posted by kellyee21 @ 6:05 AM
0 comments
The Curry Chronicles
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Photo Website : www.voyageavecnous.com
Friday, March 10, 2006
Finally, we have photos! Check out our new website at
http://www.kodakgallery.com/kellyee21
The album 'India Favorites' is a compilation of our favorite photos from all stops on our trip. If you haven't had enough yet, there are also individual albums !
http://www.kodakgallery.com/kellyee21
The album 'India Favorites' is a compilation of our favorite photos from all stops on our trip. If you haven't had enough yet, there are also individual albums !
posted by kellyee21 @ 2:14 AM
0 comments
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Namaste!
What a trip we have had! We are now back in Delhi awaiting our 2:50 am flight home. The time has passed so quickly, after the first few days I wasn't sure we would ever see the end of this trip and now here it is the end and I am not ready to go!
In this last week of the trip we went to Jodphur, the Blue City. Most of the buildings are painted blue which is the color of the Brahmins, or the highest caste in India. It is also said to help control the mosquito population, however, we saw more of the little buggers there then anywhere else!
We next spent a couple nights in Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is called the Golden City, a sand castle like fort emerging from the desert. We stayed in a lovely hotel at the base of the fort with a rooftop restaurant with an amazing view of the fort. One evening we took a camel ride into the desert and stayed for a campfire dinner under a star filled sky. One other couple opted to sleep out under the stars but we retreated back to the comfort of our beds!
A fairly uneventual (however loud with some incredible snoring by one of our bunkmates) train trip brings us back here to Delhi, where this whole voyage commenced 3 weeks ago. We are now in a cyber cafe next to our very first hotel here in Delhi(we have had 4 different ones here, still looking for a good one!!!). The area seems much more calm now, has it changed or have we ? We have rented a cheap room for the day to have a place to relax before our early am flight out. By about this time tommorrow we should be in Paris, hopefully with all of our luggage this time! Yannick is very much looking forward to a fine french dinner tommorrow of a huge entrecote steak and some French wine(we may have to crack open a bottle of St Emilion) as his meat choices have been limited to chicken and mutton for this trip! He is considering buying an entire cow in fact, no, not to roam La Bastille, to eat of course! For me, just a fresh goat cheese salad will do!
Well we are off for some last minute shopping and to visit the Gandhi memorial this afternoon, so I will say ciao for now and we look forward to catching up with everyone in a few days!
What a trip we have had! We are now back in Delhi awaiting our 2:50 am flight home. The time has passed so quickly, after the first few days I wasn't sure we would ever see the end of this trip and now here it is the end and I am not ready to go!
In this last week of the trip we went to Jodphur, the Blue City. Most of the buildings are painted blue which is the color of the Brahmins, or the highest caste in India. It is also said to help control the mosquito population, however, we saw more of the little buggers there then anywhere else!
We next spent a couple nights in Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is called the Golden City, a sand castle like fort emerging from the desert. We stayed in a lovely hotel at the base of the fort with a rooftop restaurant with an amazing view of the fort. One evening we took a camel ride into the desert and stayed for a campfire dinner under a star filled sky. One other couple opted to sleep out under the stars but we retreated back to the comfort of our beds!
A fairly uneventual (however loud with some incredible snoring by one of our bunkmates) train trip brings us back here to Delhi, where this whole voyage commenced 3 weeks ago. We are now in a cyber cafe next to our very first hotel here in Delhi(we have had 4 different ones here, still looking for a good one!!!). The area seems much more calm now, has it changed or have we ? We have rented a cheap room for the day to have a place to relax before our early am flight out. By about this time tommorrow we should be in Paris, hopefully with all of our luggage this time! Yannick is very much looking forward to a fine french dinner tommorrow of a huge entrecote steak and some French wine(we may have to crack open a bottle of St Emilion) as his meat choices have been limited to chicken and mutton for this trip! He is considering buying an entire cow in fact, no, not to roam La Bastille, to eat of course! For me, just a fresh goat cheese salad will do!
