India

I have taken over the blog writing from Greg because I was very reluctant to go to India at all....

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

We spent 2 weeks in India and it was out of this world - the North is so crazy and chaotic the 6 of us walked around with jaws on the floor the whole time. The South is a bit quieter and calmer but it has been a bombardment on the senses from Day 1.

First stop was Mumbai (Bombay). Mumbai is firmly stuck in the 70s - not a thing seems to have advanced since then, it was like stepping into a different timezone. We did a big walk around the central parts of the city checking out all the sights, colonial buildings etc finishing in Leopold's (for those of you who have read Shantaram!!) and finished off with a brilliant curry in a local cafe kind of place (no eating utensils here - right hands only please). Our 2nd day was spent organising travel and visiting Chowpatty Beach and the Gandhi Museum (located in his old abode in Bombay) before we hopped on a flight to Jaipur in North India.

The next day was spent walking around the bazaars and shops, being greeted and welcomed by the kids and locals. We also headed to the water palace and then for another amazing curry. After 2 nights in Jaipur we caught the train to Agra where we quickly dropped our bags and headed to the Taj Mahal - this is one of those places you have to see in real life to appreciate. It is unbelievably beautiful and definitely the most impressive building we have ever seen. We spent the day with our tuk tuk taking us around town. Agra is not a great place actually, terribly poor and it is interesting to know they are not allowed to have any machine type industry in town because the air pollution will ruin the view of the Taj - which is good news for us tourists but means a harder life for the locals. We got to watch the sunset down the side of the Taj and then headed out for more brilliant curries.

Up early the next morning to catch a train to Delhi and then a flight to the province of Kerala (known as God's country) to the town of Cochin. We ended up staying at a homestay (with an Indian family) - this also might have been the loveliest family in all of India. They were just so motherly and so kind. We spent 2 nights here and spent our days wondering around Fort Cochin and the spice warehouses.

Then it was off to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in the hope of catching a glimpse of the elusive 46 wild tigers here. Elusive they were though. We spent the whole day in the park, hiking, boating and flying around in our jeep and not spotting very much.

The next day we had a long travel day starting with a bus to Kottayam and then a 3 hr boat ride through the backwaters - a beautiful sight and some of the houseboats on the water looked awesome. If only we had more time. Finally we got on a train to Varkala as the sun was setting which made for beautiful views on the train ride. Varkala is lovely and we got to see dolphins and fish eagles from the cliffs overlooking the sea. If only they (and the rest of India) could sort out their litter problem. It seems they don't have any formal rubbish collection operations so there is a lot of litter all over the country.
Anyway we spent our last day all together on the beach in Varkala and fnished it off with sun downers, cards and some dinner. Greg and I left the others in the morning and caught the train to Trivandrum and then a flight to Mumbai.

We won't see the 'Gangs' again on this trip so it was a very sad farewell - it has been loads of fun and giggles being with them. For now though, we are off to Singapore for a night and then Bali for 2.5 weeks where we will meet up again with V, Al and Clydo and also Cands and Lorna who are coming from the UK after our first week there.

Sad to be leaving India such an intriguing place and this time I think we will really be back.