Mike Meaney - Photos: India

The Golden Temple at Amritsar, the holiest site of worship for Sikhs. Pilgrims (including foreign tourists) are allowed to stay and eat at the temple for free! As if India wasn't cheap enough?

An unusual geological formation on the road to Ladakh. The winding road at the bottom gives an idea of the scale.

Twelve dogs in Leh, Ladakh, sleeping in the shade together.

Ladakhi people are essentially Tibetans with weird hats.

Unbelievable is not it? This is the second highest road in the world, not so far from the highest, the road into the Nubra Valley, Ladakh.

This is the river Ganga, formerly known as the Ganges, at Varanasi.

Soapy men bathing themselves in the Ganga at Varanasi.

Varanasi, the holiest city in India. Many people come here to die and be cremated. You can see the smoke from a fresh toasting over on the left!

Khajuraho has some beautiful temples covered with ornate carvings. Some are explicit in nature such as this. Warning

A lizard finds a home on one of the ornate Khajuraho carvings.

The Indians of old were, eh, great animal lovers!

Squinting at computer screens all day will damage your eyes! P.S. Send me an e-mail if you can figure out what's going on here.

The world's greatest monument to love, the Taj Mahal (literally 'Head Palace'). It was built around 1650 by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal (meaning 'Jewel of the Palace') who had died at the age of 39 giving birth to their 14th child, the poor woman.

This is the cheap backpacker area of Agra, home of the Taj. Camels are still used in place of donkeys here.

Morning view of the Taj from the river behind it.

The Taj Mahal, Agra.

I bumped into Rob and Kristie by accident in Nepal after not having seen them since meeting them on the Siberut Island trek 13 months before. We ended up travelling through India for 6 weeks together.

The Palace of Winds in Jaipur. This building is mainly a facade with little of interest inside.

They happened to be making a movie when I visited the main palace in Jaipur, the two stars are on the left.

The movie stars.

Sunset by the lake in Pushkar, out in the desert in Rajasthan.

Another Pushkar sunset.

I wonder if this couple really think that hairstyle suits their son?

A boy from Jaisalmer.

Dung! That's what it is in case you're wondering. Once it is dried in the sun it can be used as fuel for fires.

Rob and Kristie in the ornate Jaisalmer fort.

Sunset above Jaisalmer fort and spires of a Jain temple. Jainism is a popular India-only religion, a blend of Buddhism and Hinduism. They hold all life precious and some devout priests go so far as to wear guards in front of their mouths in case they swallow an insect by accident. They also sweep in front of themselves as they walk so as not to crush any creature with their feet!

Bhang is the Indian name for hashish. Jaisalmer fortunately has a bhang shop authorised by the government, cows like hanging out there.

The blue walls of the old city of Jodhpur with the palace/fort in the distance.

The sun setting over a lake in Udaipur.

The Bibi ka Maqbara, the poor cousin of the Taj Mahal. It was built by Aurangzeb, son of Taj builder Shah Jahan, as a monument to his own wife. It will give you an idea of what was spent on the Taj if you know that Aurangzeb spent 300 times less on this structure than was spent on the Taj.

No, those aren't spices, that's colourful stuff for daubing on your forehead.

Lawnmower Man 3! This gives some idea of how cheap labour is in India. These guys are actually mowing the lawn.

A Buddhist cave at Ellora. This was completely carved out of a cliff of rock.

The crowning glory of Ellora, the Kailasanata temple. This is a complete building of two stories with ornate decorations all carved from the one piece of rock! You can see the cliff of volcanic rock that it was carved from on either side of the photo.

Please e-mail me your guesses at what this sign is for!

Colonel Sanders watch out, Colonel Slanders is on your ass!

A gopuram (gateway) of the rather remarkable Minakshi Temple in Madurai. The temple is built in the 'Vijayanagara' style and to Western tastes it might be said to represent the pinnacle of kitschs! The sheer impressive size of the temple saves it, it is reputed to be decorated with 33 million carvings

Some of the 33 million carvings of the Minakshi temple in Madurai.

The temple of Konark has some interesting carvings, can you figure this one out?

The main temple at Bodh Gaya, the world's holiest Buddhist pilgrimage site. It is here that Buddha became enlightened under the Bo tree.

This is the spot where Buddha became enlightened. The tree here now is supposed to be something like the great-great-grandson of the original tree under which Buddha realised the truth of the universe, went beyond suffering and broke out of the cycle of rebirth! Good on yer bro!

A park in the middle of Calcutta is home to a thriving warren of rats.

Do you really think I'm going to drop my business from that height, all the way down onto a bare piece of porcelain. There'd be bits flying everywhere!

A frosty field on the trek to Phalut, north of Darjeeling. Our friends Aaron and Annabel can barely be seen at the top left.

I guess the wind played a part in causing these unusual icy formations on the tree.

Niall with Kanchenjunga, the world's 3rd highest mountain, clouded over on the right.

Me with Kanchenjunga.

Barber, I think I'll have a number zero please!

Steady, steady, easy does it.

Er, I'm not sure if this was a good idea.

What the hell!

I'm back in Varanasi here with Niall, fairly hairless but not for long. I reckoned the bald look wasn't for me so that was the first and last time I've had the head shaved.

Some women doing their morning bathing ritual in the sacred waters of the Ganga.

Some girls doing the washing. Advantage here is they can wash their bodies as well as their clothes in one fell swoop. Righteous!

The second time I visited the Taj Mahal I was lucky to come across this bunch of Rajasthanis, from India's most colourful state.

The mountains above Dharamsala. Dharamsala is the home of the exiled Dalai Lama of Tibet and where I did an excellent course in Buddhism at the Tushita centre. Dharamsala is also home to India's best cakes and cappucinos, bonus!

Don't say this too fast, you might get in trouble.

A Tibetan mandala. It is a religious picture, this one is made from grains of coloured sand. The monks are carefully tapping the particles onto the table to painstaking form the image that will be used in a ceremony led by the Dalai Lama.

No, I'm not suddenly back in Sydney. This is the Bahai Temple in New Delhi. Bahaism is a sort of global religion that welcomes peoples of all faiths to worship in its temples which are free of images and icons. I wonder which building inspired this one?