The worst part of moving is the actual moving. But, with a lot of help from our friends, we finally managed to get everything packed up and stored in Tom and Lucy’s attic. (Now all that remains to be seen is how long it will take before the ceiling collapses and kills them both in their sleep.)

Speaking of great friends, thank you all for the wicked send off. Our first surprise party! Figures, just when we are leaving you guys conspire to remind us of just how much we love you all, and how much we will miss you. Thanks a million guys. ;)

Anyways. Finally got on our way. Felt really surreal to be at the airport knowing we would not be back for a year. But then we arrived in that Mecca of Cheese that is Dubai – and the surrealness of that place, on top of the sleep deprivation, definitely topped anything we might have been feeling previously.

Landed safe, sound and profoundly tired in Hyderabad on 2 Oct. After navigating the hurdles of immigration and customs, a guy from LEPRA came and picked us up and took us to our hotel where we dumped our stuff and headed out to explore the city. By about 6 o’clock we were crashing and forced ourselves to play what felt like endless hands of cards until it was finally time to go to bed. Ah, sweet sleep.

The first real day in India was spent at HYLEP where Anja got the grand Leprosy 101 tour whilst Kris hung around in the corner looking bored. (Anja feeling very chuffed about the fact that she successfully managed to avoid any prolonged stay in the ulcer dressing clinic!)

Following this, we had a full week all to ourselves, to get to know the city, figure out the good food places, duck into dark alleys and haggle over the price of bananas. Most of this was spent wandering around, getting the feel of the street life, checking out shops and markets, and navigating the rather chaotic traffic.

It seems the preferred mode of transport is the motorbike (in preparation for which Kris is soon to procure a helmet) and the auto-rickshaw (for which one should probably wear a helmet too, though it would look damn stupid). We are as fond of cultural relativism as the next guy, but when you’re hurtling down the road encased in only a few bars of metal and relying on a lawnmower engine the whole ‘my side of the street, your side of the street – it’s all rather academic’ mentality is absolutely terrifying. Looking out of the windscreen of a rickshaw and finding that you’re staring straight into the grille of a giant bus is enough to make a person a stickler for the rules…

After learning how to cross the road, and how to look cool for the duration of a rickshaw ride, we decided to tackle the Hyderabad bus system – which is, happily, extensive but, not so happily, a complete nightmare to work out. The hardest thing has been the lack of actual bus stops. It seems to be the hop on/hop off system that works most of the time and, where there are bus stops, they tend not to be marked out in any way, meaning that one finds oneself wandering down the road, looking for a group of hangers-about to join, in the faint hope that they may in fact be at ‘a bus stop’.

Some of the main sights seen include the Charminar – a gate (think Arc de Triomphe in Paris) built by the first Qutub Shah (muslim ruler of the Deccan plateau) in the 1500s. The Charminar is in the ‘old town’ part of the city, and is surrounded by an incredible bazaar, stretching through what seems hundreds of little winding streets and backyards, where you can shop for bangles, bangles, and bangles. No seriously, aside from the trademark glass bangles, there is anything from colourful sarees to incense and ornate gold jewellery. Nearby is the Mecca Masjid – one of the largest mosques in the world, which accommodates something like 10,000 worshippers at once.

Another highlight was the Golconda Fort, a bit out of town (it took us a solid day’s work to find the right bus stop!). Golconda is the old centre of Hyderabad and includes ruins of palaces and fortifications. As a reward for the agonising climb in the searing sun, the top of the hill offers a fantastic view of the city and surrounding areas. In Golconda, we also visited the Qutub Shahi Tombs – an incredible complex of about 15 gigantic domed buildings, graves to the Qutub Shah dynasty of rulers of the area. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the largest of the tombs, and certainly the most beautiful, is the grave of a woman – the daughter, wife and mother of three of the rulers.

Practicalities-wise, it had all gone well, no running to the loo, and no roaches. Then, we were moved us to another room in the hotel… and Anja’s worst nightmare came true as we turned on the light and the ‘whole floor’ ran for the corners… So Kris spent the rest of the evening, armed with a sandal, hunting tigers. (Amy, hope you like the ref…)

Now that Kris has started ‘work’… Anja is left to spend the mornings alone with the cockroaches…

To be continued…