**Look For Pictures Here in a Couple of Days - this computer won't let me upload them***** Today is ANZAC day, the day during which New Zealanders remember their war veterans. I had picked up a poppy, different from those that we wear in Canada (made of a crepe sort of material) and was wearing it. The Greenhouse backpackers was super, and we slept well. Its a converted school house, and was very cozy. I especially liked the cat. He was originally named "Nuts", but his owner had him nuetered and now he is named, you guessed it - "Nonuts"!! Leaving [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! Eric and I have been busy travelling around the North Island of New Zealand since our arrival here last weekend. I haven't had time to blog! This one will need to be quick because I am meeting Eric in less than an hour, and there is so much to tell! Look for me to add more details to this entry at a later date! I took an early ferry to Vancouver on Friday and Simon was nice enough to meet me. We had lunch and then he dropped me at the airport where I caught the first leg of [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Jaipur after an interesting 7 hour bus ride on Tuesday night. The bus turned out to be a fairly standard Indian bus. It cost 140 rupees ($3.50) for the 250km trip from Agra to Jaipur. The bus was crowded - all the seats were taken, plus the bench around the driver. People stood in the aisles, and I suspect that there were people on the roof. I sat in the front, which is a rather thrilling place to be on an Indian bus. It is slightly more comfortable, because of the bumps being lessened at the front, BUT [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Varanasi was a little bit more trouble than I would have thought. There was some confusion over my train ticket, and I spent several hours moving from car to car and class to class, before finally ending up with a bunk and a blanket around 1am. Luckily, the train was a little late, so I actually got some sleep! Even more lucky was that in the course of going back and forth and back and forth, I met the nicest family of five from France who were going to Agra too. The Fraval's are visiting India to see their daughter [View Full Entry]

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Varanasi is a very ancient city, on the bank of the Ganges (Ganga) river. Indians consider it sacred, and come to bath, wash clothes, perform 'puja' (sort of like worship) and cremate their dead here. I came mostly just to see the Ganges river, though there are plenty of other touristy things to see and do. Varanasi can be a dangerous city though, and I only planned to stay the day. I arrived on the train from Calcutta at around 1030am, and with my friend Annie headed to the hotel that she was staying at. Thank goodness I had met her, [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! I am working on a very long travel blog for the past few days, but I have to leave to get a train soon, and so I am not sure that I will finish it. Here in Calcutta (Kolkata) it is a very warm 22 degrees C, and doesn't quite feel like Christmas. I did see some tourists walking down Sudder St carolling though! I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'll be in Varansi, arriving in the morning on a train, and departing tomorrow night for Agra, so I might not [View Full Entry]

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Namaste/Nomoskar! Where to start with this entry? It has been an overwhelming last few days, and I am not sure where to start. Probably best to begin from when I last left you! After a reasonable dinner (but crappy service from the hotel resteraunt staff!), I had a wonderful sleep in my hotel (my room is an inner one, not facing the street), and woke late, around 9am. I had breakfast in resteraunt, as the buffet was complimentary. It was ok, but only the orange juice was very good. I sat with two charming older ladies, one british and one mexican [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! Hi from Kolkata (Calcutta)! I arrived here yesterday from Hyderabad after a 37 hour train journey. The bus from Goa to Hyderabad was not as bad as the one from Jaisalmer to Hyderabad, but not as good as the one from Pune to Goa. At any rate, I didn't sleep well and I was cold the whole trip. Indians sure know how to air condition! I tried to warm up with some hot chocolate at one of my stops, but it was pretty disgusting milk, which had been boiled and then had a scoop of gritty chocolate powder dumped in... [View Full Entry]

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After finishing my blog yesterday I changed into my swimsuit under my skirt and headed beachward. I was almost immediately offered a dolphin tour, but wandered around a little more, checking things out. On return, I initially agreed, but when I saw the small boat I changed my mind. Plus, I wanted to go with a group and not by myself. Siteseeing alone on the ocean sounds like a recipe for disaster in my mind!! So I switched to a larger 12 pax boat and we pushed off. Travelling out onto the Arabian Sea it was more than 20 minutes before [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! I am now at the southern-most part of my trip, in Goa. Colva Beach is in South Goa and it is a small town of less than 10, 000. I arrived very early yesterday morning, about 5 am into the slightly larger town of Margao, and took a rickshaw here. I waited around near the beach for a bit more light before trying to find a place to stay. I tried two before finding room at Graciano Cottages. They aren't, as the name implies, cottages, but reasonable rooms with bathrooms. I got a non-ac room on the second floor [View Full Entry]

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