dephil13

Mumbai and Home 8th to 11th November An early morning flight from a very nice Aurangabad airport took us back to Mumbai for our last 3 days. Neither of us was sure what we would make of Mumbai. would it be just another very large , dirty etc Indian city? Well we were meeting up with (very young) Aunt and Uncle, Jim and Hilary, and you can't come all this way and not spend some time in the Financial/ Bollywood capital of India, now can you?? Well we were actually VERY impressed with the place. Hotel Residency in the Fort area was, very clean and comfortable and well situated for mad people like us who like to walk to the main sites (even in 38C)!! The staff were great, though we were a little concerned ... read more

Nasik 1st to 4th November We were really quite sad to leave Goa and the few friends we had made there. Brendan (from London) was a really nice chap and was the font of all knowledge about the place. He had been there a couple of times already and was being joined by his son later in the week. He had already booked to go back again in spring. Anthy's turned out to be a real gem of a place and the staff were so nice. We spent loads of time chatting the waiters, Raj and Mishal who were Nepalese and even the chef came out after work for a chat on our last evening.( We won't miss old Mr Benidorm and his many coloured thongs though...... not a great look that Borat!!!!) Got to the ... read more

All was not Peachy in Trichy 8th-10th October 2011 Found out this morning that Wales beat Ireland to get into the semi-finals of the RWC. Yeah!!!!!!!! Best weekend of sport in a long time but sadly we are missing most of it and defintely no rugby here (and no internet connection either so we are really suffering now!!). We have moved futher south again into a less agricultural, more industrial area which is definitely more prosperous and modern (in parts). We saw Levi and Reebok stores and supermarkets as well as the small roadside stalls and markets here and loads of colleges and university campuses outside the towns all very modern.Presumably land is cheaper and with nowhere to go and nothing to do the students are more inclined to study? On the way we stopped ... read more

Kumbakonam 8th October 2011 Beginning to struggle to remember what we did on Thursday, other than move from Pondi to Kumbakonam. Oh yes, we stopped at the Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, which David had read was a private one where only men were allowed, where the Brahmins contrived to part you from large amounts of your hard earned cash and you had to take your shirt off to go in...........none of which turned out to be true!!!. Ann was allowed in, no-one asked for money and you only took your shirt off if you went into the inner sanctum to gaze at the effigy, which as non-Hindhu's we didn't want to do anyway. Normally you wouldn't be allowed in but we think you might be able to pay here. In anycase it was a very ... read more