http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JannaB/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JannaB en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:11:47 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:11:47 +0000 See ya later China....Enter Hong Kong......After the mega mission on the overnight train from Guilin to Shenzhen we crossed the border from China to Hong Kong. Not having enough of trains for one day we then boarded another train followed by the Metro and finally arrived to Kowloon Island where we were staying. Exhausted and starving I slumped on the hotel bed and indulged in the pot noodles http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-215591.html We are really getting used to these overnight trains in China.....So from Xi'an we spent the night enjoying or not so much enjoying the delicacies of chinese rice wine to pass the time of the almost 14 hour train ride to Wuchang. After what felt like the longest night ever we arrived at Wuchang and swiftly made our way towards the Yangtze River. On our way to Yichang we passed through some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-215578.html After spending more than three months in India it was quite sad to be leaving....although further along the trail one must go.More aeroplanes here we come......we flew from Delhi to Singapore to Beijing 3 countries in less than 24 hours.....and we were knackered I think I was still in India mode and when we arrived in Beijing it was quite a shock to the system. I don't really know what I was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-214673.html I have to dedicate an entire entry to this place as it is so incredibly close to my heartNahdi and I didn't really know where to head next after Amritsar.....I was thinking either Varanasi or Udaipur.....but then after talking to a few locals in the know we decided to make Rishikesh our final destination in India....and boy did we make the right decisionRishikesh is said to be the Yoga Capita http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-199518.html Amritsar is the spiritual and cultural centre of the Sikh Religion and home of the famous 'Golden Temple' The Harmandir Sahib. Sikh devotees for whom the Temple is a symbol of infinite freedom and spiritual independence come to the Temple from all over the world to enjoy its environs and offer their prayers.The temple is just amazing and probably my favourite temple so far. We decided to s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Punjab/Amritsar/blog-212029.html Well from the desert to the complete opposite.....the foothills of the Himalayas An overnight train and then wake up to such a dramatic change of scenery. India has everythingOur first stop was Shimla.....which didn't even seem to fit the Indian mould it looked way more European reminded me especially of Bosnia. It's a place where Indians go for their holidays....so not many foreign to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/blog-199512.html With a teary departure from London it was time to yet again venture to the country incredibly close to my heart and full of extremes and diverse landscapes.I arrived in Mumbai and had 10 hours to wait till Nahdi's plane arrived from Sydney. After spending what felt like all day at the airport we found a great little sactuary in Colaba Bay Bentley's Hotel which was perfect during the monsoon r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-197956.html The alarm goes off at 3am......After only two hours sleep and too much beer from The Roots concert the night before ..... up and on the road again for the next adventure.....IrelandI'm amazed at how many people are looking so brighteyed and bushytailed at Stansted Airport at 430am......I'm somehow running on adrenaline momentum from the night before But brighteyes and bushytails seem a wo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Cork/Blarney/blog-195889.html Well this month in London surely went very quickly....as the old saying goes time really does fly when you're having funOther than my two little trips away to Ireland and Belgium I spent the rest of the time being pampered eating and drinking going to gigs and just chilling out What more could one ask forThe Roots concert at Somerset House rocked. Such a great venue in the summer right http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-195892.html Edward told me to bring my passport ... and that's all I needed.... He'd packed a bag and we were on our way to Waterloo Train Station when I guessed where we were heading.....one of my favourite European countries.....Belgium.....the land of beer and chocolate Edward had treated us with first class on the Eurostar...so we enjoyed a champagne brunch and nice comfy seats and service for our 3 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/East-Flanders/Gent/blog-186734.html Well time keeps on ticking way too quickly for my liking I've now been in the UK for 2 weeks and it feels like I never left It's been really great catching up with old friends and colleagues from when I used to live here. Edward has planned loads of surprises for me....so we've been pretty busy every day and night since I arrived The first surprise were tickets to see Tori Amos....to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-181938.html For another of the weekends during the Ayurveda course I took a solo adventure down south to a little place called 'Kochi'.... and had SUCH an awesome time right from start to finish I got the 5am train and met 2 lovely Indian ladies sitting next to me.....everyone was so nice to me all weekend.....I've never had so many smiles and waves from strangers I especially liked the old man who http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-179116.html We get the weekends off from the course so we decided to take a trip to the beautiful and lush Wildlife Sanctuary....... After about 4 hours of driving up windy roads through mountains we arrived at our hotel and we all thought ooooooh fancy posh nice....... and we went to checkin only to find that we all needed passports and of course I hadn't brought mine ...... Minor catastrophe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Wayanad/blog-179103.html To further my insight into the amazing ancient wisdom that India has to offer I decided to do an Ayurveda Panchakarma course...... Ayurveda 'knowledge of life' is an ancient system of holistic health science that has existed for over 5000 years. Panchakarma is a collection of purificationdetoxification techniques that are prescribed for some diseases and periodic cleansing rejuvination pu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kannur/blog-179086.html So the last month at the Ashram was pretty tough going.....ya know....we had to share a room get up early be completely silent during all meals stick to a schedule no electricity during the peak of 40 degrees etc etc.... So to make up for that 'tough life' and everything we'd learnt about nonposessiveness nonattachment and simple living...... Arrival at Manaltheeram Resort Kerala ..... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Trivandrum-/blog-177944.html So here I am in Nashik.....about 170km 6 hours on a nonairconditioned bus from Mumbai..... The Ashram Yoga Vidya Dham is surrounded by such beauty.....mountains that resemble temples and such an expanse of beautiful nature. It's very sacred and spiritual land and you can feel the energy of the place The perfect setting to wake up before sunrise and start chanting mantras and meditating http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Nashik/blog-176765.html What a luxurious entrance into India...living it up in style in the first class lounge in Singapore and then the good ol' 'Inlaws'....I will start from the beginning... Had a good flight from Sydney to Singapore....where Kylie was waiting for me at arrivals....not only with an excited scream but with a ticket for us to go to the first class lounge Not being a regular 'First class Lounger' mys http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-176757.html