Tour of South India – Hampi and Bangalore

“You don’t have a girlfriend?!” Not again. This is starting to irk me. “Ha ha this must be some kind of joke!” No, it’s not. “Do you not like girls?” Yes, I do. “But you are handsome.” So I keep hearing. “Ha ha. Why no girlfriend?” Ha Ha back. Okay, I’m tired of this now. Unfortunately I was a captive audience for the taxi driver taking me to the overnight bus travelling inland from Goa to Hampi.

I had a terrible sense of foreboding about this trip. Sure, I had booked what was called a ‘bed’, but this is India, so I was worried that there would be three of us stretched across two beds or some other hassle. The other passengers were a mix of tourists and locals, including a party of fourteen Koreans, one of whom had taken the bed next to mine. Continue reading →

Tour of South India – Mumbai and Goa

No, that's fine, you finish it. Thief.

I finally left the hell hole of Delhi, before losing my sanity, although not without more hassle; this time a long delay to my flight. Never mind, I’m sure this is a one-off, I thought. Surely there is nowhere in India that sharply demonstrates the chasm between rich and poor than Mumbai, optimistically referred to as ‘India’s Big Apple’. In your dreams. Rotten apple, more like. 55% of the population live in slums and that doesn’t take into account those who live on the streets. Having said that, it is still an improvement on Delhi, being slightly less hectic and with some interesting colonial architecture.

Not that I saw much of it, as I was still suffering from Delhi Belly and finding walking too much of an exertion, Continue reading →