I touched down in Kathmandu five days after the elections on 15th April 2008. After talk of potential strikes, curfews, violence and protests, I was surprised and rather relieved to arrive in a calm and peaceful capital of Nepal. In fact, after the pulse of Varanasi, it felt like Kathmandu had popped a valium or two, or something along those lines! It appeared very chilled out, cleaner than India, and there was much less hassle. I almost felt rejected walking down the street and not getting pestered. The same kind of feeling you get when a market research woman with a [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm writing, rather squelchily, from a 42 degree Varanasi, the last stop in the India leg of my journey. It doesn't feel like I have only been in India for 3 months. By that I mean that it feels more like I have visited many countries, not just one. India is so vast and diverse that from place to place you are greeted with different languages, faces, dress, religions, food, wildlife, landscapes, weather...you name it. And still I know that there is a lot more to India that I have not had the chance to see in this trip, but I've [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, it's fair to say that I have broken the golden rule of blogging - 'Keep it Current'! Never was very good with rules. So, I am now left scratting around in the depths of my diminishing memory trying to remember how I have occupied the last few weeks. Here goes... Let's go back to January 28 2008 (ouch, that sounds so bad!) Goa never really figured in my pre-departure itinerary so it was a surprise even to me that I ended up there. But I'm glad I did. I travelled to Goa with Liz, my new travelling buddy, who I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Welcome to my TravelBlog! It's now week 4 of my 18 month trip and I'm feeling slightly daunted at the prospect of starting this blog and filling you in on what I've been up to over the last month. The sensible person would have updated the blog as they went along but to be honest, I've been having such a good time it seemed a shame to be couped up inside an internet cafe when I could be outside, dodging the tuk-tuks and cows, drinking chai and soaking up the experience that is India. Still, duty calls and I will attempt [View Full Entry]

---

---