India

Alice and I have been in India for three weeks over the holiday period an I must say that three week holidays are definitely the way forward. We had a great time but it was not the most relaxing time (apart from the week at Av's wedding) due to "walking dollar" syndrome and the vast amount of people in India. India seems to be an interesting mix of rich Indians that are basically Westerners with everything we have, and then the vast majority of others who are scrapping for a living. Interesting country and extremely beautiful in parts (Hampi and Kerala were my favourites) but my advice would be to avoid the cities whenever possible (noisy, dirty and stressful). The worse bit was the harrassment that Alice got now and again but you just have to accept that some Indians have a misguided view of white women (I blame Hollywood!).

I would really like to go back to India to see Rajasthan but it has gone way down my list, just because I found the India experience so much more pressurised than my travels in South-East Asia (maybe its me getting old!). South America seems very tempting.

I have put up photos on picassa web album an my own gallery.

We arrived back On the morning of New Years eve in a completely knackered state, having only 2 hours sleep in the previous two nights (one night on a train and one in an airport/plane). As you can expect we didn't do anything to see in the new year, apart from having a really good sleep! Still knackered but getting back to a more human state.