I've always, always wanted to go. India. Everyone talks of the sensory bombardment, the colours, smells, sounds and tastes - both confronting and compelling.
It was all of these things and more.
Opting to skip Christmas this year, I flew in to South-East India to start a small group tour with Intrepid - the Real Food Adventure, South India.
First stop: the old Madras, home of the East India Company. Chennai.
Above: The very quiet Fort Museum, with lots of interesting artifacts of the East India Company, had quite the colonial feel -
including this guard quietly reading his paper in the morning sunshine.
The next day, Samantha and I went on a mini auto rickshaw adventure.
First stop: Ashtalakshmi Temple, near the Eliot's Beach.
The temple is dedicated to the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi, giver of all eight forms of wealth - success, offspring, prosperity, wealth, courage, bravery, food and knowledge.
She fast became my favourite goddess. A very cool portfolio.
Namaste.
We became unexpectedly contagious with these gorgeous pilgrim ladies.
Everyone wanted a selfie. Such a beautiful outpouring of connection.
This set the scene for how wonderful the people of India would be throughout the country.
This purity of joy and openness in their faces (and those of so many I was yet to meet) was something I honestly had never experienced before and has stayed with me.
Marina Beach. A huge stretch of sand on the Bay of Bengal.
An eerie and odd place. These abandoned carousels were spooky.
And the fish market was truly an assault on the senses - in the worst way possible.
At that point I wondered if seeing what I'd seen, and smelling what I'd smelled, I would ever be able to eat fish again.