Well we are off for some last minute shopping and to visit the Gandhi memorial this afternoon, so I will say ciao for now and we look forward to catching up with everyone in a few days!
posted by kellyee21 @ 12:36 AM
0 comments
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Retour sur la toile, pas d internet chez les tigres !
Nous avons pu renprendre quelques couleurs a Jaipur. C est la plus ancienne cite de l Inde a avoir ete pensee par un urbaniste. Cela signifie qu il y a des trottoirs et des rues larges ! Nous avons pu decouvrir Amber fort et l ascension a dos d elephant (impressionnant mais pas vraiment confortable). Nous avons vu le plus gros canon du monde, 50t tire par 4 elephants et qui a servi 1 fois (je vous passe l explication laborieuse du prepose). Apres 2 nuits reposantes nous voila repartis a la gare pour decouvrir les tigres. Ranthambhore et logement sous la tente (enfin avec chaude courante, chauffage etc...), diners autour du feu de camp au son des chants traditionnels rajpoutes, retour au bon vieux temps de colonies quoi. Le parc comporte encore 22 tigres, quelques leopards et ours. La traque est assez delirante, ca ressemble un peu au debut des soldes a Paris, plein de jeeps et de canter (bus de la jungle) qui s agitent au moindre signe de presence de sa seigneurie le tigre, c est impressionnant. Noter que seule une petite partie du parc est ouverte chaque jour afin de preserver la tranquillite des animaux. Bref nous faisons partie des veinards, nous avons pu contempler la bete 3 fois dont une a moins de 10 metres ( on a les photos...) et nous avons pu admirer 3 leopards egalement. Le parc comprend egalement des centaines d especes d oiseaux magnifiques, des antilopes, biches, sangliers... Un vrai bonheur (a part le lever a 5h45 tous les matins). Et maintenant depart pour Udaipur la fiere, la seule ville qui ne fut jamias conquise ! Arrivee a l heure (depart a l heure aussi). Nous voici dans les decors du film octopussy (que la plupart des restaurants diffusent tous les soirs). Nos estomacs commencent a se remettre et nous logeons dans un veritable palais au bord de l eau avec vue sur le lake palace ( un vrai palais hotel mais plus cher...). La ville est calme, on pourrait presque traverser sans courrir ! Il fait meme un peu plus chaud (il doit faire 25 dans la journee et un peu moins de 20 le soir). Demain nous embarquons pour Jodpur.
A+
Yannick
Nous avons pu renprendre quelques couleurs a Jaipur. C est la plus ancienne cite de l Inde a avoir ete pensee par un urbaniste. Cela signifie qu il y a des trottoirs et des rues larges ! Nous avons pu decouvrir Amber fort et l ascension a dos d elephant (impressionnant mais pas vraiment confortable). Nous avons vu le plus gros canon du monde, 50t tire par 4 elephants et qui a servi 1 fois (je vous passe l explication laborieuse du prepose). Apres 2 nuits reposantes nous voila repartis a la gare pour decouvrir les tigres. Ranthambhore et logement sous la tente (enfin avec chaude courante, chauffage etc...), diners autour du feu de camp au son des chants traditionnels rajpoutes, retour au bon vieux temps de colonies quoi. Le parc comporte encore 22 tigres, quelques leopards et ours. La traque est assez delirante, ca ressemble un peu au debut des soldes a Paris, plein de jeeps et de canter (bus de la jungle) qui s agitent au moindre signe de presence de sa seigneurie le tigre, c est impressionnant. Noter que seule une petite partie du parc est ouverte chaque jour afin de preserver la tranquillite des animaux. Bref nous faisons partie des veinards, nous avons pu contempler la bete 3 fois dont une a moins de 10 metres ( on a les photos...) et nous avons pu admirer 3 leopards egalement. Le parc comprend egalement des centaines d especes d oiseaux magnifiques, des antilopes, biches, sangliers... Un vrai bonheur (a part le lever a 5h45 tous les matins). Et maintenant depart pour Udaipur la fiere, la seule ville qui ne fut jamias conquise ! Arrivee a l heure (depart a l heure aussi). Nous voici dans les decors du film octopussy (que la plupart des restaurants diffusent tous les soirs). Nos estomacs commencent a se remettre et nous logeons dans un veritable palais au bord de l eau avec vue sur le lake palace ( un vrai palais hotel mais plus cher...). La ville est calme, on pourrait presque traverser sans courrir ! Il fait meme un peu plus chaud (il doit faire 25 dans la journee et un peu moins de 20 le soir). Demain nous embarquons pour Jodpur.
