Be careful what you wish for... I too had the feeling after my last trip to Rishikesh that it lived on inside me. Unfortunately I was right... 10 months later I came down with another nasty dose of 'food poisoning' to be told I'd been carrying round a parasite in my gut all that time!!! Luckily cleared up after a dose of good-old western drugs!
Great to see you back on the road... looking forward to the next installment.
After reading Shane's blog we wanted to read the inspiration for his trip. Thank you for sharing your experience and impressions. We've never given serious thought to Iraq travel but I'm sure your blog will influence many.
Great post. I did those high school day trips to Marmot too. I hope to get back for more Jasper/Banff get-a-ways one day. Keep up the good work Nick and Congratulations.
Beautifully written I have read plenty of trekking blogs, but I reckon this blog is equal to the best. Your expressive writing made it feel as if I too was participating in the grueling journey.
luxury travel competition Hello,
After reading your blog, I was wondering if you might be interested in entering our travel competition? We're offering the opportunity to win a luxury tour of North India, simply by sharing your experiences (and photos) of India, or by telling us why you'd love to visit.
We've teamed up with some of our exclusive hotels partners in the region to offer this amazing 14-day opulent adventure for two people, worth over £4000 ($6200, A$6000, €4900). Starting in Jodhpur, the 'Blue City, the tour passes through Rohet, Ranakpur (including a fantastic leopard safari), Udaipur, Bundi, Ranthambore National Park (yes, a tiger safari too!) and finally Rajasthan's vibrant capital, Jaipur.
The competition opens on 3rd January 2013, closes on 15th February and is open to anyone aged 18 years or above who is not resident in India. The prize is transferrable, so you can always nominate friends or family if you are not able find the time to travel.
To celebrate our partnership with children's literacy charity - Katha Children's Trust - we will also be making a donation based on the number of people who vote for competition entries by sharing a link on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or via their blog or website.
To take part, please visit our website: http://rajasthanwithwire.com/win-a-luxury-trip-to-india.html
If you know anyone else who might like the chance to win or simply to help us support Katha, then please forward this email to them or share via social media. We really appreciate your support!
Thanks for your time - we hope that you will be able to participate.
Best wishes,
Gerd, Khaled and the Wire team
Sponsored by
Devi Garh - Rasa Resort - Sher Bagh - Mihir Garh - RAAS - Mana
Must seek out a barber shave on my return to India Despite spending almost three months in India I never received one of these shaves, looks like I am poorer for not having this experience.
K.L. Hi Nick--Just reread your blog on K.L.& it brought back fond memories of our visit there years ago.
Batu Caves were one of our highlites also .The only t
ome I was ever clostrophobic was trying to get thru the narrow gates leading up to the BAtu Caves.
This dumb new computer just played another trick on me!!I go for my new Hip a week from tomorrow.Please pray for Gramma as she is my helper for the next few weeks!!!!!!Grampa
Pictures and smell Hi Nick,
thank you for your nice pictures.
When i have seen them i was able to travel to the temples and the market in my mind. Also the great smell from the market came into my mind.
greetings Markus
Pig's Head with a bizzare look like a cow Hi Nick! I truly enjoyed your Malaysia re-visited blog. I feel in love with Malaysia when I did my first Backpacker-Trip in 1999. Those were the days... ha ha...
I am amazed how we change our perception towards certain countries, cities and places in general over time. Taipei in the beginning still had a rough and ugly feeling to me - now I can see beauty were I previously just starred into the blank. Do you know what I mean?
Last but not least - that pig's head looks amazingly like a cow head....
misleading shots.. with all respect,but you captured a certain part of Syrian life and ignored the other more modern part,women in Syria may wear headscarfe or may not,you can find both ,and not all men wear that head cloth,it's not a tradition in the cities,it's more like a traditional outfit of small towns..bus stops are more organised when you go a bit further from the city towards suburbs..and We have Big garbage trucks in Syria!! this one you photographed was a small one obviously for some a freelancer cleaning poor man in a poor suburb..
re_misleading shots I understand your comment, but I also did not think so much about what to photograph. I just arrived in Syria, visited the famous old markets of Damascus and Aleppo, and took pictures of what I thought was beautiful. Of course people who are dressed more traditionally stand out more to me (just like all travel photographers), so I am more likely to take pictures of them. As for the garbage, well, as a photographer I think that something 'ugly' can actually be beautiful! Once again, I think it would be boring to take a picture of boring, modern looking garbage trucks or bus stops!
I loved reading your blog, it took me back in time and gave me a real feel of our mountains. I have myself been scaling these mountains for a long time, including the lush green slopes of AJK. Everything in your blog has been accurately depicted, from attitude of people towards tourists to their simple lives in such high altitude and rough areas. But it is quite unfortunate that the situation today is quite different from what it used to be, tourism is next to non-existent because of Pakistan’s security situation. Even back in 2009 i met a couple of foreign tour operators in Bhutan who showed reluctance in referring clients to Pakistan. And you must also know that the great KKH was blocked by a landslide dammed lake at Attabad, about 3-4 KM from the town of Hunza on Jan 04, 2010. Plus sectarian violence in the region has also fired up, which ofcourse has set back local tourism aswell. The good news is that Ibex population has improved and i must say that locals have a big role in this . Sometimes i feel really sad about the situation but at end of the it i keep praying and hoping for peace & happiness. I have loads of pictures which if you’re interested, i can always share. Please do visit again as Pakistan is not that dangerous and if you come this time, try visiting the mountains of AJK where rivers are crystal clear and emerald green, you would certainly get a lot of trekking opportunities aswell.
Cheers
Amber
I've been travel blogging for over a decade (my first TravelBlog post was in 2008!) Since then, I've lived in Taiwan for over 10 years, wrote a book about it, and I manage two successful websites about traveling in Taiwan. I'm living back home in Canada with my wife and kids now, but we still spend part of every year in Taiwan.... full info
Andy and Debbie
Andrew Ratter
Be careful what you wish for...
I too had the feeling after my last trip to Rishikesh that it lived on inside me. Unfortunately I was right... 10 months later I came down with another nasty dose of 'food poisoning' to be told I'd been carrying round a parasite in my gut all that time!!! Luckily cleared up after a dose of good-old western drugs! Great to see you back on the road... looking forward to the next installment.