M – I really wasn’t expecting that I would be tucking into a Turkey Dinner this Christmas and I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be cooked by my wife! Kate is a great cook but she isn’t a fan of preparing traditional English roast dinners and is always looking for alternatives to turkey to cook for her Christmas lunch. This year she thought she had escaped the task, but little did she know ... The couple who run the guest house we stayed at had recently returned from 14 years in Dubai where they had gotten accustomed to a traditional English Christmas dinner and fancied trying to prepare one themselves in Sri Lanka. They had managed to source a roast turkey from one of the larger local hotels and a Christmas cake from I don’t know ... read more

M - Our 7 weeks in India seems to have gone so quickly. I was told by everyone that I met that had visited India that it is a complete assult on the senses. It was. I was also warned that you either love or hate India. I definately love it, although I can also tell you that there are times when you are glad of somewhere quiet to go and escape the sensory overload of the north. Goa is a little different! As Arnie says, I will be back... My final blog from India has a few photos from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Kerala was fun and I ate the best fish I have ever eaten in Varkala. The tandooried and grilled Grouper, Marlin, Butter Fish and Barracuda were all excellent. Drinking beer from coffee/tea ... read more

M – My first impressions of Goa were a little mixed. We had taken an overnight AC sleeper train from Mumbai to Margao - about two thirds of the way into Goa. We then headed a little further south to avoid the more populated beach resorts frequented by the holiday packages from Europe in central and northern Goa. The positive - the morning view from the train of the rice fields surrounded by palm trees and lush green hills boded well. I was excited, so much so that I decided to stand in/hang out of the open doorway of the train to suck in some of the fresh air. This is something you can’t do on British Rail! After a few minutes I ducked back inside before Kate saw me hanging out the window or I ... read more

K - The last thing we did in Jaipur (the Pink City) before Mum & Don left was go to see a Bollywood film. The choice was basically limited to Ra-One, a big budget blockbuster which is not the typical boy meets girl, loses girl, song / dance, gets girl back Bollywood storyline. Instead it was a sort of Terminator meets Iron Man high budget film with more special effects than you could shake a stick at. However we were pleased that they still managed to squeeze in the obligatory song and dance sequences, comic routines and completely irrelevant fight scenes. It was a riot. The best bit though is the audience - they do not exactly worry about rustling their sweet papers - instead they shout, scream and holler when their favorite stars appear and ... read more

K- My Mum’s trip to India came about because she (foolishly?) said to me in passing one day that she “had always wanted to see the Taj Mahal”. And so last Wednesday she did. Despite the large and amazingly loud crowds the Taj Mahal really does live up to its billing and we all found it to be very special– it is quite simply the most impressive building I have ever seen. Our next destination was Ranthambore National Park – home of 40 plus tigers. And at 7am on Thursday we were on a canter (open sided truck) looking for tigers. Our morning was tiring and not fruitful – although a leopard was spotted at the end of the morning it was too far away to see clearly. The trip over-ran by about 11/2 hours and ... read more