Five days to go...

Astrid
The much anticipated 'Bollywood Night' started with a feast for the eyes and taste buds with each wayfarer cooking up a scrumptious Indian speciality. Christian and Shanks certainly looked the part with their safari suits - a definite throwback to the 70's hippie look (there's plenty of them left in India!). Lorraine and Astrid couldn't decide whether their costumes were a tribute to Steve Irwin or whether they thought they were going to Africa instead! After downing a glass of Shanks' superb mango lassi, it was onto the main courses. On the menu was a delicious mango salad and dhal made by Christian, Astrid's scrumptious palak paneer and Shanks' mouth-watering biriyani, pappadums and famous spicy potato wedges. After filling our tummies with these delicacies, we managed to squeeze in Lorraine's yummy home-made barfi for dessert, followed by an authentic, steaming hot chai - lovingly stirred for half an hour by Lorraine herself. Yum!

After such a feast, we were much too full - and tired - to plan anything, so Shanks stumbled off to bed, and Christian, now feeling quite nauseous (having just returned from Indonesia the day before), left with pre-Dehli belly (not a good sign really!), leaving Lorraine and Astrid to plan the entire trip without the boys. Yippeee!!! That means tours of sweet shops throughout South India interspersed with frenetic bouts of shopping at markets in between! Woohooo! Who needs boys anyway? (Lorraine: I do - mine cooks for me!!!).

While sipping their traditional late-night cuppa, and with Shanks and Christian safely tucked into their respective beds, Lorraine and Astrid decided that the 17 hours of travelling time to Chennai on Thursday will more than suffice for time to plan our month of adventures in India. Roll on Thursday...