A+
Yannick
posted by kellyee21 @ 8:11 AM
0 comments
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!!!
OK, not lions or bears, but TIGERS, yes TIGERS! This past week we moved on from Jaipur to Ranthambhore National Park for 3 nights hoping to see the rare tigers, and we were graced with one's presence for 3 mornings in a row! We have been told over and over how lucky we are, many groups didnt see anything at all in several days. There are only 22 left in the parc as they have lost 20 in one year to poaching, unbelievable. We also did one afternoon safari and after not seeing anything at all we were exiting the parc and up on a cliff were 3 leopards mating! Another very rare sighting!
It seems like the Indian surprises have made a turn for the better as we took another night train to Udaipur(having to get some people evicted from our places when boarding at midnight) and it actually arrived ontime to the minute! So we have been here in Udaipur for 3 days now, easily the calmest and least hassle (except for the parc) of all the places we have been. The lake is indead full, and we have a room with a large window seat with a view of the Lake Palace Hotel. We have really enjoyed our stay here and it seems like we are finally getting into an Indian rythem of sorts. We had a big laugh yesterday when instead of the usual "Rickshaw madam?" we got, "You dont want a rickshaw, do you?"!!! Indians really do have a great sense of humour and we have had many enchanting conversations over the last couple weeks. Today a cow pushed me in the butt with his head, I guess we werent walking fast enough! Just another day in India...
The last week has been wonderful(well except for the Delhi belly we really havent been able to shake), I am actually feeling a little sad that we only have a week left. Last night we had a special night out at the Lake Palace Hotel (see the movie Octopussy) for drinks and dinner where we arrived by our own private boat (the entire hotel is an island, the Maharanas old summer palace).
At 8 am tommorrow we are off by chauffered car to Jodphur. We will make a couple stops along the way to see some forts and arrive in Jodphur by the evening.
There is so much more I can say but I will leave that for a trip report when we get back. Hope everyone is well and we look forward to seeing or speaking to everyone soon!
Namaste!
OK, not lions or bears, but TIGERS, yes TIGERS! This past week we moved on from Jaipur to Ranthambhore National Park for 3 nights hoping to see the rare tigers, and we were graced with one's presence for 3 mornings in a row! We have been told over and over how lucky we are, many groups didnt see anything at all in several days. There are only 22 left in the parc as they have lost 20 in one year to poaching, unbelievable. We also did one afternoon safari and after not seeing anything at all we were exiting the parc and up on a cliff were 3 leopards mating! Another very rare sighting!
It seems like the Indian surprises have made a turn for the better as we took another night train to Udaipur(having to get some people evicted from our places when boarding at midnight) and it actually arrived ontime to the minute! So we have been here in Udaipur for 3 days now, easily the calmest and least hassle (except for the parc) of all the places we have been. The lake is indead full, and we have a room with a large window seat with a view of the Lake Palace Hotel. We have really enjoyed our stay here and it seems like we are finally getting into an Indian rythem of sorts. We had a big laugh yesterday when instead of the usual "Rickshaw madam?" we got, "You dont want a rickshaw, do you?"!!! Indians really do have a great sense of humour and we have had many enchanting conversations over the last couple weeks. Today a cow pushed me in the butt with his head, I guess we werent walking fast enough! Just another day in India...
