! I tell you this to show the highs and lows of our adventure - particularly this week!

Despite hellish train journeys (only one 15-20 hour one left!!) We are so so pleased to be doing this last mad dash of a week. It keeps us from thinking about returning and counting down so much... and it is more than we dreamt it would be. We spent saturday exploring Jaipur with a great young rickshaw driver called ally - The Amber fort - our first Rajastani fort was awesome - we climbed up the golden dusty steps accompanied by painted elephants kicking up the sand then we explored the maze of corridors and palace rooms. Toby loves these places and runs pretending to be kings and soldiers around the ramparts. We stopped at a water palace then feasted on veggy thalis in a cafe beside the road... then another climb upto a monkey temple where the most cocky monkeys took turns to either dismiss our nuts or try to steal the whole bag, then another climb up to Naragh Fort which sits above the city. It is a 2 km walk up windy steep paths - we are exhausted by the time we get there we are shattered but it is worth the pain we gaze breathless at the views and then explore a maharaja's palace complete with 9 apartments for all his wives - influenced by europe so strangely looking a little Italian in places with shutters, fireplaces etc. Then we ran down the hill - Toby complete with kite that a man had given him! At the bottom Matty dared another shave - complete with dash of old spice !! The following day we went to the most amazing observatory with the largest sundial in the world - about 2 stories high... a sureal display of marble instruments for telling the time and star signs looking a little like a Dali picture!

Our train ride to Jodphur was ok! We sort of got lucky and shared the train section with 2 families with 2 three year old boys... all of whom (Toby included) slept for 2 hrs. But our 5 hr train journey in the afternoon, like so many here, turned into 7 and the boys grew crazier and crazier together... one of the mothers was a crazy mix of very maternal and educational/ crazy - pretending to shoot and punch them. By the end of the journey the whole carriage was going stir crazy and all our indian fellow passangers took to making origami planes, boats, boxes, guns etc out of newspapers... this is clearly an Indian skill we hadn't heard of!

We were dead on our feet but our ride to our hotel was so exhilerating that we soon came back to life! As we drove deep into the blue city the lanes got narrower and narrower, overshadowed by crumbling balconies, intricate stone lace work, ... passing healthy cows defiantly standing in the way and forcing the rickshaw to dodge them. we then ran into a band, and then not one but 2 crazy weddings... leaving us stuck in a rickshaw traffic jam with jaws open. Above us an enormous golden fort and ramparts loomed, and the houses got bluer. We had got seriously lucky with our hotel - through a tiny wooden doorway and up 4 flights of steep stone stairs, onto a roof terrace above the blue city up a further flight of ourdoor stairs to the very top of the house we had a bejewelled pink room with 10 windows framed by painted flowers each overlooking the fort and the city. Toby had the best bed yet, an alcove hung with sari curtains! And hot water - all for about 15 pounds! My highlight was waking up - turning around in bed and realising the window behind us framed the most stunning view of the blue box city!

One day in Jodphur is not enough - but just enough to explore another amazing fort complete with palm prints of 16 (I think) queens who committed suicide jumping into the fire of the early dead king - for us to see a wall in which a man volunteered to be and was buried alive in order to rid the city of the curse of no water - for Matty to have a hilariously inaccurate palm reading - for me to explore the amazing markets leaving with my prize purchase being a pink and blue rolling pin!!!! but really a highlight was sitting on our roof dazzled by the site of the indigo blue box city, listening to voices of life echo up around us and watching people hanging out their washing chatting and drinking tea. i did not want to leave...

but here we are now in one of the most westerly parts of India - in a city we really wanted to see from the start! Jaisalmer is like a fairy tale sand castle on a giant beach of desert that spreads to the horizons from every angle I've seen so far. Inside it is a maze of tiny golden sandy streets... the cows are the friendliest we have encountered and you have to squeeze past their lovely soft full bellies - Tobes and I can't resist stroking them each time - matty has not yet recovered from his encounter in Jaipur to have this confidence yet!

(NB - I am now writing this from our last night - so from recollection!!)

