Namaste Readers.

This time next week we’ll be in south India for an Intrepid South India small group tour for 14 days. 7 days to go before we leave for Sydney.

Our tour group is (there will be a wider Intrepid group who we don’t yet know) ;

Pauolo – Writer of travel fiction, the odd truth and occasional sensational revelations.

The Navigator – aka Genelle. Even when she’s wrong she knows the right way to somewhere

Wedding Singer – aka Cathy. A friend from Cobar. (she’s sharing with the Navigator)

DG – aka Dale. Nephew and adventure traveller from Cobar.

We start in Kochi in the state of Kerala, head north, then west across India to Chennai on the east coast, then south to Madurai and Periyar, then west across the Tamil Naidu to Kerala Backwaters, finishing in Kochi. It includes overnight trains, autorickshaws, buses and boats. The Wedding Singer and the Navigator then head north to New Delhi and Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

Its been interesting since we got back from Africa, not that long ago, The Navigator was feeling a bit off (not just with me!) and ended up having an emergency gall bladder operation and I picked up a nasty throat bug sitting with her in Dubbo ED for 11 hours, surrounded by ferals in handcuffs waiting for stitches in their stupid pissed heads, vomiting babies with blast furnace temperatures, and security staff walking through to their sign on/ sign off station ( why the f… put it beside ED !)

Enough bleating Paulo, its all ok, I think. The Navigator is clear to travel, I still have a nasty cough compliments of an ulcerated throat, but I’ll be ready by Saturday.

India will be the last trip for a little while, in the last 18 months we’ve done 1. trek across the Nullabor to Perth 2. Thailand & Laos with 300km on a small boat on the Mekong, 3. Indonesia 4. Africa for 5 weeks in SA Kenya and Tanzania then this trip to India. All trips were fantastic with great groups of people. Although we are looking at a short trip to Tasmania early next year, then somewhere cold for the Navigators 70th birthday next year.

Ciao from Dubbo

Pauolo