The last week has been wonderful(well except for the Delhi belly we really havent been able to shake), I am actually feeling a little sad that we only have a week left. Last night we had a special night out at the Lake Palace Hotel (see the movie Octopussy) for drinks and dinner where we arrived by our own private boat (the entire hotel is an island, the Maharanas old summer palace).
At 8 am tommorrow we are off by chauffered car to Jodphur. We will make a couple stops along the way to see some forts and arrive in Jodphur by the evening.
There is so much more I can say but I will leave that for a trip report when we get back. Hope everyone is well and we look forward to seeing or speaking to everyone soon!
Namaste!
posted by kellyee21 @ 7:35 AM
0 comments
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Bonne et Heureuse annee 2006 a tous et j espere que vous avez tous festoye comme il se doit !!!
Un Hotel avec plusieurs ordinateurs je vais pouvoir m etendre un peu.
La derniere fois nous etions a Varanasi, arrives par le train de nuit.
Nous avions d ailleurs cede a la tentation du luxe en nous offrant un compartiment 2/3. En fait cela signifie 4 couchettes et des rideaux entre le compartiment et le reste du wagon. Apres les frayeurs du depart (le train est, par principe, affiche sur le mauvais quai et probablement pas a l heure etc etc....) kelly a pu faire honneur au plateau repas. Je n ai, pour ma part, pas tente l aventure.
Apres quelques heures (14 environ) nous avons pu arriver sains et saufs ( on a meme pu signer pour signaler sur le registre idoine qu on avait encore tous nos bagages !!! ). En fait nous sommes arrives a la gare avec a peine 4 heures de retard.
Ah oui, pour l anecdote pas vraiment necessaire de preciser que le sommeil n est pas accessible a tous...
Varanasi enfin ! Nous avions opte pour le rick shaw ( genre de voiturette a trois roues voir le james bond octopussy) et le guide affretes par l hotel.
C est en fait le meilleur choix, puisqu il n est pas evident, a Varanasi, de savoir ou vous emmene le pilote et une fois dans les ruelles, impossible de ne pas se perdre.
Varanasi est la ville fameuse ou les hindous viennent bruler leurs morts et se baigner dans le Gange pour se purifier.
La ville est envahie de pelerins, de vaches et de touristes (le long du gange en general).
Apres avoir traverse les ruelles de la vieille ville, ou l on ne peut jamais voir le ciel tellement les maisons sont proches, nous sommes arrives a notre guesthouse.
Patron despotique, mais proprete invraisemblable ici, eau chaude presque la moitie de la journee, balcon sur le gange, plein de Crazy Monkeys enfin bref, luxe et volupte.
Notre premiere apres midi s est passee a chercher le restaurant recommande par l hotel. Nous avons finalement opte pour quelque chose de moins recommandable, la faim aidant.
Nous avons ensuite pu faire honneur au restaurant de la pension. Tous les continents se rejoignent autour de la table et chacun raconte ses experiences c etait vraiment interessant.
Le lendemain nous avons fini par trouver le restaurant. Erreur... Tres bien tenu, on vous informe meme que le personnel ne se lave pas les mains dans les ustensiles et on vous invite a en faire de meme. Cuisine locale, bref c est le piege. Cuisine locale donc, beaucoup trop epicee pour mon estomac j ai donc peu mange.
Nous avons ensuite pu tenter de trouver les bureaux de Airtel pour tenter a nouveau d activer notre abonnement, sans succes evidemment... Nous avons pu aller voir la ceremonie Hindouiste depuis un bateau sur le Gange, magifique mais plutot mysterieux pour moi.
Nous avons donc pu rentrer a l hotel profiter de notre intoxication, j ai du m enrhumer en route pour faire bonne mesure. La nuit fut longue et tourmentee, voila une experience a ne pas reproduire. Lendemain apres midi depart tres difficile pour Jaipur. Ce coup ci nous avons pris 4 heures de retard avant le depart pour changer.
Demain nous partons voir les tigres donc je garde la suite pour plus tard.
Yannick
Un Hotel avec plusieurs ordinateurs je vais pouvoir m etendre un peu.