The people in Jaisalmer are lovely - yes of course trying to persuade you to shop/ buy - as always - but lovely and chatty. We eat at tiny roof top tables on grubby but gorgeous sari covered cushions overlooking the ramparts and then just endless scrubland desert. Our first morning we head out in search of breakfast as ususal but find out that the forts laid back nature extends to breakfast... at 9am we still find no where substantial open (i.e. more than chai shops) - we keep sitting down and being ignored while the men spend ages preening themselves having just got up from their beds on the floor. Finally we stumbleinto a tiny cafe run by Lucky Fatan - a young guy with the most amazing blue eyes that look like a desert - sand and sky. Highlight of this visit being our request for a napkin for tobes - at which point Fatan looks crestfallen and says he has forgotten them and offers up the scarf from round his neck!!!! We weren't sure what was worse - the thought of wipping toby's porrige and snot up with the sweaty scarf or Fatan then putting it back on afterwards and carrying on cooking... hygiene is not a strong point here - I might have mentioned this before!

Later that day we head off for our camel safari! It is cold here and so we have opted for half a day rather than overnight. We drive an hour into the desert stopping at 2 villages. T is on top form and has finally realised that if he shakes hands he doesn't get pinched. He takes up this new tactic with the 30 or so children who appear and then starts a crazy hysterical game of chase... ending up inside the welcoming arms and house of one of the mothers. Aside from wondering whether he is a girl or boy everyone in the villages seems delighted!

Tobes and I share a camel and head off bundled up against the elements. M on a more excitable one!The scrubland becomes dunes - and then suddenly matty and another girl - Lesley - zoom off on their camels into the distance!! We are attached to another camel with another lovely canadian on it - her 7 year old driver climbs onto the back of her camel and then we are alone... in the dunes just Tobes in front - age 3 steering - seriously!

The dunes are amazing - the sun comes down and we end up round a camp fire - singing.... Alongside the 2 canadian girls we are also accompanied by Maria a Taiwanese woman who earlier had complained that the desert had trees in it and this was not what she expected. She is in India for the first time and, having nearly died of food poisening in Egypt a few years back, she has brought food with her for her entire trip... so as the two guys prepare our whole meal - of dhaal, veg curry, freshly made bread, rice and poppas - from scratch, Maria interrupts to ask them to cook her taiwanese pot noodle on one of the two twig fires - using her bottled evian!

After eating we tell stories - dominated by maria's story 50min long story of how she almost died after falling of a horse in Kashmir (very longwinded - the guys keep giggling ) and the guys sing Rajastani love songs which all feature the partitian of Pakistan! One of the guys grandfathers family is all stuck over the border and they cannot visit him.

This is really our last night of adventure - after tonight we have an overnight train journey back to Jaipur then 3 nights in mumbai. What a night and I cannot believe it when standing in the pitch dark - feet sinking into the dune I spot a shooting star!

M,T and I lie backs on the sand snuggled up staring up at the stars, joining them up to make shapes and - excuse me atheists ... thanking god for this amazing adventure. Real darkness is absorbing - it really feels like it gets into your clothes, you loose sense of perspectives... I have to dare myself to make the most of this and really wander in the dunes a little alone - just keeping an eye on the campfire in the increasing distance. It is the type of darkness where you start to hear your heart beating - faster and faster.

Our peaceful evening is brought to an abrupt end as the dog, which as accompanied us along the trail, starts barking at something we cannot see! and then fighting with it... SCARY! Then Maria the mad taiwanese woman suddenly mentions she has a train to catch.

So we jump in the jeep castle bound, tucked up under blankets, tarpaulin. One of the camel guys hops on his camel and shoots off into the dark distance. We drive home across the desert plains spotting desert deer in headlights! and then rabbits before crawling up the ramparts to our room.

Our last day here is sad - again we could have stayed so so much longer. After just 2 nights here we know so many familiar faces and the names of people in the fort. There are not many foreign children here and Toby is our USP. I have sat chatting to parents living in the fort whilst Toby plays with the kids on the old watering holes inside the fort.

We buy leather belts, hats and bags from a lovely guy called Monarch who takes to Toby. He tells us his mother always used to say the naughty children always do best in life - are the most intelligent! I like Monarch a lot ... As I watch Toby pretending to be a shop keeper in the tiny shop in the old town and then darting off into the neighbours shops. Monarch also says his big head is good - I like Monarch a lot more than the Thai man who told us T's hair was too thin and his forehead too big!

