We were delayed on our journey from Goa to Mumbai by a couple of hours so didnt arrive until about 6pm. As the plane was touching down at Mumbai airport we had views over the city to the right and from what I registered was every piece of land in between built up areas was taken up by slums. They are huges areas of corrogated iron and wooden huts where thousands of people live. Families are crammed into these tiny man made building for shelter - they are everywhe...

This blog is short and sweet actually - we stayed in Palolem for just under 2 weeks - its such an amazing place for the traveller - cheap, gorgeous, hot and fun! We went to the silent disco on the Saturday night we were there - now that was most certainly an experience! We danced til dawn but instead of a nightclub with speakers you are in an open air area with headphones on that have 2 channels to switch between 2 DJ's - fantastic idea! This is a new event and i...

The trip to Palolem was not as bad as I expected. There were 6 of us in total - Gavin our most knowledgeable leader, Alan, Ian, Dave, Lucia and myself. I had the rucksack sorted - I hadnt left too much and the weight wasnt too bad - dont get me wrong it was heavy and I was most certainly suffering in the heat but I managed with not a whinge! First bus was pretty short from Baga to Calangute - 10 min max, the next was from Calangute to Panjim about half an hour or...

We had an early night after our trip to Agra as we had to be up early to catch our domestic flight down to Goa (Friday morning). Before I witter on about Goa I have to tll you first that our driver to Agra actually left me touched, and I dont mean literally. We ahd been told it was 4000 RP each for the tour and in the morning he picked us up our reception said to pay half now and half at the end of the day. Lucia gave him her 4000RP and I kept hold of mine and pa...

We arrive in Agra to pick up our guide for the day Ali. He tells us once in the car tht the Taj Mahal will be shut for a couple of hours as there are important officials visiting and so it will be shut to the public. We are wary but go along with it and he tells us he will take us to the sight of the Black Taj Mahal foundations - this building did not get finished as the kings son put him in prison as the family thought he was wasting too much money on this and w...