Home again

It is with much relief that we make our final report from the comfort of our own home, with our own bed, own shower and tap water that is not only sanitary, but drinkable even. Not that we haven't enjoyed the holiday, but coming home is always the best part of the holiday!

Nothing much to report from yesterday really - Changi airport is like Disneyland, with no shortage of things to do. After a terrible breakfast/lunch of microwaved quiche and beef pie, we signed up for the free Singapore tour, which was quite underwhelming. The two hour tour (which ended up being one hour and ten minutes, plus 45 minutes stuffing around in the airport before leaving) took us on a 'cultural' tour of the city in which we only got off the bus once to look in a Chinese Buddhist temple. The rest of the tour was simply driving around the city, which was admittedly quite beautiful, but severely lacking in culture (the tour that is, not the city). Nevertheless, it did get us out of the airport for a short time.

We had the option of taking a free shuttle bus back into the city after the tour, which we did consider doing so we could actually see a few things, but unfortunately the tour bus had to take us all the way back to the airport and then we'd have to go back in. Considering George had been nodding off in the bus as it was, we decided against this option.

We dribbled away the rest of the day wandering around the airport, looking at duty free options, buying alcohol, considered buying a camera but ended up not doing it, ate quite good ramen noodles for dinner, lay around in the hotel room, then checked out and waited for our flight.

The flight was uncomfortable but tolerable and we're very glad to be home and with our animals again. Some final reflections on the India experience - as with any country, there was plenty of good and plenty of bad. Some of the positive things:

• The Indian head waggle. This endearing gesture, done mostly by men, seems to mean anything from 'yes, that's OK' to 'I like you' or 'you're funny' or pretty much anything positive.
• India is definitely a country on the move - you can feel it, more so than any other Asian country we've been to. While there's still plenty of poverty, there's also a shitload of prosperity, innovation and development going on.
• The food is completely awesome - even better than we expected, and it seemed that the cheaper it was, the better and more authentic. We both have an even greater appreciation for vegetarian food, given how much of it we ate. It seems there are infinite ways to prepare vegetables and they are generally far better than meat. Also, the seafood on the coast, particularly in Goa, was mind-blowingly good. I will dream of that Tandoori pomfret on Palolem beach for many years to come.
• The way traffic just works despite the appearance of utter chaos. I certainly wouldn't brave it, but you have to admire the fact that when millions of people are trying to get somewhere at the same time, horns are literally used out of consideration and there is absolutely no aggro whatsoever.
• Most people seem happy and easy-going. As above, no one gets angry...despite the frenetic activity, everyone moves at a steady pace.
• Goa. Loved it.

The not so good:

• India is still a very patriarchal society, and travelling there as a woman is not as simple as it is for a man. Everywhere we went the men would address George and pretty much ignore me altogether. He was served food and drinks first, doors were opened for him, the works. It wasn't intentional, but it was hard to get used to. The only place I was treated as an equal was at the Taj Malabar, where I'm sure the staff are rigorously trained on how westerners expect to be treated.
• Following the above point, Indian men are not shy about openly staring at western women. Everywhere we went I had men staring right at me, even waiters in restaurants while we were eating.
• The gap between poverty and prosperity is stark, and I think it's only getting wider. The middle and upper classes are flashy in their wealth. We saw one particularly nauseating billboard in Bangalore advertising a new apartment complex with the slogan: 'It's not how you live that matters, it's where you live'. Ugh.
• The persistence of tour operators, auto rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, etc, of taking you to shops that you've said countless times that you're not interested in. We got so worn down by it that we literally bought no products or souvenirs other than the attars (sorry everyone) because we wanted no part of it. And going on the Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia example, most of it is cheap crap that was made in China anyway.

Well, that's pretty much it. Not wanting to end on a down note, India was a great place to visit and was nowhere near as full on and scary as we'd expected. If we do go back we'll probably make a beeline for Goa and spend a week or two around there. This holiday has made us come to the realisation that we're no longer intrepid travellers wanting the 'authentic' (read: manufactured tourist trap) experience. We like going to places that are set up to western hygiene expectations - it doesn't have to be anything fancy (in fact our one five star experience was actually pretty ordinary), but just clean, hygienic and with a big supply of bottled water!

Until our next holiday...thanks for reading :)