Mel and Jeff
Jeff & Melanie's great Indian adventure: December 29, 2009 - March 31, 2010.MelandJeff
Travel Blog Posts
Homecoming reflections
Published: April 15th 2010North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver
March 31st 2010
We spent our final couple of days in Delhi doing some last-minute sightseeing and shopping. Then finally, after three epic months, it was time to go home. It was such a wonderful trip that I didn't want it to be over, but I was also looking forward to returning home. Mel and I became increasingly more excited as we got closer to home. The trip went smoothly (no missed flights this time!) and after 3 flights and more than 24 hours of travel, we arrived home to a sunny, warm beautiful afternoon in Vancouver. Our house and Bella the cat had received excellent care from our fantastic friend and house-sitter Brendan, and it was a such wonderful feeling to walk through the front door and see his smiling face. Since we've gotten back, I've found myself ... read more
March 25th 2010
J: Over breakfast in Pokahara one morning, Mel & I were discussing our plans for the final part of our trip, and we decided that it was time to move on. We packed our bags, and the next morning we hopped on a bus to Kathmandu, Nepal's bustling capital. M: By this point we'd already experienced 5 long-distance bus rides in Nepal... which was more than enough to know that this time it was well worth the splurge of $15(US) each (3/4 of our daily budget) to take a 'high-end' tourist bus. Under the best of conditions with the roads being is such horrible shape it takes a long time to get to places as you spend a bunch of time dodging potholes, missing chunks of road and trying to pass cars on narrow roadways. If ... read more
March 23rd 2010
We arrived in Pokhara on March 5th and on the recommendation of Jupiter (our host in Lumbini who also set us up with his brother in Chitwan), we stayed at his other brother's hotel, the Silver Oaks Inn - a mid-range hotel that we managed to secure at a budget price. Pokhara is Nepal's second largest city. It sits on the shore of a pretty lake, surrounded by mountains that reminded us both of home. The traveler district at 'Lakeside' is devoted to outdoor adventure activities. It is a very popular starting point for Himalayan treks, as well as being a mecca for paragliding (jumping off mountains with a parachute). As such, Pokhara's main drag is a string of small outdoor stores selling knock-off versions of everything anyone could possibly need for trekking. The copyright infringement ... read more
March 19th 2010
(Jeff) After a few days of getting oriented, settled, and geared up at a few of Pokhara's ubiquitous outdoors shops, we were ready to set off on yet another fantastic adventure within an adventure; we decided to go on a trek in the Annapurna region of the majestic Himalaya mountain range. We acquired all the necessary permits and a trekking map, checked in with the embassy, packed one bag with our essentials (plus a small daypack full of provisions), and early one morning we caught a taxi then a bus and headed for the hills. We decided on a trek called the Ghorepani - Gandruk loop. We'd read that it was possible to do the trek in 5 days, but it turned out that this was only if one had superhuman hiking abilities, and no interest ... read more
March 17th 2010
After experiencing the lively Holi festival of color in the otherwise sleepy town that is the Buddha's birthplace, we signed on with our hotelier 'Jupiter' for the only package tour of our entire trip - a couple of days and nights at Southern Nepal's beautiful Chitwan National Park. We left Lumbini early in the morning on a loud, smelly, rickety old bus (no trains here in Nepal). The bus stopped every 5 minutes or so, and soon filled up to sardine capacity. We careened through the foggy, bumpy roads of the countryside until we eventually arrived, grateful to be in one slightly squished piece, to meet our tour contact near Chitwan. From there the experience improved considerably. We were driven by jeep to the to the Jungle Wildlife Camp, which was a fantastic resort on the ... read more
March 1st 2010
Feels like we're needing to play catch-up here on the postings: for a while we were away for internet... and now in a town where it's very expensive or very far away. We spent our last day in Varanasi enjoying the hospitality of Raj (my old music teacher) & his family as they gave us a place to stay and keep our luggage after we checked out of our hotel. We were so excited to be able to commute to the railway station late at night in order to avoid the nightmare of traffic we had at mid-day on the way in. The train station was bustling with many people sleeping on the ground --likely because of all the late train announcements we were hearing. It's now 2 days before Holi (which has the same grandeur ... read more
February 26th 2010
We left the magnificence of the Taj Mahal and the chaos of Agra, and continued on to Varanasi. We stepped off our overnight train,and soon found ourselves in a rickshaw in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. It took the better part of a horn honking, fume-filled hour to make it to the old part of the city by the holy Ganges, but we finally made it. We walked through the narrow, labyrinthine streets to the shore of the famous river. After a walk down the main strip to survey our options, we settled on a place to stay called 'Vishnu Rest House' at Pandey Ghat. This part of the Ganges river is arranged in a series of 'ghats', or steps down into the water. Varanasi is an incredible place. The cross section of life teeming along the ... read more
February 26th 2010
Let see... Where did I leave off... Jaisalmer! After our camel safari we enjoyed about 2 and a half days where we did some shopping... and more excitingly got to better know our host, Ashraf who had been away when we first arrived. Such a lovely soul who spent much of his 20s visiting different ashrams and temples of different faiths in India where he did a lot of meditating. I enjoyed a couple afternoons of sharing stories about our spiritual journeys: such a joy to find kindred souls along the way. If anyone is ever in Jaisalmer you must stay at Apollo hotel. When Ashraf is there, he offers 4 different types of free meditation (including kundalini and other both active and still meditations). He was also setting up for Bangra dancing for the guests ... read more
Agra: the Taj Mahal and some big news!!
Published: February 26th 2010Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Agra
February 25th 2010
After our day at the bird sanctuary, we caught a train to Agra to spend a few days there and visit one of the most iconic monuments in India, the Taj Mahal. We rickshawed into the thick of it - Taj Ganj ('Taj market') - a bustling two-kilometer stretch which is about two blocks south of the Taj Mahal. We dodged the touts and cowpies and found a place away from the chaos of the main drag to call home (or at least 'hotel') for the next couple of days. We got oriented and went for a walk around the area. The combination of narrow crowded streets and LOUD car/motorbike horns was way too much for my hypersensitive ears, and I took to wearing earplugs while walking on the main strip. The horns were still plenty ... read more
February 15th 2010
So this week I had a BATH (well, a few really). We have a real BATHTUB! I was sure I'd never see one this trip, but low and behold! Oh yeah... we rode on some camels too. :-) But I'm jumping ahead. Let me back up a little... Getting out of Goa had proved to be a little difficult: like a big conspiracy to stay longer to spend your tourist dollars. It was about a 3 week wait to get a train... and after spending 4 days racking our brains and consulting a handful of travel agents we bit the bullet and bought a plane ticket directly to Udaipur, saving ourselves a lot more hassle and about a full day and night on the train. We stayed in the heart of the old part of Udaipur, ... read more
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