Thus endeth my first trip to India!

Before I left for my trip to India, I had heard stories from people who had travelled there, had visited family or had come from there.

Knowing myself and my discomfort level threshold, and taking into account that the last time I did any sort of independent travelling in a developing country for an extended period of time was more than 10 years ago in China, I made provisions in case I wanted to cut short my Indian trip.

I had culture shock on initially arriving in Delhi and encountering pernicious scammers. It was harder than I thought it would be, especially not knowing who to trust. Things started to get a little better when I got some sage advice to 'take it slow'.

I had enjoyed the different experiences of travelling with a friend, spending time with myself, and joining a tour group by myself. It was wonderful sharing the adventure with a friend. I have also loved having time to myself where there was nothing I need to do; I read, reflected, walked on the beach, and saw my life from a much needed distance and perspective.

Joining a group was great because I didn't have the hassle of arranging any aspects of the trip. I saw a lot more in a shorter period of time than if I had travelled by myself. I would also have had to deal with more touts and hasslers. Mostly, I have enjoyed meeting other people who like to travel!

As for the country itself, I felt like I have only managed to have a whirlwind glimpse in 5 weeks. As one of our guides said, 'Indians like extremes -very loud, very spicy, very colourful and very wet (monsoons)'.

I have realised that I preferred being in the countryside, the mountains and the nature reserves to being in the cities. I preferred seeing people's daily lives to big, dead though beautiful monuments. In my limited experience, I have found the people of south India to be warmer than the north. South Indian climate and landscape reminds me of the tropical climate of home I have missed so much, except that durian trees could not be grown in south India.

I have seen the Taj Mahal, stunning scenery and wild elephants, rode on Indian trains and ate a lot of vegetarian thali meals. I have found India to be loud, crowded and filthy (especially the cities) but also vibrant, colourful, joyful and its people surprisingly warm and generous at unexpected times.

I have probably developed a better understanding of India and her people, though by no means a deep one. I know that I shall be curious about more aspects of India than I have been in the past.

I am happy to be home, be out of the energy-sapping summer heat and have my laundry done cleaner than ever. But when my inner gypsy awakens, as Christine puts it, there are still Himalayan mountains to see, Bengal tigers to spot, holy rivers to bathe in and many more people to meet.