Our first visitor

Last weekend we welcomed our first guest to our apartment, Rosie Brooke, who is currently two months into a six month secondment in Bangalore.  We've been really looking forward to having friends and family coming to stay and Rosie's visit was our first opportunity to think about what to do in Mumbai as a tourist.  Mumbai is so large and complex that it's tricky to capture in one weekend, but we put an itinerary together to give Rosie a decent overview of the city, allowing time for catching up and (a little of) relaxation too.

Rosie proved to be the perfect guest in that (i) she was completely easy going about where we went and what we did; and (ii) she's already been living in India for a while so knew what to expect from Mumbai. It was lovely to have her staying for the weekend - thanks Rosie!

Rosie's plane landed at 1030pm on Friday so we took the opportunity of our driver Sagar working in the evening to travel to one of the restaurants on my "to do" list - The Banana Leaf, just north of Juhu.  This restaurant serves pure veg south Indian cuisine and is now one of my favourite places to eat in Mumbai.  The masala uttapam was simply awesome as a starter and the mains equally good (a mushroom dish and green mango / pumpkin curry) though when South Indian food is described as spicy that *means* spicy.  My mouth was on fire and was only cooled by a coconut milk based pudding; hence we were feeling full and content when setting off for the airport at 10pm.

Twinkly lights and an illuminated triangular arch led us into the restaurant 

Tasty South Indian curry and chutney, served on a banana leaf as expected

After an uneventful airport pick-up (Sagar's been having "police problems" there recently...usually resulting in a 100 rupee fine), and a late evening beer at home, we were ready to head to South Mumbai for a day of sightseeing on Saturday.  We decided to go to see the Elephanta Caves which are situated on a small island to the east of South Mumbai, accessible by a one hour trip on a rather rickety boat.

After parking up and a quick toilet trip to use the facilities at the Taj Mahal Hotel (possibly the fanciest bathrooms I've ever used, we were intending to go for a drink at the hotel later on though ran out of time...), we stopped for a look at the majestic Gateway of India before boarding a boat to the island.  The trip is worth it for the views back to the mainland, where you can imagine how it must have felt for those arriving in Mumbai in the past after a long sea voyage, when ships docked at the Gateway of India.  Less convenient perhaps, but more spectualar than landing at the building site of the international airport surrounded by slum!

The Gateway of India

On the top deck of the boat (a 10 rupee surcharge).  Phil's hair starting sticking up at funny angles after he put his hat on wet hair in the morning.

Classic Mumbai - The Gateway of India and Taj Hotel - host to Prime Ministers, Presidents and English people after a pleasant bathroom experience pre-boat trip.

The island itself is a major tourist attraction and the 20 minute walk up to the caves is therefore lined with stalls selling tourist tat, but it is jolly and still spacious and quiet relative to Mumbai.  Again, the caves themselves are old and with some large carvings, though it's probably best to visit before visiting Ajanta / Ellora or even Karna caves as the Elephanta Caves are on a much smaller scale and not nearly as impressive.  The area was though full of family, friends and couples enjoying a Saturday trip out and the views over the island and mainland were good.

There is a toy train from the jetty to the steps up to the caves.  We walked.

Chair transport - one chair, two sticks, four men.  There is something a little uncomfortable (but also quite comical) about watching four lean Indian men carry a (more than portly) white man up a hill for 500 rupees.

Lots of rock.

Lots of carvings.  We didn't get a guide as Phil had hired one on a previous visit, but unfortunately couldn't remember the fine detail when we got to the caves.

 Another v.big carving

Jennie and Rosie enjoying the (35 degree) sunshine.

The main attraction, in my view, was the monkeys.  My previous monkey experiences have not been positive; they have either been big, aggressive and threatening, or mangy, mischievous and suspiciously rabid-looking; but Elephanta island has partially restored my faith in the monkey race.  These one were small, not interested in us, and very sharp and dextrous.  We spent a while watching pairs of monkeys preening, with one lazing and lying full length out in the sun, whilst the other carefully removed all its fleas, one by one.  They looked incredibly human and the little ones were having great fun play fighting and tree climbing.  Phil's handbell hopes have risen - he thinks that these one might be trainable!

Large cannon on top of the imaginative named "Cannon Hill".  This has something to do with the Portuguese.

Monkey preening

Monkey cuddles

I like the pair of monkeys in the background - someone is definitely enjoying his cleaning session.