La derniere fois nous etions a Varanasi, arrives par le train de nuit.
Nous avions d ailleurs cede a la tentation du luxe en nous offrant un compartiment 2/3. En fait cela signifie 4 couchettes et des rideaux entre le compartiment et le reste du wagon. Apres les frayeurs du depart (le train est, par principe, affiche sur le mauvais quai et probablement pas a l heure etc etc....) kelly a pu faire honneur au plateau repas. Je n ai, pour ma part, pas tente l aventure.
Apres quelques heures (14 environ) nous avons pu arriver sains et saufs ( on a meme pu signer pour signaler sur le registre idoine qu on avait encore tous nos bagages !!! ). En fait nous sommes arrives a la gare avec a peine 4 heures de retard.
Ah oui, pour l anecdote pas vraiment necessaire de preciser que le sommeil n est pas accessible a tous...
Varanasi enfin ! Nous avions opte pour le rick shaw ( genre de voiturette a trois roues voir le james bond octopussy) et le guide affretes par l hotel.
C est en fait le meilleur choix, puisqu il n est pas evident, a Varanasi, de savoir ou vous emmene le pilote et une fois dans les ruelles, impossible de ne pas se perdre.
Varanasi est la ville fameuse ou les hindous viennent bruler leurs morts et se baigner dans le Gange pour se purifier.
La ville est envahie de pelerins, de vaches et de touristes (le long du gange en general).
Apres avoir traverse les ruelles de la vieille ville, ou l on ne peut jamais voir le ciel tellement les maisons sont proches, nous sommes arrives a notre guesthouse.
Patron despotique, mais proprete invraisemblable ici, eau chaude presque la moitie de la journee, balcon sur le gange, plein de Crazy Monkeys enfin bref, luxe et volupte.
Notre premiere apres midi s est passee a chercher le restaurant recommande par l hotel. Nous avons finalement opte pour quelque chose de moins recommandable, la faim aidant.
Nous avons ensuite pu faire honneur au restaurant de la pension. Tous les continents se rejoignent autour de la table et chacun raconte ses experiences c etait vraiment interessant.
Le lendemain nous avons fini par trouver le restaurant. Erreur... Tres bien tenu, on vous informe meme que le personnel ne se lave pas les mains dans les ustensiles et on vous invite a en faire de meme. Cuisine locale, bref c est le piege. Cuisine locale donc, beaucoup trop epicee pour mon estomac j ai donc peu mange.
Nous avons ensuite pu tenter de trouver les bureaux de Airtel pour tenter a nouveau d activer notre abonnement, sans succes evidemment... Nous avons pu aller voir la ceremonie Hindouiste depuis un bateau sur le Gange, magifique mais plutot mysterieux pour moi.
Nous avons donc pu rentrer a l hotel profiter de notre intoxication, j ai du m enrhumer en route pour faire bonne mesure. La nuit fut longue et tourmentee, voila une experience a ne pas reproduire. Lendemain apres midi depart tres difficile pour Jaipur. Ce coup ci nous avons pris 4 heures de retard avant le depart pour changer.
Demain nous partons voir les tigres donc je garde la suite pour plus tard.
Yannick
posted by kellyee21 @ 6:09 AM
0 comments
Happy New Year !
We have arrived in Jaipur after a 22 hour train ride from Varanasi ! Our last night in Varanasi we unfortunately caught a bad case of Delhi Belly (not exactly the type of surprises we were hoping for)... We are ok now, but not eating much for the last couple days, trying to ease back into an eating routine!. We almost thought we could not leave on the train the next night but we made it after sleeping all day before the train trip. Today we visited Amber Fort where we rode an elephant up to the top! A very bumby ride! The fort is amazing, with many hidden passageways to explore. We also saw another fort, the "Cannon Fort" with amazing views of Amber Fort below and monkeys all around. These forts are just outside of Jaiper so we got to experience the Indian Bus System for the first time! these consist of a mini van sized vehicule with a couple wooden planks for seats and there is a guy hanging out yelling the destination and packs in as many people as possible, We were glad to be back in the chaos of the city and off that bus!
