India London to Delhi to Agra tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-02:/blog/?domain=nika3 2007-05-15T10:44:33Z Nika3 img/travel-blog-feed.png INDIA tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-05-15:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=9&entryid=60972 2007-05-15T10:44:33Z 2007-05-15T10:44:33Z Hey all!! Hope ur all keeping well and out of mischief! Well, after Kerala we headed to Goa - more sunshine, sea and sand....yippeeee.... We stayed in Calungate, and made the most of the beach which was just around the corner from where we were staying. THeres little to talk about as this was the typical beach holiday where we did little. Nisha got bored of it after the first day and couldnt wait to move on but even she had ... Hey all!! Hope ur all keeping well and out of mischief!

Well, after Kerala we headed to Goa - more sunshine, sea and sand....yippeeee....

We stayed in Calungate, and made the most of the beach which was just around the corner from where we were staying.

THeres little to talk about as this was the typical beach holiday where we did little. Nisha got bored of it after the first day and couldnt wait to move on but even she had to admit the beach was lovely.

It was off season but thats ok, it was nice all the same, we spent our time eating melted ice cream and street food. yummmm.

We are now in Mumbai, the last leg of our adventure. Were staying in Colaba - and have spent the last few days SHOPPING!!! lol yayyyyyyyyyy

We are well and truly skint - no scratch that, were in debt most likely. (mostly to our parents -east installments shall hopefully work) Were bought loads of odds and ends and loads of quality gear as well, like a few Levi's jeans - cost a third of what they cost back home from reputed LEvi's stores may we add before those cynics amongst you try and even say they're probably fake. so thereeee lol

Apart from that, we have 2/3 days left here in Mumbai and indeed INdia. So needless to say this is our last blog before coming home!

We dont actually want to come back, but we are fast running out of money...what can u do? Well miss this place, 7 weeks went seriously fast!! who would have thought...its been memorable - we cant wait to show you all our pictures, were well impressed with what weve achieved in 7 weeks and were sure youll think the same when u see them! :p

N and D
Be back on the 18th!! just dont call us on that day - we shall be sleeping - or getting told off (BIG TIME) by our parents for buying loads of stuff.
Either way, just dont do it. lol

xx

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]]> BANGALORE - KERALA tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-05-03:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=8&entryid=58768 2007-05-08T08:20:12Z 2007-05-08T08:20:12Z Hey all! Hope ur all well. N: Thank you Faye and Claire, Jem etc it was great to hear from you, glad Im not missing much back home!! Oh, hope u feel better Mona! D: Thanks Anisha P, Rav and Hari for the comments too. Rav glad theyre keeping you busy at wrk at least tht way u miss me more ;-) We're still doing well here in the Desh. We finished Bangalore by shopping on Commercial Street. We did little ... Hey all! Hope ur all well.

N: Thank you Faye and Claire, Jem etc it was great to hear from you, glad Im not missing much back home!! Oh, hope u feel better Mona!

D: Thanks Anisha P, Rav and Hari for the comments too. Rav glad theyre keeping you busy at wrk at least tht way u miss me more ;-)

We're still doing well here in the Desh. We finished Bangalore by shopping on Commercial Street. We did little in Bangalore really as it was the 'r and r' part of the trip.

We left Bangalore for Kerala - though we had considered not going initially because people made it out to sound as though we'd die from heat exhaustion and/or bake to death there. We decided to go anyway lol.

With no regrets we'd like to add! Even before we landed we could see lush green mountains and tea gardens, and then the lighthouse beach in Trivandrum came into sight. Amazing, no other word for it (ull see from our pics!)

At the airport in Trivandrum we sorted out a tour itinerary with the KTDC for the next 9/10 days -we aimed to do as much as we could.

First on the list was two nights at a Kovalam Beach Resort - cost us a pretty penny, but it was worth it. We lazed on the beach and the like.

We then left for Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu for a night's stay. Kanyakumari is basically the Land's end of India - where the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet. We arrived at our hotel which was literally at the water's edge. The seas looked spectacular and we did loads of touring that day and ended it having a paddle in the tri-seas. We like the thought of having had a paddle in three seas at once :p. we finished the day off by watching the sunset there.

We returned to Trivandrum the next day to spend two days in the city's heart. We went to the Zoo!! lol yay We saw a range of animals (obviously tis a zoooooo) like bears, tigers, leopards, crocs etc.

