Animal planet

Then there was the time when the giant troupe of monkeys attacked our car while we were stopped for lunch. Thankfully Suresh (or "Sewage" as he had become affectionately known by us) braved the pack and managed to rescue our wheels.





Speaking of wildlife encounters, we had barely begun our trip, driving through the outskirts of Delhi when Suresh pulled over and jumped out to pay some sort of road tax. There was a rapping on the window, which we'd been trained to ignore as it was probably another poor beseeching beggar. Suddenly some wailing woodwind music started up and we turned our heads over so slightly to see two giant cobras rearing and swaying within 3 centimetres of Sarah's face, thankfully on the other side of the perspex. At the next stop there were half a dozen arms loaded with jewellery for sale thrust through the tiny gap in the driver's window, while right next to me an enormous black bear was dancing away with a baby monkey perched on his back.

I'll never complain about squeegy kids again.