The children's view

The best thing in India is all the animals I saw, such as water buffaloes, camels and mules. At the hill station Matheran, the monkeys swung through the trees and stole biscuits and drinks from our table. There were 85 elephants with painted faces and trunks at the Amber Fort in Jaipur and in Delhi I saw snakes and a mongoose.

In Goa we spotted kites and sea eagles from the beach, herons on the river and a humming bird when we went to a spice plantation in a secret valley. Once, while we waited for a train, a cow came walking along the platform and nobody thought it was surprising. That wouldn't happen at Polegate!

Bryony Phillips, seven

Elissa's view

Travelling in India made a big impression on me because of the different transport. In spite of breakneck driving and no seatbelts, we enjoyed being taken in four-wheel-drive cars to some of the sites. The trishaws were fun but deadly and at times the four of us and our driver were squashed into something made for two passengers.

Only once did we have to suffer the traumas of a Bombay bus with half a filthy metal seat for more than an hour. Trains are another matter. Like the buses, they get cleaned every 20 years or so. At your stop you have to unpeel yourself from the seat, then barge off dodging the bossy porters.

Elissa Phillips, 12