Amritsar was definately one of the highlights of our ten week Indian adventure. It was also one of the friendliest cities we have visited. Travelling across town by cycle rickshaw, our drıver was furiously whistled at. We turned around to find a burly Sıkh policeman grinning at us like a Cheshire cat and giving us [...]
Our first morning back in Delhi and we head to the Iranian embassy. Our pre-approved visas are going to take a week. Plans to stop off in Chandigath and Shimla on our way back from Amritsar are shelved. We spend the next few days visiting Qutb Minar, Humayun’s tomb, Hauz Khas and Nizamuddin. We break [...]
Arriving in Kathmandu after our Helambu trek during the chaos (and violence) of student elections we were relieved to find that the two week long bandh in the Tarai had been lifted. Our route back to India was open. We immediately bought a pair of tickets on the Golden Travel bus to Bhairawa. We spent [...]
For our second Nepali trekking expedition we decided to undertake a trek in the Helambu region, just north of Kathmandu. We took a taxi to Sundarijal where we were to begin our trip. After walking for an hour or so we entered the Shivapuri National Park, getting our prepaid permits checked. The first day was [...]
Back in Kathmandu and we couldn’t justify the luxury of the International Guest House. Instead we opted for the pleasant Pilgrims Guest House. The Holi festival proved to be something of a disappointment. Instead of merry-making the young males of Kathmandu seemed to use the festival as an excuse for lawlessness. In particular western women [...]
Following a short taxi ride from our treks end point at Phedi we arrived back to some luxury at Hotel Nirvana. We enjoyed a few celebratory beers before attempting to cleanse ourselves of the previous five days worth of grime. That night we treated ourselves to steak at the Everest Steak House, washed down, of [...]
A change of style for the third of our series. Instead of a quiz question we’ve chosen a caption competition. This friendly sadhu entertained us for a while on the banks of the Tungabhadra river amongst the stunning landscape created by the ruins of Vijayanagara. After showing us around some of the temples, for a [...]
With around 16 hours of the day with no electrical supply I had no option but to have my haircut by scissors for the first time in nearly twenty years. The highlight was definitely the shave. I had been wanting a pukka shave for the entirety of our trip and afterwards I was left wandering [...]
After much deliberation we decided on a trek from Nayapul to Ghorepani then across to Ghandruk and back to Phendi and Pokhara via Landruk and Dhampus. Our start was delayed by a bout of sickness suffered by Mam but we were soon on our way to Nayapul one hour away from Pokhara by taxi. From [...]
