Packing up the contents of the apartment. Getting ready to move it all to storage on Tuesday. Very excited to be leaving all of the real world worries behind for a while. We have a basic idea of where we are headed and are departing with a one way plane ticket to Brisbane on Friday 12/31 - other than that the next 10-11 months are all about fun and adventure so long as the money does not run out.... read more

India just wouldn't be India without stomach issues. So now that we're back we've decided to throw-up a few times, have 'interesting' trips to the bathroom, and become totally repulsed whenever we catch sights of a 'Dosa'. Otherwise.... Delhi was an interesting stop on our little journey through India. We assumed, being the capital, it would be the center of Indian culture and therefore crazy and hectic like no other place on earth. Our suspicions were confirmed once we stepped off the train in New Delhi. Like a moving ocean, full of peaks and ripples, people moved everywhere. Once outside the station things didn't change. The street, or clearing of mud, was packed with vendors hawking anything from shoes to samosas. Busy travelers moved about, keeping one eye on their feet (you don't want to step ... read more

Not quite sure what all the fuss is about. Climb 29,000 feet sure, we did it three times. Well in my dreams. So we had an amazing last 11 days trekking in the Himalayas. Had a few set backs, but it was yeah amazing. We flew in to the town/village of Lukla on a 19 seater "Twin Otter" propeller plane(quite an interestingly steep and short runway) on the 11th of June. From there we had a small breakfast and started walking. We continued walking until the afternoon of the 21st when we decided to sit and return back to Kathmandu. The most beautiful views and vistas I have ever seen. Friendliest most welcoming people and some very delicious meals of daal bhat. Daal Bhat is what the Nepali people in most cases eat two times a ... read more

So we are currently in Varanasi. More on that later, this is the long route we took to get here. We ended up leaving Kolkata on a night train to the town of Gaya from where we could catch rickshaw to Bodhgaya (the city where Prince Siddartho reached enlightenment and became Buddha). Waited at the hot, balmy train station for hours after spending an afternoon walking around in the heat. There was no cooling down in the heat, so we found a spot on the floor near a crowded fan and began to wait for our night train that would be running late. Around 8pm we got a small snack and this is where the fun begins ... I had only one bite of this tasty Paneer Roll while Andrew ate the rest. As we found ... read more

Made it to Kolkata this morning. At 11am it was 40 degrees celcius. Yeah, hot. Could not find a bus and since neither Andrew nor I have slept well in about 48 hours we gave up and took a taxi. Now this is where I became thankful that I was sleep deprived and a bit delirious. Otherwise I may have been scared. I actually think the driver was trying to kill us because of the low fare we had agreed upon. Found a dirty hole in the wall to sleep in. Andrew decided he felt like throwing up so we both just sat in the room under the fan for about 1 1/2 hours. Lucky me when I took my shower and got out I noticed there was a man that could see in our windows ... read more