well, there we are. I have come to the end of an amazing whirlwind tour of a tiny part of an incredible country. As Fred said, it's completely crazy, but somehow it works. Search me how India works, but my gosh what a mix it is.

Mumbai is, well, humid and hot so I'm not that over the moon, being a traditional cool weather english type (Why, you ask, did I opt for only hot countries then? Another one of earth's mysteries :D ) but I am spending my last day here in Mumbai trying to find some place to re-confirm my flight from and then i am off to Bollywood - they want some extra Westerners at a party, so here I am.

The best part of mumbai surely has to be the freshly squeeshed orange juice at Leopold's bar in Colaba - as most of you know me as a fresh fruit addict, i have fallen on fairly hard times for the past month, and I am inclined to think that that will not change once i get to Egypt. So yesterday I downed a glass of the orange stuff, and one of Watermelon, just for good measure.

I have also sent a present package home - goodness knows whether it will ever actually arrive. i seriously hope that it does.

Favourite moments from the past month? Well certainly the gorgeously tasty momos in Nepal (dumplings, very bad for you i'm sure), the Indian food in general has been so good, especially the street food such as samosas and jalepis (or however one spells it) Whoever said I would come back thin and skinny from India could not have got it more wrong.......

The Taj - well it is impossible to do it justice in words.

The Panna national park was idylically peaceful - swimming in the river with puzzled locals looking on in amazement as we waded in in our sarongs and t-shirts. You'd have to be mad to try a swimming cozzie here. Camping out under the stars in Jaisalmer in the desert comes close to my favourite time here. Udaipur was chilled and beautiful, and I have been given cave overload by visiting two extensive sets of them at Ajanta and Ellora.

this is Becka signing off for now. Next stop Cairo - to infinity and beyond!