Well, I'm still in India. I should be in Thailand by now, but certain matters have held me up. I am still trying to deal with the country's hugely incompetent police force and have had little progress, despite a number of bribes and "special gifts". I decided to succumb to the system as it seems to be the only way to get things done in India.

Despite my minor crises, I am feeling very relaxed here in the Himalayas. Pappan and I have been on long, beautiful drives into the mountains. We pass waterfalls, lush green valleys, pine forests, wheat fields and shepherds with herds of sheep and goats. There are some excellent craggy rocks and cliffs around the area so I have done a bit of climbing.

I spend most of my time just going for walks alone in the mountains - it's a great escape from the police station. A strong, familiar smell follows me around on my walks: marijuana plants grow everywhere, just naturally, by the roadsides, in the streets... Perhaps this explains the many starry-eyed, happy, slightly lost-looking people around me.

To pass the time, Pappan and I have also started helping out at a Tibetan Buddhist boarding school, that I came across by chance on one of my walks. They desperately need teachers for the 160 children, so we offered to help. We go every morning very early and I teach some English and Pappan takes maths and sport (well - morning stretches). It's really rewarding, despite the language difficulties and my lack of teaching skills.

I think I forgot to tell you that we picked up an orphan girl while we were in Delhi. She had run away from her village because the distant relative with whom she was living beat her, and treated her like a slave. An English girl had saved her, but was leaving India and asked if we could help her. It was crazy, but Pappan knows an orphanage back in Cochin, Kerala, so he said she could go and live there and study if she wanted. She was delighted, but in the meantime she had to travel with us up to the Himalayas, because the trains from Delhi to Cochin were all booked up for a week.

It was quite an unusual situation to find myself in, travelling with this young girl who had never seen snow or the mountains. She was quite terrified by the hugeness of the mountains on the drive up and insisted on sitting between us and holding my hand throughout the entire journey. I will never forget her face, covered in awe and disbelief at what she was seeing. We spent a lot of time together, walking, talking about our different lives. She told me a great deal about Indian families and village life

Her name is Amrita and she has left us now. She is in Cochin and happily settling into her new life there. Don't worry, we contacted her family, but they didn't want her back and seemed quite relieved to be rid of her. Girls are a burden because they need a dowry and always leave the family to live with the husband's family. Indian women have very little freedom or privacy and their only power is in the kitchen and the home.

I really will miss India, when I finally leave. I have met some lovely people who I will never forget, most importantly Pappan, my travelling companion and friend. He has taught me many things and made my journey unique. I have sometimes felt a little odd travelling with him: after all, I haven't met any other foreigners travelling with a local. But, despite our differences and people's perceptions of us, his contacts and languages have enabled us to access people and places that I would not have been able to see had I been alone. Of course, he can thank me for getting us to each destination with my compass-head and map-reading skills!

Despite all I have seen, I still feel as if there is so much that I missed in India. A law was passed last year meaning that foreigners have to pay more to visit special sites - the Taj Mahal, for example, is now $20 for foreigners and 20 rupees for Indians. This has been a problem for me all over India as most sites have been targeted and I am on a tight budget. Also, sadly, we never made it to see the tigers. The park where we planned to go had some terrible poaching incidents just a few days earlier. Four elephants and three tigers were killed, and the whole park was sealed off.

I will miss the broad vegetarian menus of India, but I don't think I'll miss the Bollywood films - the novelty has worn off. They last for hours and are obsessed with the Alps for some reason: almost every film has at least one dance routine set there (often with a crowd of Swiss locals gawping in utter amazement). Having said that, I love the music and songs, and have bought some cassettes to sing along to.

I am looking forward to doing some dancing in south east Asia. I have had little opportunity here and really miss it. Indians aren't really into dancing (only during shows or festivals and then only men). Pappan says they are too inhibited: what a shame. I did go to a few clubs in the cities, but they were basically just bars. Saw some fantastic traditional dancing in Rajasthan. One in particular involved a man dancing on broken glass with 10 clay pots stacked on his head. It was unbelievable. It was all about collecting water in the desert (which, incidentally, only women do).

Apart from the memories, I will also take with me the Indian headshaking which I have picked up since I have been here. It is totally infectious and although still confuses me as to whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', I have to say I am addicted.

Next time I write I hope to be in Thailand, where I should have been today.

Wish me luck,
Donna x