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On the road again
I am finally on the road again. Travelling through Nepal and India for seven weeks. Find my travel experiences below.xta13
Have also a look look at the blog of my travel mate: Marc's Blog
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.
- Miriam Beard
I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.
- Mark Twain
The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases.
- William Hazlitt, "On Going a Journey," Table Talk, 1822
Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.
- Muhammed
Travel Blog Posts
'Home sweet home' or 'I am having the blues'
Published: April 6th 2008Europe » Switzerland » North-East » Zürich
April 6th 2008
I am back home for three days now and I can definitely say that I am having the blues....so I am already planning my next trips. Anyway, here my worst/best list of my travels through Nepal/India: Best: - Chitwan National Park - Andaman Islands - Camel ride & night in the desert - Mango Juice @ Nandinis, Havelock - Never stepped into a cow pad ;-) Worst: - Indian Toilet at bus stops at night - Hotel rooms in Mumbai - Arrival in Agra (it was not nice what the Indians did beside the train tracks when we were approaching Agra) - Arrival in Varanasi (the guy who spat and the guy who grabed) - Hairy ears of some Indian fellows (oh, you just can't imagine how hairy ears can be...) This is it - tomorrow ... read more
April 2nd 2008
Currently I am in Doha (Quatar) stuck for about 6 hours in the airport and bored to death. After Varanasi we went straight to Delhi where we spent a day with sightseeing and shopping. It was quite hectic because it was my last day (Marc has one more day to enjoy this city). I made my final shoppings at 10pm before I had to go to the guesthouse and pack my bags. Again I believe that there was not enough time. I liked Delhi but in one day it is only possible to scratch at the surface. ... read more
March 30th 2008
The train from Agra was 7 hours late so we unfortunately lost another day :-( When we finally arrived in Varanasi we had really bad hassle with riksha drivers and were pretty nerved in the end. Then when walked along the street a guy spat paan (the beetle nut stuff they chew) on me and another one grabed my ass. After walking along the dirty and stinky alleys we finally found a guesthouse and could settle in. This was not the very best start in Varanasi... To be honest I did not get the feeling for Varanasi. It is one of the holiest cities in India and a lot is going on there. People bathing in the Ganges, burning of dead bodies, holy rituals etc. Unfortunately the one day we were left with for Varanasi was ... read more
March 29th 2008
Been there....seen it...and we were very impressed! For such a long time I wanted to see the Taj Mahal and finally got there. It is indeed very beautiful and impressive. I could not stop staring at it and taking pictures. I guess I took about 7231 pics of the Taj ;-) The town itself, Agra, does not have much to see so it was a very wise decision not to stay over. We arrived in the morning and left the same evening. Just enough time to visit all the sights. ... read more
March 28th 2008
After the Camel Safari we moved on to Jodhpur which is known as the 'Blue City'. In my opinion the only city so far which does deserve to have a color name tag, the city is really blue. Anyway, it is a city where not so many tourists hang around. We enjoyed a few days here and finally had also the chance to relax a bit. The last few days of our trip will be quite hectic I believe. We will move on to Agra (aka Taj Mahal) tonight and afterwards to Varanasi. We will be sitting in the train quite often the next few days, from one place to the other will at least take 12 hours. At the end I will have one single day in Delhi where I have to do some extreme ... read more
March 24th 2008
We took the night bus from Jaipur to Jaisalmer where we had a sleeper compartment. It was much comfier than our bus trip we had to Kolkatta but still we arrived in Jaisalmer pretty tired after a 13 hours drive. Jaisalmer is known as the 'Golden City'. It is a desert town not far from the Pakistan border. We went on a two day Camel Safari into the desert which was a fantastic and exciting experience. The second day was very hot and also very painful. I think almost every part in my body was hurting ;-) We spent the night in the desert looking at the stars and enjoying the with full moon. Very romantic indeed (camel farts and big beetles aside ;-)) ... read more
March 21st 2008
Unfortunately our journey upto the North did not work out well. The plane from Cochin to Mumbai was more than two hours late so we missed our connection to Jaipur. Not only did we sleep at the airport, we also had to buy a new ticket for Mumbai to Jaipur and in addition, we lost half a day of our very precious travel time :-( Honestly we were quite furious! Anyway we finally arrived in Jaipur and had a fantastic time. The city is called 'Pink City' due to the color of the buildings (though calling it pink is a bit exagerated). It is a lovely city with fantastic palaces and temples. We enjoyed every minute of the one and a half days we spent there. ... read more
March 18th 2008
After we arrived in Cochin we explored the city. There is indeed a lot to see and we had a relaxing and enjoyable day in Cochin. It did not feel like a 'normal' Indian city, it is much quieter and easy going. Unfortunately this goes hand in hand with tourists - so in my opinion there were too many. The next day we left for the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary where we had a boad trip to see some wildlife. Unfortunately the wild animals were not around or had a break when we cruised the rivers so we left without the excitement of seeing tigers or wild elephants. After Periyar we went back to the coast and went on a houseboat trip on the Backwaters. This is a labyrinth of canals, waterways and lakes with tropical forests. ... read more
March 13th 2008
Back into the busy and hectic India. We flew from Port Blair to Chennai (formerly known as Madras) and got swamped up with the hectic life, noise and pollution. We immediately decided to leave that city as soon as possible and booked a train to Cochin on the West Coast. One of my favorite experiences is queuing for tickets (train tickets, ferry tickets, etc.) It is really difficult to find out how it works first. If you have to queue normally, you have to 'fight' to stay in place. The Indians just jump the queues and it can take ages to finally reach the counter. It is difficult for us because the Indians do not keep any distance to others, so you are always very close to the others and touched by someone. Sometimes there is ... read more
March 12th 2008
We believe that we spent a few days in paradise. We went to Havelock Island where we lived in a nice bamboo hut. There are white sandy beaches, turquoise sea and a very laid back atmosphere. The Andamans are not yet that developed therefore not very touristy. Up to now it is not possible to find these huge holiday resorts. Unfortunately they were hit seriously by the Tsunami in 2004 and the impacts can still be seen. We had a fantastic time on Havelock and it was hard for us to leave the islands. We could have stayed much longer and enjoy the easy life over there. ... read more
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