November 17, 2009 – Day 326 – Mumbai, India

We really packed in a full sightseeing tour of Mumbai today! We started the morning with a taxi ride to the Hanging Garden for a nice view of the beach and a bit of the city. The garden is very pleasant and extremely well maintained and for this reason, many Indians like to spend time walking around and people watching (yes, they stare at each other too), especially since the park is free to go in. Across the street is another smaller park where we passed a mini-market with 8-10 tables of random wares for sale and the giant shoe to check out the view.

Hazy day on the beach

Read the rest of this entry »

November 16, 2009 – Day 325 – Mumbai, India

Whether you call it Mumbai or Bombay, this city is a really happening place! It boasts the richest neighborhoods and most famous people in India but it also holds Asia’s largest slum. From both extremes, Mumbai is a place you will either love or hate. It is India and it is not. The people are different, the food is different, the prices are high and the city is abuzz and never sleeps. At any hour you will hear traffic whizzing and honking its way through the streets below your hotel room. You can always find a snack stand open and there is no shortage or high-end establishments to spend your hard-saved Rupees.

In the streets of Mumbai

Read the rest of this entry »

November 4-8, 2009 – Day 314-317 – Jaisalmer, India

Spent the last several days enjoying to slow, relaxing pace of this small desert town. Our days were lazy and uneventful. If you really, really want to know just what that means, here is an outline: breakfast, internet cafe, lunch, internet cafe, walking around town trying to choose a restaurant for dinner, dinner, going back to our hotel room to avoid the after-dark mosquito militia and playing cards or writing posts until we get sleepy.

That lunch we were talking about

Read the rest of this entry »

November 1-3, 2009 – Day 311-313 – Jodhpur, India

Well, it certainly does not feel like a typical November day for us. By now we would be happily welcoming the cool weather that comes just before a snowy winter. Instead, we are at the edge of the desert in a hot, dusty city enjoying “cold drinks!” as often as possible.

Huge Angry Cow always gets the right of way

Read the rest of this entry »

October 27-29, 2009 – Day 306-308 – Jaipur, India

Passed 2 days in Jaipur readjusting to the real India after our pleasant sojourn in little Tibet. Funny how being out of India (let’s be honest, Mcleod really isn’t India at all) for a week can really throw you for a loop when you come back. It’s loud, dirty, irritating and overly complicated, the food is too spicy and can be difficult to find and everyone is yelling at you for something. But on the 29th we had a very lovely day exploring the beautiful Amber Fort and the Jaighur Fort.

The world according to Bootsy

Read the rest of this entry »

October 12, 2009 – Day 291 – Agra, India

Up at the hour at which no one looks good, we headed out to the train station at 4:30AM. It was still dark and the streets were not as deserted as you might imagine.

Stunning

October 9, 2009 – Day 288 – Delhi, India

Ah, India. You are such a complicated, hypocritical, flamboyant, intense place and people. A walk through the streets will give you the real flavor of India. Outside your hotel lies a furiously whirling dance of bicycle and auto-rickshaws, beggars, touts, vendors with carts of fruit, clothes, watches, or sugar cane presses for fresh juice, enlightened westerners decked out in full Indian garb, budget backpackers pushing past dirty street kids and trashing-munching cows, and of course the locals who are just passing by that are too busy to try to sell you something at that moment. Everyone has an agenda no matter how friendly and sincere they seem. It can be difficult to weed out the scammers and the curious chatters.

In the streets

Read the rest of this entry »

October 4, 2009 – Day 283 – Khajuraho, India

A great day to see some kama sutra temples! The rain held off til late into the evening so we had a sunny if hazy day at the western temples. (Fair warning the following includes pictures that may be considered NSFW)

Kama Sutra temple

September 22-23, 2009 – Day 271-272 – Kathmandu, Nepal

First day spent at the embassy and doing a whole lot of nothing around town. But After spending another half day at the Indian embassy on day 2, we discovered our Indian visas would be ready later this afternoon. Having a few open hours on our hands, we took a taxi across town to see the Pashupatinath temple complex and were rudely met with a NPR 500 entrance charge (that’s US$7 !!).

In the temple

September 15, 2009 – Day 264 – Kathmandu, Nepal

It is amazing how many families come to Kathmandu on vacation, they are everywhere! Anyway, you will be happy to know that we did something today! We went to Durbar Square, one of the few tourist sights in Kathmandu, and a painfully expensive one too.

What are you lookin' at cow