It’s been a whirlwind – which in many ways quite aptly describes both the pace of the travel and my experience of India so far. Life here happens in such a rush, well at least on the road and on the streets, in restaurants it all seems to happen at a snails pace.

I have really struggled to find any yoga in the hectic hustle-bustle of Delhi, Jaipur or Agra. The only time I have really felt peace and stillness here was looking at the stunningly beautiful towering edifice of the Taj Mahal but even then the atmosphere was a strange juxtaposition of complete chaos with overtones of absolute stillness.

So the last time I wrote I was having a battle with the mind. As I write again that battle is again simmering below the surface. I have done a week with a fantastic group of like-minded people. Felt very safe and nurtured and overall had a fantastic time. But right now most of that group are enjoying their last night of the tour in Delhi and myself along with a mother and daughter from the original tour have joined a new group. Last night, whilst forcing me to stay up too late drinking, the guys told me the new group would never be as good as them, and right it now it seems they weren’t wrong.

Originally there were 12 ranging in age from early 20s to 70 with many of us sitting in the 30s bracket. There are now eight. An elderly couple, a single guy, probably in his 40s, who doesn’t really speak, the mother and daughter from the original trip and thankfully two girls probably in their 30s who seem lovely.

But this set-up also means I have my own room, which is both really lovely and quite lonely – strange because I have always thought of myself as preferring my own company. It’s another one of those situations where I wish was Andy was a traveller, not just to stave off the loneliness, but also so we could share these memories and experiences.

So with a new group and a different pace of travel the battle with the mind begins afresh. One thing is for sure I will be drinking and smoking a whole lot less and sleeping a lot in part two of this trip!

I have also managed to find a spare half hour to write, which last week was an impossibility.

You never know tomorrow I might even find time to write about some of the wonderful sites I have seen.