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Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling April 10th 2006

Darjeeling, I think, was a bit of a missed opportunity. Had a hacking cough, which didn't help, and the weather was pretty miserable, which really didn't help. Would invariably be nice in the morning, have a mid afternoon rainshower, then clear up for a bit in time for an early evening drizzle. Amazing to think that just a few hours drive away are the scorching hot plains of West Bengal. The biggest missed opportunity, though, was time. Darjeeling might not have been my favourite place that I visited in India, but I think it's the place that I'd most like to go back to. I can see how people spend months in the hills around West Bengal. The list of things that I'd have loved to do but didn't is considerably longer than the list of ... read more
The famous Darjeeling toy train
Happy Valley tea estate
More tea

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Udaipur April 9th 2006

So currently in Udaipur - the official home of James Bond in India but more on that in a bit. We left Jodhpur - another bum-numbing bus journey but this one was a bit better as half-way through we got off the bus and visited the amazing Jain temple complex at Ranakpur. The main temple was absolutely amazing - it was very intricately carved and the temple itself was a forest of 1444 pillars! It was really cool as the pictures suggest. This temple complex was at the bottom of a valley and the bus onwards to Udaipur climber up this valley and there was some fantastic scenery, rolling hills, plunging rivers - i expected Indian scenery to mainly be flat desert, especially where we are but this scenery was very nice. For the first hour ... read more
Inside Ranakpur!
Udaipur
Ahar

Asia » India » Uttarakhand » Rishikesh April 9th 2006

Well we finally made it to Rishikesh in the north and it is fabulous. We have a balcony overlooking the Ganga and can even see our Ashram too. It's mad to think that we are actually at the Himalayas. The guy who met us at the railway station, Baba, turned out to be so nice and helpful, he collected us the first morning to bring us to the ashram, then brought Irene on a mad motorcycle ride to get a cricket bat for her brother. We got a message to return his call the first morning, so I phoned the mobile number but it turned out to be Mr. Siu - the man who had helped us find our correct carraige after we had literally just thrown ourselves on the train. He was just phoning to ... read more
View
View of ashram from across the river
Typical cafe

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jodhpur April 9th 2006

Hello All, I'm disappointed with myself, because I'm still more than a month behind on my blog. This means that I can't relate my travel experience with as much freshness as I'd like. Funny. It's only a month ago that I was there, and it feels like years ago. Time really stretches out when your moving from one place to another so quickly, and between such different places. When you're on the road like this, experiences stack up inside you very quickly, the new ones compressing the old ones. Like when the packer at the grocery store puts the rice, soup cans on top of the strawberries. Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I've managed to faithfully write in a journal, so, between that, my emails and my photos, I am able to reconstitute ... read more
Market and Clock Tower, Jodhpur
Jodhpur Palace
Jodhpur Palace Interior

Asia » India » Uttarakhand » Rishikesh April 8th 2006

Nameste Well after many days of agony I finally made it to a computer to update our past days of travel. Our arrival and stay in Delhi was not as bad as I thought. I was prepared to enter into the most polluted city in the world with mobs of people haggling us for money and our business. Though there was quite a bit I did not find it nearly as polluted or annoying as Bangkok, Thailand. I did not feel the cultural shock I was expecting. None the less we left there shortly and are now in Rishikesh. Upon our arrival at 6 am in the morning, and with our first steps of the bus, we were encountered with a mob of rickshaw drivers yelling and grabbing at our bags, trying to get our business. ... read more
gathering at the Ganges
Prayer offering into the Ganges
Bridge across the Ganges with Ashram in backround

Asia » India » Uttarakhand » Rishikesh April 8th 2006

So we leave Jasalmer at 10am on Friday, after driving for the whole day and having a bit of a long detour through Bikaner - due to Magnus, the Norgewian dude wanting to get food and Bengali being a thick fucker - we end up having to stay in this FILTHY roadside motel place....as Bengali won't drive at night, he even refuses to use his full lights - they have to be on dim the whole time. Bearing in mind that this is the country where they drive like maniacs and the rest of the population refuse to dim their lights even with oncoming traffic it's not a great idea! But the motel place was gross, we literally got in, slept and set off at like 8 the next morn tp avoid being there any ... read more
The usual
The usual sight
The usual sight

Asia » India » Goa » Palolem April 8th 2006

So Carolyn left today at around 1pm. It was sad to see her leave and I'm sure she was sad to leave too. It kinda sucks to wake up in the morning after your last night out on the beach we people you met, take your last swim, and enjoying the stressfree life and have to leave it behind to go back to work... Phew.. that was a long sentence. WEll I hope she enjoyed her trip as much as I'm enjoying mine. I'm now on my own from now on and really looking forward to this new adventure ahead of me. Right now it's still the same, doign nothing on the beach and still enjoying it. There's another guy staying at the same "huts" as me, Bart.. another fellow Canuck, so we're pretty much just ... read more

Asia » India » West Bengal » Darjeeling April 7th 2006

Sadly saying goodbye to Kolkata, I jumped on a train to Silguri - the gateway to Darjeeling and the Himalayas. Another blockbuster journey - 13 hours on a sleeper train, half an hour by cycle rickshaw to the jeep stands, and then a mad three hour jeep ride up tortuous mountain roads. (Hill station my arse. I've seen hills in England and they don't take three hours to drive up. It's a mountain station, and there's no two ways about it.) It's pretty tiring, the travel, and although the sleepers are ok, you still don't get a lot of sleep, with the train stopping every hour or so and new passengers getting on. Met a very nice bloke from round here, who was travelling from Kolkata back to his home in Siliguri. What I didn't realise ... read more
Happy Valley Tea Factory
View on the way up to Darjeeling
Shopping street in Darjeeling

Asia » India » Karnataka » Mysore April 7th 2006

If u’re sick n tired of the endless traffic snarls of Hosur Road and BTM layout and looking for a place that could give u a complete peace of mind over the weekend; Coorg is your perfect hideout destination. Waterfalls, deep ravines, grassy slopes, coffee n spice plantations, verdant undulating topography, u wish ‘em and‘ve it all! Madikeri or Mercara is the district town of Kodagu or Coorg. Located 243 km SW of Bangalore and can be reached through Mysore Bypass via Ranganathittu-Hunsur-Kushalnagar. One fine Sunday morning (after giving a Saturday break to the Friday late night troopers) on February we decided to make a one day trip to Coorg. Babu, our driver came down with the hired ‘Qualis’ when it was still dark outside. Got a chance to see the first sunshine bringing a misty ... read more

Asia » India » Karnataka » Mysore April 7th 2006

It was sudden and unplanned, so a ‘been there done that’ kind of trip! What all was decided that we are leaving Mysore at six in the morning and heading west. 3rd Dec, It was a cool and cloudy morning. A lot of seemingly enthusiastic people retracted on the very last moment. So there were only two of us and the ‘pulsar’ down the Madikeri Road. The previous posting tells you all about the needful to be done on the way to Madikeri. So, this time it’s Madikeri and beyond. The story actually begins on Sunday, Dec 4th. It’s a small story; all about a journey and not merely reaching the pre-planned destinations. 4th Dec, It was my first trip on bike and got an irritating back ache after riding through the bumpy roads yesterday. But ... read more




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