After our last lunch we catch an afternoon and then overnight train back to Jaipur - our last overnight train! Hooray! It is ok and we arrive in at 5am - I am grateful for M's insistence that we book a hotel room. We crash into bed shattered and wake up - our last morning in Rajastan - to open our balcony door and chat to a girl getting ready for school on the rooftop opposite us - brushing and oiling her thick glossy hair... and to spot our last monkeys stealing a garland of flowers and playing chase across the balconies. Then we begin the journey home!

Back On The Road

This morning we set off on the road again after what feels like an incredibly relaxing 2 weeks. Travelling through Kerala only involved short distances for us and then a 7 day stop in Varkala after which we flew to Chennai to visit harriet for an incredibly chilled three days but today we began moving again in a big way !

Before getting onto that though ... the last few days. As I said we flew to Chennai where coming out of the airport nearly moved Kate and I to tears !!! Anyone who has travelled in India will know how unpleasant the scrum of Taxis, Rickshaw Drivers, Porters and Touts that swarm around you as you exit any airport or railway station is ... especially when you actually need them but just want two minutes to catch your breath and decide in peace ... so the joy we felt on coming out to see a handmade, colourful sign with all three of our names on held by the driver Harriet had sent to pick us up for our 3 hr drive to her house was ridiculous !

On arriving at her 'pink palace' near the foot of the spiritual mecca that is the mountain Arunachala we were soooopleased to see a friendly face and spent a really lovely three days just relaxing in the most stunning setting. Best of all we got to put down our 'lonely planet' and let Harriet tell us where to go and when and her recommendations were spot on.My highlight was a temple whose name I can't remember (embarassed smiley) that was only small but housed the most stunning, 12ft plus brightly coloured statues that blew me away. If any of you ever end up in Tiruvanammalai and haven't got Harriets details (those of you who kow her obviously otherwise that would be a bit weird !) just stop any rickshaw and ask them to take you to "Harriets House" .. it really works - and seems to be a tactic employed by many travellers as while we were there scores of people from all over the world continued to pop over unannounced to hang out.

But with only 10 days left staying longer wasn't an option so at 00:30 this morning we got taken back to chennai for the 05:30 flight to Mumbai where we crossed the city to the international airport to leave our luggage before heading back to the domestic airport with just two small rucksacks to catch the afternoon flight to Rajasthan and our first stop there Jaipur. Leaving our backs behind felt incredibly liberating although I did go back to collect my memory cards and discs of photos as I decided they were the one thing that I could never replace if lost.

Jaipur is stunning and our guesthouse great ... it even has a bath although we arrived to late to do any serious exploring .... and embarassingly after travelling for so long and with most restaurants not opening until 7pm we did fall into McDonalds to feed Toby and Ourselves before an early night.

Ironically Rajasthan had been the one state we were desperate to see before coming here and it looked like we wouldn't manage, and Jaisalmer which is said to be Indias picture perfect Desert Fort town was number one on our list of destinations and now it looks like we will effectively finish in Rajasthan with an overnight camel trek in Jaisalmer being the last stop before flying back to Bombay for two days before flying home - it couldn't have worked out better (he says having not yet endured the travelling).

The next few days are daunting though ... following todays marathon journey we spend tomorrow in Jaipur, get the 7 hr train to Jodphur Sunday and at 06:00 wednesday the train to jaisalmer before an overnight trek in the desert, a 14 hr overnight train back to Jaipur arriving at 05:00 and a flight to Bombay. oprtunately for the first time all trip all of our trains are booked (bar one) as are our flights and hotels just bombay left to arange) so most of the hassle is gone and we can just enjoy.

I feel really exhilarated by finally getting here but also I think by the knowledege that we are on the last stretch. Toby is starting to get fed up and ask to go home and has started developing quite regular night frights ... which we are told are a result of being unsettled .. no surprise there and travelling with a toddler requires huge patience which isn't always in great suppl when travelling accross a country as vast and challenging as India.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon and as always reaaaaaaaaly love hearing from you all

M

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