In search of the Black Hole of Calcutta

Your money or your life? Our flight landed 1hr late at 12.30am in Kolkata. Our first experience of West Bengal was frustrating. Having taken the safe option of a pre-paid taxi, our clearly agitated driver started demanding an extra R100 as it was night time. I told him no and Muneeza even explained the situation [...]

Premature ageing on the roads of Bangalore

I had intended the usual dissection of life in our latest stop over but came up short. Bangalore is not unwelcoming but for us it was the least intriguing destination in our 6 week schlep around India.  There just isn’t anything exciting about old Bengalaru; it’s hot, noisy, dirty and sweaty but there is little [...]

Travels across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka by bus

We left the delightful yet scorching Kochi and started the first of many planned bus trips through the varied landscape of South India. We hadn’t expected South India to be so enchanting. The journey from the coastal tropics of Kochi winds its way through gently undulating hills and onto the higher hills of Kerala. The [...]

Pass the Kochi on the left hand side

We rocked up to Kerala more frisky than a litter of kittens with a bag of cotton wool. We’d been strung out by the cold for 3 weeks in Northern India and whilst we had an amazing time, we longed for the sunshine once more. The heat that hit us as we stepped out the [...]

Chasing Bollywood dreams

For weeks now I have been mockingly claiming to other gringos that we are heading to Mumbai to try to crack into the Bollywood scene and kick-start the fledgling acting career of the number 1 gora on the block. So it was most amusing to meet on the train to Udaipur a lady whose friend [...]

Enjoying the Indian Riviera

Udaipur has been called India’s most romantic city. To me it’s Rajhastan’s equivalent to the Riviera. That may be a loose and tenuous association but Udaipur has that air of European charm and the heat to match. Surrounded by the ancient Aravelli hills and set around the beautiful Lake Pichola, the city formerly known as [...]

In the footsteps of the kings – the capital of Rajhastan

I’d been looking forward to hitting Rajhastan ever since we arrived in India following Muneeza’s glowing endorsement of the land of Kings. Rajhastan is home to the Rajputs, warrior clans who claim to come from the sun, moon and fire. The Rajputs have a history of infighting which led to them becoming loosly controlled by [...]

The briefest of visits to the Punjab

To save precious time we opted for an intensive flying visit to the Punjab, the predominantly Sikh region in the north west that shares a border with Pakistan. I woke up feeling a little under the weather, perfect timing. We hopped on the 07.20 Shatabdi Express praying that this train would be the first to [...]

Exploring the bustling streets of India’s capital

After a surprisingly convivial few hours at the Bangladesh Embassy on Wednesday 12th, chit chatting with a lovely French couple, we were competely fleeced by the rickshaw wallah to get to our hotel in the Paharganj district, home of beloved backpackers and sin seekers alike. As soon as the drivers see a gora (white boy) [...]

Agra: final sejourn in Uttar Pradesh

We were glad to leave Lucknow, though it was 31hrs later than planned. However, our train pain continued as the train, due to arrive at 21.20 finally docked at 04.00. We had arranged a station pick-up and amazingly the driver was there, ready and waiting. The journey to the hotel passed in a daze and [...]