Up at 0550 for the morning game drive ... with my guide Ratna Singh, we visited the nearby Kanha National Park. It's around 2000 square kilometres in area ... HUGE ... and contains tiger, leopard, panther ... and a host of other fabulous animals. We saw EVERYTHING except the above!

No worry, we are here for a couple of more days ...

In the afternoon, we cooked in the lodge with Ashish Ugal ... a lovely chap who showed me how to prepare a paneer (cottage cheese) dish ... yum!

 

I feed two passing Indian elephants

The nearest I got to seeing a tiger - a fresh pawprint in the sand 




A jackal

 

A wild dog

A cute langur

A troupe of them



A swamp deer



A Varun-eating spider! Yuk!

Ashish Ugal - Exec Chef for Taj Lodges

Greetings from Banjaar Tola in Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh State ... it's an Indian safari lodge run by &Beyond (fabulous) and Taj (of Tata Suite fame!).

We left the Taj Mahal hotel (boohoohoo) at 0430 ... and left the airport at 0720 ... we arrived in Nagpur ... the "orange city" (loads of oranges there!) at 0930 ... and drove for TEN hours to get here. The journey usually takes around 5 hours BUT the roads are so bad after monsoon that ... well, bridges were down and it was a nightmare!

Tomorrow, I am going to see a tiger ... I hope ... actually the chance of seeing even one is very remote ...

The weather is fabulous ... hot during the day, cold during the night!

At Nagpur Airport ... when everything was so good!

My dear Pops was born in Gwalior, north of the state ... I was SO excited to see it on the map!

Le Fin ... The End ...

The Mumbai show is over ... it's had its issues BUT with the help of the two hotels - Four Seasons and The Taj Mahal - and our fixer - Amit - we have got through it! To be honest - I am totally exhausted so it's a short diary today ...

Tomorrow it's off to Nagpur in Madhya Pradesh state ... I'm looking for tigers!

THANK YOU DIVYA ... THANK YOU NIKHILA!

 My baby girl is here with me ... in the Tata Suite ...

 Bhimaji - one of Head Priests at the Hare Rama, Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu

 Our fixer - Amit Vachharajani - cool under pressure and a dude!

I didn't sleep very well last night ... something to do with maximising my enjoyment of this suite. I found myself wandering around it at 3 in the morning marvelling at its beauty. That has not happened to me for a mighty long time. Don't get me wrong - ALL the suites I stay in are special ... but this one is the greatest in India and I doubt I will ever get to stay here again - in my lifetime ... so I am squeezing every moment out of it ...

So - up rather early again - to go and visit the Jiva Spa in nearly Wellington Mews ... Taj has some serviced apartments there and this awesome Spa. The pool on the top floor has quite special views.

From there it was onto the Arabian Sea to capture the hotel and the Gateway on film ... the water is awfully dirty for the first 30 metres or so ... then it becomes quite clean. Tim refused to go for a dip ... how disappointing!

From there it was to the Harbour Bar to meet with Mr T Mistry - who has been working there for over 30 years! He taught me how to make the hotel's signature cocktail - "From the Harbour since 1933" ... it is made with Tanqueray Gin, Peach liqueur, pineapple and cranberry juices ... followed with flambeed Chatreuse! The cocktail was created in 1933 for two American sailors who were celebrating the end of Prohibition in the USA ... and the drink was named by them!

Mr Mistry is fabulous!

Now - astrology - you either believe in it or not! I do. The hotel has a resident astrologer - Padmaraj ... also known as Kannan. A few days ago he took my birth date and time of birth and today told me what my future holds ... in a very "big & wide" sense. It's up to me which paths I take but it's there for the taking. It's all good ... but if there was bad, it's all there too! Astrology was used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans ... and it's NOT religious ... anyway ... it was fun!

Another fabulous day at The Taj Mahal Palace ...no sleep again tonight I can imagine ... !

 Hi Poochie

 We drink here

 Dancing with the adorable and wonderful and fabulous hotel PR - Nikhila

 Mr Kannan

"Wake up Mister Varun. You are not dreaming - you really are staying in the Tata Suite - the Presidential - at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai". Yes - this smile is totally real. I am in a 5000 square foot suite - 15 rooms - 2 bedrooms - stunningly designed suite ... all by myself ... except "Cookie Monster" on my t-shirt!

Five bathrooms - the master one (mine) has the bath and walk-in shower ...

I have a gym, my own spa with steam room and sauna ...

