Tues 17/01/04 I had an uneventful overnight train journey, and arrived in Secundanabad pretty much on time, where i caught a rickshaw to a hotel in Hyderabad. At 200RS, it was a bit grubby, but it was only for the one night. After a quick breakfast, I got a rickshaw over to Golconda Fort and back. It was quite an impressive place, with some great views over the city, but it was a shame the Indians couldn't use the rubbish bins. Weds 18-2-04 This was a chill out day... (very important part of travelling chilling out/vegging/doing cock all!!) I checked out of the hotel and then had breakfast, before using a rickshaw to get to the station. I dumped my bag, and spent half an hour trying to find out my seat number for that evenings train. I checked the internet, and I had quite a few emails.. Steve denton was in Christchurch, new Zealand at the time, and had just bumped into 'The Wizard' (a well known eccentric) again. Bought some bananas for lunch, and headed back to the station. The train was delayed by five hours, and for most of the time i was absolutely dying for a dump, but didn't want to use the facilities on offer. The wait was only made a little more bearable by the appearance of an Indian transvestite. Thurs 19-02-04 The train didn't make any time up overnight, and as a result, i missed my connection to Mysore, which meant that I had to stay in Bangalore for a couple of nights. I was in a quite nice hotel, so no worries. Did things like change money and get laundry done. Also got a malaria tablet stuck in my throat, which tasted as though I had been sucking on a rusty nail Friday 20-02-04 Went for a walk down MG street, which hardly looks like it's in India at all. Lots of modern shops, and wait for it... proper roads!! I felt quite out of place. Went on a tour. First stop was the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological museum, which was a hands on place with displays from the dinasaurs to space exploration. We drove past several impressive looking government buildings, and then to Tipu Sultans Palace, which i have to say, was a bit of a waste of time. The Lalbagh Botanical gardens were pretty, and we had an hour or so there, so i found some shade and read my book After that, they took us to a handicraft emporium, which i wandered around briefly in disinterest. Then went to see a couple of temples, and caught a rickshaw back to the hotel. Sat 21-02-04 Checked out of the room, and caught a rickshaw to the train station. Miraculously, the fare was the same price as the pre-paid rickshaw to the hotel, and the driver used the meter without being asked! The waits for the trains would have been unbearable without cigarettes, but hey kids, thats not an excuse to start smoking!! (2006- have been quit for over a year!!) I worked out a rough plan for the following days, which went completetly tits up. After that, i became a bit rubbish at keeping my diary. Basically, quite a lot happened, but only I need to know about it, and not you!!! Some additional highlights were... A rickshaw driver being so stoned he kept asking me to drive the rickshaw, random people trying to sell me fish, a dead body washed up on the shoreline, tonnes of albinos, transvestites and midgets. I ended up eventually in Chennai (madras). Sorry to miss out my final 10 days, but that stuff is personal to me and no one else! But Click here for my views on India as I left to fly to Thailand. Or Click here for the home page ____________________________________________________________________________________________________