We have just started our second week in India and it has been eventful. Within two hours of leaving the hotel on our first day my passport had been pick pocketed. First time for me, but unfortunately it happened at the start of Easter so our plan to leave Delhi the next day (Sunday) was put on hold. Suffice to say we had to wait until Thursday until we could finally leave awful, chaotic Delhi and begin our holiday proper. However, we managed to sneak a couple of days of peace at a tiger reserve south of the city in between the theft and our onward journey.

We had missed the opportunity to travel to Jodhpur and then tour West and South Rajasthan as planned so instead we found a train to Jaipur and hopped on for a comfortable ride to the eastern edge of the state. After days of stress and worry we found the journey easy and our hotel at the other end fantastic. The Umaid Mahal is a modern building in a heritage style and is a little garish by Western standards, but the staff were friendly, our room was huge and comfortable (and nothing was broken or in a state of disrepair, which seems to be common here) and it had a nice pool and a rooftop restaurant.

We grabbed a tuk tuk to the street beneath Nahargarh fort and walked the steep path up to the fort in half an hour. Our aim was just to get some shots of the city in nice, late-afternoon light, but to our great fortune we found there were about 5 kms of walls to walk which were deserted and offered great panoramic views.

Three hours later we stumbled tired and parched into a wonderful cafe built in, on and around a turret in the fort. We sat here as darkness fell, drinking cold beer and enjoying the wonderful views until it was time to grab another tuk tuk home and to bed.

We were up with the birds the following morning and at 8 am we were climbing onto an elephant for the short trip up hill to Amber Fort, 14 kms North of Jaipur.

The fort is stunning! Built in three parts in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it was home to the maharajas of Rajasthan. Hindu and Islamic features abound in the architecture, which is predominantly Mughal - full of repeating geometric patterns and with ingenious tricks using running water and wind intakes to cool rooms.

One of the fort elephants on its way home

Last night we left lovely Jaipur and headed via 1st class train to Ranthambhore National Park. This Park is famed for its abundance of tigers and tiger sightings, but it also has a beautiful fort and temple complex to visit. This morning we hired a Jeep and driver and spent 3 hours exploring this magical fort - it covers 8 square kms and is home to at least 10 temples, many of which are still active. We saw hordes of langur monkeys which were fed by the temple-goers and took some great shots of the area.

Sated monkey contemplating the next bag of nuts coming his way

We have two safari tours booked - the first this afternoon at 3pm and the second tomorrow morning at 6.30am. It would be nice to see a tiger or a leopard or bear, but any trip through the beautiful Ranthambore jungle is fantastic irrespective of the wildlife you see. I will keep you posted...

horned and befringed - highland cattle in zuid-kennemerland national park

So we went hiking, three of us, eager to explore and feel like we were doing ourselves some good, in mind and body. We weren't particularly well prepared - we had rushed for the train and had been unable to pick up lunch at the station. Fuck it, I thought, knowing there was a supermarket at our destination and convincing the others it would all be fine.

It was Sunday: we were mildly hungover and the supermarket was, of course, closed. In fact, the only business open in the village was an ice cream parlour, so we turned back around and headed through a display of fine architecture and obscene affluence to gain the entrance to Zuid-Kennermerland National Park.

The girls seemed happy to follow my lead, though when we had to decide between heading south into an area of the park containing European Bison or heading north into a much larger section of the park, the girls felt the bison held less interest for them than for me and that we should definitely go north.

Grasses and shoots amongst the dunes  in Zuid-Kennermeerland — Grasses and shoots amongst the dunes in Zuid-Kennermeerland

The visitors' centre at the entrance to the park offered us the afternoon's only opportunity for nourishment and we didn't pass it up. After establishing that the cafe would support us in our bid to picnic and not eat in situ, we payed 30 Euros for 3 sandwiches and a litre of apple juice and the privilege of feeling we had been had.

The landscape in the park was one of wiry grasses, hardy shrubs and various trees - predominantly evergreens, but also birch and other deciduous varieties. We were all keen to put some space between us and the swelling hordes engulfing the vistors' centre, and 30 mins later we had left the majority of humanity way behind us and were marching across the dunes, due west.

Highland Cattle both proud and nonchalant, completely at ease in the company of hikers in the dunes — Highland Cattle both proud and nonchalant, completely at ease in the company of hikers in the dunes

We came across a heard of Highland cattle that roam the dunes freely. All three of us welcomed their presence and we stopped for half an hour to take photos and pretend that we were completely at ease with the cattle as they sporadically grunted and gave us the evil eye. But mostly we city dwellers enjoyed this chance to encounter (domesticated) animals in the wild.

At a lake teeming with bird-life we sat and ate our sandwiches. The girls had gone for ham salad and I for a "gezond". Gezond usually consists of ham, cheese, egg and salad, but I was left with food envy after discovering they had left out half the ingredients in mine - luckily Marlene shared some of hers with me and the world was returned to order.

A small tree (or large bush?) marking our way through the dunes as we neared the coast

We were nearing the coast and the end of the national park, and after listening to the raucous sounds of dozens of pairing Canada geese we set off for the beach.

We arrived within about half an hour and took in the site of endless golden sand which stretches almost continuously along the entire western coast of the Netherlands. We had walked about 8 or 9 kms across the dunes and were on the home straight.

Marina's bare-foot trail in the sand as we headed south towards Zandvoort and the train back to Amsterdam

It looked as if Zandvoort was just a couple of Kms away down the strand as we marched off - Marina relishing the opportunity to feel the sand beneath her bare feet, and me combing the shoreline for anything interesting. After 45 minutes we appeared no closer to our destination, and decided to stop at one of the beach cafes along the way for a frigid half hour of inanimation and rehydration.

Just as the sun started edging towards the horizon we took off again on a final push for the train station and the promised warmth of the carriages full of day trippers that would sweep us effortlessly back home.

The sun setting, captured at speed whilst trying to keep up with the girls marching to the train and our destinies :)

It slowly dawned on us that if we were to make the train and not have to wait a further half an hour outdoors in the cold we would have to step on it. And I thusly found myself playing catch up with the two marching girls as they headed down the beach at pace, whilst I was trying to photograph anything and everything with the wonderful back drop of the setting sun.

We made it to the train with a couple of minutes to spare, much to everyone's relief. And I managed to shoot off at least a couple of shots whilst we were at it. We headed home to the warm couch, some take away Thai food and the well-earned relaxation that comes at the end of a day of exertion.

Seagulls preening themselves and fishing out razor clams in the surf

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Indian extremes

Scottish Cows in Dutch Dunes