A maze of hundreds of rusting metal pipes interconnect dozens of gigantic metal vats. The structure is held together by a thin skeleton of metal girders. Everything - from the coffee cups to the toilets - has a purple hue. Purple men carry purple sludge from one storage tank to another, amid a persistent hum. The thick smell of ammonia coupled with the heat makes it heavy breathing. I have not been smoking something. This is a chemical factory, outside Mumbai, ...

Tuk-tuks zig-zag across our path. At the side of the road a man is slicing sugar cane and feeding it into a mechanical crusher - releasing its juice - which he offers for sale. A garishly decorated lorry (most lorries in India are uniquely decorated by their drivers) overtakes with the ubiquitous "Horn OK Please" daubed on the back. Fellow road users need no second invitation; the hooting from one direction or another is incessant. The highways provide...

The plane windows steam up almost instantly as it sinks beneath the clouds. A woman behind me, equally unfamiliar with monsoon season Mumbai questions whether it is humidity or rain. I wonder the same. From the air Mumbai is remarkably dark for a city of 13 million people, a few fluorescent lamps and the distinctive single lamps of the tuk-tuks cut through the gloom. I image London in the blackout era would have appear similar. It isn't raining, just very humid....

So, this is the beginning of my journey...43 days, 30000 miles, 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide (sorry atmosphere!) and about 20 airplane meals. The thought of all that gives me a slight bout of cold feet, although this is more due to my fairly hefty boots (which wouldn't fit in my case) than any nerves. I'm looking forward to the trip very much. Packing for such a trip isn't the easiest. At times it will be approaching 40C, other times below freezing. Sometimes mon...