so...8 months on, what's next??

The end of our (long) vagabonding time in India and Sri Lanka is approaching.

After 2 weeks visiting the 'Golden Triangle' with Harriet's parents, we have spent 4 more days in Delhi sorting out a long visa for Thailand - we'll be cycling, so best have a long visa in case we can't get out in time....

We are following our original plan to visit SE Asia by bike. So, to get some comfy touring bikes sorted, complete with paniers and all, Sylvia is going to France in October on a mission (no, no, not a mission to eat all the pain au chocolat she can in a month, quel idee!), a mission to get bikes and her tummy (not the same since that fever in Hampi..) fixed before we hit the road again.

In the meantime, Harriet will be living like a hermit in the Himalayas learning to be a yoga teacher for the whole of October. Harriet's diet will be considerably different as it will consist of Ashram food...and only 2 meals a day...poor Harriet no pain au chocolat up there... ;-)

Just fresh air and two meals a day next to the Ganges...

We'll meet again in Bangkok on 8th of November with a super flex Harriet, a (round) Sylv in full digestive order and 2 beautiful touring bicycles and a few maps to help us on our way!

Until next time, a few pictures from India: a fanfare man, a pink rickshaw, a holy cow and Sylv with the lovely Sikh men.

Rajastan (more) and the Golden Triangle with Harriet's parents

Here are a few more pics from our travels round Rajasthan... we went faster than usual, saw a lot, but didn't get much time for sitting around. So we're off for another holiday now!


In Jaisalmer we got a bit closer to the camels we'd been seeing around - they're larger than you might think and do a lot of ruminating. On our way back to Jaipur we saw loads running around on the edge of the Thar desert, these three looked more like giraffes.

The Jaisalmer fort is very beautiful, rising out of the desert and with 'proper' fort-like fortifications. We found a roof top restaurant facing the fort and spent every evening marvelling at the stars (you can see sooo many there!) and eating delicious Rajasthan food.

In Jaipur, searching for nice hotels for Mum and Dad, we saw what it might be like to be here in the monsoon... the road turned into a river within about 15 minutes of the rains starting and we'd have waded all the way home if the lovely woman in the internet cafe hadn't taken pity on us and given us a lift. So nice!

Mum and Dad's luxury tour in India strated in style with Emirates fancy pick-up at the airport... and continued in slightly less comfort in three wheelers! We got the train to Jaipur though and visited the sights...

The Palace of the Winds... with the audio guide.

The Jantar Mantar observatory..

with a massive sundial that told the time to within 2 seconds!

We were woken by peacocks crying and met up with Barbara, my friend from LSE days for a lovely meal in the garden.

And visited a little workshop making traditional Jaipur blue pottery - beautifully painted, if we could have carried more, we'd have really treated ourselves!

Amber Fort was enormous, perched on the top of a hill with chains of elephants marching up and down carrying tourists perched on their backs. We were able to get lost in the corridors of the palace, saw the beautiful glass palace and gardens.

The old town of Amber was studded with temples - this one was empty but for the priest and his son and peaceful.

From Jaipur to Agra, again on the train..and stretching our legs in the nature garden down the road from the Taj Mahal.

Seeing the Taj from the riverside at sunset was lovely and the bells and chants of the temple there added to the 'oh we're in India' feeling. The temple also 'discarded' some broken statues of gods on the river bank, giving quite a unique photo opportunity of thye Taj.

We got up early the next day and made the most of the rising sun and relatively empty gardens. We could hear birds as we walked up to look more closely at the Taj, surprisingly big and small at the same time as there's nothing around it to give you an idea of size.

Once we'd taken enough pictures of the building, we admired the other tourists and took pictures of them!

There was a lot of 'holding the top of the Taj', a bit like the holding up the tower of Pisa.

From Agra we travelled to the intense heat of Orchha for a brief visit. It is a beautiful little village on the Betwa river - full of temples and with the old fort and palace on a green hilly island. The palaces are full of paintings and the remains of stunning decorative tiles in blues and greens. Here's a taste, we can bore you with more on request!

Then it was back to Delhi for the museums, rickshaws and relative cool before Mum and Dad left to return to the pristine, rickshaw and cow-free, wind-chilled highways of Wimbledon! Sniff....

Rajasthan

Back in India!

We arrived on the 19th of August in Mumbai, landing in the centre of India's Swine Flu outbreak! We got quite scared by the number of people wearing masks at the airport and train stations and a nice man took pity on us, giving us some masks which we felt rather obliged to wear on the spot. Looking lovely, attracting even more attention than usual..


From Mumbai we took a night train to Bundi, a quite little town in Rajasthan, to allow us to plan our trip round the North, experience yet another upset stomach for Sylv and adapt again to the humid heat of India.

Rajasthan is much more touristy than the South of India. And there are a lot of French tourists, many teachers.. giving the reasthouse a sort of 'salle des profs' atmosphere!

The landscape is very different too: drier, more uniform, flat. No more coconut trees. But flat little white houses. And women in bright colourful saris, their head covered with their shawl. And men dressed in white with big moustaches (think Salvador Dali), gold earings and huge bright turbans.

In Bundi we met Daniel, a french traveller who has been travelling the world on his bike for over 2 years (his blog: http://www.mondancyclo.canalblog.com/). It was a lovely and lucky encounter that was meant to be (that's India for you) and came as we started to think about how we were going to cycle SE Asia. Daniel very kindly showed us his bike and equipment and we're both dreaming of being on the bike...

Next stop Udaipur, the white city, city of lakes and palaces. Nice guesthouse with a view on the palace and a resident tortoise on our terrace.

Udaipur has an amazing City Palace on the lake shores and a palace (now a luxury hotel) set as an island on the lake. In the evening women bathe on the ghats of the lake, a colourful spectacle and by the night a thunderstorm struck, a wet but welcome breath of cool air!

Here are some pictures from the City Palace - stunning decorations in a palace hugging the top of a hill

Next was Jodhpur, the blue city, so called as a lot of its houses are blue.

An imposing fort dominates the city which has a palace and temples within its fortified walls. It's a real change to be wandering around plush palaces and noisy bazaars - a welcome change, a comfortable tourist chanage... but a great chance to learn about the history of this part of India and admire the beauty of Moghul decorations!