Gluttons for Punishment in India, originally uploaded by LeeLeFever_TwinF.

I'm not sure whether to say I'm amazed, bewildered, upset or fascinated by the way things work in India.

The difference between home and here is so great and there so many examples that it's hard to describe it except in huge generalities, but here's one example...

After planning a 4 day trip with a driver, we backed out after 1 day. Despite multiple email and phone confirmations, we found out at 5pm that we had no room reserved for tonight. I asked the driver this morning about the hotel and found it was impossible to communicate with him (again, despite confirming an English speaking driver). So, being fed up, we cancelled the whole trip and started over from square one.

We found a hotel and booked a new driver through a gov't tourist office within an hour. The guy above was a huge and honest help and we are now set for the next few days.

Oh and despite everything, we changed our flight to have an extra week in India (now leaving April 2nd). We're gluttons for punishment I guess.

Today reminded us of two things: how luxurious it was to stay with Dina in Mumbai and yes Sandra, where the hell is Mervyn when you need him?