Missing In Action

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An untimely visit by the Seychellois Robin Hood over the Christmas break, resulted in a few items being liberated from our possession. Of particular interest to the merry men were all our memory cards and sticks, including a full card of photos from India that we didn't have time to back up. As a result, we have no photographic proof of our time spent in Fort Cochin, Goa, Hampi, Hyderabad and an ashram. Given the proverbial equation (picture = thousand words) there is no need to bury you (as well as bore you) with all the details, so close your eyes and picture some of our highlights...

1) Cantilevered Chinese fishing nets silhouetted against a setting sun in Fort Cochin. For all the manpower and muscle leveraging involved, they seemed to catch more weeds than fish.

2) Sylvie celebrating her birthday on a Goan beach with middle aged (she's part of the club now) leathery Europeans in their speedos.

3) The Bedrock City-like setting of Hampi with its weathered boulders and temple ruins carved from stone. It lived up to all the expectations and travellers' hype.

4) Bike rides around the Hampi countryside while checking out the monkeys, fields and village. This also included a heatstroke inducing double for a stranded local and his 35lb clunker with flat tires.

5) Taking the aforementioned bikes/clunkers on a basket boat ferry ride with 12 other people and 2 motorbikes (it was a fairly effective crossing despite the lack of freeboard).

6) The beautiful Islamic monuments and Hindu temples of Hyderabad; an unexpected architectural surprise.

7) Spending a couple of days in 'Hugging Mother's' ashram surrounded by her own band of merry followers. It was quite an institutional eyeopener and we did manage to get a famous hug/blessing squeezed in (Dave's was longer; he obviously needed it). Words and photos (they were banned anyways) can't quite explain the moment...just google her and we'll talk later.

Thanks for letting us share these moments, the thieves can enjoy the rest on their own.

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