We could not have picked a worse time to do this holiday getaway.

Death, disease and dissent wrack the Indian subcontinent. The Afghan-Pakistan border is where the US and the Taliban wage bloody war. With the resurgence of the Taliban within Pakistan, large swathes of the north-west are now under Taliban control. This means the fighting is dangerously close (100km) to Islamabad and Gilgit, places on our itinerary. Terrorist bombs still explode intermittently around Pakistan.

In Nepal, the Prime Minister has just resigned following the sacking of a general over the failed integration of 19,000 former Maoist rebels into the army. I imagine said 19,000 rebels are not happy and will invite comrades to participate in their unhappiness. Civil war perhaps?

Against the backdrop of nationwide elections in the largest democracy in the world , we will be jaunting around hoping to keep a low profile. The democratic process means that the interests of the minority will be subjugated under the demands of the majority. Hardly a recipe for peace. The incoming southwest monsoon brings rain and flood and with it, typhoid, cholera, dysentery and malaria. And there is the looming spectre of swine flu, which has yet to seriously afflict the Indian subcontinent but no doubt will cramp our travel plans. Through this all, India burns in one of the hottest summers (>40 degrees celsius) on record. The cessation of civil war in neighbouring Sri Lanka will have stirred Tamil interests. Their response is an unknown variable; this complicates an already messy situation.

Apart from these ad-hoc threats to one's mortality, there are still the usual villains. Just to name a few, traffic accidents, mountain landslides, food poisoning incidents, random unidentified diseases and malicious muggers are omnipresent dangers.

I'd feel rather cheated if all these didn't mean a cheaper holiday for us. Which sane tourist would put themselves through such trouble?