Phew! We took a local train today and it was stinky!!!!!!!!! Our new accomodation however was most satisfactory - Castle Bijaipur - in fact it was awesome with a stunning pool and great day beds and areas to hang out spread throughout the castle. We had the place to ourselves and given it was our last chance to drink before hitting Pushkar - drinks on the balcony were arranged. We also took a tour throughoutn the village and stopped off to have Chai tea with our landlords two sons. [View Full Entry]

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Bundi has to be one of my favourite places so far! Just the feel of the place - not too fast yet plenty to see and do ... and great shopping! We arrived in the afternoon and took a walk through the bustling, narrow and winding streets and up a massive hill to the Bundi Palace and Taragarh (fort). This was the most difficult walk I've done in a while and my ankles let me know it (some training required before trekking in Nepal I think). From the Taragarh (fort) we watched the sun set over the beautiful Brahmin-blue houses that [View Full Entry]

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Today we travelled by jeep to Amber Palace which was the ancient capital of Jaipur. Next ... Jaipur also known as "The Pink City" because in 1876 Maharaja Ram Singh had the entire city painted pink, a colour associated with hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales. Jaipur is pretty chaotic with every type of vehicle fighting for it's piece of road and honking it's horn in order to get it.. and of course lets not forget the obligatory cows that wander across main intersections. Whilst Jaipur really is the place to shop, the only thing I wanted was a pair [View Full Entry]

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Today we travelled by local bus (which wasn't too uncomfortable) and then by jeep into rural Rajasthan to a village called Madhogarh. As we drove through the town, children appeared from everywhere to wave and yell "hello" as we passed. Our accomodation for the night was a fort on the top of a ridge that is still occupied by descendants of the local Maharajah. This has the be the best accomodation we've stayed in so far... we really felt like royalty. After lunch we took a walk into the village which was like walking back in time. These people don't see [View Full Entry]

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I wouldn't have thought that a bird sanctuary would excite me - but getting so close to nature was fantastic! Andy ... at least I know you'll like the photos!!!! With a good monsoon comes more than 400 species of local and migrating birds some of which we saw up close from our cycle rickshaw just prior to sunset. Before it was world heritage listed and turned into a park, the area was used by the Maharajah and his guests for duck shooting. Park records show that on November 1938 a total of 4273 ducks were shot - not a great [View Full Entry]

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Today we caught the bus to Bharatpur and visited the Mughal kingdom of Fatephur Sikri which was the capital for 14 years in the 16th century. The Emperor "Akbar" was known for his tolerance to other religions and he built the "perfect city" to honour the Sufi mystic Shaikh Salim Chishti whom Akbar credited with bringing him a male heir. Sadly the positioning of the city lead to water shortages and it was abandoned shortly after Akbar died. We climbed many stairs from the township to the 54 meter high gate "Buland Darwaza" or Victory Gate (the largest in Asia). Inside [View Full Entry]

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Today was the most fantastic day !!!!!!! We had an early start by train to Agra, dumped our packs and jumped on a cycle-rickshaw and headed to the Red Fort. I had never heard of the Red Fort and yet it's one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen in my life. We had a fantastic guide who was able to paint the best picture of what it would have been like back the 15th and 16th century... the opulence ! The Maharajahs had truely blessed lives with many wives (anywhere between 3 and 12) and concubines of between 900 [View Full Entry]

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After many months of planning I can't believe that I'm finally in India. It's bloody freezing here which is a bit of a shock to the system after Bangkok which was so hot I checked myself into a hotel with a roof top pool (hard life I know). Day one I met Manish (a rickshaw driver) who drove me into the centre of Delhi so I could pick up a Lonely Planet and grab something to eat (as I couldn't read anything on the menu and had no idea what to order). We had a great day just hanging out and [View Full Entry]

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After almost 2 months of travelling - it was so wonderful to see friends from home - Fiona, Tori, CK, Robbie and my roomie Nadia!! Christmas Eve they snuck me into the Majestic Hotel Gala (in Aussie accent as in the bird "Gal-ar"). Pink drinks all round and questionable buffett. Christmas Day was spent gorging ourselves at the Sheraton - now they know how to put on a feast. All you can eat and drink for 4 hours!!!!! December 27 we flew to Hoi An (Vietnams international seaport from the 16th - 19th Century) located on the bank of the Thu [View Full Entry]

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Yay - Hannah and Sarah from NZ arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (I love a good reunion)! We took a tour out to the Cu Chi Tunnels that were pivotal to the victory over the Americans and South Vietnamese Armies. It was pretty mind blowing stuff. Essentially Cu Chi farmers and Viet Cong were forced underground constructing around 200kms of tunnels over a 10 year period at various depths. There were simple yet deadly booby traps made of bamboo everywhere throughout the tunnels, just in case any American soldiers were able to first locate the tunnels and then squeze their [View Full Entry]

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