well, after a brief stint in delhi after a final and monstrous train ride from mumbai, we flew to Leh, in ladakh. its more a tibetan town full of refugees from tibet, but also the traditional ladakhis. they dress like tibetans and have snow boots and funny hats and shawls. very cool. literally. it was -20 at night and -5 during the day, so i suffered at times. our room overlooked the himilayas and was the most brilliant view ever and amazing to wake up to. the on...

well mumbai was crazy. its clean and rich, well until you go 3 blocks back from the city centre then its crazy india again. large colonial buildings, thousands of guys playing cricket on the big parks. we saw the demolition of some shacks which had been erected onto the side of a building. someones livelihood down the drain at the click of the governments fingers. or is it the mafia? who knows. we caught the ferry out to elephanta island and saw the amazing rock ...

Ah well, what can I say? We started off in Goas Southern most and most iddylic beach of Palolem. I thought it was all just a joke that India actually had decent beaches. but I was wrong. palolem is a picture perfect white sandy beach bay fringed with palms, restaurants and thatched beach huts. Its pretty special. Its mainly a tourist spot, which is probably why the beaches are actually clean and well looked after. The water is luke warm with small waves. The temp...

After Kochi we decided to head inland to Mysore. The main claims to fame are the famouse sandalwood soaps and incense. We visited the factory where the oil and incense is made, which was pretty cool. The other awesome thing is the palace. It dominates a large chunk of the city and is pretty magestic. Mysore is pretty cool as its not as crazy busy as some other Indian cities and has a slightly laid back feel about it. The markets are also awesome and where all the...

Fort Kockin is 90kms up the coast from Allepy. We got here by train and then caught a ferry to the town which is situated on an island about 2kms off the coast. Its a very pleasant wee town, portugese and dutch architecture, extremely freakishly quiet (for india) and is very nice to walk around in and not get hassled or get a poo on your shoe or have beggars hassling you etc. That being said, again, its very touristy as have been the past week or so, so theres to...