Delhi, India After a relatively luxurious express train ride through the night, we arrived back in Delhi, greeted by millions of fireworks. It felt like we were entering a war zone, with bombs going off all around us. The air was thick from the gun powder smoke. As we walked a block to our hotel, …
Amritsar, Punjab, India Amritsar is home to the Golden temple, the Sikhs’ temple of God. The state of Punjab is where the majority of India’s Sikhs live. We arrived in Amritsar in time to drive to the border with Pakistan, and observe the mindboggling daily border-closing ceremony. India has actually erected a stadium of bleachers …
Dharmasala and McLeod Ganj, India One thing our tour guide was quite helpful for was arranging first rate transportation. Rather then the dreaded 12 hour public bus, we were treated to a 8 hour jeep ride to Dharmsala. Jeeps are definitely the way to go on these gnarly, pitted, roads. After a couple of weeks …
Home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan gov. Read More »
Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India After a long, 10 hr private bus ride, past countless trucks spewing deisel exhaust, and roadside piles of burning tar and garbage, we arrived at the beautiful hill station town of Manali. The town is surrounded by snow covered peaks, and cooled by glacial mountain air. Although we didn’t get to …
Shimla, India Out of the desert and into the mountains… We took a public bus to Shimla, from Chandigarh (after an exciting tuktuk race through town from the train station). I had to run a bit to board the bus, since the driver decided to leave just as I was exiting the bathroom (even though …
Bikaner, India Home of the Junagarh Fort. After a long bus ride to Bikaner, we opted to miss out on the additional 1 hour ride to see the rat temple. Instead, Grant and I took a rickshaw into town, to check it out. Bikaner, a city of 600,000, is not very touristy at all. The …
Jaisalmer, India The “Golden City”. Most buildings in Jaisalmer are made of beige sandstone, and the town is overlooked by a large, lived in, fort that looks like a massive sandcastle. The village within the walls of the fort is very medieval looking, with narrow jagged streets, livestock wandering everywhere, and homes made of stone …
Osiyan, India Departure town for our camel safari and night in the desert. Osiyan is the birthplace of Jainism, but the town was cursed and now Jains can no longer liver there. However it is still a pilgrimage destination, with Jains from all over India coming to visit the temple, which is maintained throughout the …
Jodhpur, India Home of the Mehrangarh Fort. It’s a beautiful structure, with excellent views of the city. The best way to see this particular fort is with the aid of a rented audio tour unit. As we walked through the complex, our audio guide told us stories of what it was like living in this …
Pushkar, India Home of the world famous camel fair. In addition to being an important religious pilgrimage destination for locals, it has also become a popular destination for less religiously motivated Israelis who come to take in the readily available drugs. As a foreigner, we couldn’t walk through the streets without locals asking if we …
Pachewar, India Staying in a 300 year old Rajput fort. A Rajput family is running this guest house as a means of keeping up the fort. It’s a beautiful building, with dark dungeonous stairways full of bats. In the early evening, our host walked us through the village, which is full of tiny homes made …
Jaipur, India Home of the Amber fort, an example of Rajput architecture. On our way to Jaipur, we were guided through the Fatehpur Sikri fort by a very dramatic local guide. This fort is unique in that it was built by a Mughal emperor who had 3 wives, each of a different religion: Christian, Hindu, …
Agra, India Home of the Taj Mahal, one of the most magnificent structures in the world. Even more beautiful in real life. There were other sights to be taken in throughout Agra, such as the red fort (Agra Fort), but we opted to limit ourselves to one major sight per day, whenever possible, to avoid …
Delhi, India We’re embarking on another 3 week tour, with Imaginative traveler. This one is called Amritsar, Dharamsala and the Desert Cities of Rajasthan . We’re looking forward to a (relatively) hassle-free 3 weeks, with someone else taking care of getting us up and around. Since we’ll be on the road a lot throughout this …
Bangalore, Karnataka, India After flying in from Mangalore, the early evening taxi ride was nothing like our first introduction to Bangalore. It took over 1 hour to travel 10km! We were eager to get into town to meet up with one of my IEEE contacts, Dipa. Dipa is an electrical engineer, working at Cypress. We …
Mangalore, India Staying at Poonja International Hotel. I swear I’ll never take a local bus in India again. It was a long, painful, ride, stopping everywhere to pick up and drop up people. Seats were hard, and barely big enough for a child’s bottom. Roads were rough and winding; People were puking into bags and …
Tholpetty, Kerala, India A two day break in a wildlife reserve on the Kerala, Karnataka border. Stayed at the Pachyderm Palace, at the edge of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. We were so lucky to have stumbled upon this gem. I have to give credit to the Lonely Planet for this one. They described it as …
Mysore, Karnataka, India Stayed at the Green Hotel, an ecofriendly hotel, away from the hustle-and-bustle of town. Mysore is known across the country for its Palace and annual Festival of Dasara. We arrived right around the eve of this 10 day festival (not the best way to escape the crowds). Perhaps due to the increased …
Bangalore, India Staying at 37th Crescent Hotel.After 2 nights, moved to the more affordable Vellara Hotel (+91-2536-9116) We sure planned this one right, arriving in one of India’s most congested cities at 3:00 in the morning. The streets were dark and empty as we rode into town, so we remained blissfully unaware of the traffic …