Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 366

Delhi, Capital city of India since 1947. We arrived on the 10th of December after a twenty three hour journey. This adventure included three hours on a coach, a walk across the border from Nepal to India, two hours on a 'local' bus (never again!) and finally a seventeen hour train journey. At the station we decided to save money by walking to the main hotel area, so armed with our increasingly heavy backpacks we walked towards Connaught Place. After about fortyfive minutes, and various disagreements about whether the scale on the map was incorrect or not, or whose sense of direction was best, we eventually arrived at our hotel having saved thirty five pence! The next morning we spent sight seeing. We visited the Red Fort, which is constructed completely of sandstone. It was completed ... read more

So there are destinations and destinations, each offering their distinct USPs. Hot attractions that draw tourists seeking an ‘experience’ to carry home - a trophy to substantiate a battery of travel yarns. But in this craze for acquiring the best seller, our jetsetter often overlooks the finer details - colours that give a place meaning and significance. After all isn’t the great thing about travel, the joy of savouring an authentic experience in its entirety… like the succulent slice of a fruit, stones, rind and all? The tiger is undoubtedly India’s most charismatic export and the twenty seven odd tiger reserves dotting the country cope with a steady file of tourists descending with the single-minded determination of encountering the big cat - an encounter resourcefully ‘arranged’ by guides and rangers with persistence to match. Make no ... read more

There is another ImTrav group at the hotel. (1 fat bloke and a group of whinging women)! I've been eyeing them with disdain! After all we're ADVENTURE CLASS, while they're all whoosy Traveller Class just doing the Golden Triangle, so not fit to clean up after our camels as far as I'm concerned! (Yeah I'm an elitist travel snob I know, but why change the habits of a lifetime)! We ended up going out for another good meal last night, (though more expensive than usual). They had dancers, and at one point I was dragged up to participate. Joan has photos, (and is willing to provide them to anyone interested for a price)!!!!!!! Also along with us last night were Vipal, Paula, Glen and Jamie. (Both Micheal and Nadine felt too ill to attend). Actually I ... read more

Jaisalmer, (the desert city I was in the other day), and Pushkar, (the city I am in now), will probably both hold a special significance for me. Jaisalmer was the place last Friday, (after much panic and concern after getting a message at my hotel to phone home), where I discovered my dad had died. While Pushkar was the place last night I was while his funeral was taking place. To those of you who don't know, my dad chose to opt out of my life 25 years ago, and indeed had my step sister not chosen to opt back into my life 3 years ago it is doubtfull I'd have ever have known the time or location of his death anyway. So Earth shattering news this was not as I had come to regard him ... read more

Gotta say the Camel safari thing was a bit crap! I'm no camel novice, (been to breakfast on one at Ayres rock, and rode out from Aswan into the Sahara), and my feeling with camels is the same as the feeling I have with aircraft, take offs and landings are rough and the bit in between is just uncomfortably too high up. The deal we had yesterday on paper sounded good. We'd ride out into the Thar, watch the sunset over the Sam sand dunes, and then camp out for the night in the Desert. The reality was less romantic. Turns out there are lots of companies who do this, so the Dunes are more reminiscent of a crowd empting from a football ground, and the desert camps turn out to be large screened off tacky ... read more