intheirshoes2011

My last night in Varanasi ended more spending. I was hunting the markets for a present to get my nephew, more specifically, an army style watch with a compass. I asked someone (who I later found out was named Rahul) who sure enough knew someone who owns a quality watch shop. And of course, in the land of India where anything is possible, a small watch shop had one army style watch with a compass. Rahul, who was very sweet, bargained with me, took me for some aluchat (a local street snack which is like a potato dumpling served in a leaf with a spicy dahl type sauce for 10 rupees), after which I felt very much obliged to 'see' his shop. No obligation to buy, right?! I walked out having spent 3000 rupees on spices, ... read more

I think I've been living in a bubble of excitement and adrenalin from relieving my travel bug during my first week in India, because on the train to Varanasi it finally hit me. As the train arrived, I realised I didn't have a seat number. Frustrated and tired, I was lucky enough to find a group of Dutch tourists with a guide, who checked my ticket number and said I was on a waiting list. Great! When the train came, I checked with one of the train workers who let me know that luckily I was confirmed and gave me my seat number. The train was half an hour late to depart, and I was somehow under the false impression that as it was 650km's away, the journey would take about 7 hours. I found my ... read more

Namaste! They call Rajasthan the colourful state - and not without reason. Rajasthan welcomes you with splurts of colour, like a Jackson Pollock painting. From the bright pink bouganvillea running alongside the road to the women's exquisitely coloured sari's that can be found on the back of motorbikes, on the side of the road or working out in the fields. Pinks, oranges, reds, greens, blues, purples all glistening in the sun and standing out like sore thumbs in the otherwise dry landscape. My driver picks me up at 8:30am and we're heading for Jaipur - capital of the Rajasthan state. Only 250km out of Delhi, but on Indian roads being slowed down by cows, camels, horses etc, this took an easy 6 hours. Monkeys just casually hang out on the roads here, waiting for someone to ... read more

Namaste! Arrived in Delhi on a very smoggy Saturday morning at 6am. After 20 hours of flying, stopping over in Abu Dhabi and never being able to sleep on a plane, I'm pretty exhausted. Thankfully, customs and baggage collection goes smoothly and I find my guide holding an A4 sheet of paper with my name scribbled on it. He awkwardly leads me to my car transfer, which seems like miles away, and off we go into the big smoke. I'm asked to pay for my tour in American dollars, which I didn't have, and so after 5 phone calls in Hindi and some compromise, I'm taken to a very dodgy atm on the side of the road to withdraw 30,000 rupees and pay the man. And so I did. My driver leaves me at the hotel ... read more