We (H.B. and I), saw and experienced some amazing things.  Highlights like seeing the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, meditating in the Dalai Lama’s own temple, visiting some of the world’s most ancient and spiritual places, like the holiest Hindu city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, watching the sun rise. Watching life on the river banks, from people bathing and performing their daily devotions to a man doing his washing the time honoured way – beating cleanliness into the clothes with a stick on a slab of rock.

The Sikh Golden Temple at Amritsar, covered with solid gold by a Maharajah after he had his prayers in the temple answered.

And the magnificent Muslim monument to peace and everlasting love – the Taj Mahal, which I was prepared to be blasé about, but which totally blew me away with its romantic origin and gigantic, yet elegant proportions.

Riding an elephant in the rainforest in search of a tiger! We didn’t see one, but we have pictures of tiger paw prints as an everlasting reminder of how close we came to seeing one of the planet’s most intriguing creatures in the wild.

We were going for a stroll with Wilbur the dog to the shopping strip for a smoothie. HB says “I’m ready”. I look at him. My Lord he isn’t? He’s not? Not the crappy old IBM T shirt that he got for free at some IT geek fest? Oh yes, it is. And it’s grubby.

I give him "The Look". He loves this look. It’s a kind of “I love you but you’re exasperating and you’re not going anywhere in that T shirt” look.

I kid you not it takes a surgical knife and an anaesthetic to get this T-shirt off him. Even when he accidentally got bleach on it he wouldn’t throw it out. I swear he wears this thing every day of the week he isn’t wearing a suit.

I’m not even going to go into the crappy old cargo pants; it’s another war for another day. 

I can’t believe it was a year ago that this psychologist was in incredible India. After my initial thoughts on our trip around the North of the sub-continent I’m ashamed to say I didn’t ‘get around’ to continuing with telling you more about it. So I am going to give you some general impressions of our trip.

When we planned our trip, we wanted to explore the Holy places of India, both being interested in Eastern philosophy and spirituality. However, there were also some criteria that I imposed on our itinerary, since these were things I had always wanted to experience.

The first was that I wanted to see a tiger in the wild. I have always loved tigers and been fascinated by the myths as well as the reality of these gorgeous creatures. To satisfy my craving H.B. agreed we should visit the Jim Corbett tiger sanctuary north of Delhi in the huge Corbett National Park. Here a variety of wildlife is sheltered, but everyone who goes really only wants to see one thing – a tiger!