We then left for Allapuzha to spend the day and one night on a houseboat! how romantic loooolll. It was really fun, u just sat there taking in the views - definately something we'd do once and it was serioulsy memorable and fun, but we wouldnt do it again. lol (it cost us an arm and a leg, but thats not the reason...) Our boat dude put on desi music whislt we watched thunder and lightening in the horizon (after we saw the sunset...again).

The following day we left for Thekkady and spent two nights there. We saw a Kathakali performance and the ancient martial arts of Kerala. We didnt understand the Kathakali dance - it boggled our brain a liccle but we got over it when we had dessert. We also went to a spice garden where we felt clever because we knew what most of the spices were lol.

The following day we went for a boat ride in Periyar lake - very pretty lake, saw loads of animals and birds...we werent warned it was a two hour ride though and we felt a liccle sleepy in the heat...
after that we went to the pEriyar museum and saw loads of dead stuffed animals and jars full of dead animals and their parts. THe best one was a squished monkey lol TO be honest it looked like a mad scientists lair than a museum. A lot of stuff that should not have been decaying - was.

Following day we left for Munnar - which is a famous hill station known for its tea plantations. We once again paid through our teeth for this lodge in the Balckbery Hills Hotel - but we forgot all that t when we saw our room and the view from it.

It was great sitting on the various benches in our hotel at night watching the clouds creep in until we were in them we guess lol. We saw fireflies flying around us against the thick mist which looked great, we tried taking pics but didnt get very far unfortunately.

THe next day we went to the National Park and saw the endangered Nilgiri Tahe (mountain goat) and the landscape from there was really pretty just like at the places weve been too so far. We went to the Tea Museum and saw the tea making process (were experts on it now if you cared to know more lol). We headed to various dams which provided more scenery, but we werent bored of all that and parks and an Echo point.

We left Munnar this morning, saying goodbye to the cool home-like weather to Cochin where were now baking our socks off. literally. lol. (Dip's socks have a hole in them - she says accident, i say ventilation). THe place looks cool so far, well spend the next two days sight seeing before we head off to Goa.

We cant believe a month's gone by! We dont want to come back quite simply lol. Having too much fun, we just hope the next two odd weeks go very very slowlyyyyy.

Take care u guys! Hope ur all doing something constructive with your time! we're sending our best!

N & D

PS feel free to add more comments ppl! as mch as you like hearing frm us, we like hearing from you!

x

BANGALORE - KERALA remains copyright of the author Nika3, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Delhi and Bangalore tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-21:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=7&entryid=56369 2007-04-21T10:20:46Z 2007-04-21T10:20:46Z We were booked into a hotel in Delhi by the Tourism Department. We had decided we didnt want to go back to the rat trap we had stayed in before we left for Nepal. No way were we going back there. Nothing to do around there! Everything was going smoothly when all of a sudden we saw the rat trap hotel approach, we looked at it and thought thank god we arent staying there...then the taxi driver stopped ... We were booked into a hotel in Delhi by the Tourism Department. We had decided we didnt want to go back to the rat trap we had stayed in before we left for Nepal. No way were we going back there. Nothing to do around there!

Everything was going smoothly when all of a sudden we saw the rat trap hotel approach, we looked at it and thought thank god we arent staying there...then the taxi driver stopped RIGHT outside the place. We just looked at each other and turned to the taxi driver and said NO, that aint right - this isnt our hotel! Funny thing was, we didnt actually check which hotel we were booked into lol. Nisha took out the reciept and it thankfully wasnt the same joint, but one of its sister hotels - a little more up market...PHEW! wed paid more money this time as well lol. It could only happen to us...lucky escape.

We left for Bangalore early the next day., relieved to get out od Delhi.

Bangalore weather seemed quite nice , not too hot at all. It started to rain in INdia now - we think it followed us back from Nepal. Its not even monsoon season! Why? Its good in that it only rains late into the night and the days are extremely dry so I guess its not all bad.

All weve been doing in Bangalore is hitting Pizza huts, and shopping malls and weve watched 2 movies in the space of 3 days lol. Tomorrow we're doing some touristy stuff, vi siting Lalbagh, the JN planetarim, temples and Tipu's Palace before we head off to Kerala.

Oh, we bought permanent contact lens for 20 quid. BARGAIN...

We cant wait to get to Kerala in a few days - at least well be back to doing cool stuff there.

There, weve updated u on the last 3 weeks.

