Incredible India

Our last few days in Palolem were bittersweet. We did so much - went into Margao with Dom and Julie to buy a sari. Afterwards we headed back to Palolem and went to Mathew's wifes house to meet his beautiful daughters and learn how to put on a sari. Rita, Mathew's wife, was a real slave driver - we spent about an hour and a half putting it on, taking it off, putting it on, taking it off until she was satisfied!

Had a final poker night - seeing as we were leaving we knew that we were going to lose, but went in guns blazing anyway. Lost 500Rs, but seeing as we won 400 last time we're only down 100. We'll be back very soon for another round, and next time we're taking it all and Dom's motorbike!

Dom arranged for a free taxi to the train station for us and Sunil came along for the ride. It was coming down with rain, matching our moods exactly. At the train station we were in a dilemma as to whether we should get on the train or stay. Leaving broke our hearts - saying goodbye to everyone, Dom, Julie, Sumo, Dilip, Aggi, Sunil, Joe, Kitty - it was all I could do to hold back the tears.

Overnight train to Mumbai was OK, took a sleeping pill and crashed out. Woke up at the unearthly hour of 5am to disembark. We had to face the rickshaw vultures once again - I hate the big cities, the touts there are unbelieveable and we always end up getting ripped off. Headed to airport to drop off bags and then to a posh hotel where we paid 600Rs each for breakfast!!

Mumbai is quite a nice place, it's a big city - so wasn't expecting to like it. We only had a few hours there, so next year we will go back and explore it in full.

Headed to airport and jumped on our flight to Delhi. We had a huge row with the air hostess on the plane. Seats weren't assigned so you sat where you pleased. We grabbed a seat with a bit of extra leg room for Lydia as she is so tall. One of the trolley dollies came over and started speaking to us - but we couldn't understand her. Explained that we were both deaf, could she please write it down or at least speak slower/gesture. She went storming off, bringing another air hostess who promptly started shouting at us that we had to move seats.

We were quite happy to move seats, but wanted to be asked nicely - by this point we had three air hostesses all shouting and gesturing at us to move, and everyone on the plane was looking at us. I was furious. Found a pen and wrote on a piece of paper that next time they met some deaf people at least have the decency to treat them with a bit of respect.

I hate trolley dollies - they should be hung, drawn, quartered and put out for the vultures along with rickshaw drivers.

Arrived in Delhi in one piece and promptly got ripped off by a taxi driver and a hotel. Such is life. I hate Delhi. Had our last beers in India, got eyeballed and chatted up by two tables of boys and then headed back to our room for a bit of peace. All we could think was "roll on tomorrow," we didn't want to leave Palolem, but we also didn't want to stay in Delhi for longer than necessary. We're never ever going back there again.

I love India. I love the passion there. I love the people. I love the way of life. The smells, the sounds, the cacophony of horns, the haggling, the colours, the way everyone wants to be your friend. India was the experience of a lifetime - in three months I went through every emotion possible. Sadness, happiness, anger, love, you name it - we felt it. Three months of soul-searching have left me feeling more contented and more confident about myself. I now know what I want from life, what makes me happy.

Lydia and I are going to move to Goa. We're going to start looking for work very soon and move there for a minimum of one year.

The only thing that scares me is if I go. I may never leave.

And thus concludes our travels in India - but we're not yet done - it's not the end. It's the beginning.

Caroline xx