'India is a continent, not a country', as a friend has said; and sat here in Pushkar, in the desert's of Rajasthan, following two months in the Himalaya, this certainly rings true.

After a wonderful stay in the hill station of Darjeeling we headed north into the mountainous state of Sikkim, home to Khangchendzonga, the world's third highest mountain. A land of glaciers, lush valleys, spectacular monastries and really bad roads - two more crashes!

We moved south to Kalimpong for Christmas in this very Christian town. We stayed at the timeless Himalaya hotel (owned by the MacDonald family, whose grandfather was part of the British expedition to Lhasa in 1904) and attended Church on Christmas Day, although the service was in Nepali!

We decended from the Himalayas for the last time, via the charming tea estates of Mirik, to catch a train across India to Agra. The train journey involved, a 14 hour wait at the station, a 30 hour journey, Rebecca being left behind and Nick under arrest - the rest we will tell you on return!

We arrived at the splendid Nirain Niwas Palace hotel, one hour before the New Year but celebrated with fine wine and Rajasthani food. Our stay in Jaipur was again kindly hosted by our friend, Major Saurabh Saharan and we were sorry to be on the road, as we pulled away from Rambagh Polo ground.

Over the next 10 days we tour around Rajasthan before returning to Delhi.