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]]> Kathmandu tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-21:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=6&entryid=56365 2007-04-21T10:09:18Z 2007-04-21T10:09:18Z We spent our last days in Kathmandu shopping. We bought some churidars and some pretty sarees - they were SO CHEAP!! Yay. We did very little about taking it easy in Thamel and Durbar Sqaure. We bought some really good stuff. We made some friends and met some weirdos, which youll hear about when we get back. We left for Horrible Delhi on 16th April 2007. We were serioulsy sad about leaving Nepal - we could quite easily ... We spent our last days in Kathmandu shopping. We bought some churidars and some pretty sarees - they were SO CHEAP!! Yay.

We did very little about taking it easy in Thamel and Durbar Sqaure. We bought some really good stuff.

We made some friends and met some weirdos, which youll hear about when we get back.

We left for Horrible Delhi on 16th April 2007. We were serioulsy sad about leaving Nepal - we could quite easily have spent our whole holiday there - maybe do a trek or two -ah well theres always next time!!

The people were extremely nice and the kids so cute. We were going to miss them. Nisha was going to miss being being called Nepali (awww) and I (dips) was so proud to refer to her as my Nepali lil friend!!! :D DIps was just another foreigner tourist mind u lol Which was good cos we got treated well both ways where ever we went. :p

Au revoir Nepal !

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]]> POKHARA tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-21:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=5&entryid=56361 2007-04-21T09:59:28Z 2007-04-21T09:59:28Z We had to wake up at 3am this morning as we were going to make a trip up to Sarangkot to see the Sunrise. For those who have little faith in our ability to wake up - (More so Dipti) we did wake up on time :) The sunrise was magnificent, but given the early morning haze, we were not able to see the sun hit the Annapurna range - a sight we're told is one to remember. Ah ... We had to wake up at 3am this morning as we were going to make a trip up to Sarangkot to see the Sunrise. For those who have little faith in our ability to wake up - (More so Dipti) we did wake up on time :)

The sunrise was magnificent, but given the early morning haze, we were not able to see the sun hit the Annapurna range - a sight we're told is one to remember. Ah well, it was still really coolllll.

Our driver was a great laugh and actually made it fun climbing up the Hill at 4 in the morning.

Later we headed on our 7 hour journey (by manky coach once more) down to Chitwan National Park where we would be spending the next 3 days amidst the nature - we hope we wont have to rough it too much...

Our lodge was in fact a pretty decent Hotel -not a insect (except mozzies) in sight. At least not in our room anyway.

We were going to spend the next few days as a part of a group. We had some really cool people who we got to know during our time here.

That night we went on a Tharu Village tour and were supposed to have witnessed the sunset over the marshes, but it started to rain adn thunder (suprise suprise lol) which was fun anyway, we got shleter under a hut and were content once we got our mango juices. lol mmmmmmmmmmmm

Next day we went our a canoe ride through the Rapati river and then on to walk through the Jungle. We saw Monkeys, huge red and black insects (often running the risk of them falling onto your heads as u brushed past the branches and twigs over our heads). We saw more insects - oh did we mention more insects - oh a lot of butterflies and birds. No tigers, leopards or rhinos at this stage - no crocodiles either... OH well, we were lucky enough to have been shown a presentation complete with pictures last night so we didnt feel like wed missed much (plz note the sarcasm in the previous sentence) .

Later on the day we had our elephant ride through the jungle - which was fantastic because we got to see elephants, rhinos and deers. WE got whacked by overhanging branches A LOT. Oh Dips got elephant pee splattered on her when our elephant did his business LOL. I told her im sure it would do her skin some good lol...

We then went to a elephant breeding farm, where our guide let two baby elephants loose on us, lol they thought we had food so they chased us til we let them smell our hands lol.

In the evening we saw a Tharu Culture Show were we nearly peed our pants from laughing to much (though we were the only two laughing we think). In the end there was a dance which the audience could go and join. We didnt join in, ( too busy laughing at others) but Chris from our group went up and once again we laughed so hard it hurt. We should mention he was a 6ft4 austrailian dude in contrast to the 5 ft 4 Nepali guys - it was hilarious.

The next day we left Chitwan, we were sad to leave :( Oh well, another 7 hours ride before we get to Kathmandu...

