JaJaJeEv

The brands of lightweight travel: Timberland, Nokia, Salomon, Canon, Apple, P20, PADI, the UK government and Niall Ferguson.

Our first stop is Mumbai, as a weekend’s decompression – and this time’s departure from India. We’re staying right down on Juhu Beach, and of an early morning, it’s a bustling walkway, sports pitch, harbour, religious site, and fish warehouse… all at the same time.

The main trade seems to be pole-supported nets, dragged in by the fishermen. The contents are mostly eel, but that’s wastage, and they all end up rejected on the sand, and a feast for the thousands of gulls.

Amongst the remaining rubbish and ceremonial detritus, the keepers end up being squid, lobsters, and only the largest of the white fish:

All of this, of course, adds to that unique aroma which can only be one of the world’s largest cities, Mumbai, on a muggy tropical morning.

So, farewell Maharashtra for a while!

To get away from the heat in May, we headed up to Manali, a hill station up in the Himalayas, about a 14 hour (memorable) bus journey north of Delhi.

After the heat and dust of a record summer, the cool mountain forests and meadows were another of India’s amazing contrasts.

Manali is more or less an Indian resort – mostly national tourism – and seems to have made a name for itself in the action sports department. Trampolining…

…abseiling, climbing…

…getting wet…

…rolling down hills in plastic balls…

…and bouncing across raging glacial torrents.

Adrenaline junkies though they may appear, however, nothing prepared us for the drive up to Rhotang Pass the next day… of which more to come.