02.02.2005
This is it.
Where have we been? Paying off half a year's rent on Susheel's new internet cafe down on Kovalam beach, India? Probably. No - definitely. I suspect that in all his years he will never have customers like us again. By the way he gripped my hand today with a big smile and the hint of a tear in his eye, I'm pretty sure he came to the same conclusion.
12.01.2005
Ayurvedic cleansing
Whether you're looking for it or not, India has her special way of serving up a dose of natural healing and spirituality. After receiving our first hit in MacLeod Ganj, we were definitely ready for another. With Jo's super-powers of sussing out award-winning health retreats, she had us all booked in for a week of sea-side Ayurvedic treatments and pampering.
05.01.2005
Captured by Kerala
So Dad and Jo were flying in to Mumbai from London on New Years Eve and we still didn't have a plan. The Asian Tsunami took away our two week trip to Sri Lanka, and our troubles seemed oh-so-insignificant.
28.12.2004
Mumbai
We've arrived in Mumbai from Diu after an interesting 22 hour bus ride. I had plenty of time to come up with a tourist jingle for the little Portugese island town: "Come to Diu, there's nothing to see, and nothing to do!". That pretty much sums up the place, but if you're ever in the area and love grimy, rubbish-coated beaches the only place worth staying is The Resort Hoka, which made Diu almost bearable.
More...25.12.2004
Diu
After a month of racing around Rajasthan, we were excited to finally devour a few books on the palm frindged beaches of Diu. I mean, after reading the Lonely Planet's reference to Diu, it sounded like the perfect way to unwind and spend Chrissy. Right?
17.12.2004
Lost in the desert
We had only just become accustomed to the likes of cows and, more recently, elephants walking down the busy streets, but the desert state of Rajasthan threw in a new flavour to the mix. With their long lashes, ultra proud poise, and dainty strides, there is only one word which accurately describes these creatures. Transvestites!
16.12.2004
Bikaner
After racing around the Indian tracks, a chilled-out backpacker haven (i.e. Pushcar) is often a welcoming breath of fresh air. However, it's amazing how fast the atmosphere can turn stagnant after too much "where-you-from-come-into-my- shop-looking-no-problem-free-to-look-madam -good-price-very-cheap". Once we'd got our backpacker hit, we were itching to get away from the hoards once again. So where to next was the question. And Bikaneer seemed like the perfect answer.
14.12.2004
Pushkar
Pushkar is a holy little town huddled around a magical little lake. Every year this little travellers oasis plays host to India's biggest camel fair - 200 000 people come to trade 50 000 camels and have a general party.
11.12.2004
Saturday night at the movies
Bollywood is bigger than Hollywood. 2.5 million people work in the movie industry, there are 13 000 cinemas across the country and we weren't leaving India till we'd been in one.
10.12.2004
Jaipur
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. 2.32 million people combine to stir up the dust, add colour with crazy turbans and add action with fleets of camel-powered trailers.
09.12.2004
Agra
Posters around Agra by the local tourism commission try hard to convince visitors it's a three day destination, but like most people we did the one day whistle-stop tour to see the Taj Mahal.
04.12.2004
Popcorn and Machismo
It's almost worth coming to India just to see this. A thirty minute auto-rickshaw ride out of Amritsar is the border town of Atari. Glimpses of Pakistan can be seen between the rolls of barbed wire, triple-reinforced bunkers, and platoons of troops that hang off the desolation of no-man's land.
Golden Temple - Amritsar
Founded in 1577 by Ram Das, fourth guru of the Sikhs, Amritsar is the centre of the Sikh religion. Although Amritsar is just another dusty indian city, albeit with some interesting old-city alleyways, the main attraction, the Golden Temple, is an exceptionally beautiful and serene place.
03.12.2004
McLeod Ganj
After spending three weeks in this gorgeous little mountain town, we can just about call Mcleod Ganj our home away from well, no home. Set in the foothills of the snow capped Dhauladhar mountain range, it is home to the Tibetan government and people in exile, including the Dalai Lama.
02.12.2004
Early morning stroll
While Sydney-siders were sipping on their morning Boost-Juice, complaining about the heat, we were embarking on an early morning strole up to 2,000 meters to Triond – the snowy viewpoint of the Dhauladhar mountain range.
27.11.2004
Family reunion... Indian style
While the McFamily were partying it up in NYC, I was indulging in my own McFamily reunion here in McLeod Ganj. It’s not often that you stumble across family in weird and wonderful parts of the world, so I was so very excited about meeting up with my long lost cousin Elizabeth here in Northern India.