After a snooze on the boat home, we (yet again) failed to get into Brittania (v.old Parsi restaurant) owing to a big queue outside and instead tried Ideal Corner, a Parsi cafe and conveniently another place in my book which needed ticking off.  Getting there involved a bit of carnage-life driving the wrong way up a one way street, but we enjoyed some tasty and meaty fare (I liked the Kheema dish) once we arrived.

Lunchtime Parsi fodder - Meat and pineapple juice.

After a swift driving tour around the main old sites of South Mumbai (Victoria Terminus, The Oval Maiden, Flora Fountain, Marine Drive etc.) we headed home for a bit of relaxed film watching before going out for dinner.  Tata Sky has lots of English language films but with comprehensive bad language censoring...watching Notting Hill whilst trying to fill in the blanks added a new level of fun to seeing a Richard Curtis film.

We went to our favourite Mumbai snack destination, ELCO, for dinner.  I hope that after Pani Puri, Bhel Puri, Sev Puri, Pav Bhaji and more, that Rosie has been converted to the wondrous street food of Mumbai.  A warning to all future visitors - you will be taken to ELCO - whether you like it or not!

As proof that we are all getting old, we were shattered and in bed by 10 o'clock.  After a pleasant lie-in (except Phil, who went for his early Sunday morning run) we were geared up for the weekend ringing slot, our first quarter peal in India, of Plain Bob Minor.  We were not cruel enough to force Rosie into a peal, plus we'd all had a nice long lie-in so wouldn't have had time anyway.  The quarter peal was uneventful (bar a very late single, which 1-2 and 3-4 managed with great poise and calm in my opinion) and proof that none of us had forgotten how to ring handbells.  I'm not sure that Rosie will take up our peal invitation, but we hope that she comes round to the idea:-)  This was hopefully the first of many more ringing performances in our apartment.

http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=312033

The first handbell quarter in India for all.

With the ringing completed, we caught an autoricksaw up to Juhu Beach for a Sunday morning stroll amongst the many cricket games on the sand.  Juhu Beach is not a perfect, clean, soft-sand paradise but I like it a lot; it is genuinely valuable open space in Mumbai to be treasured, and brings happiness and relaxation to so many Mumbaikars, especially those who like cricket.

We met with friends, David and Catherine, for lunch on Bandra's Carter Road and were ready for a snooze after a couple of hours of breakfast grub, waffles, sangria, sun and conversation.  After cooling down at the apartment, and a nice cup of tea, Rosie and Phil departed for the airport (Rosie back to Bangalore, Phil to Singapore for a brief work visit) and I was left alone.

Phil with the Viennese breakfast and a particularly girly strawberry smoothie.

And what better way to end an excellent weekend than with the final episode of Series 4 of Downton Abbey.  I'm pleased to confirm that the new DVD player is working perfectly and I have more than made up for lost Downton time since the failure of the old one.

Samosas, wine, Sachin, running, swimming, phones, bread, blood tests and weddings (not all at once)

After arriving back in India on Friday last week, I had a quick turnaround as we had planned a weekend away to Nashik; a city up in the hills 160km north-east of Mumbai.  I knew two things about Nashik before we set off; (i) it is a holy place for Hindus attracting many pilgrims who travel great distances; and (ii) it is the centre of the Indian wine growing industry and is surrounded by vineyards.  Both good from a tourist perspective.

We left home early on Saturday morning to avoid traffic in Mumbai (we had our driver Sagar with us for the weekend) and stopped off in Sion for a breakfast samosa at Guru Kripa on the way, an establishment recommended in my Savour Mumbai cookbook.  These 8 rupee goodies were extremely tasty though the 9 rupee samosas that I've had from BKC still have the edge.

Our second breakfast

Replenished, we travelled to Nashik which was an easy 2.5 hour drive up a well-kept highway.  The landscape soon becomes attractive upon leaving Mumbai, with undulating hills and noticeably fresher air as we climbed up to the higher-altitude of Nashik.  We saw several pilgrims walking along the road from Mumbai to Nashik, an amazing sight and impressive journey for people to make, especially in the heat of the day.

Flying the flag

Our first stop was the Sula Vineyards, a California style winery on the outskirts of Nashik.  Sula wines seem to be everywhere in Mumbai and we learnt, on the winery tour, that the company's turnover is huge and its wines are exported all over the world.  Sula was set up by a Princeton graduate and the climate in Nashik feels Californian; I fully expect that the Indian wine industry will continue to improve and develop as it has done for the last 20 years in these conditions.  St John's College in Cambridge has Indian wine on its wine list, and I'd expect to see much more of it around in the future.