Snug for afternoon tea ... mahogany dining table .. seating for ten ...

I have a personal fitness trainer, a personal masseuse, a personal chef and a personal butler! I am NOT a fan of a butler service ... in fact, I find it quite intrusive ... but this suite is so exquisite and large ... that I actually need the fabulous Manoj Gaikwad to keep me sane! He has been brilliant ...

My private study ... with a "Presidential desk and armchair" ... postcards written and on their way by the way!

Oh yes! oh YES! The main living room is breathtaking. The dome is the one you see on the right hand side of any photo of the hotel ... chandeliers, a bar, sofas, leather armchairs ... all "Made in India". There's also a conference room which seats 12 ... Much pietre dura, gold inlaid doors, marble and mohagany floors, silver mirror frames ...          A M A Z I N G

My view is of The Gateway of India - finished in 1924 ... a full 21 years AFTER The Taj hotel opened! It was built by the original Mr Tata after he was denied entry to another local hotel for being the wrong colour. His legacy is the one of the most iconic hotels in the world. And it shares its name with one of the most recognisable buildings in the world too ... (The Taj Mahal in Agra).

So happy - I had to call Pops to tell him! Nice photo James!

On the steps of the Grand Staircase. The Tower was built in 1973 - but I am living in the heritage wing ... The Palace.

The hotel boasts around 4000 pieces of Indian art, sculptures and tapestries. I went on a "historic art tour" with art dealer and Taj art curator Mortimer Chatterjee ... nice fellow! Great fun too!

"Good brakes, good horn and good luck" ... those are the three things you need if you want to get from a) to b) by car here in Mumbai! This is one of the scariest driving cities in the world ... but strangely I feel rather safe! No vehicle seems to ever hit each other ... just lots of threats. We have been driven about in new Jaguars and Mercedes ... and they are dent-free.

OK - sadly checked out of the Four Seasons, Mumbai. I didn't sleep last night as I watched the entertainment from the 32rd floor ... a thunder & lightning show! It went on most of the night ... lovely. I just sat in bed with a drink and watched in the dark ...

Anyway - the Four Seasons does fabulous cuisine and I have eaten dosa EVERY morning for breakfast! I am so fat!

SO - I am now in my second Mumbai home. I am staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel which overlooks the Arabian Sea and the Gateway of India ...The suite is just amazing ... one of the finest I have ever stayed in ... I will have photos and full description tomorrow!

In the afternoon we headed over to Mani Bhavan - 10 minutes drive away. It's located at number 19 Laburnum Road. It is one of the most important memorial museums to Mahatma Gandhi.

When the Mahatma was in England studying law, he made friends with the son of Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri who owned this townhouse (previously owned by the Mani family)... and was invited to stay in this house on Mumbai visits. He stayed in the house from 1917 to 1934 ... and was arrested there ... and fasted for peace there ... and he wrote, spun thread and planned his fight for Independence there ...

We were allowed to film in the actual room that he used to live in ... a REAL honour. The last people to be allowed in the room so publicly were President & Mrs Obama ... who also stayed in this suite at the Taj hotel ... hmmmm ...

The Mahatma's room

His actual slippers

His phone

My "Guide" - Sajeev Rajan

I am on the 32nd floor of the Four Seasons hotel in Mumbai! There is a HUGE thunderstorm raging outside my windows and I am listening to Rhapsody in Blue and drinking fresh pineapple juice! What a moment ...

My BlackBerry is constipated ... and has not been well ... I hear it's a worldwide issue ...

So today was educational. We first headed to the ex-Prince of Wales Museum ... now called ... Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya ... phew! It was built in 1906 and was used as a hospital until the end of WW1 when it returned to its original purpose ... as a Museum for Indian artefacts. There are 60,000 in this STUNNING building!

I interviewed the very knowledgeable Bilwa Kulkarni - the museum's Education Officer. She took me around the "miniature painting" exhibit ... it was quite interesting. Yes - this museum is worth a visit!

The afternoon was filming crazy -- shots of lovely Mumbai -- the Dhobi Ghat, the Chowpaty Beach, Haji Ali, the once called Victoria Terminus ... now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus ...!

This evenings filming has been cancelled (rain stopped play) ... I am now going to sit in the dark and watch the storm!

By the way, I had one of the best meals in India EVER last night ... San-Qi at this hotel ... fabulous!!!! We check-out tomorrow ... sad ...

The Museum

The God Varuna with his consort! I joke not ...

Bilwa