Pals Hotel Mumbai (Bombay)

... Jerusalem, or Lajpat Nagar. And the campus of the nearby Arts College proved less artsy than Sundeep's nephew's crayon work on the kitchen wall.

Aside from quick trip to the bookstore to grab whatever English language material they had available and a last pit stop at an Iranian cafe (there are a zillion of these in Mumbai, does anyone know what's the deal with the Iranian connection?) to stuff my face one last ...

... br>by Razorlight!!?? He took me to a ticket vendor and explained the procedure.
" You need to get the ticket confirmed Sir" What does he mean ticket
confirmed?? Maybe I was a special passenger..the billionth westerner to travel
through CST station!! Maybe I'll get 100,000 rupees for free??......Don't be a
cock Adam......He placed my ticket through the booth and the man took a look at
it before squiggling something un-recognisable in pen on the ticket...he then
passed it ...

... back will take six hours or more. See more about my experience on trekking up the Chembra

Edakal Caves: in the Ambukuthi Hills in north Kerala, considered to be one of the earliest centres of human habitation. Inside the cave one will find ancient stone scripts, pictorial wall inscriptions of human and animal figures with peculiar head dresses, the swastik form, symbols and cave drawings of human figures, wheels, bows, knives ...

... Punjab veggie dish to "take it easy". Eat like a champ. Mid way through, is when I say, "I either showed my stomach who is boss or it's going to be an eventful flight to Delhi." Needless to say, your un-humble narrator won that gamble and the stomach, to this day is in submission. I will say that microbes are no joke. I was one visit to the restroom away from relenting and starting Cipro. I am so thankful I didn't and let the chiles do their magic instead. Cipro is no ...

... is almost always because a couple of teachers haven't turned up. Taking two classes together can sometimes mean around 20 - 30 kids, none of whom speak your language. On top of this, you're supposed to teach with no chalk, no white-board markers, and in the case of Nallosapara, there is a supply box, with a lock on it that nobody knows the code for! At Khar school I've frequently turned up to find the office locked and no teachers, with mayhem from ...

... this but, hey! strange place and the familiarity carries a reassuring respite. Thing is, I never eat here back home and lets just say...small steps. I'm wary of food poisoning yet, evidently, not of bad food. A little bit of native clothing shopping for Dara where my bargaining skills fall on the deafest of Indian ears and upon exiting the store, we're confronted by a proposition from this confident dude indeed. Do we fancy being extras in a ...

... we have to share a bathroom and its a squat toilet... urrgh!!! So this is our last full day in India we leave for Australia tomorrow. Only one more fight to go here before we leave... which is fighting the rickshaw/taxi drivers for a reasonable fare to the airport!! We have really enjoyed India but feel 3 months has been enough we are ready to leave. Some days can be a real battle, its a real country of contrast and a huge eye opener, makes you appreciate what you have.

Naresh's Stomach: Amy and Naresh are sleeping. Not me. I'm Naresh's Stomach and I'm not sleeping because I've got a lot of work to do digesting everything Naresh has been stuffing down his big chai-hole. As long as I can't sleep I may as well write about what I've been up to today. (I'm now nearly as big as Amy's whole body, so deserve to write almost as much as she does.) I tried to sleep in late this morning. I'd ...

... by the parents. You no longer have to marry the first guy you are introduced to, mainly because they can't make you. Financial independence brings personal independence. Don' t take me wrong - Anushka says - I am only child and my parent have been putting a lot of pressure on me. However, when a rational conversation fails to persuade I resort to my financial independence to draw the boundaries. Mumbai is really not a tough city to live ...