New Delhi We stopped one night in New Delhi after a 32 hour train journey from Goa and before a 15 hour bus journey to our next destination: Manali - Himachal Pradesh. We did take a quick wander around Delhi during the day & to say the least we hated the noisy dirty grim city with a deep passion... We booking a train using the government website and Cleartrip which was relatively easy. We advice to use 2AC class as it will allow you to have a bed in a 4 compartments. Curtains blocked the others to spy on you and food/drink service operate on the train. Guys pass through the carriage every...5 min to sell cheese sandwich, samosa,tomato soup, crisps and cookies, tea, water, coffee. (It is nice to know people are concerned about your ... read more

Karnataka We stop by Bangalore on our way to Hampi (only briefly - it is not a nice place - it's a big dusty noisy and unappealing city, we arrived at night and left immediately the next day!!) The bus journey from Trichy to Bangalore is 8 hours. We took a private company KPN. The rickshaw bring us to a recommended place (by him).Some rickshaw drivers can be trusted but you have to get lucky. Most will recommend a hotel who will give them a commission for bringing customer and you will see the price of your room increase! Bangalore is just a short stop for our next destination: Hampi. 16/08 to 22/08 : Hampi We embarked on Hampi Island (Viripur Gadi) to settle down at Shanti Guesthouse for few days before moving to Shiva Guesthouse ... read more

30/07 to 09/08: Bangkok We are back to Bangkok for a couple of days. We stayed at Baan Hualampong Guesthouse nearby the central train station which we arrived from Malaysia. The surroundings are very nice and cosy - just 1 minute walk from the main street but so peaceful and quiet and green. We meet with Leon a Dutch guy leaving in Chiang Mai and working in Thailand as a journalist and hoping to get a house in a little paradise ( we like to keep it secret). The man is an interesting and misterious guy and has a great life story . We also met with Gillian, from Edinburgh. We shared our travels'experience and also gain some advice for India and places to stay. 02/08 to 05/08: Koh Samet As planned we meet up with ... read more

21-07: journey by bus to Taman Negara via Jerantut and Temeloh. We planned to stay there for few days and trek into the jungle but on the way to Taman Negara we discovered with horror that the Palm oil industry has destroyed the landscape and cut some of the jungle. We also didn't feel the place. The locals seem to take advantage of the tourist and we didn't feel comfortable staying here. The room we find wasn't great with an uncomfortable bed which didn't help to bring our good mood back. We felt cheated and didn't want to participate to this false industry. The environmental issues are important in Malaysia and lodging is believed to have destroyed 60% of the country's rainforest. Of course it does generate some good money! The palm-tree plantation is the other ... read more

The journey in bus is about 5 hours from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu. KK - Jesselton is based on British settlement. The old name Jesselton comes from Sir Charles jessel, the Vice-Chairman of the British North Borneo Chartered Company (1899) (Independant Company) To liberate North Borneo from the Japanese during the WWII, the Allied forces bombed and completely destroyed Jesselton leaving only the Sabah tourism building, the Atkinson Tower and the former Lands and Survey building. The large cost of rebuilding pushed the Chartered Company to sell to the British Government. North Borneo was under British protectorate from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963: independance year - Jesselton was renamed Kota Kinabalu on September 1968 for the Mount Kinabalu - name coming from the ... read more