We enjoyed the short tour and subsequent wine tasting with an informative although rather jaded guide who was patiently explaining how to taste wine to a group of people who primarily wanted to drink as much wine as possible.  He explained to us that the concept of wine tasting hasn't fully taken off yet, hence his detailed description of how to taste wine properly (see, swirl, sniff, sip etc.), but that knowledge is now improving. He explained that all Sula wine is now in screw-top bottles as many Indians do not own or know how to operate a corkscrew.  I'm not sure I believe this and consider this statement to be rather sweeping, but that's what he said to us!

We enjoyed the Shiraz and Viogner (both Californian-style) and purchased a few bottles to stock our (rather depleted) wine rack at home.

Impressive modern wine tasting bar 

The sniff test 

Sula vineyards looking out from the main winery building 

Lots and lots of wine

For a complete change of scene, we drove into the centre of Nashik to visit the ghats and templates that draw Hindu pilgrims to the city.  This was not a touristy place, we were the only non-Indians in sight, but we were not hassled and enjoyed seeing another side of Indian life.

View over the main ghat and temple area 

The only two tourists in the area 

Living temple 

Water edge teeming with activity 

Washing 

Obligatory cattle picture

We had a relaxing evening at our hotel and early night owing to our very early start on Sunday morning.  After booking our weekend break to Nashik, we'd found out about a 10k run and 21k run happening at the Sula vineyards on Sunday morning.  In preparation for January, we signed up and looked forward to the opportunity to run in a cooler environment with clean air; although this would require a 5am alarm on a Sunday.

Cake on our hotel buffet.  The great Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar retired on Saturday after playing his last test match in Mumbai.

We thoroughly enjoyed the run and our driver Sagar seemed to take the news about the 5am start remarkably well.  We bought him breakfast at the vineyards to make up for it...

When we arrived, there were lots of very fit looking people warming up with impressive stretches and the atmosphere was full of energy and enthusiasm for the run.   We somehow ended up on the podium, Phil was 2nd in the half marathon (despite a slightly dodgy tum, again) and I was 3rd (woman) in the 10k.  We're not quite sure how this keeps happening though running in races in India is a big confidence boost!  We also met several friendly and strong runners from Mumbai who welcomed us and shared their experiences of running in India.  We were told about the runner who won the men's open category in last year's Mumbai marathon - a poor Maharashtrian farmer who runs barefoot and slept on the ground the day before the race, before completing the marathon in 2hours 30mins.  Quite astonishing and very inspiring.

Post-race on a beautiful morning at the Sula vineyards 

My award for 2nd place in the 10k. 

Phil was left on the podium alone for a while as no one could find his trophy.  He started doing poses for the audience after a while.. 

There were two (incredibly bendy) Yoga teachers leading stretching sessions after the run.  We learned that (i) we have no sense of balance; and (ii) we are completely inflexible relative to the average Indian. 

With fellow friendly runners who we met after the race.

 

An overloaded truck on the road back from Nashik.

Now for the swimming bit...Phil went away to Chennai on a work trip yesterday and I aim to get some exercise in every day whilst he is away.  This started with a swim after work on Monday, much to the horror of Sagar who thought I would get ill swimming in the current "cold" conditions.  Err...the temperature is still reaching 30 degrees each day and the lower humidity is pleasant relief in my view.  There was a  children's swimming class happening in the pool (swimming widths) whilst I was swimming lengths (this involves a bit of diving child dodging).  Amongst a confident group of youngsters, one little boy was adamant that he did not want to leave the side of the pool and screamed loudly when the instructor tried to nudge him out to swim.  The boy eventually climbed out to his mother for sympathy who patted him on the head and promptly picked him up and dunked him in the pool again.  It was tough love, but worked eventually as he managed a few widths, but made a lot of noise about it!

Moving on to phones, I have recently been considering buying my first ever smart phone (yes, I know I'm behind the times).  Just about everyone seems to walk around with a smart phone in India so I had naively assumed that these are affordable for the average person...not so, they seem to be more expensive than in the UK!  The lastest iphone is more than £500 for the handset here, and that's before you get to the contract.

