The grittier side of India

I'm writing this in Delhi where it is about 45 degrees in the shade. Since Goa we drove for three days straight up past Mumbai till we got to Jaipur. Jaipur is famed for it's 'pink city', ancient forts and Hindu temples. I had a major case of Delhi belly and spent 36 hours not being more than 5 meters from the bathroom. Probably actually the best time to be ill, as Jaipur is an absolute hell hole (well the small bit I saw was anyway). The pink city is more of a dirty brown, there are a few nice temples but overrun with beggars and people selling all sorts of tat to the tourists. Also it was very, very hot :-(

Another half day drive to Delhi so we could sort out Chinese visas. It's hot here too, and I've decided to bail and get a bus to Manali to escape the searing heat and fetid air. Will meet up with the other guys next week sometime.

The last couple of days we climbed on some awesome trad quartzite at Dharj, which was actually pretty good after the 3pm thunderstorm had cooled things down. For the next month or so until Lahore, things will be much colder - after Manali we'll head to Chattru (3500m) for big mountain trad and then to Leh to have a go at Stok Kangri, which at 6200m should be refreshing to say the least.