Some Indian Observations

-  Wasn't half as surprised when boarding my plane at Delhi seeing pilots had placed newspaper over 3/4 of the cockpit window (presumably to shield the sun) as i was when getting off the plane in Chandigarh to see the newspapers still in place !

- A little amazed to see the incredible number of army bases on our cycle particularly en route to Kashmir !

- Pretty stunned to hear about artillery shells being portered by locals to high altitude Indian bases on the Pakistan / China borders !

- A bit bemused coming across Indian road workers in action laying fresh bitumen or repairing sections of bridges without warning often resulting in long delays to road traffic !

- Pretty frustrated by the continued non operation of phones or the net en route - phones because of security rigmarole that foreigners are required to go thru and the net for any of a thousand excuses !

- Pretty pleased by my $5 Barber shop experience - included a haircut, a shave, a head & shoulders massage as well as pampering with moisturiser and after shave !

- Pretty peeved at the speed at which Indian drivers drive down narrow Lane ways (like lunatics) after driving so sedately on road !

- Mildly amused by the fascination by all Indians to all things Bollywood on TV !

- A bit non plussed seeing one of our support vehicles with a stencil of the Ayatollah carrying an AK 47 (I did ask why and didn't get a sensible answer !)