Tuesday 16th March Mumbai - Overnight train from Goa arrived at 6am in Mumbai. Left packs in station and searched for breakfast but nothing was open. Lots of people including children asleep on the streets and lots of people playing cricket in the parks (at 6.30am!). Took a boat trip to Elephant Island where temples and statues are carved into the rocks. Took a taxi to hotel at 5pm - arrived at hotel at 6.45pm after one hour detour due to taxi driver not knowing where the hotel was! He asked about 15 people along the way - not sure why our travel agent put us in a hotel 1 hour from the city centre anyway!We were both absolutely fuming to put it mildly! At least the hotel was good.

Wednesday 17th March - Paddys Day - Our last day in India - Had a breakfast of cashewnut biscuits for breakfast and had another chat with our travel agent on the phone who has finally given us some money back (but not enough!) . Walked for half an hour in intense heat (38C) to cinema only to find no English films are shown until 10pm at night! Settled for a rickshaw ride back and found great Thai restaurant for our lunch. It had air-con (nice!) and a 5 foot ceiling so Derek felt like Gandolph inside a Hobbit house in Lord of the Rings!

We've had a great time in India and will doubt be back again some day - but far wiser next time!

Most days the weather's been hot averaging about 35C with not much breeze (apart from Goa). We tend to avoid the sunshine in the heat of the day by staying in the shade.

The food has been great. Always fantastic portions - enought for both of us to share and oh so cheap. Typically, it's about 2 pounds for a meal and that's in a decent restaurant - a pint and a half of Kingfisher beer is about 50 to a pound and that's expensive for here. Even though it's hot we've been eating lots of curry but no real problems with Delhi belly, etc.

If anyone else is thinking of coming here, bring an extra suitcase to fill up with all the lovely things you can buy really cheaply. Sue is sure if we were here on holiday she would have bought loads of stuff!

Can't believe we've been here 4 weeks already! Next stop Hong Kong!