http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Kataline/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Kataline en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:42:15 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:42:15 +0000 After a year away It was time to come home. On the way home I had to stop in Kiev Ukraine. At the airport I was amazed that in the toilet I could wash my hand with hot water. ..This was an amazing year. It thought me not to take for granted many things. Before this trip I wouldn't even thought abot how amazing is that we have hot water or just plain running water electricity and all the likes http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/blog-295222.html back in Delhi My To Do List is long. I have to pack and get ready to fly home do all the souvenir shopping and meet some friends. Hopefully they will be able to answer my countless questions I have accumulated in the past 5 and a half months. Anasua and Anup my friends from Delhi hve invited me to visit their home and I had a chance to taste some delicious home cooked indian food while discuss http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-290616.html Amritsar the Mecca of the Sikh religion is really amazing. The friendly people makes all the difference. Needles to say the architecture is sublime.I wondered around the Golden Temple the holiest temples of the followers of Guru Nanak.I hope you will like he pics Amritsar a Sikh vallas Mekkaja fantasztikus hely. Baratsagos emberek es kaprazatos epiteszeti remekmuvek jellemzik a varost mel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Punjab/Amritsar/blog-290615.html I am a Blonde Chick travelling around the world My friend Kat has saved me from certain death in a form of chewing salivating or tearing apart by eager children when she purchased me in the Railway station in Kosice. She told me that we are going to travel around the world. I broke the news to her that I already have traveled a lot I hatched in China and I showed to her my tag of origin.Y http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-273059.html I was sitting in Namgyal cafe and watched as the clouds seeped in from the valley. They came in from the lower lands and now they are enveloping the tiny village and dissolving in front of my eyes. I am sipping hot chocolate and listening to the soft music. I just enjoy the moment. I'm loving it. The temperature is cool. It is raining but I know I can feel that this place is magical.Mc Leod Gan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Mcleod-Ganj/blog-290613.html You Should Wash your Sins Off in the Ganga Told me a couple of months ago a vedic astrologer Mohan what a waste of money I decided to visit the holy city of Haridwar home of the famous Margh Mela and Kumb Mela festivals. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the place every 6 years to a mass dip in the Ganga. I had the entire day to do whatever I liked as my train to Amritsar didn't le http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Haridwar/blog-290611.html I have spent 11 days recently in a meditation center which was not at all what I have expected. I ended up sitting in lotus position for 13 hours a day while obeying very strict rules and learned how to observe my breath... It was very informative and taught me a lot of things and made me interested in spirituality and how the mind works. After suffering from severe backache I decided to visit t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-285708.html I first heard of Vipassana in Tamil Nadu from a guy called Thomas whom I met in Tiruchirapalli. I listened amazedwhen he told me about a course which changed his life and his way of thinking. He had spent 10 days in a meditation center in Bodhgaya where he didn't speak for 10 days and spent the entire time meditating starting at 4AM. I honestly have to admit my first thought was He is out http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/blog-286865.html The ghost capital of Akbar the Great. I wondered arount the market haggled for juicy exotic fruits and enjoyed the mughal architecture I hope you will like the picsAkhbr f337vrosnak romjai. Krbejrtam a piacot alkudoztam friss egzotikus gymlcskre s megcsodltam a mughal ptszet htrahagyott remekm369veit.Remlem tetszenek majd a fotk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/blog-278645.html Home of the Taj Mahal Agra is a magnet for tourists.It has been raining on and off so the temperature has dropped and there is a light breeze cooling me. This is great news as usually this time of the year is not the best weather wise to pay homeage to Mumtaz Mahal's worldwide famous Mausoleum built by her husband the mughal emperor Shah Jahan.. The Taj is majestic even the light is not the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-278658.html After 36 hours the Grand Turk Express arrived to the capital. Between the rails right in front of my window bare butts greeted me in the morning light as the slum dwellers went around doing their business as usual. This might be a shocking site for someone who is new to India but in the past few months I have read many travel books featuring the subject so this didn't came as a surprise al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-278669.html I'm on my way to Goa and will chill there for awhile. too many ruins temples museums historical places and cultural shows lately. I just need to do nothing perceive nothing think nothing for awhile. Maybe with a good book for company nah... that would make me think or a bad one that's better 'cause it sounds boring I just want to numb my brain with chilled beers and some chillout mu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/blog-268522.html I was born in Hungary somewhere in the Eastern Block of Europe in a small town called Ajka. at the time my country was under the Soviet regime which was suffocating us all As soon as my parents had the chance we moved to Budapest and luckily I have spent most of my childhood there. As soon as I got my first passport I left the country eager to see what the Evil Capitalist world has to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/blog-274130.html After the remnants of the Vijayanagar capital and the intricate carvings the Hoysala temple art I took a bus to check out the cave temples at Badami and the 2 ancient capitals of the Chalukyas in Aihole and in Pattadakal. The temples were my first introduction to Hindu and Jain cave temple art and enjoyed it accordingly. Hovewer the highlight of the day was the countless invitations to weddin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Badami/blog-268005.html The ancient capital of the Vijayanagar Empire has a lot to offer to a lost soul as servidor but never in my wildest dreams I was expecting to enter to Lara Croft's world in India. It is off season and there are no other tourists whatsoever. it is hot as I have mentioned before but hey you can't have the cake and eat it too. can youI arrived on a dodgy bus to a dusty small but very atmosp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Hampi/blog-266717.html After Mysore I wondered around Somnathpur Belur and Halebid to soak in some of the amazing Hoysala temple art.I just love these temples. I can not see enough of them. The intricate carving the amazing sculptures magical...and the best of all I was alone in most of the time. The architecture is nothing I ever seen before and I find very interesting the temples built on a star formed platform.I al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-266687.html The Katakhali Dance is typical of Kerala. It is a must see according to all the sources be it guide book a tourist information center or any other agency. It is a musical performance well... you can imagine what sort of music you can master with 3 drums altho I would rather call it theatre instead of dance as the dancers mainly dance with their faces. Their expressions are amazing and se http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-265059.html Karnataka's population is 52 million and growing. After rural Kerala arriving to the polluted and noisiy Bangalore was a real shock and the very next day I was on my way to the countryside for some quality time with some of the amazing historical sitesthe state has to offer and peek into the life of the very friendly local people . Right now is off season so it is the best time to be in the tou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-265062.html Amazing lush vegetation greets me as I jump up and down on my bus seat.As I peek out the glasless window I decide I like the place. The rain still wets the road and the wet earth is forming slimy red gue in my flip flops . My hotel is very basic but the location is amazing. For a very modest price I have a balcony overlooking the rainy backwaters. White Egrets looking for food in the littered http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kollam/blog-262285.html It has been raining for the last couple of days. It came as a surprise. adding to my string of bad luck is the renovations going on at the Sri Meenakshi temple. My main reason to be down here is wondering around this richly ornated fine example of Dravidian architecture. they are renovating all the 10 Gopurams ornated gateways at the same time as I don't really enjoy rain I decide to head http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-262255.html