Lucknow now

We are moving eastwards across India to head towards Nepal for mid-February. Next stop Lucknow. We enjoyed much of Lucknow where we were treated like celebrities. Everyone wanted to shake our hands and have their photos taken with us! We were quite a novelty, we hardly saw any other tourists while we stayed there.

We did a heritage walking tour round a couple of the main sights and through Chowk bazaar, a maze of alleyways, backstreet shops and houses. 

We also got the chance to taste some different food and drinks, including Namash - a sweet made from milk, and Thandai - a drink supposedly mixed with Marijuana. I drank mine really quickly and then helped Selina with hers. Two hours later I was feeling worse for wear and had to cut the tour short to go back to our hotel! I'm sure there was something more potent than weed in that drink!

We went and looked at all the main sights in more detail the next day.

Residency:

The Bara Imambara had a labyrinth of fascinating dark alleyways that we investigated:

We also loved the Chota Imambara which had some impressive buildings including:

Our next stop is Varanasi, our last one in India before we head into Nepal. Third overnight train in the last week!