After leaving Jaipur we were pretty weary of big cities and couldn’t wait to get to some small towns. Jaisalmer and Pushkar fit the bill perfectly. Jaisalmer is a desert town built around an 850 year old sandstone fort, which does look like an enormous golden-hued sandcastle perched on a hilltop. In its entire history the fort was only captured twice, the first time after a siege lasting twelve years. When the inhabitants finally decided they could no longer live…
We have been pretty budget conscious since we started travelling so we were thrilled to be gifted a night of luxury in a desert camp by Kath (thanks sis!). We were picked up by our jeep at 2pm from Jaisalmer and headed out to the Damodra Desert Camp. On our way out our driver stopped to show us a natural spring where. in the days pre-running water, the ladies would come from miles around to fill their containers to bring…
I have to admit it, sitting in Jaipur waiting for our night train to Jaisalmer, I had all but lost hope in India. After the constant assault on the senses, the wallet and my lungs I was worn out. Plus it was going to be my birthday (29 again) and I just couldn’t bear to spend it being hassled. Well, one of the Hindi gods must have listened, let’s say it was Ganesha, the elephant God, remover of all…
In the words of our friend Katy, India can be…challenging. Truer words were never spoken. It is not a gentle place. It bashes your senses at every turn. When you step out of your hotel the first sense assaulted is your hearing. The roads are chock full of motorcycles, scooters, cars, rickshaws, and tuk tuks all swerving and weaving to get ahead of each other, each one blaring its horn at all times, the louder the better. Next your sight,…
Last night was THE night we had been looking forward to. Our first train ride in India and we were getting out of Delhi (bonus!), we had even splurged and purchased 1st class sleeper train and we were looking forward to this adventure. Unfortunately Kevin wasn’t feeling well and we had to check out of our hotel by 5pm so we decided to head over to the station early (at 6pm) to people watch and wait for our train to…
So…. We have arrived in India. It was a bit of a shock, landing in a giant cloud of smog. It is literally so thick that you can taste it – it makes me feel very bad for Mother Earth. I have never seen anything like it – we arrived at midnight and when you look around it looks like you are in a dense fog but it’s not fog…. indescribable and utterly horrifying really. After customs we noticed large…
Kevin is so eloquent isn’t he? I let him write the good stuff and I figured that I will share some of the realities of travel. Remember the plane ride he was talking about? With the friendly pharmaceuticals (thanks friends – you know who you are!) well let me add to that by saying that despite the pharmaceuticals AND noise cancelling headphones – we could hear the guy behind us snoring – louder than a freight train, I kid…
Our international tour of discovery and inspiration has begun. It was a long trip to Hong Kong, 20 hours total travel time, but we managed to get some sleep on the plane with some friendly pharmaceuticals. The first thing we noticed when we emerged from the airport was the smog. Thick, blue smog that limited visibility to just a few miles. Luckily, it partly burned off during the day, but it never goes away completely. The smog seemed to confirm…
Who likes road trips? Americans like road trips. Comes right after baseball and apple pie. No self-respecting Parisian would hop into a car to drive to London for a night of revelry, but anyone who has lived in California for a while has made that ill-planned Vegas trip. It’s like a right of passage. An expression of our freedom; a little adventure. Well, this time it wasn’t Vegas, but a bit more far flung. We were originally going to drive…
Ok, we all know that airline tickets are a big portion of any vacation/travel budget, right?! Well let me tell you some of the ways that Kevin and I save on airline tickets. In the last 2 years we have travelled to San Diego (twice), New Zealand, through the Hawaiian Islands and booked our ticket to Hong Kong then onto India all for free! Well let me correct – we do have to pay the nominal taxes and fees (ranging…