We couldnt ask for better weather here, we are both somewhat sunburned today! The nights do get cold but still very nice!
Our hotel here in Jaipur is nice, it is in a calm setting with a lovely garden. They are very helpful and we had a big load of laundry washed, dried and pressed today for about 2.50 USD! Oh yeah, I did get my bag back in Delhi eventually!
Tommorrow evening we head for Ranthambhore which is slated to be a 3 hour trip, but we are not holding our breath as we are 0 for 3 on ontime arrivals!
Hope all is well with everyone, we are off to the resto here to have a light dinner. Hope you had a very Happy New Year!!!
Kelly
We have arrived in Jaipur after a 22 hour train ride from Varanasi ! Our last night in Varanasi we unfortunately caught a bad case of Delhi Belly (not exactly the type of surprises we were hoping for)... We are ok now, but not eating much for the last couple days, trying to ease back into an eating routine!. We almost thought we could not leave on the train the next night but we made it after sleeping all day before the train trip. Today we visited Amber Fort where we rode an elephant up to the top! A very bumby ride! The fort is amazing, with many hidden passageways to explore. We also saw another fort, the "Cannon Fort" with amazing views of Amber Fort below and monkeys all around. These forts are just outside of Jaiper so we got to experience the Indian Bus System for the first time! these consist of a mini van sized vehicule with a couple wooden planks for seats and there is a guy hanging out yelling the destination and packs in as many people as possible, We were glad to be back in the chaos of the city and off that bus!
We couldnt ask for better weather here, we are both somewhat sunburned today! The nights do get cold but still very nice!
Our hotel here in Jaipur is nice, it is in a calm setting with a lovely garden. They are very helpful and we had a big load of laundry washed, dried and pressed today for about 2.50 USD! Oh yeah, I did get my bag back in Delhi eventually!
Tommorrow evening we head for Ranthambhore which is slated to be a 3 hour trip, but we are not holding our breath as we are 0 for 3 on ontime arrivals!
Hope all is well with everyone, we are off to the resto here to have a light dinner. Hope you had a very Happy New Year!!!
Kelly
posted by kellyee21 @ 5:54 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Un petit post pour les frenchies...
En fait nous voila en Inde depuis 6 jours maintenant (5 pour le sac de Kelly qui s est attarde en Italie...). Apres les premieres fayeurs de l arrivee dans le premier Hotel, de nuit avec Brouillard dans le quartier le plus typique de Delhi tout se passe gentiment. Il ne faut s etonner de rien ( voir les anecdotes in English). Nous sommes maintenant a Varanasi, ville sainte des Hindouistes qui viennent se purifier dans les eaux limpides du Gange au milieu des vaches sacrees et des crazy monkeys !
A bientot
Yannick
En fait nous voila en Inde depuis 6 jours maintenant (5 pour le sac de Kelly qui s est attarde en Italie...). Apres les premieres fayeurs de l arrivee dans le premier Hotel, de nuit avec Brouillard dans le quartier le plus typique de Delhi tout se passe gentiment. Il ne faut s etonner de rien ( voir les anecdotes in English). Nous sommes maintenant a Varanasi, ville sainte des Hindouistes qui viennent se purifier dans les eaux limpides du Gange au milieu des vaches sacrees et des crazy monkeys !
A bientot
Yannick
posted by kellyee21 @ 10:37 PM
0 comments
Hello everyone !
We are here in Varanasi. What a trip it has been so far, there have been many surprises...
We arrived to Delhi late Sat night, my luggage did not. Our driver was waiting for us, even
after an extended wait trying to locate my luggage. There was so much fog you could not see more than a few meters.
The hotel had all our train tickets, no problem there. The bad news is that the hotel was filthy and we spent
awhile trying to get clean(er) sheets. That night we slept in our clothes but the good news is that we did not
wake up covered in bedbug bites! The next am we ventured out into Delhi, it is absolutly crazy, you cqnnot go more than a foot
without getting hassled. We found a new hotel costing 10 times the first one but in the end it was so worth it.