After looking at a few phones, feeling confused, and deciding that a cheap one to make calls will be fine for what I need, I discussed smart phones with Sagar who is saving up to buy the latest expensive one in January, worth several months' salary him.  This does though make me understand just how important phones are for the young generation in India, both for their actual function and as an important status symbol.

Bread...a small thing but the happy point of my day was returning home to find that Veronica had spontaneously made me a pile of chapattis which were keeping warm covered by plates in the kitchen. This was lovely and made me smile.

Another random event of my week is that I had to provide details for a new access card for the building at work, which bizarrely included my blood group.  I have never had a blood test so have no idea what it is!  In a perfect world I would love to give blood and know that it's an important thing to do, but I unfortunately tend to faint when approached with a needle.  Anyway, I've discovered that not knowing your blood group is considered to be extremely strange in India.  My work colleagues were astonished.  The standard reaction to any kind of minor ailment is to take a blood sample and people seem to have extensive blood checking tests as a matter of course even when they are feeling fine.  I visited a local clinic at lunchtime today and had a protracted discussion about what I wanted - they just didn't believe that I could not know what my blood group is!  After much discussion and persuading them that (i) I do not need to be referred by a doctor; and (ii) I do not want my heart, lung, liver and kidney functions checking at the same time at finding out my blood group, the test went ahead.  After all that excitement and parting with 150 rupees, I found that I'm O positive, as common as muck.

Another reason for smiling is that we've found out this week that Phil's brother Richard and girlfriend Frankie will be getting married in March.  Hooray!  All I need to find now is find an Indian wedding outfit...

Downton DVD Disaster

I returned to India on Friday following a 10 day trip to the UK to make a change to my visa.  This was less than straightforward...the first attempt at my visa came back from the high commission with a big error on it which was followed by a not-quite-right correction of the error, but thankfully it's close enough.  I caught my flight back as planned and am now back in the country for the foreseeable; working for the right company (it's complicated) so things are looking up on the settling-down front.

Aside from seeing family and friends (all most enjoyable), my UK trip was most fortunately timed to coincide with the release of Downton Abbey Series 4 on DVD.  We cannot get ITV or watch UK TV online in India so I've been eager to get my paws on the latest episodes, and trying hard to avoid the spoilers in the press.  Unfortunately, the media can be horrid and slide plot info into seemingly unrelated articles and headlines so I haven't been entirely successful with this, but was looking forward to seeing the latest series properly nonetheless.

I bought the last copy of the DVD available in the Tooley Street Tesco and guarded it safely all the way home.  Phil and I enjoyed watching the first two episodes together at the weekend and I carried on with episode 3 alone yesterday evening.  This was a distressing episode (bad Julian Fellowes) and left me keen to watch more in the hope that Downton would get happier again.

So I returned home from work today, cooked a rather tasty tomato and green bean curry, and settled down to watch episode 4.

THE DVD WOULDN'T LOAD.  Arrrggghhh....!!!

Importantly I kept calm and hope that I dealt with the situation as rationally and systematically as possible, which was not easy under the circumstances.  I tackled the problem (calamity) in the following stages:

1)  Pressed open and close, reinserted DVD several times, turned DVD player on and off a few times, unplugged etc. and repeated for 15 minutes or so.

2)  Tested other DVDs. None of the other Downton DVDs in the box set worked, including the one I'd already watched, and the only thing I can get to load in the DVD player is a photo CD with pictures of Birmingham used for the publicity for last year's Ringing World National Youth Contest.  All very nice, but not Downton.  The problem was clearly not DVD-specific.

3)  Googled "why will my DVD player not load".  Narrowed down likely further options to (i) dusty DVD player; or (ii) terminal fault in computer brain of DVD player.  It being India, I hoped that (i) was true and proceeded accordingly.

4)  Got my screwdriver out and located an unused glasses cloth, perfect for DVD player polishing.  Carefully removed the outer case to allow detailed analysis of the loading process and polished of every bit of DVD player which looked like it could do with a clean.

5)  Slowly began to accept the truth, that the DVD would start spinning, in a teasing "I'm going to load manner" but kept cutting off and restarting when a bit of wire leading out of the motor flashed bright red.  There appears to be some kind of loop preventing the DVD from loading properly.  Bluntly, it wasn't looking good.  I reattempted this open air disc loading whilst holding the DVD player at a variety of different angles, but to no avail.  That motor just kept on flashing.

