Travelling on Mumbai’s trains is not for the claustrophobic, and getting up close (but hopefully not personal) with commuting strangers is impossible to avoid. More than seven million commuters a day cram onto Mumbai’s creaky suburban railway network. Crowding is extreme, with trains often carrying six times their capacity. During peak hours its estimated each suburban train carries 5000 commuters. Close to 3000 people die annually riding the Mumbai Metro, that’s eight people a day, according to rail officials. In 2018, 650 passengers died falling from trains alone, others were hit by poles whilst hanging through carriage doors, and even more were killed on the ground. Mumbaikars are always in a hurry to reach their destination, and there are those who won’t use a railway bridge, choosing instead to take their life in their hands, leap ... read more

Today, our last in Goa, finds us up early and waiting outside for our driver at 6.30am, as we're heading to Dudhsager Falls. These falls form part of the border between Goa and Karnataka and are India's 5th highest waterfall. At around 120klm for the return journey, this trip is well outside our 80klm daily allowance, so will cost us extra but I'm sure it will be well worth it. It was our driver's idea to start this early, to avoid the traffic and the expected long ticket office queue later in the day. Heading south, ninety minutes later we drive into the almost deserted parking area at the entrance to Mollem National Park. A small queue is already apparent at the unopened ticket office, and we join them. When they eventually opened, we couldn't believe ... read more

Today is our last day in Hampi and a check of the itinerary showed there were still several places I wanted to see which we hadn’t visited yet. So after breakfast we headed out, intent on walking to the Queen’s Bath about a kilometre away. But we didn’t get far before a rickshaw driver stopped to talk, looking for a fare. He pulled out his Hampi map and I pointed out the places we had yet to visit. We came to an agreement on price for the morning and piled into his auto rickshaw, the idea of walking now completely forgotten. First stop was the Queen’s Bath. This structure was the private bathing chamber of the king and his wives. It has a very plain boxy exterior but inside there’s a two metre deep bathing pool ... read more

Hampi, described as a fantasy world of rocks and ruins, lies in the south Indian state of Karnataka, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River. Now a laid-back ancient village which sprawls over both sides of the river, Hampi was once the last capital of Vijayanagar, one of the greatest Hindu kingdoms in India’s history. The magnificent ruins of Hampi dot an unearthly landscape that’s captivated travellers for centuries. Heaps of giant boulders dot kilometres of undulating terrain, their rusty hues offset by jade-green palm groves, banana plantations and paddy fields. The nearest airport to Hampi is at Belgaum 270klm away, and the nearest railway station, where we finally arrived this morning, is at Hospet, 13klm away. Auto rickshaws filled the parking area outside the railway station, but we had secured ourselves a driver within two ... read more

When I travel I like to have time to walk, to get away from the main tourist attractions and look deeper into the soul of the city I’m visiting. Sometimes I don’t like what I see, it can be disturbing and uncomfortable. But it’s also the only way to connect with the people and create some memorable interactions, and there’s no better place than India to experience this. We have seen everything in Hyderabad, all the tourist attractions we’re interested in that is, so today decided to return to Charminar and spend some time walking deeper into the streets and laneways that branch off this main thoroughfare. We left our hotel this morning, deciding to hail an auto rickshaw from the street. There’s plenty available and every one of them will stop and ask us where ... read more