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]]> NEPAL - POKHARA tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-21:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=4&entryid=56355 2007-04-21T09:39:18Z 2007-04-21T09:39:18Z Hello all! Again, we havent had a chance to blog, so this is telling u what happened a week and a bit ago LOL We left Kathmandu on a manky bus - 7 and a half hours and breath taking scenary later, we arrived in Pokhara. We spent the first day (or rather what was left of it) getting to know the place. We couldnt go exploring that night as it started to rain ... Hello all! Again, we havent had a chance to blog, so this is telling u what happened a week and a bit ago LOL

We left Kathmandu on a manky bus - 7 and a half hours and breath taking scenary later, we arrived in Pokhara. We spent the first day (or rather what was left of it) getting to know the place. We couldnt go exploring that night as it started to rain , hail and thunder. (Note to self - dont take people's advice when it comes to the weather) So could have done with an umbrella!!!!

Next morning, we had to be at the Pokhara airport at 7.00am to go on our Ultra Light Flight. I dont think we can possibly even BEGIN to explain how fantastic it was. We absolutely loved it, we came really close to Machapuchare (?spelling?) or in laymen's terms - the fishtail mountain and the whole of the Annapurna range. (be prepared to witness some awesome pictures when we get back!!) We think it was quite easily the best e xperience yet -we were both on t wo separate jets but flew together so we got to wave at each other :P lol YAY

After that, we headed to a place where Himalayan water flows through, took some pictures, met an interesting family and then headed to Devi's Falls. We expected a huge waterfall , but given the lack of rain ( after yesterday we beg to disagree) the waterfall wasnt as impressive as it ought to have been. THe great thing was becase the monsoon hadnt kicked in as yet we got to into the caves under the waterfall which wouild otherwise be flooded.

We had a really great man ( kept us from falling to our deaths at times! !) we think he was an amature photographer because he l\kept telling us to how and when to take photographs - we were slightly more concerned about our lives lol. We came out of there breathless and drenched. It was amazing!! Weve always wanted to the caving thing and we got our chance to do it today. The day coulldnt get any better we thinks :P.

We then went on a boat ride on the infamous Phewa lake and went shopping in the area.

After dinner, we headed to our terrace (There were telltale signs that it was going to chuck it down - thunder and lightening can be great clue lol ) There was a Nepali festival going on at the time (complete with big ferris wheel) and saw we stood on the terrace, listening to a band sing Grateful Dead songs and watching the lightening (had we been around in the 70s we would have appreciated it a lot more)

So that was our day and we had the time of our lives today -cant you tell?? :p

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]]> Namaste Nepal! tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-16:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=3&entryid=55494 2007-04-16T15:45:14Z 2007-04-16T15:45:14Z Hey all, Weleft for Kathmandu on 7th April and we havent had a chance to update our blog so here goes... WE left our hole in the wall hotel in Delhi and got to the airport to catch our flight to Nepal -we had our first drama of the trip, our tickets werent confirmed and despite having forked over 120quid back home for the tickets, we had to give 100 for a one way ticket as they ... Hey all,

Weleft for Kathmandu on 7th April and we havent had a chance to update our blog so here goes...

WE left our hole in the wall hotel in Delhi and got to the airport to catch our flight to Nepal -we had our first drama of the trip, our tickets werent confirmed and despite having forked over 120quid back home for the tickets, we had to give 100 for a one way ticket as they cancelled our ticket to Kathmandu...GRRRR were skint now...

We arrived at Kathmandu airport, glad to have actually got there without any further problems. Our tour organiser Hari met us at the airport and we were relieved that he wasnt a weirdo (like our last driver- more on that in person...) but genuinely extremely lovely. We were greeted with garlands!! too funnyyyyy...

Our hotel was amazing and we knew from the moment we got in the car that we were going to love it in Nepal.

That night we went walking around the streets of Thamel - one of the liveliest places weve been as yet , we did get a little lost as all the streets look alike and as it was raining we got drenched. THe experience was quite surreal as it started thundering and lightening but made our night there all the more special - its not usual for it to start raining so early - typical huh?

The next day we went sight seeing with our driver and guide who showed us places like pashupathinath, boudhnath, bhaktapur ( lovely self-contained ancient city with lots of handicrafts) and the Monkey Temple. Our camera ran out of battery by the time we got the the monkey temple, which exhibited the best overview of the whole of kathmandu. It was simply breathtaking.

We really enjoyed our time in Kathmandui and couldnt wait to come back at the end because the people are so lovely and make visiting the country a memorable one. The kids are sooo darn cute!!

