Blogs from Jammu & Kashmir, India, Asia
May 8th 2012
Mornings were pretty cold in September there. When the morning alarm went off, if I remember correctly, it was about 5 in the morning and I jumped out of the bed, only to realize that I was not geared to fight the morning cold. Almost in a reflex action I fumbled in the dark for the pullover and jumped into it. It barely took me about half an hour to get ready and even before I knew it, I was back in the Xylo that I had hired for those 5-days in Leh. We were off to see the colours of pangong Tso. I was told it takes about 5 hours to reach the lake and so I started as early as possible. The first 3 hours into the journey went off easily while I was ... read more
March 5th 2012
Hey Everyone, I have just booked into a 10 days vipassana retreat! I am really nervous and excited at the same time!!! It starts on the 24th of March... Having an amazing time here still!!! I had a very special ayavadic massage today. Hot oils massaged over my entire body. I will give more details another time. It was something out of this world! The Dr said that this massage would help with my Migraine. Yes that's right I had a really bad Migraine yesterday that knocked me for 6. The Dr gave me a head massage and put oils on my head and told me to sleep. I HAVE NEVER RECOVERED IN SUCH A SHORT TIME FROM SUCH A BAD MIGRAINE. THE DR'S HERE ARE SOMETHING SPECIAL! Ops the capslock key came on. I think ... read more
February 19th 2012
Hi everyone! I made it back to Pokhara and spent 3 days there. What a beautiful part of the world! I could have spent a month there. The lake is on one side and the snow tipped mountains on the other! Something special. I went paragliding too! (Shhhh don't tell my parents). I am am safe and had such a great experience!!! I met a lovely Australian girl while I was trekking from Melbourne and we spent a day together in Pokhara. We went to a Tibetan Buddist Monestry. They are preparing for their new years and they are meditating and chanting from 3am - 9pm for 2 weeks. It was such an amazing experience to hear the chanting and drumming! I felt so calm and peaceful! Heres the funny thing. After about 1 hour of ... read more
February 12th 2012
Hi everyone, I just wanted to write quickly to say that I am safe and well and enjoying my trekking!!! I have been walking in knee deep snow for 3 days now. So beautiful!!! Happy birthday to Pop on the 16th. I will contact everyone again on the 18th. Love Love Love Internet is only on for 5 mins. Bye Missing you all.... read more
February 8th 2012
Namaste Everyone, I'm in Pokhara now! About to start my 10 day trekking tomorrow through Annapurna mountain range. I'm very excited!!! It's very cold here. I hope I have enough warm clothes for my journey throught the mountains. So I have this personal guide that Bandy organised for me. He has come with me from Kathmandu and will be my porter and guide throught the mountains for the next 10 days. It's not peek season so there are not many people going trekking. (Is this such a wise idea I ask myself) Darrma is the name of my guide. He comes everywhere with me and gets me really good local prices. I feel famous because it's like having a bodyguard. He is Bandy's brothers good friend and he has been in the trekking buisness for about ... read more
February 5th 2012
Hey everyone, I was offered a teaching job today after a days work here in Kathmandu preschool. The principal organised a meeting with me to discuss me opening my own school here in Nepal with my Nepalese friend Bandy. I like the sound of coming over here anually to train the teachers. I said I would think about it! I had an interesting adventure on the public bus today. They pack you in the bus like sardines. The young boy thats working on the bus (or should I say mini van with no signage) shouts out the window and bangs on the side of the van, opening and closing the van side door every 30secs. You don"t pay straight away. They only want your money when you are near your stop. Loud music playing (hip hop ... read more
February 3rd 2012
Hi everyone, Well so many amazing experiences since the last post. The Nepalese government have introduced hydro electricity which you might think is a good thing, but they sell 90% of there electricity to India so they only have power for a few hours a day. Hence no internet, nor lights or anything else for that matter. If you have money you can buy a generator and use that for power. (I'm staying in a place with a generator) I stayed in an OSHO meditation centre in the mountains for 3 days. It was so beautiful! I had 5 meditation classes a day. Did you know that there are 112 different types of meditation? I didn't. Only one of these types are the sitting still type with eyes closed. I experienced some interesting meditation methods! One ... read more
Trip to Vaishno Devi January 2012
Published: January 31st 2012Asia » India » Jammu & Kashmir » Vaishnodevi
January 31st 2012
JAI MATA DI 26th JANUARY ' 2012 We were too excited for this trip, atlast the comes when we have to move for journey, all the packings have been done, this time I arranged a pithoo bag for trekking, which was really helpful. We started from Harinagar at 6pm. We prefered Auto that day, being Republic day, traffic was at its minimum and we reach 2 hrs before the actual departure time of our train that is Jammu Rajdhani at 8.40pm. By 8 pm train was at platform, and right at 8.40 pm it departed. By 9.30 dinner was served and is above average but soup was excellent. This was the first time, I had booked a berth for my 5 year old son and was serious doubted whether he will sleep there or the berth ... read more
December 14th 2011
I am very excited to share my skiing experience with those who love adventure sports like me. I am a hardcore adventure sports lover and one of my friends suggested me the skiing in the Himalayas. At first I was a bit hesitant since India is not very good at skiing and activities like snowboarding etc… and somehow decided to go for it as I wanted to explore something new this time. Myself and 4 other friends of mine booked the 16 day skiing package through a travel agency from Bangalore. I went to this place called Gulmarg where the skiing resort is situated. I was trained by skiing champions and went crazy over skiing on the white snowcapped mountains for 14 days. Stayed at a decent luxury hotel and the package also included one night ... read more
Two things one should not miss to see in Bangkok
Published: November 13th 2011Asia » India » Jammu & Kashmir » Jammu City » Patnitop
November 13th 2011
Generally people from India visit Bangkok only for two purposes, which are shopping and go go bars, but believe me there are other exciting things to see in Thailand. Before my visit to Bangkok, even my perception about the place was same like everyone, as this is the picture of the place we have in mind. I started my trip with a perplexed mind, thinking that it is not a safe place to visit (as mentioned in many travel blogs), however I wasn’t nervous, coz I have been living in New Delhi for almost a decade, n I knew that If I could survive there, then I can survive anywhere in the world, I would say it’s a blessing in disguise for being an Indian sometime. So before the beginning of my trip, I started looking ... read more
