A trip to the hospital

Bernd and I were relatively healthy for the first 4.5 months of this trip but last week we succumbed to so-called “Delhi Belly”. I suppose it had to happen at some point, so I tried to accept it with good grace. After procuring some antibiotics at a street pharmacy (I can never get enough of the Asian “no questions asked” drug dispensing policy) I waited for it to pass. Sadly it did not. Bernd was definitely on the mend 4 days later, while I was still exhibiting all of the classic symptoms (I’ll spare you the details).

Diary of a terrible travel day

We decided to fly from Goa to Kerala to avoid an 8 hour train journey followed by a 6 hour train journey. However, Indian airports provide their own special kind of pain. 

Sound horn!

The image above shows a British road sign. It means “Don’t sound your horn unless absolutely necessary. Keep the peace!”

Holiday hydration

In the western world we’re continually presented with information about how much water we should drink every day – 2 litres, 3 litres, 8 glasses, a complicated calculation involving your height, weight, age and activity level… there’s plenty of advice out there.

Ruinenlust

The German language has a word that seems to have been made for Bernd – Ruinenlust (Ruin-Excitement). It means the delight one can feel at seeing ruins. 

Getting back to nature

I’m not a big fan of “getting back to nature” on holiday. I would never go camping, I think as a species we’ve evolved past that point and why anyone would want to sleep in a tent without electricity or running water, even for one night, is beyond me. I do enjoy a country walk as long as it ends at a pub or cafe and I’m in my own warm comfy bed at the end of the day.

Yoga retreat – Part 2

Here’s some more of the spiritual mumbo jumbo we were involved in at the yoga retreat.

Yoga retreat – Part 1

We recently spent a week at Swan Yoga Retreat in Goa. I learned a lot – mainly that not only am I totally non-religious, I’m completely non-spiritual as well. Here are some of the activities we threw ourselves into.

Ayurveda

We’ve been at Swan Yoga Retreat in Goa for the past 5 days. Out of interest, I had a consultation with the Ayurvedic doctor here. It reminded me of when George saw a chiropractor on Seinfeld: “Well hello, doctor”.

Dharavi slum tour

After debating the pros and cons of slum tourism in my previous post we decided to go ahead with a tour of the Dharavi slum in Mumbai by Reality Tours & Travel. At 8.30am we journeyed from Colaba to Dharavi and prepared to enter one of the most densely populated places on the planet.