Chennai was our last stop, our visa was about to expire, we had spent two months in India and it had just flown by. Aside from the obvious beauty of the country, the nature of which changed as we moved from state to state, we have strong memories of crowded cities, temples, forts, tuk-tuks, motor bikes, cows, very friendly people, even the vendors with their incessant patter were good humoured and did not "turn" when one said the final "no".

The food was generally very good and amazing how many different versions of curry exist. It was equally amazing that in a two-month culinary onslaught, we did not succumb to "Delhi Belly" or "Gandhi's revenge".

On the negative side most of the cities are quite dirty with litter strewn all over the streets, visibly polluted rivers and open drains commonplace - Surprisingly, the inside of the houses, restaurants and shops we visited were generally very clean.

The prevalence of the Swastika almost everywhere in India, initially seemed very disconcerting, given what it represents in the western world……. In India, it is a Hindu religious symbol symbolising prosperity and good luck, very much a positive symbol. Even so it was difficult to mentally overturn a lifetime of negative association with evil and racism.

We thought travelling this huge country was difficult until we met an English couple who had hired a Tuk-Tuk and self-drove it for over 2000 kilometres and not finished yet …… That's real travelling.

Obviously, poverty plays a part and it is evident everywhere but the begging we encountered was not of the intensity we had expected - very few playing on a physical deformity or ailment. Today we fly to Korea but it is with a certain and surprising sadness that we leave India.