Our grand plans for our third day in Kathmandu were slightly interrupted by a nationwide strike ordered by the Maoists as protest against the governments ‘excessive use of force’. Basically there were about 15,000 people squatting illegally in a forest so the government sent the police in to clear them out. Only the squatters didn’t like this so much so they grabbed their knives and sticks and retaliated so the police used some more force and ended up killing 4 of the squatters. So the Maoists declared a strike. Our taxi driver from the previous day had warned us about the strike, but we thought it was just the taxis and maybe some businesses…so when we ventured out we were quite shocked. Everything was closed; ATM’s were locked up, shops and restaurants were shut, there were ... read more

At the crack of dawn the two of us hauled ourselves from our bed and began the next phase of our India trip. A quick 2 minute walk saw us at New Delhi train station - a bustling 24 hour station with half the population of India rushing from platform to platform. Because India has such a good train system the railway is an interesting place as people from all walks of life - from rich to poor - use the network. For some reason we had first class tickets which meant our journey was a lot more luxurious than our usual forms of travel. As it was a morning train we knew that we would be served some kind of breakfast. In other countries train food has been pretty average, however for its first class ... read more

Scott and I both finish have both finished our degrees so are heading off to the Indian subcontient before we have to enter the real world. Here are our plans: India 22 Nov: Arrive in Delhi 23 & 24 Nov: Delhi 25 Nov: Train to Amritsar 26 - 28 Nov: Amritsar 29 Nov: Bus to Shimla 30 Nov - 1 Dec: Shimla 2 Dec: Train to Delhi 3 Dec: Delhi Nepal 4 Dec: Fly to Kathmandu 5 & 6 Dec: Kathmandu 7 Dec: Bus to Pokhara 8-11 Dec: Pokhara 12 Dec: Bus to Chitwan NP 13 - 16 Dec: Chitwan NP 17 Dec: Bus to Indian border India 18 Dec: Train to Varanasi 19 - 21 Dec: Varanasi 22 Dec: Fly to Delhi, Train to Agra 23 Dec: Agra 24 Dec: Train to Jaipur 25 & ... read more

Mt. Bromo was a marathon effort to get to, luckily it was worth it. We boarded a minibus in Yogya at 9am in the morning, picked up all the other passengers, including an Indonesian Catholic nun who was going to her new convent in Probolinggo. Our ride was uneventful, uncomfortable and horribly long. We had a quick stop for lunch and a few toilet breaks, but basically drove for 10.5hrs straight. After 10 and a half hours we changed to another minibus which drove us another hour or so to our hotel Cemoro Lewang...all up we spent 12hrs on the bus (excluding time for lunch) which meant when we eventually arrived it was close to 11.30pm. The following morning when our alarm went off at 3.30am I was tempted to throw the phone across the other ... read more

The train ride from Jakarta to Bandung was really enjoyable. The train snakes its way through the mountains past little villages, rice terraces and tea plantations. Bandung has a much cooler climate than Jakarta and as a result a lot of people from Jakarta head there for the weekend. The town itself has 3 million people and is the regional capital of West Java. At the train station a local from the ‘Tourist Information Centre’ attached himself to us and walked us to the hotel we had selected from the Lonely Planet guide. The hotel was revolting - small, cramped and musty with tiny beds and even smaller bathrooms. Sometimes it seems that once a hotel gets a mention in lonely planet their standards drop and their prices increase. Luckily the guy from the TIC pointed ... read more