We had heard from media coverage and online websites that it wasn't perhaps the best time to be going to Nepal: there was civil unrest and fuel shortages, with road blocks, strikes and protests. So it was with some trepidation that we left Sikkim on 2nd May, travelling by jeep to the border at Kakarvitta. It was misty and drizzling as we came down the Teesta valley, but it soon heated up as we continued onto the plains. After a cursory immigration check we parted with $40 and were given our visas for Nepal - very quick and easy (wish they [View Full Entry]

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Having bid a sad farewell to Jess and Bert, we caught the overnight train to Siliguri in West Bengal. This was the end of the railway line, and from then on it was to be jeeps or buses. Our next stop was to be Kalimpong, so we booked our seats beneath a sign announcing ' Buses to the Hilly Regions'. Kalimpong is a smaller, quieter version of Darjeeling on the Sikkim border. It was used as a hill station by the Raj administration when it was too hot in the plains, and we too were very thankful for the drop in [View Full Entry]

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The 5.00am bus to Puri was jam packed - the conductor adopting the usual ploy of allowing all comers and cramming as many people as possible into the available space, and more. With that number of bodies in that cramped a space it was insufferably hot, even with the sun barely risen. We arrived two hours later drenched in sweat, covered in dust, and looking forward to a shower. Puri is both a popular beach resort and a place of pilgrimage for Indians, having had its heyday with Westerners in the 70s when 'freaks' were hitting the overland trail to India. [View Full Entry]

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We left Mamallapuram on 22nd March to catch the train from Chennai to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The part of Chennai that we whizzed through was huge, sprawling and like Bangalore: that unique Indian mix of high tech and third world - shiny, glass fronted skyscrapers, surrounded by indescribable filth and deprivation on the ground. The train journey was uneventful apart from an incident involving a ticket inspector and one of the many vendors who walk up and down the trains plying their wares. The inspector suddenly flared up and lashed out at this guy, shouting and hitting him. Why he [View Full Entry]

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We left Trichy on 11th March, heading North to Tiruvanamalai. The bus took five and a half hours, followed by a 14Km rickshaw ride out to the ashram. Sadly, there was a course on so the ashram was fully booked but whilst there we got talking to a local whose name was Princess (really!) who offered us a room back in the town. From the outside, the place looked rather fine, and it wasn't until the evening that we discovered that there was something very dodgy about the electrics. Being very hot at night we naturally needed the fan, but once [View Full Entry]

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We had decided to stay on in Gokarna for the festival of Shivaratri on Feb.26th.,when thousands of pilgrims converge on the town to celebrate Shiva night. We remained in our little hut on the beach with its bamboo and palm cafe looking across the beach, 50 metres from the sea and the days passed languidly with swimming and r 'n' r. Dolphins could be seen not far from the shore and on Pen's birthday one shot up in a vertical salute, whilst an elephant was brought along for a wash and brush up in the sea just opposite. One little oddity [View Full Entry]

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We left Varkala for Allepey, the "Venice" of Kerala, on 29th Jan. The train took two and a half hours, meandering through small villages and across lagoons. The weather was hot and humid, and it looked like rain. The temperature had become a governing feature of our days, as it was too hot around midday to do anything other than flop beneath a fan. Allepey felt like the 'real' India again - dirty, noisy with a variety of interesting shops and stalls; making such a welcome change from Varkala's Western oriented ethnic accessory shops: overpriced and overbearing vendors. We had come [View Full Entry]

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A Happy New Year to all our readers! Thank you for all your news and feedback and those who've donated so generously to our cause.... only kidding! We two are one again, Penny having flown back to England from Islamabad for the birth of Rose's baby, Cissy, while John headed on to India. On Boxing Day, after three weeks in Gokarna, he caught the early morning 'local' bus to Hampi, a boneshaker full of locals all with their various sacks of wares and food etc.. Although it took nine hours, it was a pleasant and sometimes delightful ride through rural India. [View Full Entry]

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I left Lahore sunday morning. The border opened at 9.30am and I wanted to be there when it opened! After fond farewells on the Pakistani side, I headed toward the Indian customs and immigration centre a bit warily, as I now had a cancelled visa, as well as a brand new 6 month job, and if they felt like it, could have given me a hard time. As I was the first through, they weren't quite ready, so chai was sent for me, and I had a very civilised breakfast with 3 customs officers who were very interested to know about [View Full Entry]

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In relaying our experiences of Pakistan, certain aspects of daily life got overlooked, simply because they became so commonplace. Power cuts became increasingly frequent, and by the time we reached Lahore 'load shedding' was every other hour, on the hour, across the country. Whilst this was an inconvenience for us, for residents and businesses it must have been a nightmare. Thankfully, at the time of writing, normal service has been resumed. There were also the incidents that we heard about and read about in the paper of the barbaric justice meted out to those having sexual relationships outs [View Full Entry]

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