 Mid-investigation

 The dodgy motor - nasty small white circle near top of picture

6)  Retreated calmly from the area to get some Green & Blacks chocolate from the fridge and consider my next move.

7)  Returned to the area to reassemble of the the DVD player and remove it from the TV zone.  It had let me down and no longer warranted my attention or a place on the TV stand.

8)  Collected up every laptop / device in the apartment that looked like it might have a working disc drive.  This computer does, but refused to play my Downton DVD.  Urgh.

9)  Accepted that an emergency new DVD player purchase will be necessary tomorrow.  Found a variety of reasonably priced Indian DVD players online, and then remembered that UK DVDs cannot necessarily be played on Indian players and vice versa.  None of the website advertising Indian DVD players mentioned this.  I know their game...

10)  Read a wikipedia article on UK Region 2 / India Region 5 DVDs which, frankly, melted my by now quite soggy brain.  All I need is a simple table of if and only if statement linking country DVDs with country DVD players, but was instead bamboozled by contradictions.  If anyone can enlighten me about this, then please get in touch.

11)  Cried for help on the Bombay expats list.  Somebody else must feel my pain:-(

12)  Fifteen minutes later, received two very helpful responses directing me towards specific multi-region DVD players and where I should buy them.  Woohoo!  Downton time tomorrow...


So the problem has not been solved, I've spent my evening attempting amateur electronics, and Downton episode 4 will have to wait until another day.  Honestly, when you pay £20 for a HD DVD player from Tesco and then use it extensively on arriving in a foreign country with lots of dirt and dodgy electrical currents, you'd expect it to last for more than 6 months:-)  I've been back to check and this DVD player has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Tesco website.  It's all WRONG!

Anyway, I've moved on and made peace with the situation.  In the grand scheme of things, this is very much a first world problem, even in India.

Hampi

Having visited the UK for a wedding three weeks ago, I am now (rather unexpectedly) back in Blightly again, this time for just over a week to make some changes to my visa which cannot be done in India.  Travelling back and forth is disruptive although, looking on the bright side, this has given me the opportunity to see friends and family (including a lovely relaxing weekend in Gloucestershire), catch up with work colleagues, and purchase the Downton Abbey Series 4 DVD in the week of its release to take back to India.

Returning to the UK feels strange when you've been out of the country for several months.  London seems very quiet, clean, wet, cold and dark relative to Mumbai - I'm not adapting to the lack of sunshine or 30 degree temperatures very well!

Anyway, before I returned to London on Wednesday last week, we enjoyed an excellent long weekend in Goa and Hampi, making the most of the extra two days holiday provided for Diwali, the biggest festival in the Hindu calendar.  We hadn't heard of Hampi prior to moving to India, but have since spoken to several people who strongly recommended that we visit whilst living in Mumbai.

We flew to Goa and travelled by train (an 8 hour journey) to Hampi which is in the state of Karnataka, where we would be spending three nights before returning to Goa.  Hampi is a truly amazing place - it is a large area including the ruins of a vast and powerful Hindu empire which was destroyed by invaders around 500 years ago.  The landscape of Hampi itself is incredible - the most appropriate word I can think of to describe the way it looks is "pre-historic".  The site is structured around a river strewn with huge boulders, and these rocks sit in piles forming big rocky hills in the area.  The area was originally chosen because of its strategic location - bound by the river on one side and hills made from these rocks on the other.  Further information is available at the website linked below.

http://hampi.in/

Hampi is a UNESCO site and there is only one small area of hostels / homestays where you can stay within the site.  The accommodation is basic and geared to travellers, but our room was clean and comfortable, with a friendly and welcoming host.  Admittedly, the hot water didn't work (although I've found that showering with buckets of hot water can be remarkably fun) and they'd given one of the rooms we'd booked away before we arrived, but it otherwise did the job!  The future of this area (Hampi Bazaar) is, however, precarious and large areas of the village have already been cleared.  Those still living in the bazaar live under the shadow that a bulldozer could turn up at any time - the eventual aim seems to be for no-one to live or stay within the site itself.  For now, however, there are lots of basic accommodation options from which to choose.

We met up with Phil's younger sister Rosalind for the trip and packed lots of activities into our time in Hampi, including a cycling tour of the Royal City, a cookery class, eating lots of local food and a long walk around some of the older ruins and monuments on the other side of the river.

