I'm in Bali! Just realised the last time I wrote I was still on the train in India almost a month ago and it's been a bit of a whirlwind adventure since then!

I left the train in Ghazipur back on the 12th September and spent a few days in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in Utter Pradesh, working in the hospital of the lovely Obs and Gynae doctor who had funded the Lifeline Express project. Amongst trips to our favourite coffee shop - real plunger coffee!! - we did haematology clinics, watched caesarean sections indian style (surgery is at 6am before the day gets too hot!), spent the day on the trauma unit and saw lots and lots of mums-to-be. And to top it all the doctor invited us to her house to meet her whole family and join in the celebrations for her new grandson. For dinner lines of street vendor style stalls were set up around her garden courtyard and all the food was freshly prepared in front of us.

Back in Delhi I took the overnight train all the way up to Amritsar for the day to see the Sikh Golden Temple, one of their holiest sites...and it was worth the 12 hour journey in non-air conditioned sleeper class! The Golden Temple is absolutely stunning, dare I say it, even more beautiful than the Taj Mahal, and as a functioning holy place, has a really serene and relaxed atmosphere. Although the food hall was a different story, where thousands of pilgrims and visitors are fed for free every day. Just standing outside to see what all the crowd was about I found myself bustled in, handed a metal plate, bowl, spoon and cup and sat down in one of the long rows to have black dhal, rice, chapati and curry placed on my plate then be ushered out the minute I'd eaten my fill for the whole process to start again! It was definitely an experience!!

And then it was off to Malaysia! After the India visa situation made a holiday in Kerala impossible, Ben and I decided to both fly to Kuala Lumpur and had a wonderful few weeks first in the city, and then on to Singapore for the day (!) before heading up to the Perhentian Islands for an amazing relaxing week of beach time and diving.

Kuala Lumpur made quite a change from India! And the treat of a night at the Hilton with its crisp white sheets, hot water shower and air conditioning was amazing after my India guesthouse where I had to specifically request that they change the bed sheets between guests! We arrived in Singapore the next day and enjoyed dinner in China town amongst the street vendors, a walk along Boat Quay and that original Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel! All topped off by a walk on the race track of the up-coming Singapore Grand Prix! And the Perhentians were as stunning as everyone had said, with crystal blue waters, perfect white beaches and palm trees everywhere. We saw more fish just snorkelling than most dives I've done and then went on to do nine dives that week including a dive on a Vietnamese wreck and a night dive with a torch that didn't really work!

So now I'm in Bali living the beach surf bum life for a few weeks with Laura, Hiba, Nia and Serena and loving just relaxing before it's home time in just over a week! I'm still not quite sure what time zone I'm in or how to convert my fourth currency - it still feels like monopoly money with almost 14 000 Rupia to the pound! - but it's definitely been lots of fun. And to everyone reading this I hope you've all been well and know that I'm thinking of you lots and looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

Catharine xxx