Despite having spent a very significant portion of my year last year overseas, I was blessed enough to be eased back into real life very slowly upon my return with the opportunity to go to India and Sri Lanka. A family friend was going to India for the birthday of a close friend and was taking her daughter Michelle, a year younger than me, and Michelle's friend Charlie, and asked if I wanted to come too. Six years ago, I travelled to India with my family, and I have the fondest memories of that holiday - India was like nothing I had ever seen before, it was the most amazing cultural learning experience, and ever since then I've intended to return. So, of course, I said yes!
Straight after Christmas we set off, and after an initial (major) hiccup involving flight stuff ups we arrived in Mumbai, where we spent the majority of our time. We also spent time in Madhya Pradesh, around Jabulpur, where we stayed in a tiger sanctuary, went on safari, and took a boat ride in the village of Bhedaghat, down the Narmada River, which is lined with magnificent limestone cliffs.
We were in Mumbai over New Year's Eve, and man was it a party! The group of people we were with, mostly from the States, knew people who lived in Mumbai, and so we spent the night dancing on the rooftop terrace of their friend's apartment, drinking and feasting, and honing our Bollywood dance skills. Mumbai was filled with much drinking, a huge amount of delicious eating (ah, authentic Indian food…), lots of shopping, with a bit of culture thrown in. We visited the famous Gateway to India, as well as the former Prince of Wales museum, which had a wonderful collection of not only Indian sculpture and historical artefacts, but also Nepalese and Tibetan displays.
From India, we made our way down to Sri Lanka, which I'm in the process of making a post about! In the mean time, here are a few of the photos that were taken on my iPhone 4s in India.
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