The train trip to Agra was an adventure to say the least. We almost missed it as they changed the track number.
Arriving to our seats we found 2 guys there already and after a few minutes of discussion they vacated our places,
taking their rifles with them! We spent the next 3 hours watching these 4 guys with big guns play cards
on a makeshift table using their guns with their prisoner, who was the designated score keeper!
We arrived to Agra safely only to find the hotel had our room, but not our requested room with hot water!
We would have to use bucket hot water... It was late but they brought us dinner to our room, which turned into
a candlelight dinner as we soon lost power!
We were up early to see the Taj Mahal which is beyond magnificient! We then hired a car to tour
Fathpur Sikri, Agra Fort and teh baby Taj. It was a great day, I will leave the discussion of the roads and
driving for another day. ..
The night train from Agra got us to Varanasi at 12:30 pm instead of 8:30. Our hotel picked us up which was wonderful
as Varanasi is crazy and we could never find it on our own. This is a great hotel and we have a balcony with view of the Ganges and
all of the happenings going on. There are cows and monkeys everywhere, and there are signs every where saying to beware of
the crazy monkeys!
India has been a learning experience, we are having many laughs and the Indian people are wonderful. We look forward to more
surprises !
Namaste,
Kelly
We are here in Varanasi. What a trip it has been so far, there have been many surprises...
We arrived to Delhi late Sat night, my luggage did not. Our driver was waiting for us, even
after an extended wait trying to locate my luggage. There was so much fog you could not see more than a few meters.
The hotel had all our train tickets, no problem there. The bad news is that the hotel was filthy and we spent
awhile trying to get clean(er) sheets. That night we slept in our clothes but the good news is that we did not
wake up covered in bedbug bites! The next am we ventured out into Delhi, it is absolutly crazy, you cqnnot go more than a foot
without getting hassled. We found a new hotel costing 10 times the first one but in the end it was so worth it.
The train trip to Agra was an adventure to say the least. We almost missed it as they changed the track number.
Arriving to our seats we found 2 guys there already and after a few minutes of discussion they vacated our places,
taking their rifles with them! We spent the next 3 hours watching these 4 guys with big guns play cards
on a makeshift table using their guns with their prisoner, who was the designated score keeper!
We arrived to Agra safely only to find the hotel had our room, but not our requested room with hot water!
We would have to use bucket hot water... It was late but they brought us dinner to our room, which turned into
a candlelight dinner as we soon lost power!
We were up early to see the Taj Mahal which is beyond magnificient! We then hired a car to tour
Fathpur Sikri, Agra Fort and teh baby Taj. It was a great day, I will leave the discussion of the roads and
driving for another day. ..
The night train from Agra got us to Varanasi at 12:30 pm instead of 8:30. Our hotel picked us up which was wonderful
as Varanasi is crazy and we could never find it on our own. This is a great hotel and we have a balcony with view of the Ganges and
all of the happenings going on. There are cows and monkeys everywhere, and there are signs every where saying to beware of
the crazy monkeys!
India has been a learning experience, we are having many laughs and the Indian people are wonderful. We look forward to more
surprises !
Namaste,
Kelly
posted by kellyee21 @ 10:03 PM
0 comments
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Namaste ! Welcome to the Curry Chronicles ! This is Kelly and Yannick's blog for our much awaited trip to India. We are currently 2 days from departure. I want to think that we are well prepared after endless hours of research but I have a strong feeling one cannot be fully prepared for the wonders that India holds. We have had the recommended shots, procured malaria meds along with 2 grocery bags of other stuff for all that may ail us, conquered the Indian Embassy to secure our tourist visas, broken in our walking shoes, read the warnings of trouble making monkeys, and watched Gandhi.
