INDIA

17th January - 27th February 2004

Jamesy, Andrew and I spent six weeks travelling around the subcontinent, speeding around in rickshaws, lounging on beaches and eating more curry than you'd care to imagine.

 

Our stay in Goa was fabulous - lots of beach time, plus spice plantations, whitewashed churches, and a wonderful couple of days staying in palm-fringed coco-huts next to a lagoon at Palolem, down in the south. Goa is distinctly different to the rest of India, with its Portuguese colonial heritage and the chance to stuff yourself to the gills with scrummy seafood (we did!). All good things come to an end: we zoomed a couple of thousand kilometres, via Bombay, back up to Delhi, before heading into the mountains. Shimla is the former summer capital of the British Raj. Its position in the foothills of the Himalayas made it a perfect respite for the colonisers when the heat of the plains got all too much.

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Goa! Paradise!

Not bragging at all, but this is what February in Goa is all about. The ferry-point to hop back over to Querem. Old Goa: the centre of Catholicism in the state. This is Se Cathedrale, one of the major churches in the former capital. The courtyard of the Archeological Museum in Old Goa.
Inside the church of Bom Jesus lie the infamous remains of St Francis Xavier. Known as the Incorruptible, this missionary was beatified when it was discovered his remains were miraculously resistant to decay, despite the ravages of time and quicklime. Five hundred years after his death, his corpse lies in a glass coffin for all to see, and is lifted down and exhibited every ten years or so for the devoted to scrutinise, marvel at and be photographed with. I took this for the gaudy casino boat behind - but, doesn't beardy Webbe look a bit like Dave Gorman?! The Super Cook Off in Dona Paula. I bring you: Onion Chopper Man! (grrrr) Squid Chick! (see her pluck those tentacles!)
Tomato Girl! (these were salad days indeed) It was a feast an a half - piles of seafood on the sun terrace. Oh, we had a rotten time in Goa ... Em exhibits her finely prepared salad. Very tasty it was too. Will this food never end ...?
Our pad in Palolem: Jamesy on the doorstep of our coco-hut. Sleepy Em disappears into a hammock. Andrew and James doze in paradise ... Laura and Em: tough Aussie chicks
They weren't that tough really. But, compared to the poncy Poms, there was probably no contest. Sunset over Palolem beach. My favourite place. The demon pixies of Palolem! Virdu (yoga man) and Manju (hut guy), in front of our very own lagoon.
Panjim Church, at the heart of Goa's capital. The view from the Whitehouse, a great little out-of-the-way restaurant near Dona Paula, where a lady churns out Goan cuisine for grateful locals.

Bombay again: good food and monkeys that were sooo adorable

Why cook in the kitchen when you can do it in the restaurant itself? Andrew won the prize for "most theatrical meal". The entrance to the Elephanta Island cave complex. One of the carved sculptures of Shiva inside the Elephanta caves. Look - cute monkeys! Grooming each other! Awwww ....
And again, from a different, but just-as-adorable, angle! The Gateway to India once more: a view from the water, on the way back from Elephanta.

Delhi again: it seemed a lot less daunting second time round

The Qutb Minar, a 73m tower built by medieval Muslim rulers of Delhi. Its intricate carvings include bits of scripture from the Qur'an. The tower is surrounded by ruins of mosques and other ancient buildings. Humayan's tomb, built by his widow and mother of Akbar, is seen as a prototype Taj Mahal.
Inside Delhi's Red Fort: unfortunately, due to the lack of Nepalese royalty, the fountains were not switched on.
Shimla: A quaint English town in the foothills of the Himalayas
The view from the toy train: fields and hillside on the way up to Shimla. All kinds of people use the train, from blokes in orange turbans, to James Webbe. Oo, I'm such a train enthusiast. The bloke in our carriage, travelling up to Shimla for his honeymoon, insisted on taking a photo of me next to the engine. Some of the stations on the way up were a little surreal.
There were awesome views ... ... and more ... ... and even more! Leaning out of the window, the wind in my hair, with one of the many viaducts the British built when they hacked out the line about 100 years ago.
The Viceroy's House: we could almost have been in bonny Scotland. Shimla by night Christ Church, in the centre of town, could be plonked in any quaint English town and be perfectly at home. The town really does cling to the hillside.
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© Ben James 2004