Once in Diu we found a room inside an old, renovated church and rented a moped to explore the island on, seeking out its different beaches. BBQs in the evenings and excellent dinners at a local family restaurant have all been washed down with a steady supply of cheap beer.

We know from reading this you'll realise the true hardships we have to endure whilst travelling, but please, we do not want your sympathy ; )

Every night before sunset crowds of supporters cram into grandstands on either side of the India-Pakistan border and begin to shout and cheer for their country. Amusingly dressed guards parade up and down in front of their countrymen while an MC whips them up into a patriotic frenzy. Once the excitement is at fever pitch the gates are closed and the two countries' flags are lowered at exactly the same rate so as not to put either in a superior position. This has to be one of the most surreal sights we've witnessed on our journey so far.

Back in Amritsar we enjoyed free food and accommodation in the Golden Temple, the Sikh religion's holiest site. Food is dished out in a large hall but is prepared everywhere. Groups of volunteers sit on the floor chopping vegetables that are cooked in giant pots in the kitchen. Production lines of chapatti makers ensure a constant supply of food is available. The temple itself is set in a lake that provides an elegant reflection at any time of the day.

We sped back to Delhi on India's finest chair car train, the Shatabdi Express. Complimentary food and drinks are delivered to you roomy seats throughout the trip. If only all Indian transport were like this.

As you can imagine we were pretty relieved to get off at Joshimath, only a cable car's ride away from Auli, India's premiere ski resort. Set in the Himalayas with a stunning backdrop of Nandi Devi, the tallest mountain in India, there were more dogs on the piste than people. Several nights of snowfall meant there were acres of untouched powder to leave our tracks in. We managed to hire some ancient but adequate equipment and spent a few days snowboarding. The days were always clear but cold so our small wooden huts' wood burning heater kept us toasty in the evenings. It was great to be back in the mountains!

Though the Beatles had left long ago the Monkees could still be found monkeying around.

We finally got some sunshine after four weeks of cold so it was nice to sit outside and soak up the rays. Unfortunately the weather did not follow us as we moved north to Haridwar on our way to Rishikesh. The Ganges runs fast and clear through this town. Pilgrim bathers need to hold onto chains to resist the strong currents. Though we didn't dive in we did dip our fingers, something we never dreamt of doing in Varanasi.

We ate a spicy breakfast from a street vendor amidst a large-scale brawl between a chef and his customer. We didn't find out the cause of the trouble but after trying these disgusting pickles we were ready to lynch the chef too.

As part of a local festival this temple was blaring out religious chanting 24 hours a day... for 3 days solid from a loudspeaker on the roof. Our hotel room was in excellent range of the site so we could enjoy their simple songs all through the night. On our last day we rented bikes to cycle around the temples so when we'd finished we decided to check out the source of the racket. Moments later we were welcomed in and began chanting 'Rama Sita, Rama Sita' over and over again along with the Sadhus. After we'd shown off our singing proficiency we moved onto the harmonium and tabla. Unfortunately we showed a little too much aptitude at these and the guys who were playing them quit their shift early and left us in charge. For about 30 minutes we polluted the air of Khajuraho until we managed to palm the instruments off onto some locals.