It’s no secret that I want to be Bollywood’s next token white star. Seems like the perfect job – plenty of work, a chance to hang out with India’s finest actors, learn how to dance AND get paid. I’d heard Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway was where scouts picked out foreign tourists to become extras. … More Mumbai Madness: Part 2
You know the saying “out of the frying pan, into the fire?” Never has it been more true than when we arrived in Mumbai, stepping off the hotbox train and into this sunny, humid and chaotic city. I’m glad Mohammed warned me about Mumbai traffic. It took about 1 hour to drive 5 miles. Thankfully, … More Mumbai Madness: Part 1
I’m a reluctant Michael Portillo fan. I should hate him, he’s a Tory. A Thatcherite at that – yuk. But his rail travel shows are just so damn watchable. So when I eventually convinced Mohammed to take the train from Delhi to Mumbai (well, Delhi to Sawai Madhopur then on to Mumbai) I was delighted. … More All Aboard the Rajdhani Express!
I’m not one for a lazy holiday. I’ll spend about 3 hours on the beach before getting bored, my feet itching to try some thrilling new watersport or pack up my bag and go somewhere else. So when Mohammed proposed a whole morning languishing in the luxury resort, with some light sightseeing in the afternoon, … More Ranthambore National Park, Part 2: Castle on the Hill
Under the cover of darkness, the Vauxhall veered off paved roads and into dusty desert tracks. Feeling a bit ill at ease, I thought back to the more wonderful moments of my life: holidays, graduations, all the cats I’ve met – and now this trip. Well, if this poorly-lit rural track was to be my … More Ranthambore National Park, Part 1: Looking For My Leopard
They say rural India is a different world to the country’s cosmopolitan, thriving cities. If Bollywood is anything to go by, it certainly is, but this trip had shown me that you can’t trust everything you see on the bedazzled screen. So, when our tour promised a ‘rural experience’ in the village of Pachewar, I … More Village People: Pachewar
Breakfasts in Indian hotels are something else. The moment I’d grabbed a measly bowl of cornflakes and sat down with a few fellow early risers, a masala chai appeared in front of me. But unlike back home, my cereal and cuppa was only the starter – it would soon be followed by buttery parathas and … More Jaipur Japes: Part 2
You know that feeling when you arrive somewhere new, and instantly know it’s your kind of place? It was this sweet sensation that washed over me as we pulled into Jaipur. The entire old city glitters with lights – the same lights that line old-fashioned dressing room mirrors. Indeed, they are putting on a show, … More Jaipur Japes: Part One
Shoulders still complaining about last night’s impromptu bhangra party, we departed Agra bright and early on New Year’s Day. The roads were quieter than I’d expected – perhaps everybody else had had a little too much daaru (booze) the night before. We reached our first stop of the day, Fatehpur Sikri, after just an hour … More Road Trip to Rajasthan
Barbs and I would be up with the sunrise on the very last day of 2019. At home, my day would usually consist of eating Christmas leftovers and desperately trying to stay awake until midnight so my friends don’t think I’m a grandma (too late). Here, it would consist of frantic sightseeing, a whole load … More Agra: A Tale of Two Taj
