My favourite drink related quote comes from a rather drunk Sir Winston Churchill. Late at a party, but still with his wits, a lady remarked:"Winston you are drunk."To which Churchill replied: "I may be drunk my good lady, but you are ugly and at least I will be sober in the morning!" Those that know me will understand that I like a tipple in good company and have been rather disappointed with India on this front. That is until I entered the A...

We've been in India for over 3 weeks now and it's no less strange and fantastical than it was when we arrived, since which we have been to Rishikesh in the far north and Chennai, Mamallapuram, Ooty and Kodaikanal in the far south. It's quite fitting that we have visited the geographical extremes of this country, given that this is a country of extremes, in so many regards. Do we love it or hate it? We don't know. Is it the novelty that i like? Maybe. Would we com...

Allo all,Well we've just returned from a couple of days in Kaliurang,a hill resort 25km north of Jogja, which is on the slopes of the Merapi volcano. Yet again we were the only foreign tourists! Rose at 2am this morning for a guided walk through forest to a viewpoint with amazing views of Merapi. Obviously due to the earthquake in May and the subsequent eruptions, it isn't possible, or remotely safe, to get very close, but the views were tremendous and we...