http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JenGui/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JenGui en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:25:21 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:25:21 +0000 Thats pretty much all that was going on for us in Fort Kochin.We stayed in a cute little guesthouse in a cute little lane. It was a cute little room for a cute little price.But the cute little mamma who ran the place somehow forgot to mention to us that because of the cute little window in the room...THAT WE WERE GONNA BE COOKED ALIVE. We have NEVER been that hot in our lives.We were truly in a a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-401823.html Our first destination sans Jasmine. It was hard to go on but we had to for the memory of the teamYes yes it was brief encounter our visit in Allepey.I do believe that we only stayed two nights. The main attraction is the backwaters boat rides. There is a system of beautiful and calm canals and rivers that run throughout the countryside. And tourists have been MAJORLY taken care of here as http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Allepey/blog-401822.html And so it was the last stop on our fabulous journey with our beloved friend Jasmine. After Kannur we would be parting ways. Jasmine was on her way out of the country infact. And we would be carrying on further south.We thought that Kannur would be a great place to end things off as it is famous for the traditional Hindu Theyyam ritual.We were really interested to check it out.It is supposedly http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kannur/blog-401816.html What a fabulous little Garden of Eden that we found ourselves in. Oh boy.We surely enjoyed our time spent at the Honey Valley Estate.Not the easiest place to get to but definately not the hardest either. Just a few bus transfers a bit of waiting around in random small towns and then finally waiting at the junction at the bottom of the hill for the Honey Vally jeep to pick us up.Once we got there http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Coorg/blog-390302.html Yes its true. And we were definately interested. So we went to Bylakuppe not so far from Mysore.Its a bit of land that the Indian government gave to Tibetan exiles in 1959. Its an incredibly interesting place to visit and unfortunately we coudn't stay for very long. The village requires any tourist wishing to stay longer than 24 hours to have a permit. That we didn't have. So we arrived in the a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-390293.html We liked Mysore we really did. Its just unfortunate the events that transpired during our visit.First and formost we took a night train from Hampi to Bangalore. It was a most pleasant ride and seemed to pass in a jiffy. Lovely. Though obviously it wasn't a very hard or restful sleep.When we arrived in Bangalore at 6am we were a bit tired but needed to find a bus to get to Mysore since we we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Mysore/blog-382537.html Have you ever dreamt of a place where tropical colonial beachy hippy and russians coexist If so Arambol is the place for you. Arambol is one of the last bastion of hippiness in the world. I can tell you as a witness that this movement is defenitely on its last breath and morphing into something quite strange. Notheless it was really awesome for us to arrive there. Jasmine was browner than au http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/blog-382523.html The three musketeers set forth unto a new adventure.Well sort of new for some of us.In our absence Jasmine had visited a few places and decided that she liked it so much that she wanted to go back to Hampi with us. Were were really happy to hear that since it was definately on the top of our list of things to do and weren't sure how we were going to convince her to go back there with us.Things http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Hampi/blog-382505.html After Mumbai we headed for a little visited area known as the Kokan coast where palm trees neglected medieval forts and golden beaches dominate the landscape.Our first stop was Murud which is about 5 hours south of Mumbai by a combination of boat bus and rickshaw.The place exudes a relaxed summercottagebythe sea vibe indian style of course which means kids are playing cricket on the beach http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/blog-382513.html Arriving to Mumbai by train is quite a shock even for 2 people who have been traveling in India for 3 months and think that they have seen it all. The shock comes in the scale. Sure weve seen poverty in India up to this point it is omnipresent but seeing the amount of squalid slums that surround Mumbai is truly heart breaking and baffles the mind. It is pretty much a continuous sight for 2 ho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-381847.html Leaving Diu was no easy task. First of all we had made some very good friends Anne and Cesar that we had become quite attached to. Second of all its just so damn nice there But the pull of seeing new things is very strong and we managed to leave the sedated easy going grip of this little slice of Portugal in India on the most Indian form of transport The sleeper bus.These are buses that have http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Gujarat/Vadodara-/blog-381843.html How we love you.Take all of that tension and stress from the past 8 weeks of travelling in this country and just let it melt melt melt away.I am not ashamed to admit that though I was not fully aware of what was happening at the time I was most certainly functioning on my very last nerve when we arrived here in Diu.Of course the regular stresses of travelling in India had been accumulating bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Daman-and-Diu/Diu/blog-381831.html Fresh out of the Aravali Hospital Jenny and I decided to head South to the little visited state of Gujarat. If you've never heard of this place Gujawhat then here's a crash course on everything there is to know about itIts Gandhi's birthplacebooze is illegalthe last name Patel comes from here its the state below Rajasthaneverybody's got an uncle in TorontoOur first stop was Ahmedabad w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Gujarat/blog-381815.html Our time in Udaipur seriously took a sharp turn that we did not expect.Upon our arrival we were incredibly excited and easily convinced to try out one of the wonderfully described restaurants that was mentioned in our guidebook. And after not having eaten much on the bus that day we well deserved what we were getting ourselves into.As it turned out we walked ourselves right into one of the slickes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-381808.html Oh how sweet it is. We love Pushkar. With a slower pace than most places we have been it gave us a perfect place to just chill out. And you know how much we love to do that.Some highlights there are SO manyThe city is set upon the seriously sacred lake where even Gandhis ashes were spread. Its a very peaceful and serene place to just sit and absorb the atmosphere. There are bathing ghats. lik http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-364649.html Hot desert sun pale blue buildings enormous fort rising up from a hill in the middle of the city...its just the place we hoped for to spend the christmas holidays.We had all sorts of pleasant surprises coming our way in Jodhpur.Jasmine and I discovered one of our new favorite things...Makhaniya Lassi. A lassi yogurt drink flavored with cardamom saffron and rose water Eeek Its most enjoyable http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-363016.html On the way to Jaisalmer we had a really comfortable bus. But the curious thing that occurred was that we were cruising along and then...stopped. Not so unusual in ANY bus but it soon turned curious.We realized that the whole road was being held up but by what we didnt know. The line of vehicles seemed to go on for MILES. So we sat and waited having no idea why when it soon became evident. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-364630.html Second time around in Delhi. It was an unavoidable stop on our route. But a welcome stop since we all had a few errands to run.We were warmly welcomed back into the city by swarms of autorickshaw drivers trying to seriously rip us off. Then ignoring and disappearing after we purchased a prepaid ticket so that they would not have to settle for the REAL price of the ride. But after a traffic offi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-362382.html Mmmm. After having to rewire Guillaume brain to make his realize that he needed to go we DID in fact make it to Agra. Home to the beloved Taj Mahal.I was mostly sick during our time there unfortunately. But from what I heard from my trustworthy travel companions aside from the street food it aint so glorious.The Taj Mahal on the other hand is a completely different story. My whole life I hav http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-362375.html Orccha was a really neat little place to stop over for two days. Too bad that the food wasn't better or we may have stayed a little longer. That can ALWAYS make or break a place for us.The town itself is actually a town not a large city like we have been visiting as of late.The journey to get there turned out to be much more complicated and long than we had imagined.From Lucknow we had booked http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Madhya-Pradesh/Orchha/blog-362361.html