Aashiaanaa Residency Inn Port Blair

... trip into Port Blair. Waiting on the dock were three mini buses. Like we had seen before in the Pacific Islands, they showed the signs of years of wear and minimal maintenance. The air conditioning consisted of open windows that when the bus was moving would occasionally capture a welcoming cool breeze. The bus we boarded was filled with fellow cruisers so we occupied the jump bench beside the driver. I call them jump seats as we had to climb up to them and it was a little jump from ...

... etc. tourist huts are available right on the seashore flanked by the coconut plantation. Netaji Nagar Beach, 11 kms from the Hut Bay jetty, this white sandy beach is suitable for sun basking. WATERFALLS White Surf: 6.5 kms from the Hut Bay jetty, this waterfall in the midst of the evergreen rainforest is an ideal picnic spot. Whisper Wave: 25 kms from the Hut Bay jetty, this ...

... we get into the cab again for dinner. We decide it would have to be Icy Spicy all over again to wind up a good time had at the islands. And this time, for good measure, there will also be dessert! As we ride back from Junglighat, past the Aberdeen Bazaar and the now-familiar Mosque Road, we can't help feeling that we have been extremely fortunate. We could cover as much as possible in five days; the rain gods have been very merciful; and none of ...

... for breakfast. A quick bite at Annapurna and we are back on the road. And it is not just the dosas and filter coffee that have us energised - the next fixture is virtually the most looked forward to...the Cellular Jail. The brief glimpse we had of the structure in the fading light and the sound and light show had only whetted our appetite for a closer look. There is something arresting (pun unintended!) about just the gates that lead you inside the jail ...

... breakfast denied is nothing to fume about. We do, however, book our dinner and the next day's breakfast in advance. The ride to Radhanagar beach is through more green landscape with hardly any other four wheeled vehicle other than ours on the narrow, country roads. There are, though, enough and more motorbikes and cycles being ridden without any particular urgency by tourists, mostly foreigners. In the only shop that we spot outside our resort, we did ...

... mystique of the rocks coming alive in an indescribable form each time the guide lights up a match. The silence inside is only pierced by the flutter of bats and the hush of human voices. We walk back and do not give up on the opportunity to fill ourselves up with the only beverage, for that matter the only consumable item there, available there - tender coconut water. After doing justice to the tasty mish-mash of succulent coconut flesh, we head back to ...

... the island. We soon realise that we have very limited time on the island. Let alone explore and see the old jail, with its separate quarters for men and women, we are asked to just walk up to the hillock, see the gallows and board the ferry in 30mts! One look at the map put up on the single storey building in the entrance and it is clear that this small, serene island has had its share of injustice and gore. There are conflicting stories about the name that the ...

... days back in Berlin, a pokernight with the boys from school, that almost saw me loose my pants, i was on my way to Abu Dhabi. Whilst flying down there, i was pretty much resigned to the fact, that it was just a case of going through the motions, using the chance to see another place and perhaps gain a little more experience, but nothing more. I was in fact already writing a job application for something back home. But 'in shalah' (so ...

... by small local café style places which we were more than happy with. The following morning we got the ferry to Havelock island the place where the best beaches, snorkelling/diving were said to be found. The ferry took us past a couple of other islands which were mainly mangrove covered ...

... were soon shattered. Virtually everything we had been promised (we were with an American girl and her German boyfriend) failed to materialise and I have since realised that almost everything about his operation is downright dangerous and fraudulent. We had to carry about fifty kilos of gear across a lagoon to the hilariously named 'dive boat' which was in fact a shelterless fisherman's skiff. Thus loaded (Atilla didn't carry anything) we chugged out to Rutland Island ...