TimSquire

We went on an enjoyable snorkelling trip to Nicholson Island and Elephant beach. Highlights included: long tapered yellow fish, purple sea anemones, squirting clams and fluorescent fish. Every night we ate fresh fish at our favourite road side restaurant asking him what he had purchased from the market that day. This included whole Red Snapper, Blue Trevally and delicious lobster.... read more

What a pleasant change of temperature Goa was from the North of India! We lazed by our hotel pool and organised our flights. As we were still sick, I took the liberty of purchasing multiple medications for our possible parasite infection! The beach was pleasant with many places to eat along the way and it was reassuring to see the Indian lifeguards, baywatch style, in their red uniforms. It was interesting to note the high level of Christianity in the area, with many churches, crosses and stars along with Christmas decorations. Very different to the Hindu domination of northern India. There was delicious continental food at a restaurant next door to us which made a nice change from Indian food all the time, as delicious as it was.... read more

We drove for many hours as the roads were terrible and we were in a very crap car that was rattling all the way. Finally, we arrived at the Taj Mahal! There were so many people there and we were herded around with whistles like sheep! It was incredibly beautiful, solid marble with thousands of inlaid stones. The car had a flat tyre three times, each time they were "fixed" on the side of the road, except it was the same tyre every time! Unfortunately Anna started feeling sick (an ominous sign) but perked up when we arrived at our beautiful hotel in Jaipur. Christmas Eve, but we dont feel Christmassy as Hindus aren't that into it!... read more

After being frisked 5 times before boarding the plane (due to some high profile guy being on our flight) we arrived in Varanasi. Having been here once before I can still describe it as an "interesting sh*thole", no visit to India is complete without it however. We were told to just walk "straight" to find our guest house, which is common advice given by most Indians. In fact a couple of boys wanting baksheesh guided us through narrow alleys of urine, faeces, cows, rats and scooters to our guesthouse on the Ganges. The guys at Ajay's guest house were massive rip off merchants so do not stay here! This actually started a trend when we were travelling through North India which actually became tiresome...Anyway! The location was great, being right above Raj Ghat (one of the ... read more

Today Anna and I spent our last day in Pokhara seeing "Dirty Picture" with a couple of the Doctors I'd met at Manipal hospital, Sunil and Shankar (or Shanky Babu as I called him) At this time we struggled to get a cab into Mahendrapool where the movie theatre was as their were riots. One guy from a political party was killed in a jail. Therefore the whole of Nepal was on strike... Anyway, we were a bit anxious when we were walking past people throwing rocks at motorbikes and shouting but we were informed by Shankar that this happens "all the time in Nepal". The movie was a great experience in the filthy cinema with people smoking, cheering for the good guy and booing the baddie. Although the whole movie was in Hindi, we could ... read more