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 tea-towel and went to sleep. MP3 player is coming in very useful on this trip! After settling into our hotel and some lunch we set off for the big highlight of the trip - a visit to the stunning Taj Mahal. We had to leave our bus and get [View Full Entry]

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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 headed straight to the Red Fort, a massive fortified building with beautiful buildings and gardens (which should have [View Full Entry]

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At the movies! We 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 mostly western style men's clothing. Not much for the women - slight role reversal there compared to back home! We headed off to the cinema [View Full Entry]

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Dawn boat trip on the Ganges at Varinasi An 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 river is makes it all the more fascinating to watch. We had a local guide with us which I'm afraid annoyed me with his [View Full Entry]

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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 the Nepal exit office to fill out our departure forms and get our passports stamped then we walked through the huge archway into no-man's land - about a 200m [View Full Entry]

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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 tedium! But eventually we painfully made our way to the cross roads - the cause of all the problems - and left Kathmandu behind. We were following the same road I'd taken on the trip to Chitwan National Park so [View Full Entry]

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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 I can't wait to leave the place and head off for India. People are so different. There are 2 more Aussies in the group, [View Full Entry]

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Chitwan National Park We 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 no-one was interested in watching the only choice - Cannonball Run! The driver was also a lot better and took great care to avoid any bumps and ruts in the road (not for [View Full Entry]

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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 were sooo high up (more of this later!). Then it was back to the hotel to christen the pool, laze about sun bathing, drinking beers, listening [View Full Entry]

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Day 7 - Banthanti to Pokhara There'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 toll. We would turn each corner hoping that Krishna, Marc and Phil had stopped but no such luck. It was obviously going [View Full Entry]

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