jarradandkate

Spending a few days in London we'd hoped to see some of our favorite sites, but instead mostly took it easy catching up with our friends Russell and Sarah. It was nice to be somewhere familiar, but we were soon on the road again driving up through England to our new home city - Edinburgh. On the way up we saw a real spectrum of places including Bath at one end and Blackpool at the other! In Bath we were fascinated by the layers (quite literally) of history. From Roman ruins to the beautiful Victorian terraces. In the Bathhouses, the most popular attraction, you could walk through the once buried and still underground Roman baths that were only recently discovered under the most recent construction. Above, was the grand victorian Pumphouse restaurant where we shared coffee ... read more

We had worried that we would encounter many difficulties here, but mostly for us it was no harder that anywhere else. Perhaps the fact we did it all very quickly and so meant that we were never a sitting target for trouble. Yes our hotel was terrible and rickshaw drivers were pests and it was hard to find decent food, but this was all pretty easy to ignore in the light of what was to see. To avoid the hassles that made Agra as famous as its main landmark, the Taj Mahal, we joined a government operated tour that rushed through the three significant sights all in one long day. Normally we'd do everything independently but at this stage we just wanted to get it done! The sights we saw were the Taj Mahal (of course), ... read more

Another long bus trip later (they just go so damn slow) we made it into Jodhpur the birthplace of those sexy riding pants. The city was dominated by two massive landmarks - on one side the biggest fort/castle cities we've seen and on the other the much newer british designed hotel, now the palace of the Maharaja. Unseen until we visited the heights of the fort was one of the more famous views in India - the brilliant blue coloring of the city below. Originally a way of identifying the homes of the highest brahman caste, most people have now adopted the trademark of painting their houses. Also, claiming that the colour repels mosquitos! Exploring the fort and old palace inside took most of a day and later we returned for a very romantic outdoor meal ... read more

Lovely lovely Udaipur. We decided to pick ourselves up a little after our disaster trip to Ahmedabad and treated ourselves to a stay in a 200 year old lakeside converted haveli - a residence of 'someone quite important' with a beautiful courtyard in its centre and views over to the Lake Palace. Ah sigh! The town was very tourist friendly and easy to get around on foot. The main bother came from persistent shop keepers trying to make some easy cash, but we were mostly uninterested as they sold much of the same stuff as each other. We used our stay to relax, get some reading in and enjoy the food and drink on offer. It was hard to think of going anywhere else when overlooking the lake with a beer and some indian snacks during ... read more

La La land was a strange experience. Perhaps we were a little over traveling, or perhaps it is just a horrible place, but we're sure we didn't have much fun here. Staying in Hollywood right around the corner from the walk of fame, we were in the middle of what most people go for. Our guest house had was once home to many of Hollywoods screen godess' when it was accommodation for young women in the 20s and 30s. After finding all our favorite stars stars and putting our hands against Arnie's hand prints, the excitement of the area quickly wore off and we needed to venture further afield. Unfortunately LA doesn't make it easy to get around without a car. We felt like the public transport was only there for a certain class of people ... read more