and went outside for a tiny attempt at sunbathing 
(see my toes: blisters yesterday – never wear shoes you haven’t worn for a while on your first day away! 
– I’ve strapped them up to prevent further attrition, so they look much more damaged than they actually are). However I got bored of sunbathing in about 3 minutes so went and had some lunch. Which was nice, again. They made me a stirfry with my own choice of ingredients: there was also an “instant” sushi bar that I could have had a chef make me some sushi. And a pizza/pasta bar to do likewise to Italian stuff. Tomorrow I’m going to have fresh pancakes at breakfast. Yummy.Phil, Maneer and I met at 1pm to go on the day’s excursion. We went North this time, to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. We went via the Milk Colony, which is a fairly rural area inside the city where cows graze and are milked. The driver said that during the flooding on 26th July last year (memorable date) parts of this area were metres under water. It was a nice route. There were exciting bits of the drive, like when the driver decided to overtake a tuk-tuk that was already overtaking a tuk-tuk, with a stream of traffic coming towards us. But I’m cool now and can handle this. He did get done for speeding later, but this was probably just because the traffic cop saw a nice car and thought he could make some Rupees (I think it cost him Rs300). He didn’t seem to be driving excessively fast, and certainly not as fast as some of the things on the road.
The Safari park was a really nice place to visit.
First we (including the driver) went on a small train that took us on a good tour around the open park. 
(yes, it's a Tata train!) Getting on the train was completely chaotic! The steps were totally mobbed: elbows out, get in there and make your presence felt. We got a row all together though, which was good.
There were some cages beside the track with animals in. 
Also some cages with rather a lot of torn fencing: something got out…! Craigtoun Park was never like this. We went past a little settlement: 
this is pretty near the bottom of the property ladder: no tiles on the roof, no solid walls, just tarpaulins and plastic bags.After the train ride we went on further into the park (by car) and then signed up for a Lion & Tiger safari (on buses). The bus we were on was really rickety (the other two – which turned up after we had taken our seats – looked much smarter and even had holes in the cage over the windows so you could take photos whilst still foiling the attacks of pussy cats).
It really was a jolly bounding bus. Bounce bounce bounce. It was probably worse because we were at the back behind the wheels. 
It was roasting hot in the bus before it started: we were wishing that we had brought fans, cooling wipes, large pieces of something stiff to waft and make a breeze. But it started moving eventually and it was more pleasant after that.
The buses drove in convoy into the wild park – tall fences with big gates, like in Jurassic Park. We saw our first tiger really soon. Actually taking a photo was a little trickier as it was sitting in long grass and there were trees in the way.
Then we bounced around a really rough track for a few more minutes and found another one, much closer to the track. Still didn’t get any great photos as he was on the other side of the bus. 
But it was a real tiger, none the less. That was it for the tiger enclosure, and we went on to see the lions, who have a smaller area a few minutes further on. The two we saw were much closer to the track: the male was pointedly ignoring us, 
the female was tucked down in a dip in the ground. 
But again, real lions!Overall, I’m surprised by the weather. It’s really really hot, and really humid, but it’s bearable really. We have air con in the car which we can retreat to if need be, we are wearing sensible cool loose linen / cotton clothes, we have water bottles (they are everywhere) and we have been under trees quite a lot today. I’m not saying that I’d like to do lots of walking or exercise outside in these conditions, but it’s perfectly fine for sight-seeing and general pottering.
That was about all the park had to offer. I had hoped to see the Kanheri caves, which are in my guidebook as being really quite good, but the guide said that with the recent rain, they weren’t safe to visit (unstable rocks). Which was a shame. So instead he took us to a Jain temple nearby,
which was quiet and pretty. 
(love the staircase made of bamboo scaffolding). We had to take our shoes off of course, and the marble flooring was really really hot! I had to hop up and down whilst stopping to take photos. Feet got used to it in a bit, but it was probably entertaining to watch.
This is a little row of cottages a little further up the property ladder, just outside the wall of the temple (perhaps they are actually connected). Pretty gardens and quite structurally sound.
One of the “features” of Jainism is that they don’t tend to wear clothes much. On their statues or on their priests.
After that experience, we felt it was time to head back to the hotel. (I’m going to get confused and call it “home” at some point in the blog, I’m sure: you know what I mean). We went a shorter way back (down the highway all the way) and were back at the hotel in 40 minutes. (It took an hour to get there earlier). But not so fast that I couldn’t take a Tata picture for Clare and Lee.
*Slap*. Tata are incredibly ubiquitous. Today I’ve spotted Tata Steel Wire co and Tata Salt (not to mention all the vehicles including the train). Will keep an eye out for more Tata products.Then I tried another sunbathing session (it was really nice and sunny all day today – I’m sure the monsoon will start soon and get rid of all that) and had a dip in the pool, which was a nice temperature – not at all Himalayan like in Noida). And finally headed back to the room and wrote up this journal, ready to upload later when I restart my internet access. Tonight we’re going out for dinner with Pam, who has just phoned to say we’re meeting downstairs shortly. Better get ready.
… by the way, so far it’s Mosquitoes 0: Livia 1 (mozzies being the home team of course). I slapped one into bits in the car this morning. Its friends haven’t retaliated yet. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time…
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