Over the last three days we:1. Said goodbye to the coast for good.2. Took a train from Goa to Hospet - this being a daytime train we could admire the mesmerizing variety of its inhabitants large and small scurrying about the floor unmolested.3. We were still dumbfounded at the vast array of possibilities presented by an average electrical switch console in an Indian hotel room. As in the photo, there seem to be 12 switches on average, none of them marked, their o...

Yesterday and today we:1. Learned that when Indians say "PIN code" they actually mean a ZIP code as in: what's the PIN code of your hotel?2. Realized to my disgust that everything is so cheap here I lost my ability AND drive to haggle. Aargh!3. Despite not having a license, rented a motorbike anyway. Got a little uneasy when the owner did not care to show me the headlight switch but strongly insisted on me mastering the horn.4. Learned the rules of the Indian...

Today and yesterday we:1. For the first time got legally screwed by a cabbie, who instead of taking the direct route to Mumbai airport took us for a ride around the suburbs - 13km instead of 5. Grand total by the meter: €1.5. And still he hoped to extort an extra 0.5€ for our baggage. As if!2. Found security checks (separate lines and machines for men and women) at Mumbai Airport very thorough, almost like in Israel. Kinda makes you wonder why they...

Over the last three days:1. In spite of some initial difficulties (as in: K. carrying both our bags - 12 21k - to the platform on account of me being too weak to move; the train being very long and us not being able to find our car and then our bunks and nobody being able to help us with that etc. etc.) we boarded the train.2. We had our first train ride in India and it would have been a great experience, far superior to the bus, even in 2nd class (1st had been s...

Yesterday and today:1. We understood that a "sleeper" should more appropriately be called a "waker" given that the average bus driver honks the horn just as often as any driver in India, that the horn has three piercing tones to set the mood and is perfectly audible inside the bus.2. K. butchered her first hotel cockroach almost keeping her calm.3. With very little tout resistance we visited the magnificent Buddhist cave temple complex in Ajanta. We travelled the...