Wow, what a contrast. Are we still in India? After the dirty market town of Siliguri making our way north and further a further up the luscious green mountains I feel as though we are somewhere further east like Thailand or Vietnam. A mixture of tropical trees with towering pine trees cover the steep hills. …
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Varanasi to Siliguri
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After our relaxing 3 days we prepared ourselves for ‘the real Varanasi’ and headed off by autorickshaw to be dumped 15 minutes walk away from our destination “The brown bread bakery”. Rated by the Lonely Planet, but not by us. Overcharging, uninterested and the volunteering they apparently offered seemed to be seasonal (I am not …
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Landing on in our 2-tiered AC cabin because every other class was full, we were happy as we had previously decided to try every class in order to compare and find out what the differences were. Thus the relatively expensive Rs1950 (30 pounds for both) was a must and we didn’t feel bad. Feeling good …
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The only issue of our 26 hour delay was the fact that we had 2 days in Agra to see the town. Although we this was the only place that we were going to only see a tourist sight 2 days would have been good. We landed at 12:30pm and had our train out to …
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This is a grubby little town, similar to Aurangabad. It is dusty hot, essentially “Arid” all over. That is fine though as we only have one night here before continuing our journey up to Agra. Despite the general grime of the town, due to its position on the railway line it has become a hub …
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After a day’s washing, sleeping, getting cash and finding our way around the city we headed out for a day in Dalautabad. Catching the bus was a bit of a nightmare. Feeling a little ropey from food the night before, we managed to squeeze through the massive pushing match, screams and kids being crushed so …
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After spending 6 hours the night before uploading photos due to numerous power failures rendering Internet use almost impossible, a 6am start was tiring. We set of to find a rickshaw hoping that we would receive the usual battle. After dismissing the first group on a scam, the next was ok and we made it …
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Pune to Aurangabad
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At 5pm on the 18th May 2010 a yellow rickshaw approached us on the roadside and Umesh appeared with a smile and helped us jam our bags into the rickshaw. It seemed strange being picked up by someone you have met online, to a place you do not know. Yet having done exactly that in …
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So the adventure really begins. After our 2 week break on the golden sands of Goa, relaxing as much as possible, getting acclimatised to the hot, humid heat of the Indian summer. We spent our last day at Boomshanka, soaking up the relaxing vibes and trying to memorise the beautiful sunset. The next morning we …
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I could get used to this… Relaxing in a goan paradise, hanging out with the Boom Shankar guys, who are all ace. The great thing about this time of year is that there are hardly any tourists. The beach is empty, the service quick and personable. Ok that is more than one thing, but this …
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Finally arriving in Goa and relaxing on the beach.
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Well after a bit of an unexpected delay, to say the least, we finally made it on the plane. Delivered in Camper Van style thanks to Anne and Dave. Air India has upped its game since I last flew with them. Curtains replaced with plastic shutters, an entertainment unit in front of you with gaming, …
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Laura’s thoughts on departing London
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