26.11.2004
Art of living
Life is full of suffering. This is not a statement of despair by a pessimist; merely an observation of reality as it is. I will die. You will die. Unwanted events will occur and wanted events will not occur. Mortals such as Thoreau are prompted to pen such words as "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation". Mortals such as us are prompted to comprehend and remember.
13.11.2004
India 101: Expect the unexpected
Move aside 'Psych 101' or 'Communications 101' - first year uni courses. The greatest learning will unarguably come from 'India 101: Expect the unexpected'.
09.11.2004
Varanasi
Varanasi has a certain radiance which grows on you (following from ‘holy dip’). Once you get past the stench and dirtiness, you start to appreciate its spiritual qualities, drawing millions of pilgrims to the city each year.
Cows
I read with interest in the latest India Today magazine (similar to Time magazine) a 'mail of the week' entitled GENIUNE DEVOTION:
Like the donkey sanctuary at Sagroli we need to set up shelters for cows all over the country...We claim to worship cows but make no effort to tend to them when they are old and ailing. Instead they roam the streets where they cause accidents and injure themselves.
More...08.11.2004
Holy dip
Just when we thought we’d reached the true traveler Nirvana – becoming one with our personal filth and dirtiness so our surroundings don’t seem as filthy - our boundaries were challenged once again. Bring on Varanasi...
06.11.2004
Bodhgaya
After a four-hour bus ride from Darjeeling down to Siliguri we took an overnight train to Patni and on to Gaya. We finally arrived in the poorest state in India just in time for breakfast.
28.10.2004
Gone Trekking
Singalila ridge. One foot in Nepal, one foot in India. Five days trekking from tomorrow with gaze drawn to Kangchendzonga. Tibet to the north, Bhutan to the east, and raw beauty at all points of the compass.
More...27.10.2004
Himalayan vistas
It's no thing getting up at 3:30am this morning. We must beat the jeep-convoy-rush from the hill-station of Darjeeling (2134m) to Tiger Hill look-out (2590m). Elevation becomes important around these parts.
24.10.2004
Durga Puja - Kolkata
Every traveller worth their salt feels nourished when a dash of serendipity is added to their journeying meal. So it was on Friday night when we bumped into Kim, enthusiastically urging us to split a fare and cab it on down to Muhammed Ali Park. We'd fortuitously arrived in Kolkata at the height of the annual festival for Bengalis - Durga Puja.
More...23.10.2004
Impressions of Kolkata
Busy. Dirty. Big yellow bonnet ambassador cabs. Urban rot. Rendered cement peeling off buildings to reveal red-brick teeth gritting through grime. Street scenes shot like... cinematic widescreen...everywhere you look.
21.10.2004
Cleanliness, training.
Forget searching out Hindu gurus for enlightenment - or discovering the four noble truths within Buddhism. There are more essential things to learn in India first. 'Transcending western notions of cleanliness' is a self-taught class every traveller needs to undertake.
More...19.10.2004
Aspirational squalor set
I thought I should get in on the political demographics game and invent a label myself. How else can you describe the dirty, hectic, desperate street scene here when the telegraph poles are covered in posters advertising technical training in J2EE, .NET, and whatever else is the latest craze in programming. All a little incongruent - foreign - out of place - in a town where Siraj' book depot is not looking like implementing any B2B, B2C, or even ABC solutions soon. I never checked though, so I can't be sure.
More...Woah...
It's all true. Nothing can prepare you for India. Chenai is absolute chaos - the fourth largest city in India with around 6.7 million people contributing to the belching, farting, spitting mess of humanity that is smeared across this dirty street canvas.
More...17.10.2004
India
Well here we sit in Malaysia's largest internet cafe killing time. A couple of hundred wood-panelled booths with individual faux-leather couches, flat-screen monitors, phones for food service. I can't see any kids falling asleep on their keyboards like usual though - I put it down to the industrial-strength air-con pumping through the place.
Trepidation? - no, adventure - is a word that comes to mind as we're browsing through forums and reading up on India travel stories. Boy are there some stories. We fly in to Chennai (aka Madras) in the south tomorrow morning and we were debating rushing up to the province of Sikkim in the north to have a Himalayan birthday for Danielle. Only problem is the train ride to Kolkata is 27 hours. and from there it is still another 18 hours of overland travel!
More...