It was interesting to read Duncan Fletcher's comments that the England men's squad feel trapped in their hotels in Pakistan - we know exactly what he means!
 |  We enjoyed some great food at Sahara City and the DJs found some English tunes to make our girls smile |
We're disappointed that much of what we've seen of India has been through the windows of buses and planes.
The itinerary is too packed and organising trips is difficult bearing in mind all the trappings of an international team on tour.
It took an hour for us to leave our hotel in Delhi to make a simple trip to a shopping mall because the local police decided they needed an escort vehicle - which got stuck in traffic.
We eventually got there after a madcap chase and went straight to Pizza Hut, where our police escort also tucked in. I'm not suggesting for one minute that they only volunteered with this in mind!
Luckily for the intrepid explorers among us, there was some culture to be found not far from our hotel.
We were told of a 700-year-old shrine to the Sun God that could be seen from the pool, so off we went in search of some good photos.
We decided to walk Indiana Jones-style through the building site next door to the hotel and then traced the side of a red stone wall, eventually climbing over it to come out at the top of a huge ziggurat in front of a large pool, contained in an amphitheatre.
We then found the entrance to the shrine, complete with a welcome sign requesting payment of $2 - whoops! We left the way we should have gone in.
| We had a surreal 1km walk through the middle of Delhi Airport from one terminal to another |
After a function at the British High Commission in Delhi we travelled to Lucknow, where we were hosted by the airline Sahara, one of the largest companies in India and sponsors of the Indian men's and women's cricket teams.
A function was held at their HQ, Sahara City, which is an amazing venue complete with cricket pitch, golf course, shops, houses, office buildings and temples - the usual stuff a corporate exec needs.
The next stop was Guwahati after a long day featuring two bus rides, three flights and a surreal 1km walk through the middle of Delhi airport from one terminal to another (fighting trolleys and avoiding ruts as we headed along the backroads).
The bus journey from the airport brought back memories of Sri Lanka: wetlands punctuated by paddies and wading cows.
We've been losing matches and players with alarming regularity the last few days - "man down" has been a frequent cry.
Perhaps a little complacency with the water and food, and perhaps a little bad luck, but we've dropped like flies.
More serious than the bouts of Delhi belly is the injury to Laura Newton who has gone home for an operation on the badly fractured little finger on her left hand.
We too will be heading home after Friday's final one-day international in time for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards on Sunday.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
