Blogs from India, Asia

Our final full day in India. Met Raj at 7.20am rather than the planned 7am as it was raining. It was a good decision as there was no more after that early morning rainfall. Aim on this outing was to visit the Kashi Vishwanath Temple within the Shankaracharya Chowk Centre that we visited yesterday, which has a rooftop covered in one ton of gold leaf. We had passed by this temple yesterday but as we have a late flight back to Delhi, we have time to do a little more in Varanasi. Security is so tight that Raj told us to leave everything behind, even digital watches, bring only mobile phones, but they are also locked up before entering the temple. We also had to leave our passports at the ticket office which was situated away ... read more

Very early start today at 6am for our visit to Taj Mahal. Supposedly for sunrise but it wasn't really. Sunrise was earlier than that and it was very overcast today so it wouldn't have been worth it to go any earlier. The complex is quite large and the building is in a large courtyard with 4 gates. Our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal was quite surreal as it almost blended in to the surrounding early morning mist. Arjun sold us on using one of the accredited photographers who followed us in and posed us for photos in the best spots. It was quite amusing as we felt like we were posing for wedding photos. It really is a stunning building to see, being completely made of white marble. Inside, it is decorated in a simpler ... read more

Usual start at 8.30am after breakfast. Seemed like we were the only 6 guests but a few more turned up as we were leaving. First stop was Amber Fort, but instead of our mini-bus, we all hopped into a covered Jeep for the drive up to the Fort entrance. The old traditional method was riding up on an elephant, but tour companies no longer use this method because the elephants are badly treated. The Indian government does not allow any new elephants to be trained in this way. Amber Fort was fantastic. Located 11km from Jaipur, it was the old fort of the Kachwaha clan of Amber. The fort is built with white marble and red sandstone and many interesting parts to it, plus great views of the surrounding area. After that we had a stopped ... read more

Buffet breakfast was interesting. A lot of Indian style items we'd never heard of before. We went around and tried small portions of everything. Daisy had a dosa made which she really liked. Tour started at 8.30am and we met our guide Arjun and driver, Arjay. Surprisingly, there was still just the six of us for this entire tour. Certainly wasn't expecting a small group tour. Robyn and Anne however didn't opt for the Varanasi extension. First stop was a visit to Old Delhi. We were taken to the Jama Masjid Mosque (the largest mosque in India), which has three great gateways, four angle towers and two minarets constructed ofalternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble. First we had a rickshaw tour through Chandni Chowk, a colourful shopping bazaar in OldDelhi. Then a tour ... read more

I had heard how beautiful Kashmir was and had always wanted to visit it. So, when my first leg of photography trip for the Holi Festival was completed, I decided to extend my trip and headed to Kashmir, along with my two friends. The flight from Delhi to Srinagar took only 1.5 hours, much shorter compared to 3 hours of being in the airport prior to departure due to lengthy security check. Once we landed at Srinagar airport, we were greeted by our driver, Museeb, who suggested that we drove right away to Pahalgam. It was an easy and comfortable drive as the road condition turned out better than what I had expected. In the contrast to the week earlier where I saw lots of women wearing colorful clothing everywhere, I hardly saw any women on ... read more