The Adventures of Paul, Sadie and Daisy Moo too!

Not got a great deal to say about Kolkata, sadly ill health and fatigue had taken their toll, but this is the few things worth noting. It was a non eventful flight and then a 40 min journey in an old bright yellow taxi to our hotel in Kolkata. Saying this guesthouse was basic was being slightly kind, the room was huge but it was very rough round the edges, the mattress was as solid as a block of concrete and I had to ask for a clean sheet to sleep under, as I wasn’t sleeping under the scabby blanket they gave us. With Paul still quite ill we needed some non spicy food and a few provisions so set off to a nearby supermarket. Turns out even KFC in India is spicy and the supermarket was more like a black Friday sale, with hordes of people jostling to buy multipacks of Oreos and shouts of 'buy one, get one' down every isle. We escaped and found another place to buy fruit and toilet roll. We were all set for a quiet night in but not long after we got back a sound sys

Well it was 8 weeks ago today we left Nottingham on this adventure, so a quick recap so far - Goa ✓ Mumbai ✓ Nepal ✓ Delhi ✓ Kolkata ✓ And as we sit in the pub on our last night in India for yet another happy hour, before our flight late tonight to Mandalay (via a 4 hour layover in Bangkok), wow the time has flown in! This adventure is challenging at times, with cultures, ways of life, food, accommodation, illness etc that is all totally different from our 'norm', but we are really looking forward to the next chapter and the beautiful country of Myanmar. Despite the ongoing troubles there, with the corrupt government and military actions that are truly shocking, I think the country still needs tourism. We will do our best to use local providers so as not to fund the government but sadly we can't avoid this all the time. But we are going for the people, culture, stunning scenery and hope we get involved and learn from it. xx

We flew from Kathmandu to Delhi which was a 90-minute flight, so it wasn't long till we landed at the impressive Indira Gandhi International Airport which is connected to the city centre by an airport express metro line. This was our first time on a Metro system in India, and I was impressed how well it ran and on investigating it more, a lot of the city was covered by the Metro system, which benefited as there was a lot less traffic on the streets compared to Mumbai. Hopefully the traffic issues of Mumbai are vastly improved when the huge investment in their Metro project is complete. Our accommodation in Delhi was in the heart of the city, on a street called the Main Bazaar which was a 5-minute walk from the main station. Well we thought it was, but when we exited the Metro which is next door to the main station, we found that apparently, we couldn’t cut across to the other side of the station as one person in an auto-rickshaw advised us. I thought he was just at it and loo

Well that was a 10hr journey from hell getting to Kathmandu: No breakfast, crappy stops along the road and massive traffic jams meant we arrived in Kathmandu 10hrs later feeling dirty and grumpy...but it was hard to stay grumpy when you reach the small flagged streets of  Thamel , with all the little shops and the constant smiles and calls of  Nam a ste .  It then  turned out the guesthouse we were meant to stay in had given our deluxe  double room  to the previous occupants and as we were in no mood to settle they moved us to a much better class of hotel around the corner! Bonus!!    We had opted to stay in  Thamel  purely for cost reasons, as  it ' s  a slightly cheaper  neighbo u rhood , but honestly it was a quirky little haven  full of  hippy clothes and knick-knacks, great food venues and cool bars and I wouldn't have wanted to stay anywhere else.   We quickly found the best bar in town (thanks to Paul's friend Russ), and that became our 'go to

We had a flight booked from Mumbai to Kathmandu for an overnight stay there, which should have got us to our hotel about 8pm. Sadly the flight was delayed a few hours, so by the time we had landed and got our Nepal visa which you collect at the airport, then got a pre-booked taxi to the airport, we didn’t get to our hotel till around 1am. And with us booked on the Tourist Bus to Pokhara at 7am, it meant we didn’t get a lot of sleep and had to miss breakfast. In the morning after a short walk round to the main road, we were met with a huge line of coaches from various companies, and after a little while we found ours and got onboard. Just at the side of the road, various locals had set up little stalls selling coffee, snacks and egg rolls (but not like we are used to), they were basically a wrapped omelette with veg etc in it, but very tasty and welcome before the long 7-8-hour journey ahead. The journey out of Kathmandu took a while as all these buses leave at the same time

Wow what an experience Mumbai has been. We spent quite a few days in this crazy city so forgive me for not going into loads of detail (plus my memory is hazy). I know it began with a flat full: Cotton, Amit and Saira had graciously said we could stay with them for Xmas and New Year and they also had another friend from the UK staying with them. The first day we explored a local pottery market, Babulnath Mandir Temple, Gateway of India, drinks at the Marina and then delicious food and drinks at Café Mondegar where Paul had Roast Beef! The view from Carolines and Amits flat is amazing any time of day and I loved watching the chaos of the road below during the day and then waiting for the huge bats to come out and swoop past at night. Sunday was Xmas eve and so we had to brave ‘Hypercity’ for food and wine. It was crazy busy and everywhere you turn they have people trying to give you tasters of food, which you then must try and explain that you don’t really want to buy it.