RoBeeJenZa

Although famed for its museums, palaces and other beautiful buildings we saw very few of the inside of these popular tourist attractions whilst in Vienna. We were instead shown a less touristy side as we were lucky enough to have a guide -one Mr Scott Wigglesworth, a friend from back home who lives in the city. So whilst we did walk around the Museum Quarter and see the outside of Parliament and the Hofburg palace, the majority of our time was spent wandering around, eating, shopping and partying in the fabulous city also known as Wien. However, some touristy things were completed; we wouldn’t have dreamed of missing Vienna’s famous Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake which we ate at the cake’s original birthplace - the very swanky Sacher Hotel. And as we never like to pass ... read more

We were all struck by a sense of culture shock arriving in civilised and orderly London after having become accustomed to India's vast contradictions of wealth and poverty, beautiful scenery juxtaposed with mountains of rubbish and some of the world's poorest, yet kindest people. However, within minutes of leaving the airport we were eagerly anticipating hot showers, western food and a washing machine and couldn't wait for our European leg to commence. Our first full London day was basically spent eating and shopping. After visiting the sensational food halls of Harrods, Selfridges and Marks and Spencer’s, and getting our fill of missed Western treats, we moved on to Oxford street for some much needed shopping (replacing items that had to be thrown out after hot and sweaty India). The next day however we played proper tourists ... read more

Agra… home of the most beautiful symbol of love ever constructed… the Taj Mahal, India’s most well known and most loved building. Agra is also home to some of India’s other great sights, the Fort for example is exemplary, it held out invading armies for hundreds of years. It even managed to hold of the advancing British Colonial army longer than its counterparts. You would think that with all these great sights Agra would be a fabulous city to visit, and if you did think this you wouldn’t be the first person… we were fooled too. Arriving at the train station at about 8pm on a Thursday night, things seemed a little strange, eerie almost. It was extremely dark for 8pm, maybe someone had forgotten to switch on the lights? No… this was just Agra. A ... read more

We left the quiet, peaceful south and boarded a plane from Kochi to Delhi. The plane ride was reasonably boring, as there were no people selling fun Indian snacks and we were unable to yell out the window at every stop to ask for anything we may be craving (like we have become accustomed to on the trains). Our first impressions of Delhi were less than favorable...we arrived at 11.30pm and after surviving a drive with a stoned taxi driver we then had to endure a long walk down a ally teeming with sleeping dogs, homeless people and open latrines to make it to our hostel. However, upon waking in the morning the scary street and ally of the night before had transformed into one corner of Delhi's largest bazaar (shopping) areas; things were looking up. ... read more

Hi everyone! Carrying on from Claire's last entry we next bounced our way to Palolem Beach on a very noisy sleeper bus. The driver's whiskey-drunk son (supposedly one of the conductors) took a bit of a liking to us and relocated me a few times but we made it one piece and thankfully a rickshaw driver was waiting at the stop (we were dropped off at 4.30am in the middle of nowhere). Palolem Beach is beautiful - in spite of the roving packs of dogs (more from Claire on the beasts later). You can tell in high season it would be full of partying Brits but it was nice to be able to secure a lounger with ease. It was on one of these loungers I became the first to be hit by the sickness everyone ... read more