Cockle - Nick C

Hi and welcome to my travel blog!!!
Im an English guy from Essex who has spent the last 5 years living in Sweden.
Have travelled extensively in Israel, Egypt and parts of Europe.
I now have the travel bug again and have decided that there is more to life than widescreen plasma tv's, cinema effect surround systems and 24mbs broadband connections :)

Currently in India where I will be travelling for around 3 months taking in Nepal in the process. From there I will be heading down to Sri Lanka for 10 days and then to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before working my way up to China.

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Joined on: August 28th 2007
Last Login: May 10th 2008

Blog Entries: 18
Photos: 465

TB Code: [blogger=46288]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Cockle, order by Date newest first.

By Cockle
April 28th 2008

Aurangabad Stopover

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Aurangabad

Bibi-qa-Maqbara
Another of India's declarations to love.

Well, fortune has smiled on me yet again. Thanks to the renowned inefficiency of the Indian rail network, I didn’t miss my stop! The journey from Hyderabad to Aurangabad involves you waking up at 3:45am or thereabouts so that you don’t miss your stop at 4:05am. I set 2 alarms as I usually do, but they simply didn’t go off…..either of them, which left me feeling well miffed when I woke up and realised that it was 5:10am and I was well and truly up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The train was due to stop at its final stop [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 26th 2008

Where's my health insurance document???

Asia » India » Andhra Pradesh » Hyderabad

It feels like ive somehow been magically whisked over the border!!!

It doesn’t rain it pours…… then again I suppose how long can you get away with travelling in a developing country before getting some ailment or another??? Limited to one foot for the last day or so, ive been hobbling my way round Hyderabad, (much to the amusement of the indigenous population) determined not to allow some expired freshwater mollusc remnant to have the last laugh … ohh no….that river crossing at Hampi may well of been convenient, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it bare foot….. nasty things can happen, trust me… I know…. Arriving in Hyderabad on the overnight bus, [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 23rd 2008

Things can only get better....

Asia » India » Karnataka » Hampi

Mobile Towers
These huge constructions are mounted on wheels and are towed around town during ceremonies. They are understandably very difficult to stop or turn!

Ive come to the conclusion that the domain of the blog must surely be confined to that of solo travellers or couples who share the same barmy blogging interest. Ive spent so much time drinking beer, socialising and getting to know Ferrets over the last few days that I now get the feeling that I am letting my fan club down (3 people and a 15 year old cat called Edward) that I better take my proverbial finger out of my proverbial bottom and try to do some catching up!!! The journey up to Hospet was great….. The last time I [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 19th 2008

Tips, Bungs and Baksheesh.....

Asia » India » Karnataka » Mysore

St Philomenas
Impressive stuff!!!

Sometimes it really pays (literally) to get sidetracked and quite simply spend the day somewhere that you never intended to go anywhere near in the first place! I was seriously debating the logic of spending 6 hours on a bus just to see one small town, however, the bus was air conditioned and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I decided to bite the bullet, dump my main rucksack in the cloakroom at the train station and go. This decision was made even easier being as I had to check out of my hotel at 8am and my train [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 17th 2008

Fighter Planes and Grotty Trains

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore

Fighter Plane
Hindustan Industries first fighter prototype.

Ohh, deep resounding joy...I made it…. and while I might of exchanged one city for another, Bangalore or Bengaluru as its now know called, is much more business like and feels like it is almost always up on its feet, always on the go. Business probably is exactly what keeps this city going, one clue being the fact that everyone calls you Boss here instead of usual Sir! Being a huge and well developed military and industrial centre, not to mention the heart of the computer industry here in India, things are not cheap! It almost feels like my budget has [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 15th 2008

Help...get me outta here!!!

Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Madurai

Tower
admittedly the scaffolding does look quite impressive too!

So far my trip has been great …. Everything has more or less gone to plan and I haven’t really had anything to complain about…. well that was until now! Having had quite a long day of travelling, im very tired and the first thing I attempt to do on arriving at my new destination is to get some food. I find somewhere that looks very clean and hygienic and sit down waiting for the waiter to appear with a menu …… however about 15 minutes later a bemused looking woman comes up to me and asks me what I want, [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 13th 2008

Down South!

Asia » India » Kerala » Trivandrum

Plumera Acutifolia
These flowers are used in the production of musk and they smell wonderful :)

Time to get moving again!!! Trivandrum is only around 100km from the Southern most tip of India and will be about as far South as I go, where this country is concerned anyway. Not far from here, in late April, nature gives onlookers a great show. If you travel down to Cape Comorin, which is the Southern most point of India, you can see the sunset and the moonrise at the same time. Unfortunately ive arrived here a couple of weeks too early and by the time this starts happening, I hope to be on my way up to the famous [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 11th 2008

More chilling....

Asia » India » Kerala » Varkala

Palms Everywhere
Cliff top view looking South

Ive been on the move for the last 10 days or so now, so its time to chill out again, hit the beach and wind down for a couple of days. Varkala isn’t very big, its actually one of the smallest beaches ive seen so far here in India, however the vibe here is completely different to anywhere else. In some way it’s even more laid back and chilled out than Goa, which is saying something. I met up with Tim again (the guy from NZ who I went boating with) and we have quite simply just spent the last couple [View Full Entry]

By Cockle
April 9th 2008

Backwater Bender... and the Gentlemans game of Cricket!!!

Asia » India » Kerala » Allepey

Early morning on the Backwaters

There are several ways to get into the Backwaters of Kerala, some of them are easy, some of them hard work and some of them damned expensive. But if your going to come here then there is no point in scrimping and saving, if there is one place you need to splurge, then it is here. Listed in many lists as one of the 100, 1000 or 10 million things you have to do before you die, Kerala's Backwaters most definitely deserve their place in these listings. First of all, I decided to be a typical cheap skate and take the [View Full Entry]

I call this one "Guy supporting tree" !!!

By Cockle
April 7th 2008

My friends and other....creatures.....

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily

Going up!!!
Its a slow, long winding road on the way up to Kumily ...this is where Indian racing drivers learn to practice ...mainly using public buses!!!

Have you ever experienced 6Gs?? And no, its not the latest in mobile phone technology….. Well neither had I up until yesterday. Travelling from Kottayam to Kumily by bus with Kamakaze Ken as our bus driver was like spending 4 hours being tossed around the inside of a tumble dryer. I don’t know if its some kind of Indian machismo to drive fast and take corners like Nigel Mansell, I normally wouldn’t mind so much as hitting something in a bus (as long as it isn’t another bus) is akin to swatting flies, however, I didn’t take into account the fact [View Full Entry]

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