http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/dabilster/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from dabilster en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:18:25 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:18:25 +0000 The JourneyThe journey was always going to be pretty laborious. A 20 hour over night bus from Diu to Mumbai was never going to hold much promise for good times but when after 3hrs we'd only gone 10km over the bridge to the mainland I feared the worst The driver managed to realise these fears and those 20 hours felt more like 20 years He kept stopping and picking up his mates who all proceede http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/blog-340463.html Leaving GoaWe finallt dragged ourselves away from Goa and the beach and headed through the state of Karnataka to Hampi on the train with a carriage full of other westeners You could say that it wasn't exactly off the beaten track but with the scenic journey churning out waterfalls and lush valleys for its length and what you saw when you arrived you could understand whyHampiHampi is a lovely http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-342851.html JodhpurFrom Agra where I'd developed a cold I took what has to be the worst train trip ever to Jodphur. Quite apart from the fact that it was 2 hours late in Agra and delivered me 8.5hrs late to Jodpur the sleeper carriage I was in was so rammed full I had to sleep on my big backpack on my bunk the only ventilation were barred windows which did nothing to cut through the stifling heat of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-333156.html AmritsarFrom Delhi I boarded my first Indian train to Amritsar home of one of the Sikh's holiest places the Golden Temple. The temple is exactly what it says on the tin Golden and templelike however the surrounding shimmering pool of water and white marble walkways do give a real sense of peaceful elegance importance and if I were to believe in that sort of thing I'd say spirituality Al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-333157.html DelhiWe arrived in Delhi early doors and it was already hot and sweaty. The traffic according to our taxi driver was not bad but our ears still rang with sound of horns and it still appeared to be mayhem to the untrained eye with no lanes no indicators and apparently right of way to ever beeps the most Hence the photos are what there is to see mostly traffic Delhi in general is a mixed b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/blog-325912.html Southern MozambiqueAll hostel recommendations etc are at the end of this blogSo this was our final stint in Africa and it certainly didn't disappoint. After a very brief stay in Maputo we were wedged onto a bus at 4.30 am until it was full and then they crammed on about ten more locals and we all headed in one coalesced lump for Tofu about eight hours North along the coast.TofuTofu has become s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/blog-316948.html South Africa and LesothoAll hostel recommendations etc are at the end of this blogSo after a 24hr bus ride while being subjected to some hideously overthetop religious films we arrived in Cape Town South Africa where we stayed with some mates and their nutty cat for five days. It was definitely nice to be back to the creature comforts and Stene and Mandy did an excellent job of showing u http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-295631.html NamibiaWe arrived in Namibia after disembarking from our hitched ride with a trucky in Windhoek got the hostel owner out of bed to get a room and then went to pick up our car complete with roof tents camping gas cylinders and spade more useful than you might think before heading off north towards one of Namibia's most famous attractions Etosha National Park.EtoshaEtosha was zebratastic but http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-289550.html We arrived in Chobe and were soon on our first game drive which started early doors at 6am It was freeeeeeeezing We had one sleeping bag between all of us and i'd like to say it was worth it but frankly there were no animals at all for a good 2.5 hrs This is a place with over 70000 elephants...how do you hide that many elephants However just as were about to leave we heard some impala http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/blog-286122.html So it was an interesting introduction to Zambia. Arrived at the border post to the usual disorganised chaos and then had to give some 20usd encouragement to the medical official to let me in the country because of some undiscrepancy with my yellow fever certificate. Good to know the price of the nations health and how effective all the 'zero tolerance to corruption posters' are that he was happ http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/blog-280727.html We finally arrived in Mozambique and I have to say it was well worth the effort The white beaches faded Portuguese charm some of the most pristine corals I've ever seen rock formations rearing up out of nowhere before melting back into the green expanses or red earth plains made it one of the most scenically dramatic countries yet and that's saying something after the Serengeti It was also http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Northern/blog-276545.html We headed from Tanzania into Malawi and after a brief spell near the highlands in the North where we stayed somewhere with a funky tree shower but unfortunately weren't able to use the tree bed due to the weather we headed to the coast of Lake Malawi.First stop was Nhakata bay where managed to get some locals to take us out fishing in their dug out canoe which we very nearly capsized and the fish http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/blog-273893.html So here's the update on Africa It's quite long as its been a while so hope you manage to get to the end before slipping into a coma... Our first stop in Africa was Uganda where after you get used to people shouting Mzungu at you meaning white person in Swahili and being generally stared at it was everything that Africa promised Friendly people amazing scenery and cramped transport We mad http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-273845.html So last time I updated this i had just been up a live volcano which was spitting lava all over the place in guatemala. Well after that we headed to El Salvador which was great. There was nothing that was the biggest and best but everything was cool and the people were genuinely friendly with no ulterior motive such as their friend had somewhere we could staybuy craftget a taxi... It was so n http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-261938.html How on Earth did it get to Christmas so quickly I can't believe i've been away for 6weeks covered 3 countries met up with a friend from uni who has joined our merry band for the rest of the C.America tour said hi and bye to one of Jimmah's friends and waved farewell to my boyf after his 3 week visit...as you would expect it's been the usual mix of excitement ooohing ahhing eyebrow raising http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-261914.html