We travelled from Goa to Hampi (Hospet is the nearest station to Hampi) in Sleeper class, which is both cheaper than the AC carriages and much more fun.  The windows are open and lots of food / drink sellers (plus a few lady-boys!) wander up and down the carriages selling their wares.  We chatted to some interesting locals, but importantly you do still get a reserved seat in this class.

The main Virupaksha temple next to Hampi Bazaar - the only active temple left in the complex.  Once a temple / religious site has been damaged, Hindus consider that it cannot be fixed and is no longer sacred, hence there has been no effort to repair the other ruins on the site (and the belief is that this should not be done).

One of many huge statues carved out of a single rock - we were told these are the largest examples of such statues in India.

Elephant stables in the Royal City.  These 11 stables housed the ceremonial elephants used for state occasions.  The King's elephant lived in the most grand stable in the middle of the block.

The level of detail and engravings around the site are extraordinary.  Here we can see an example of death by elephant crushing, one of the punishments for those breaking the law.

The Vittala temple including the most famous monument in Hampi, the chariot.  These ruins are a 2km walk from Hampi Bazaar along an exciting boulder-y path.

There were a lot of monkeys in Hampi but they were not aggressive or particularly interested in us - a big improvement on the monkeys that I've previously come across in India!

On our second evening in Hampi, we booked to attend a cookery class, which turned out to be in the two roomed house (main room plus small kitchen) of our guide.  This was fascinating and we were welcomed and royally fed by our host, his wife and their (mischevous) four year-old son.  We prepared four main dishes (aloo palak, veg biriyani, aloo gobi masala, tomato curry, plus onion pakora and chapatti) over a single gas cooking ring (albeit a very hot one)!  Like our previous cookery class, I found the oil and salt content very high, but otherwise the ingrediants were fresh and healthy (and the end result very tasty!).

Enjoying our food.  As is standard, our hosts did not have furniture in their house and so we ate on a rug on the floor.  They did, however, have a television with an uber-channel package (loads more than us) which allowed us to watch the end of the final one-day tests between India and Australia in which India won the series.

Phil went for an early morning run each day to enjoy the countryside.  He encountered Lakshmi, the temple elephant, enjoying her morning wash...

On our third day, we travelled over the river to visit the villages and monuments on the other side.  We came across this biblical scene of women washing clothes and boys swimming in a shallow part of a river.  Aside from the plastic pots they were using, this scene could have easily taken place 2000 years ago.

After lots of traipsing around in the heat, we found a local cafe which had one thing on the menu - a thali made from whatever the owner had available in the kitchen.  This turned out to be a tasty selection and all for the princely sum of 60 rupees (60p) per head.

In the afternoon, we walked back towards the river crossing via a big hill with a temple (the Hamuman temple) on the top.  The sweltering climb to the top was worth it as the peace, breeze and views from the temple were spectacular.  As we visited on Diwali, the temple was full of activity, including people making homemade fireworks!

Jennie, Phil and Ros on the hill next to the Hanuman temple.

Upon returning to Hampi Bazaar, Phil and I took a late afternoon walk up Achutaraya temple hill just outside the village as we'd heard that the views at the top at sunset are very good.  We were not disappointed although did get quite lost on the way up.  Like lots of things in India, the path was not obvious!

Sunset from the summit.  It would have been the perfect idyllic experience, apart from the Indian family talking and arguing loudly at the top.  This was, however, an authentic Indian experience.

On our final evening (the first day of Diwali), we had a lovely meal in a small restaurant in the bazaar (a feast of tasty food is typically between 100 and 200 rupees per head).  The noise from the fireworks in the street was, though, extreme.  This went on for hours and you had to be very careful when walking outside as fireworks were being let off everywhere - mainly by young children!  Health and safety doesn't seem to exist in the same way in India as in the UK.  The street was strewn with debry later in the evening where you could see that the fireworks were mainly home-made from newspaper.

The streets were covered in these beautiful Diwali pictures, created skillfully from coloured sand.

After travelling back from Hampi to Goa, we stayed in a peaceful part of south Goa for one night before flying back to Mumbai.  We enjoyed an Indian massage at the hotel and went exploring the local area in search of a quiet beach (now an infrequent sight in most of Goa). After a complicated scramble down a hill and across lots of rocks, we eventually found this one which was, admittedly, beautiful.

Despite all the tourism, the sea remains delightfully clear and Goa retains much of its charm.  We will certainly be returning during our time in India.