in appreciation of people, perspectives, and places
Hi...here we are taking in some of that middle eastern magic in 2006 - soaking up the sounds, sights and scents of the Sinai. One of the huge tribe of WWWs (wishful/wistful/wondering? world wanderers).. Like all of you out there in T-blog space, we love travelling - specially to out of the way places. The world is such an amazing place - just wish there was unlimited time (and funds) to see a lot more. With smatterings of travel here there and everywhere, the wonderment and wanderlust gets stronger all the time...too much to see and not enough time left!! The beauty of nature, wide open spaces, sitting under a velvet night sky with a campfire burning, meeting all sorts of people in all sorts of places, finding there's so much in common, even when there appears to be so much difference, is all so great. The journey inwards as well as outwards, so immense, so detailed, so concrete, so ethereal, so full of contrasts, mindblowing moments and mundanity.....who can resist the ride, the view, the journey, the people and the places???? Allyca
And, a warning note: If you haven't already guessed, I'm an alliteration addict ...I hope you can put up with it. I'll try to keep it under control, and who knows, I may eventually get sick of it. However for the time being, the sounds and rhythmic cadences are music to the soul - with their silky sounds, they tantalise the tongue, soothe the psyche, and are just plain fun to play around with!!
Travel Blog Posts
January 9th 2010
The drive back down to Chandigarh from Shimla was lovely. We left fairly early in the morning, the air was crisp and clear and there was very little traffic. The trip down took only 3.5 hours this time (an hour and a half less than going up). Chandigarh is a large modern city with wide tree lined avenues. It was planned and designed, starting in 1947, to be the new capital of the Punjab, after Lahore the previous capital was allocated to Pakistan. There are lovely parks ad gardens, a beautiful lake, walled communities and the whole apperance is very tidy and clean. The city is set out in sectors.; there are street maps, and apparently a ban on industrial activity (and home businesses?) which seems to have been effective in limiting the air pollution. We ... read more
January 8th 2010
After a short night in Delhi following our late arrival on the plane, it was an early morning start to catch the train to Kalka and then drive to Shimla a lovely tourist town in the Indian Himalayas, which is the capital of the Himanchal Pradesh (State). The weather was very very foggy, so we detrained at Chandigarh and drove from there to Shimla - around 100km, but about a 4.5 - 5 hour trip by car. The road is very windy and keeps going higher and higher ands deeper and deeper into the mountains. On the way up, there were no large rivers like in Nepal, where we hugged the edges of river gorges, but it many ways it was as picturesque, if not more so - there were many more trees and hills covered ... read more
January 4th 2010
Our next stop was Swayambunath temple complex which is also colloquially known as the "monkey temple". It was pretty amazing, and defintely another 'must see'. It is apparently Kathmandu's most important Buddhist shrine (not sure where Boudanath Stupa fits in the rating scale, beacuse it would also certainly seem to lay claim to this?). Anyway, the temple is apparentlyaround 2000 years old. Its name means 'self created' . The legend goes that Kathmandu valley was once a great lake and a beautiful lotus grew in the center of the lake, and when the bodhisattva Manjusri drained the lake with a slash of his sword, this lotus flower settled on top of the hill and magically transformed into the stupa. Thus it is known as the Self-Created (swayambhu) Stupa. Walking up gthe steps to the stupa and ... read more
January 4th 2010
The great stupa at Boudhanath is really something...It is one of the world's largest stupas as well as probably being the most important outside Tibet ,and despite it being clearly a very sacred religious site, the square and buildings around the stupa had quite a 'European" look, which all added to the womderful mixture and beautiful mixture of sights and sounds. There were many many monks walking around - one we met had gone the wrong way and when he realised it broke into the most luminous smile I have seen for a very long time - it totally transformed his face - as he laughed with us. In the midst of all the pilgrims doing the kora (prostrating themselves around the dome) or walking around and turning the prayer wheels, on the other side of ... read more
January 4th 2010
Arrived in Kathmandu a few days ago...not really expecting to enjoy our stay here as much (not only did the guide books and newspapers say was very polluted, over touristy with traffic problems, the locals from Kathmandu that we met in Pokhara also echoed these sentiments)... So it was somewhat to our (very pleasant) surprise, that in spite of the pollution and traffic, we have thoroughly enjoyed Kathmandu - it is such an interesting city, so many nooks and crannies to explore, awesome temples and old buildings, etc. Will certainly be looking at coming back to Kathmandu as a hub for visits to Bhutan and Tibet. However, must say our luck held again - in that there was a stir (strike) on our first day sightseeing so everything was very quiet, only traffic on the roads ... read more
January 2nd 2010
After a lovely stopover at Bandipur, it was back on the road to Kathmandu....and the road journey itself was so interesting it was worth its own blog we thought. As mentioned in our previous blog on the way to Pokhara, it was so picturesque, with the cliffside dwellings, the cable cars and suspension bridges, the traffic jams, truck decorations etc. Will let the pictures speak for themselves. ... read more
January 2nd 2010
From Pokhara we traveled back on the road we had come, then turned up a winding road that took us high into the mountains to a tiny, very picturesque Newari village called Bandipur. A short stop for a night in what evoked thoughts of Shangri La with the juxtaposition of so many tropical plants, so high in the mountains above the cloud line and overlooking the terraced hillsides (unfortunately all harvested as it is winter) We could look out on the Annapurna range from our balcony. (You can just see it above the clouds in one of the pictures) Being winter, there was a lot of mist, but we did get some clear views of the ranges in the morning, before the cloud drifted across again. (Spring is the time for clear skies) The village itself ... read more
January 1st 2010
From Chitwan it was on to Pokhara, a beautiful tourist town with views of the Annapura range. The drive from Chitwan in the lowlands of Nepal on winding roads up through the mountains was glorious. So many small homes/business huts perched on the cliff side, where people were providing food oe services for the travellers. The road was very busy with all the traffic to Kathmandu, particularly the trucks. However, it was in much better repair than we expected and felt much safer (I'm not too brave when it comes to heights and edges), although we did come across a few overturned trucks which caused major hassles for the traffic flow. The trip took several hours but really was utterly beautiful as we hugged the sides gorges overlooking beautiful rivers. inyterspersed with suspension bridges, self pull ... read more
December 30th 2009
The next day was even better than the first...we started off at 7:00am with a bullock ride, canoed down the river past crocodiles in the river and on the bank (but they were still a bit too cold and sleepy to be a worry) walked through the forest with our guide trying to locate a rhino (which we did) went to the Elephant Breeding Centre, came back for a lunch, then off on an elephant safari ride through the forest for the afternoon, where we again ghot very close to a lot of rhinos and deer. After we finished that, we both went back again to the Elephant Races festival further up the road More on the forest walk to find a rhino...Alan was absolutely wrapt...our guide took us walking off through some tracks, as he'd ... read more
December 29th 2009
Finally...we arrive at Chitwan with much anticipation...so looking forward to elephant safaris, rhinocerous etc in the wild...a real nature hit after so much civilisation, cities, villages and people.. And it lived up to all hopes and expectations (tghough we are told there are other nature reserves in Nepal with more animals). Stayed at Chitwan Adventure Lodge on a sfari package and the 2 day stay was packed with adventure and events. While some of the baackpacker Guide Books say it is getting a bit too topuristy, we let ourselves go with the flow enjoy the touristy bits and had a wonderful time. Again, we lucked in...The Annual International Elephant Races were on over the 3 day period 26th - 28th Decembera at Sauhara just down the dirtroad through the villages about 1km away from the lodge. ... read more
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