19th – 25th March: Ooty to Bangkok George: On Monday we go back on the train to Mettupalayam we get on an overnight train to Chennai. Mum books first class. On Tuesday we arrive at Chennai at 5 o’clock in the morning and a taxi takes us to the Full Moon Guest House and it’s great. It has a terrace, that’s where we have breakfast. Pondicherry is very hot. It’s Wednesday and we are going to the Ganesh Temple because it was closed yesterday. It is very nice inside and it has lots of different pictures of Ganesh in different poses, shaking hands / meeting other gods and with different numbers of arms. The following day we go to the paper factory and we see how people make handmade paper. I never really knew what an ... read more

Mumbai to Kerala (4th to 10th March) Carla: Glad to say that my inclination just to slope around at the Manoribel was scuppered by Al who was keen to at least leave the place for a short while on our weekend there. So on Sunday we visited a nearby landmark (literally as you can see the thing for miles in the landscape) called the Global or Vipassana Pagoda. It’s a Burmese Buddhist temple built to encourage world peace and harmony through a meditation style known as Vipassana. Apparently if you practice this art you can achieve peace and freedom from anger, depression and all mental ailments. You have to start by doing a ten-day residential course, the first nine days of which you are to remain silent. So, despite the free board and lodging included, that ... read more