22/3/08
Happy Holli Easter, & Happy Birthday Linda! My first Indian festival... and it was, well... colourful! 2 days later the streets, people, cows and dogs still have a hint of colour.
18/03/08
After safely delivering Mum to the airport, we have moved on to a more peaceful side of India. 'Happy' and 'blissful' are the best words to describe Rishikesh & it's inhabitants. (Hardly any motorbikes Mum & clean, really!) Staying in an Ashram near the great Gangha & the begining of the Himalaya emerging.
10/3/08
Approaching the fourth week of Mum's "India 2008" tour.
Pushkar - stoned holy men offering blessings (for a price of course). A much needed escape from city traffic & buzz.
Udaipur - cooking class, massages and (MUM) shopping, shopping, shopping in bewteen the Monsoon Palace (brilliant view), GORGEOUS city palace and a (paddleboat) cruise 50m from THE Octopussy Lake Palace.
Bijaipur - beautiful castle & most luxurious camping next to a refreshingly clean, yes CLEAN swimming pool.
Jeep ride to Chittor courtesy of the Castle with the record number of passengers in a passing bus & a lovely chaffeur.
Bundi - a cleaner town with amazing views of fort/castle built into cliff faces. The begining of my artistic career, had saris/punjabi suits made & great sathi lassi.
Interesting haveli (homestay) with the Jai Singh family & little Lakshmi... despite the pressure to procreate. Not to mention an interesting cross country venture in an auto rickshaw to see some 15000 yr old rock paintings - so secret that not even the driver knew where they were!
27/2/08
GREETINGS FRIENDS OF MUM - please click here to see her photos.
26/2/08
Mum has been here a week and adjusted amazingly in a short time to India as well as our 'hard core' travelling style. Infact she is putting me to shame a little as she was more eager to jump on to a moving train while I hesitated and ran behind her incase she fell inbetween the train & platform.... weird hey? the person who has told ME all my life NOT to jump on/off moving vehicles AND a day earlier wouldn't allow me to STAND in the vicinty of the door of a train to throw out fruit bacause it was apparently 'dangerous'.
Events so far:
Sawai Madophur - the daring train stunt (that Mum insists was only so we didn't have to wait 5 hrs for the next one. Personally I don't take ANY excuses for such reckless behaviour) & an eventless safari through a tigerless Ramthambore National Park.
Agra - The Taj before, during & after sunrise....nothing else matters. Seriously.
Delhi - terrifying traffic, smog, crowds & great food. The hunt for clean accommodation before Mum arrived.
16/2/08
Hanging in Delhi waiting for Mumbles to arrive.
14/2/08
Back in Kolkata after a brilliant overnight train journey from Guwahati & Shillong. We were constantly amused by the singing beggars & salesmen (selling everything from binoculars, 'emergency lights' & singing corn to keyboards). Then there are the lady boys that would put curses on the men (or worse... touch them!) if they didn't cough up a few rupees... they didn't understand when I explained the meaning of 'extortion' but the passengers thought it to be funny.
MUM COUNTDOWN - 5 days!!
1/2/08
The Story of Abdul Wahid - a young Korean catholic muslim. Ask us sometime :)
29/1/08
Arrived in Kolcatta. WOW! Everything I hoped, and the chai is even better! Haven't experienced my first head wobble yet but... the smells, the food, the friendly faces... now I feel I am travelling! Pete can't get enough Paneer kebabs. The only place so far that could rival Japan for our affections. Love it, Love it, LOVE IT!
