http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/CamraMaan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from CamraMaan en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:45:36 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:45:36 +0000 And this time for no good reason. It took me a couple days of traveling to get back down to Palolem Goa and internet wasn't really an option until I got down here. Then it sunk in again relaxation. Plus I was kind of scared about sitting down and trying to recap so much time that hadn't been covered yet. So much happens every day that I can't do justice to it all but I really want to. So http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-256367.html First my deepest apologies for not posting another entry since I got back from our trek But know it wasn't out of disregard for your concerns it was out of a lack of internet availability. I am now safe and sound in Varanasi again but I have always been safe so don't worry. Our trek lasted eight days and there was no internet available anywhere along the trails and once we got back to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-254179.html A lot to say but no time to say it. Nothing bad all good. But we're now in Pokhara and about to leave on our trek the taxi is waiting. Just wanted to get an message out real quick in case we can't get online in the next week we expect to be gone for about 7 days. We may indeed have internet up there but just in case... you now know where we are. I guess that wouldn't hurt we're going http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Pokhara/blog-250155.html Although this one is much different to say the least. Hampi which I mispelled Humpi before I read it written that way once and assumed that was correct is an 8 hour train ride east of Goa and is an ancient temple complex up a little into the hills. There is a small town that has sprung up around the temple complex and across the river is a bunch of hotels and restaurants. First impressi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Hampi/blog-245532.html Quick update... and I wrote out a nice post yesterday before my computer promptly crashed and lost everything so here goes again.I know you're asking why paradise lost... and its not because we haven't been in paradise because in so many ways Palolem Goa is close. I've been able to relax here like I've never been able to relax before and thats no joke. I've had a string of days here whe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-244393.html And it wasn't Kovalam While I was sad to leave there it was more due to the people I had met both travelers and locals rather than the beach and town itself. The place is seriously too touristy and I was very glad to be done with that Yesterday we hopped on a boat in Kollam and went on a very nice eight hour Kerala backwater tour which ended in Allepey where we caught a taxi to Cochin fo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-242701.html Nope this has nothing to do with gambling. If you leave someone to do your work for you in India you can almost expect something to go wrong or different than you had planned usually from a communication error and yesterday we had our first big one. We booked our taxi Kerala backwater tour and flight up to Goa yesterday and the travel agent guy said it would likely take him a half hou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kovalam/blog-241023.html So to quickly update on the last post we ended up getting the semisleeper bus so the seats didn't recline quite as much but it was good enough for us.Now we're in Kovalam or Kovallam and the relaxation has truly set in The beach is wonderful and the water is very warm the sun is also unfortunately too hot For those who know me they are probably already saying Ha You got burned http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kovalam/blog-239970.html So yeah not too much to add. I found out last night that our future planned train ride to Kovalam had very limited seating in the near future... the only hope would be to catch the train tonight and arrive in the morning or wait about a week until the next available seats were open or go waitlisted which with three people well it keeps you a little too anxious not knowing exactly which tr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238952.html John took some Cipro for his stomach last night and all better this morning. Kevin had taken his antibiotic yesterday morning before the train ride and took some more this morning and he's doing good as well. As for myself that weird stomach feeling was nothing... didn't take anything more than a vile of the Chinese medicine my dentist recommend I pick up and I've had no problems to speak http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238621.html Well it got Kevin but not me not yet. And it of curse had to happen the night before we leave at 730am the next morning on a train for 8 12 hours Of course So to make a long story short Kevin picked up some bug that had him puking all night and feeling like he would be better off dead... but its nothing some hardcore antibiotics couldn't fix But after looking like a ghost all night http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238426.html So we flew out of Delhi yesterday on IndiGo Airlines and arrived in Chennai which is down south in Tamil Nadu a southeastern coastal state with much hotter and more humid weather than Delhi which got pretty cold at night. We've had a few surprises. First IndiGo Airlines is a local budget airline and my last experience in India with budget flights was literally scary to say the least http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-237961.html Well its day two and all is well We arrived yesterday morning and by the evening it had all came back to me... the walk the talk the... everything Except I had really forgotten how clever the Kashmiri salesmen are. They dress the best the always look sharp they speak the best English as well as like five other languages and they are the hardest to get rid of You feel like you shou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-237092.html I'll keep this short ha like I ever do... I leave tomorrow with a good friend Kevin and a new friend we met online as a travel partner John as we embark on a two month journey through India and Nepal Kathmandu Valley. It is my second trip to these areas but the first for both Kevin and John... so by default I'm kind of the group leader... and if you knew me you'd be scared OK not http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-236092.html