http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lottie-Let-Loose/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lottie Let Loose en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:43:07 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:43:07 +0000 Today we set off early with the whole group for a tour of the Tierra del Fuego National Park area. We had a lovely guide called Everlyn who looked just like our Broads Authority Ranger Elaina She took us on hikes in the amazing scenery of the National Park along side the sea shore lakes and with ice topped mountains all around. The air is SOOOOO fresh it's wonderful. The cameras were out snappin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/blog-383712.html After a quick breakfast of tea and croissants a bit of a theme seems to be emerging I headed off for a quick morning exploration before the group meeting at 10am.UshuaiaFirst impressions WOW what a stunning setting for this little town surrounded on all sides by amazing mountains. There's a large port area with huge ships docked that look destined for Antarctica and here there's also a clu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-383709.html Waking very early after my extremely long sleep I decided to do a bit of reading and have found out a bit about the area of South America I've flown into. The region is called Tierra del Fuego which translates as Land of Fire and the name was coined by the explorer Ferdinand Magellen who when he arrived in 1520 saw smoke rising from camp fires along the shore. Land of Smoke evolved into the bett http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-383703.html Lottie's off on her travels againIt's hard to believe that it's been a year since my first dabbling of toes into the huge waters of world of travel. I'm very fortunate to be off again very soon and this time I'm heading south to Argentina and Chile in the wonderfully shaped continent of South America. My trip starts at the very tip of the carrot am I the only one that thinks it looks like a carr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-377434.html And so on to Jodhpur the second largest city in Rajasthan. Another long drive and we arrived at our next hotel which turned out to be one of the nicer ones of the tour and a great relief after the Jaiselmer distaster Jodhpur has a fort now there's a surprise on the top of the hill called Meherangarh Fort. We were dropped at the entrance where we picked up audio guides and it was actually re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-267739.html The next stop on our tour took us to the fortress city of Jaiselmer. Set up on the top of a sandy rock surrounded by the Thar dessert Jaisalmer is unique in being a lived in fort rather then a preserved monument. After settling into what turned out to be our worst hotel of the tour more of this later we set off for an orientation tour of the fort area. The buildings are covered in extremely http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-267697.html It was with mixed feelings that we boarded the bus on our journey to the start of a two hour camel trek into the Thar dessert. After the heat of the heritage hotels no air conditioning we were a bit worried about being out in the direct heat of the dessert for hours on end. Not to mention the whole camel thing So we were all a bit quiet as we waited to get up on the camels that were waiting http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-267689.html Fort KhejarlaAfter a long coach ride we finally pulled up at Kherjala Fort one of the many Heritage Hotels in the area. I'd already read up about these before we came away and had mentioned them to other people in the group but I don't think they'd realised quite how special they were going to be. This one is absolutely amazing and we had it almost to ourselves just one family of 4 also there t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-267331.html We arrived in Pushkar after another drive on the coach. We are lucky enough to have our own coach and driver with air conditioning and bottled water that is cold if the driver can get hold of a block of ice in the morning. He carries it back to the coach with a piece of cloth then dumps it in with the bottles of water. We have a tally and so far Charlotte and Harriet are winning with Sammy a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-267329.html Ghost Town whooooooOn the drive to Jaipur capital of Rajasthan and the biggest state in India we stopped off at the deserted Mogul city of Fatehpur Sikri or Ghost Town.It was built over a period of 12 years but despite an artificial lake being made the water ran dry after only 3 years habitation and the fort place became a ghost town The emperor king maharaja can't remember what his ti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-264883.html We set off early on the train to Agra. A normal train this time no bunks I ended up next to an Indian business man who told me all about the trips he went on around India. Then he put an eye mask on covered himself with what looked like a teatowel and went to sleep. MP3 player is coming in very useful on this tripAfter settling into our hotel and some lunch we set off for the big highligh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-264878.html Today was the last day of the section of the tour with the originals and the start of the new section with what turned out to be just four new people.As we didn't have much time in Delhi we quickly settled into our new hotel and then went off to try out the new Metro being built for the Commonwealth Games in a couple of years time all on our own Manu had to meet and greet the new people. We h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-264410.html At the moviesWe could hardly have gone on a tour called From Buddha to Bollywood without going to see a Bollywood movie and Varansi with its new multiplex cinema was the place we decided to go. The cinema is in a brand new shopping mall just like the malls we have at home and seeming very out of place in Varansi. The few shops that had opened so far were highly expensive clothes shops with mo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-264401.html Dawn boat trip on the Ganges at VarinasiAn early start saw us taking a boat trip on the Ganges to watch the morning bathing at the Ghats at Varinasi. People come from all over India on pilgrimage to this sacred spot to get a purifying dip in the holy Ganges river. Locals too come down to the steps that lead down to the water's edge to wash and even clean their teeth. Knowing how polluted this r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-264382.html Our next big event of the Buddha to Bollywood trip involved crossing the border between Nepal and India by road. A short drive this time in two small jeeps further on there was a bridge that could only take smaller vehicles took us to a VERY busy border crossing point. Lorries were backed up waiting to get into India apparently they can only cross between certain times. We had to walk to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-264175.html Manu had decided it was to be an early start supposedly to avoid the early morning traffic getting out of Kathmandu. Obviously it wasn't early enough as we spent the next TWO hours sat in a traffic jam We would cheer as the coach inched forward a metre and propose visits to yoga classes hair salons etc to relieve the tediumBut eventually we painfully made our way to the cross roads the c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Lumbini/blog-264174.html Having said my farewells to my Nepal Panorama trip friends I arrived at my meeting point hotel the Kathmandu Prince to meet my new travel companions. For the first part of the tour until Delhi there are just 8 of us plus our tour leader Manu. I'm sharing with an Aussie girl called Sammy one of the first things I found out about her is how much she loves Kathmandu I find this fascinating as http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-263271.html Chitwan National ParkWe were in for a long dusty ride down from Pokhara to Chitwan National Park in the south but the changing scenary kept me entertained along the way. We also had a luxurious in comparison to the minibus coach to spread out in which made things a lot more comfortable. There were actually seat belts and even the chance to watch a DVD strangley noone was interested in watc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-262610.html With 2 full free days in Pokhara we set off early to peruse the shops buy presents postcards posters etc. Then me and Linda went down to the lake and hired a wooden rowing boat and man to paddle us and spent a blissful relaxing peaceful hour out on the water enjoying the view and taking more photos. We saw paragliders up in the skies with the snow capped mountains as a back drop. They wer http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Pokhara/blog-261562.html Day 7 Banthanti to PokharaThere's not much to say about this day's trek except it was VERY long and was taking us away from our beloved mountains. The day was extremely hot and the steps down were relentless. Luckily I've got quite good at these so for the first part of the day was able to skip along down quite easily but the heat of the day and the lack of stops soon started to take it's tol http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Pokhara/blog-261557.html