Surprisingly the 6 hour bus ride from Jodhpur to Udaipur was comfortable and uneventful. A rareity, it seems, in India. Taking advice from one of Jasmines friend we found a beautiful hotel called Anjani. I love it when we find places like this. You can see all the time and effort they put into decorating your hotel and doing little things to help you out. Udaipur is India's most romantic city. In the middle of the desert is a lake, surrounded with many whitewashed palaces. In the middle of the lake lies Udaipur's most famous structure. The 300 year old Lake [View Full Entry]

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The 6 hour bus ride from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur wasn't pleasant. It wasn't hell, but it wasn't pleasant. Somehow we ended up on a local bus that was packed with 100 Indians all squished togethor. Luckily we had seats. The scenery of the dandunes of the desert got boring because it all looked the same and it was really hot. I really had to pee, I was glad after 3 hours the bus stopped, pressumably for a washroom break. I told Jasmine to go first while I stayed on the bus to watch the bags. 3 minutes later she came back [View Full Entry]

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Have you ever been locked in an ice box that's tied to the back of a pick up truck crusing down a bumpy road for 10 hours? I have. Well not literally, but it sure felt that way. In India they have these things called Sleeper busses. It sounds like a great idea. There's seats on the bottom of the bus and then on top where the luggage usually goes, you can lay down in and sleep the night away. Much better than sitting in a bus and trying to sleep......or so we thought. Our first mini shuttle bus in Pushkar [View Full Entry]

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I woke up in Jaipur really sick. I couldn't even think of eating Indian food for breakfast. Any food at all repulsed me. I knew I needed something in my stomach so we headed to McDonalds for some ice cream and french fries. I had to force myself to eat half the tiny ice cream and I think I ate about 2 fries. I was white as a ghost. I have no idea what made me so sick but it was hell. Pushkar is a small little city of only 15 000 people only 3 hours away from Jaipur. I read [View Full Entry]

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5.5 hours from our last city Agra is Jaipur. It's the capital city of the desert state of Rajisthan. This was our first bus ride in India, before this we've normally rode on overnight trains. Looking out the bus window all day was nothing short of shocking. I've always known about India's mass poverty, and I've expected it. But I guess nothing really prepares you for it. It's not just the people, but the living conditions they are in. Brick buildings lay in ruins, the streets filled with 1000's of plastic bottles and other litter. Cows and cow shit everywhere, ladies [View Full Entry]

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We're getting used to Indian time. Our train was 5 hours late! Luckily the trains are somewhat comfortable, a little cramped but I like them more than Thailands. Unfortunatly we were stuck with a Korean tour group full of old ladies, even the Indians on the train thought they were weirdos. For the most part it's good that the train was late, we arrived at a decent hour in the morning instead of 4am like planned. We learned our lesson from Varanasi and reserved a hotel in advance this time. We lucked out. It's gotta be the nicest budget hotel in [View Full Entry]

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Our first train ride in Varanasi was surprisingly comfortable and clean. It took just 12 hours from Calcutta and was only 40 minutes late. In India time that means the train was pretty much on time. We met a an older couple on the train who have lived in India all their lives. They were really interesting to talk to. They were really concerned that we had no hotel reservations. I explained throughout our trip in SE Asia we never reserve hotels in advance and never had any problems, not even during Christmas. I quickly realized that it's different out here. [View Full Entry]

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In Bangkok we rushed to catch our flight which was to leave at 8pm, arriving in Calcutta at 10 30. We soon realized that even planes run on "India time" and it was an hour and a half late. Usually no a big deal but we are now arriving in Kolkata (Calcutta) India. A city of 13 million people, with one of the poorest populations in the world. Showing up with no hotel reservations, to a place that baracades all their doors after 10pm 11pm I've never been nervous to travel anywhere before. This time I was, I joked with Jasmine [View Full Entry]

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On Koh Samui we asked various travel agents all kinds of questions on how to get to the town of Krabi. Little do they know they've giving us valueable information for us to do it by ourselves with the locals, for about half the price or less. "Where does your bus take us on the ferry? When should we leave" etc etc Usually works. Being on a budget we've learned all kinds of little tricks to save a buck or two. The 2.5 hour ferry ride from Koh Samui to the mainland was actually quite nice, and not as ghetto as [View Full Entry]

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It took only 45 minutes on a boat to escape from the ultimate 24 hour a day, 7 day a week party spot of Haad Rin to the tropical Paradise of Koh Samui. We've always been worried about our budget going overboard in Southern Thailand. Naturally it's more expensive down here with all the beautifu; tropical islands and beaches that you see in all the movies and postcards. Especially during the holiday season. Koh Phagnan was just a party beach and was way overpriced so we thought so Samui, would be even more so. Our thoughts were eased when we found [View Full Entry]

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