I [heart] India When I left China, Heather and I, after a few long island iced teas, composed an as-yet-unpublished A to Z of why we hated the place. A few letters had multiple entries. (Really the list wasn't *entirely* fair but it was how we were feeling at the time, so...) Since leaving India I have tried several times to put into words just why I loved the place so much. Many of the things that were on the A to Z of China exist in India - spitting, hass...

Cooking classes in South India After a backwaters tour in Kerala I had the opportunity to sign up for a few cooking classes. Being south and on the sea, fish and coconut feature heavily in their dishes - and to date I had had a few fish curries but nothing particularly mind blowing. I figured signing up for cooking courses might help me understand the ingredients and methods a bit better. There were two providers in Cochin, Leelu and Nimmy (www.nimmypaul.co...

Come and look my shop! Anjuna, Goa The Goan shops have a different way about them. Usually, up north, you can just tell them in no uncertain terms to b*ugger off and keep walking - reasonably effective for hassle minimisation. However in Goa, they play up on being all nice and friendly. There are these sarong sellers on the beach every 5 meters they have some sort of tent with the same variety of sarongs, beach wear (of the $2 variety), fishermen pants and othe...

Young hearts...run free Had a near-marriage proposal yesterday from a 24 yo Indian guy at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It would seem that Amritsar do not get nearly as many western tourists as other parts of India, based on the number of glances/giggles/stares that Nadia, Kester & I got as we sat around the pool taking it all in. We were sitting by the wall, people watching & reflecting, when the proposer approached Kester and struck up a conver...

CONTRACT FOR TRANSPORT WITHIN THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA* Dated this day of _____________ November 20___ Definitions Destination means a specific location that the passenger requests to go. There may be more than one destination in a journey. Driver means the person with whom the negotiation takes place, or another person specified by the negotiator and agreed to by the passenger. Final means there is to be no further negotiation of any element of the...