At the end of day four of the first Test in Bengaluru I wandered down onto the oval and watched the Aussie reserves practise.

Looking very official in my Hawks top and sandals I spent a good 20 minutes out there before a policeman finally decided to ask me to move along.

For those into celebrity worship, Phil Jaques even called me "mate" (He probably thought I was gonna pinch the ball I'd picked up for him).

After the first Test finished it was time to see just how far one could go here.

With two other Hawks supporters and two local lads, I headed for the other end of the ground to watch the presentations.

Once they were over, naturally we climbed the players' stairs to their balcony to see if we could get a beer.

Alas, Indian management asked us to leave so we had to settle for drinking in the members' bar instead.

Here in Chandigarh I was given a pass to the VIP section by some Aussies who were leaving, so on day three I sat down in the shade next to a fellow Adelaidian who is a principal in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

At the lunch break we went in search of a beer.

This required blagging our way into the top floor of the VIP stand where our tickets wouldn't allow us.

Or so we thought.

The man on the door asked to see my ticket and I gladly obliged, thinking, "Oh well, it was worth a try!"

Much to our surprise he waved us through and I spent the rest of the day enjoying a few cans in air-conditioned comfort.

Nice one!

Something for free!

Last night the strangest thing happened: a rickshaw driver gave us a free ride!

I still can't believe it.

Normally you negotiate a price and then they still ask for more when you get there.

At first it seemed like this guy was drunk but he assured us (Mick from Freo, Jim from Sydney and your humble narrator) that he wasn't.

Instead he was chewing something.

I have heard that they have something here that looks like chewing tobacco but gives you a buzz and it was probably this that he was high on.

Either that or it was the exhaust fumes from his rickshaw.

Regardless, this guy was as mad as a cut snake and proved it by giving three white fellas a free ride.

Even if I live here for the rest of my life I don't think I will ever understand this country, but that's a massive part of its beauty...