http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/xta13/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from xta13 en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:21:16 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:21:16 +0000 I am back home for three days now and I can definitely say that I am having the blues....so I am already planningmy next trips.Anyway here my worstbest list of my travels through NepalIndiaBest 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-263664.html 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 en http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-262276.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-262265.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-262260.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-260583.html 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 experienc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-259224.html 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 furiousAnyway we finally arrived in Jaipur and h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-259222.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-257273.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-256117.html 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 impac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andaman-and-Nicobar-Islands/blog-256114.html Another two days in Kolkata. The city is very busy on one side hectic on the other side even a bit laid back. We mainly explored the city by foot and were very tired in the evenings. The city does not have a lot to offer or to see the main thing which I found fascinating or rather disturbing were the huge differences. You can see the well kept buildings and areas from the British era and on the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andaman-and-Nicobar-Islands/Port-Blair/blog-253002.html From Darjeeling we went back to Siliguri where we booked a night bus to Kolkata. After 16 hours bus drive we finally arrived. The drive was especially difficult for Marc since he got some bug or something and felt absolutely horrible. It must have been a real pain to travel in a local bus for that many hours. We have not seen much of Kolkata yet but will start exploring tomorrow. We also want to f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/West-Bengal/Kolkata/blog-251886.html First of all we were freezing the first night. Darjeeling is on 2200 metres above sea level and really cold during the night. Anyway the next morning we had to look out for a place to eat. All Darjeeling was closed and I mean closed. No restaurant was open no cyber cafe was open they were on strike. The strike had been going on for 20 days already and it was not sure how long it would go on. W http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/West-Bengal/Darjeeling/blog-251884.html We had previously decided to leave Nepal and move on to India soon so we had booked a flight or better we had booked two flights.The first one brought us up to the mountains where we had a fantastic view of the Himalaya and of course of Mount Everest. To be honest in the end these are just normal mountains as we know them in Switzerland. It is not possible to realise how high they are or how mu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kakarvitta/blog-251878.html After KTM we cruised along the Kathmandu Valley for two days. The valley is famous for it's religous temples and sites. First we went to Patan which has a lovely city center and really nice temples to look at. The next day we moved on to Bhaktapur were we sneeked into the city without paying the entrance fee. Another lovely city with beautiful temples. The last day we went to Bodnath where we gla http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Bhaktapur/blog-251871.html There have not been many Cyber Cafes along the way so I have to do some catching up right now.After the Chitwan Nationalpark we went back to Kathmandu for one day. We made some sightseeing Marc showed me around since he knows KTM already petty well. However this sightseeing had no influence on my first impression I still do not like KTM very much.We only stayed one day since we mainly needed som http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-251869.html We went for a jungle walk in the Chitwan Nationalpark for two days. First we went with the canoo for about one hour and then hit into the jungle. We had two guides with us. It was great to walk through the park learn about plants and animals. On the first day we saw quite a lot of animals rhino bears crocodiles ... on the second day we were not that lucky again and did not see many animals. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-249262.html Early in the morning I left the guest house and went looking for the bus stop. The city was absolutely dark and when I was walking through the little streets and alleys I was kind of scared. I arrived at the bus stop savely and the trip could get started after sorting out the ticket thing.It took a bit more than five hours to get to Sauraha. It is only 90 kilometers from Kathmandu but the streets http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-249257.html I safely arrived in Kathmandu a few hours ago. I was able to catch the van from the hostel and they drove me through the city. It is quite chaotic from what I could see and we drove through areas where I did not wanted to get out of the car whatsoever.I could hardly get a room in the hostel although Marc has made a reservation for me. It took me quite some patience until I finally managed to go to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-246886.html The last few days were very slow and I thought the day would never come But here I am finally on the way to the airport...Yay http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/Z-rich/blog-246625.html