I am now back to "civilisation" after spending the last few weeks working on a project in a village in Uttar Pradesh. I had fogotten just how different city India and rural India are until I stepped out of the YMCA this morning to be confronted by small children and lepers begging for a few rupees. I still find that aspect of India hard to deal with even after 6 weeks or so here.

I am not sure how to begin describing the project or my experiences of the last few weeks or if I will be able to do it justice, but I will give it a shot.

The project is essentially the result of the determi...

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Ok, so I'm not utterly miserable in the grand scheme of things but Col is heading home tonight to start his contract with the LTA so I will be all on my lonesome very shortly - boo hoo. Sorry not written for a while - very bad of me but will try to fill you in on the last few weeks as best I can.

After I wrote last, as I think I mentioned, we headed to Hong Kong for a few days with Dave McManus and his bride-to-be, Sandy. We had a lovely time and timed it well given the fact that had our visit been before Christmas, Dave and Sandy would have been most likely chained to their desks - Freshf...

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Hi all,

Hope getting back into reality has not been too hard following all the Christmas and New Year festivities....After our last diary entry we headed north to the Chang Mai region of Thailand. The journey up there on the overnight train was one of the most pleasant of this trip. A mere five pounds for a comfy second class sleeper berth (i.e lots of beds in one carriage) and we woke up at our destination. I would highly recommend it.

When in Chang Mai, we explored some of the surrounding area which included an elephant ride through the jungle. It was fantastic to see such amazing ...

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Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and enjoyed the snow I hear was in abundance. We wanted to try and make some phone calls to mates during this time but we didn't want to abuse our hosts telephones. At least you know the thought was there!

Been a bit lax on the diary entries lately, but I imagine you have all been having fun not spending time on a PC over the last couple of weeks so you have probably not even noticed our absence on the web ! Since our last entry, we feel like we have been having a bit of a holiday from our travels and Col from his work to some extent. Prob...

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MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.....hope you over indulge on turkey, stuffing, champers, mini sausages etc so that, once again, you can go through the feeling guilty routine and write a list of 10 resolutions which you know you won't keep.

Have a great time and we will certainly raise a glass to toast you all from the other side of the world. Weather in Aukland has been pretty grim, but have been enjoying a couple of fairly ralxed days. Staying with Gill Service for those of you who know her, who is doing very well and enjoying life in New Zealand (I can see why!). Also met Lynne and Keppa yesterday (for those of you who know them) which was great - nice to see faces from home and we are catching up with them for a festive drink tonight.

Hope the white Christmas they are promising turns up and that santa is good to you all.

Have a good one,

Gill and Col x