So after a long absence in writing blogs, the time has come again for regular updates, to start with a short recap of what has happened in the last 3 month. Well after getting back from India in February, the plan was to get into a medical trial as quick as possible and return back within one and a half month. But things don't always go as planned and this was no exception. The right trial never materialised or at least it took a long time for one to come along that paid enough and I found acceptable. Actually there was [View Full Entry]

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So after traveling India for 8 month I have finally made it to Rajasthan! Now I too will be able to talk to all those hip young people traveling India! Because until now my destinations within India mostly drew blank faces... Everybody seems to go to Rajasthan, this is one of the reasons I wasn't drawn to it! I feared the hassles that accompany such an amount of tourism... But it was time and I also thought it would be a nice thing for my parents to see (not the hassles of course, but the sights!) because there is a reason [View Full Entry]

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One of the longest hotel corridors must be located in Jamnagar at the Ashiana hotel and our room was at the end of this mile long hallway... But you can say it was worth the walk, it was a big spacious room and with a view of what could have been a nice park, were it not for the usual piles of garbage... Instead it was a haven for mosquitos! Jamnagar was where Tori was going to leave us to go back to Calcutta and fly home... Knowing her love for birds, we decided to go to Khijadiya bird sanctuary the [View Full Entry]

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First of all, Happy New Year to all of you! Now I have got that out of the way, it is time to tell a bit about our New Years celebrations in Diu... It all started with Tori and I picking up my parents from Diu airport... A very small airport it is, and we were not allowed inside the grounds... No we had to wait outside the gates... But soon after the plane landed Tori spotted my mother running out of the arrival hall waving frantically at us! They had arrived! I had been looking forward to seeing them since [View Full Entry]

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Anybody who as ever tried to take a photo of an interesting building anywhere in India knows what I mean with that title... It's just impossible to take it without the usual tangle of electricity, phone and who knows what kind of wires in front of it... Even in the pristine mountain environments there seems to be wires dangling around... Most probably not even used and leading nowhere in particular... Maybe put up, just to thwart us of taking that perfect photo... Well enough of that... Ever been to the Ellora caves near the holiday season? If you are planning on [View Full Entry]

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After leaving the paradise that was the Andaman’s, we decided to ease our way back into India... And the best way to do that is go to some well known destinations, which are easy to reach and where little thinking or planning is required... First stop, Hampi, once the capital of India's largest and strongest Hindu empire, now a great place to relax in between some fantastic landscapes and evocative ruins... Hampi is blessed with some incredible monuments... You don't have to go far to visit them, as parts of them are in the middle of this little village... One can [View Full Entry]

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So what's that all about you might wonder? Well one of the items that was crossed out on our Spice jet flight to Port Blair on the Andaman Islands apart from the usual lighters and knives was pickles and spices... I was trying to figure out why pickles and spices are deemed unfit to carry in your hand luggage... Could you possibly threaten somebody with a pickle? Or maybe it is the combination, you could make a spicy pickle grenade... 'Ladies and Gentlemen, we are hijacking this plane, if you don't do as we tell you we will stuff pickles down [View Full Entry]

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After our quick getaway from Kolkata and it's hartals it was time for a bit of relaxation in Puri... And in the nick of time too, as Victoria managed to acquire some nasty stomach bugs and was tied to the bed for several days, with cold fevers, cramps and all the other things that those little critters can do to us... At first I thought it might be Malaria or Dengue fever, so we went to the hospital where they send us to a clinic to have a blood test done... It came out negative on all the serious diseases, which [View Full Entry]

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And the answer is to stare! Yes Bangladesh is certainly a country of starers... But it is friendly and curious stares and when you flash the gazers a smile, you will see a sea of smiles returning... Give them the Muslim greeting of Salaam Alaikum and you will have made a thousand friends! Not many tourists go to Bangladesh, which is unfortunate, because it has a lot to offer... Friendly locals, historic sights, beaches, beautiful and serene countryside’s, and an interesting culture... On top of this the country is a lot cheaper than India... Bangladesh is also a country of cycle [View Full Entry]

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Ok, I am not that inspired today, but I will do my best to entertain you with yet another blog... After Bhutan I picked up Victoria in Calcutta... I met her in London during my stint as a guinea pig... She was staying in the same hostel as me and took the daring step of deciding to travel with me in India for a while... We stayed in Calcutta for a few days, both of us resting from either jetlag or in my case a long bus journey down to Calcutta from Bhutan... As it turned out, it was the time [View Full Entry]

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