Nisha felt a little like a giant as all the guys are 5ft 4 and under even the good looking ones...lol, and trust me Nepal does have talent! Ur missing out girls lol :p

We leave for Pokhara tomorrow, its a 7 hour journey by road. Its supposed to host some of the best views of the Annapurna range from a distance...cant wait.

More later....

N and D

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]]> India - tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-08:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=2&entryid=53935 2007-04-13T14:01:16Z 2007-04-13T14:01:16Z Hey all, We've had many complaints for failing to post up but come one guys, were in the third world - its scary walking down these streets, lets see u try! lol kidding its quite safe here, weve just havent had a chance to get to any computers. Well where did we get up to...hmmm the glory of the Taj Mahal. Our travel agent made us stay in Agra another day despite the fact there was very little to do, we ... Hey all,

We've had many complaints for failing to post up but come one guys, were in the third world - its scary walking down these streets, lets see u try! lol kidding its quite safe here, weve just havent had a chance to get to any computers.

Well where did we get up to...hmmm the glory of the Taj Mahal. Our travel agent made us stay in Agra another day despite the fact there was very little to do, we went to see the agra fort - had some kids kids take pics of us saying that they thought we were japanese (you know, the usual) and then we decided to get all cultural and went to watch an indian movie by the name of Say Salaam India. No further comments on that movie....

Came back to our hotel to find our friend, the lizard, still crawling across the walls of our room didnt think wed sleep to well tonight - though we eventually managed to chase him out of the room - quite a triumph we must say.

The next day we left early for a 6hr drive to Jaipur. En route we went to Fatehpur Sikri, we were shown around by the guide who showed Shah Rukh Khan around during his filming of the movie pardes.

We got to Jaipur, felt it was a little overrated at first sight, wondered what hole in the wall hotel they had put us in this time, (though the otehrs werent bad, it helps to be pessimistic) and were suprised to find a serioulsy luxurious hotel and our room was to die for. (we could have moved into the bathroom if we could - thats how good it was) and the people were just amazing, curtious and so sweet.

We were taken on our tour of Jaipur the following day and saw several palaces and did some shopping.

We were sad to leave our hotel the next day, wed miss it and the people. :(

We left for DElhi the next day, our driver needed to be somewhere pronto so he drove maniacally, almost killing us or others in the proceess - he was doing 120 kmph on seriously bad roads and playing bumper cars with the traffic.

In Delhi, we spent the night in well in a seriously basic decaying hotel, except we paid

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]]> India tag:travellerspoint.com,2007-04-02:/blog/?domain=nika3&thisblog_entryid=1&entryid=53011 2007-04-02T14:45:48Z 2007-04-02T14:45:48Z Hey All! So we finally arrived in India yesterday - we were a little anxious about meeting the tour guide/driver - with our luck we thought we'd get some incomprehesible weirdo but luckily the guy we got seems quite genuine and earnest - at least so far... Anyway, we practically started the tour as soon as we touched ground, we saw most if not all the important sites in Delhi - Qutab Minar, India Gate, Gandhi' s Samadi etcetra. OUr tour ... Hey All!

So we finally arrived in India yesterday - we were a little anxious about meeting the tour guide/driver - with our luck we thought we'd get some incomprehesible weirdo but luckily the guy we got seems quite genuine and earnest - at least so far...

Anyway, we practically started the tour as soon as we touched ground, we saw most if not all the important sites in Delhi - Qutab Minar, India Gate, Gandhi' s Samadi etcetra. OUr tour guide (Zyaeed) was a laugh - (a uni student who arrived late after an all night bender with his mates).

We left forAgra this morning - took us four and a half hours by car, (Dipti fell asleep - which she seems to be able to do everywhere) After a seriously bum-numbing experience in the car, we arrived at Agra. We had a lot of time on our hands so we managed to some shopping - each of us bought an elephant made of marble both of which are kinda cute.

After we ate, rested and recuperated, (Dipti wants to let u know that we did a bit of yoga, but it was in actual fact, us doing the rolly polly on uor beds erm, nope we were not drunk).

We then headed to see the Taj Mahal - having beaten of several annoying children selling things and guides trying to, well guide us, we settled upon a guy who was our age (Naresh) to show us the site and tell us a little about it. He was really sweet.

We have been practicing our Hindi - everyone's astonished at the fact that we can speak it - but then they cant seem to figure out that we're indian either...silly people.

More later, we're getting attacked by a giant wasp....ahhhh.

Nisha and Dips

In good health two days in... :P
xx

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