India and Mexico - choices and worries

Two weeks ago I was going to India and Bangladesh at least partly because Heather said so, to be honest. With a little help from Lonely Planet, etc. I'm now very excited about this bit of the trip - maybe fly in to Mumbai (from Beijing), be boggled by the big city for a while; then head for Kerala for beaches, backwaters, lots of fish to eat and coolness to be found in the hills; then off to Orissa (because John Shotton says so!); up to Kolkata and overland (and water) to Dhaka, via the Sunderbans mangrove forest wildlife preserve. We have also to decide whether to take up offers to stay with friends and their families in the Punjab (we'll be in the subcontinent over Ramadan, so not a good time to visit with our Gujerati Muslim friends, sadly). If we do that'll set us up for Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist cultural immersion between October and the following February ... Mexico presents a whole further pile of bewildering options (any recommendations welcome, for any part of the route ...!) - I think the Hintons live near Saltillo, I want to see Mexico City and I think my grandfather Howard grew up around San Luis Potosi - but then there's the Yucatan, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Baja ... - Mark

---

Melissa: I was reading Travel with Children - it was quite good. I looked at a book with Heather with pictures of Mexico. It looked quite good, but the whales were too big and the boat was too small [in the whale-watching picture]. What if the whale just came up and bashed your boat? You couldn't really shoot it. Heather: I should hope not! Melissa: Because it would still be alive ... Heather: They're friendly whales, that's why people go to watch them. Sharks would be really interesting to watch too. You think I'm joking, don't you? Melissa: Don't go and look for sharks or whales, or tigers, or lions - unless we're on a big elephant. D'you know when we're on an elephant, do we go on one each?