We decided to reserve hotel and trains in advance as it is the busy tourist season. We arrive late Dec 24 after an early morning flight on Alitalia; Paris - Milan - Delhi. Our hotel in Delhi is sending a driver to extract us from the chaos that is the Delhi airport. Our plan (which may change as we go) is to spend the first 2 nights in Delhi. We are then off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After one night in Agra we are off on the night train to spend 2 nights in Varanasi, the holiest city in India. Hindu beliefs state that if one dies and is cremated in Varanasi, you go directly to heaven thus breaking out of the reincarnation cycle. We hope we will not have to test this theory!
After Varanasi we head out on another night train to spend New Year's in Jaipur. After a very busy first week in India we hope to slow down a bit by spending 3 days at Ranthambhore National Parc in a tented camp. Here we will take several safaris with hopes of encountering the very elusive Tiger. Sadly due to poaching, the number of tigers has greatly diminished, but if we are so lucky to even catch a glimpse of one it will be a very special lifelong memory.
Our next stop, Udaipur, will be another night train adventure. This is where we chose our 'splurge' hotel, a 17th century converted haveli (ancestral home) for 3 nights. We have reserved a lake facing room and recent reports indicate that after a long drought, Lake Picola is full to the brim and absolutely stunning once again.
If all goes according to plan, we will hire a driver to take us to Jodhpur. We hope to stop along the way to see the Jain temple at Ranakpur. We have 2 nights in Jodhpur after which we will likely hire another driver to get us to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is a desert town about 100 km from the Pakistan border. This is an excellent base for a camel safari, if one is so inclined. We may settle on a sunset/dinner trip as time and comfort is somewhat limited.
One more grueling 19 hour train ride(when all goes well) from Jaisalmer and we arrive back in Delhi. We spend one final night and all of the last day before our 2:50 am Jan 16 departure back to Paris. We hope to take a few minutes while we are in India to write an update and maybe uploaded a few photos, so please, stop back and leave us a message !
We wish for everyone a wonderful holiday season and look forward to hearing from you!
Kelly and Yannick
We decided to reserve hotel and trains in advance as it is the busy tourist season. We arrive late Dec 24 after an early morning flight on Alitalia; Paris - Milan - Delhi. Our hotel in Delhi is sending a driver to extract us from the chaos that is the Delhi airport. Our plan (which may change as we go) is to spend the first 2 nights in Delhi. We are then off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After one night in Agra we are off on the night train to spend 2 nights in Varanasi, the holiest city in India. Hindu beliefs state that if one dies and is cremated in Varanasi, you go directly to heaven thus breaking out of the reincarnation cycle. We hope we will not have to test this theory!
After Varanasi we head out on another night train to spend New Year's in Jaipur. After a very busy first week in India we hope to slow down a bit by spending 3 days at Ranthambhore National Parc in a tented camp. Here we will take several safaris with hopes of encountering the very elusive Tiger. Sadly due to poaching, the number of tigers has greatly diminished, but if we are so lucky to even catch a glimpse of one it will be a very special lifelong memory.
Our next stop, Udaipur, will be another night train adventure. This is where we chose our 'splurge' hotel, a 17th century converted haveli (ancestral home) for 3 nights. We have reserved a lake facing room and recent reports indicate that after a long drought, Lake Picola is full to the brim and absolutely stunning once again.
If all goes according to plan, we will hire a driver to take us to Jodhpur. We hope to stop along the way to see the Jain temple at Ranakpur. We have 2 nights in Jodhpur after which we will likely hire another driver to get us to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is a desert town about 100 km from the Pakistan border. This is an excellent base for a camel safari, if one is so inclined. We may settle on a sunset/dinner trip as time and comfort is somewhat limited.
One more grueling 19 hour train ride(when all goes well) from Jaisalmer and we arrive back in Delhi. We spend one final night and all of the last day before our 2:50 am Jan 16 departure back to Paris. We hope to take a few minutes while we are in India to write an update and maybe uploaded a few photos, so please, stop back and leave us a message !
We wish for everyone a wonderful holiday season and look forward to hearing from you!
Kelly and Yannick
posted by kellyee21 @ 4:24 AM
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