Carlton Hotel Lucknow

... This meant that we had a comfortable seat and air conditioning. The ride was fine. We got off at the station. The porter carried Bob's and my giant duffels on his head and Manuel's suitcase in his hand. We skipped the local sightseeing and got into our private van for the ride to our next destination, Khajuarho. The trip was one hundred miles and four hours of single lane country road ...

The train was long and the visits to the toilet numerous. Descending from a cramped upper berth in sleeper class to prevent one from ******** oneself at regular intervals was not fun. The toilet to the left was a squatter, meaning I had to go through the added precaution (yet highly necessary) of removing all clothes, before returning shoes and getting down to business to prevent me accidentally covering my sweaty ...

Lucknow turned out to be a bit of a whistle stop!! we had a long journey in firstly a shared jeep to Nepal Ganj where as i mentioned we beat our own record and had 24 I think it was in the jeep plus the hangers on!!! and then a pedal rickshaw to the border at Nepal Ganj, great fun, sat up high watching everything about us, and a long ride.

Suresh and his cousin came with us over the border and took care of the back packs, which was very handy and ...

Perharsar is a small village in rural Rajhastan. There is an old haveli in the centre which I imagine is a good source of income for the village as it is now a hotel and the base for all visitors. The villagers themselves all live in make-shift houses made from bamboo, mud, corregated iron, the more ambitious of them have been made with bricks and thatched roofing. They share their space with goats, camels, cows, buffalo and monkeys. The first ...

... even though i was dead keen on beating them, they smashed both Kels and I. That evening we went back to our favorite resturant, moondance, which has really great bruchetta for our last dinner in pokhara. Im pretty sure in my last blog i mentioned how proud i was that Kels had actually tryed (without complaining) some nepalese dal bhat, well, shockingly enough, she went as far as to actually order dal bhat (pizza was also on the menu i might add)! The ...

... Still, I will reserve judgement until after a much-needed night's sleep. The Moghlai cuisine here is tops, anyway! I won't write another update before getting home, I shouldn't think. Tomorrow evening I take an overnight train back to Delhi, where I plan to visit the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and one or two other sites of interest, before getting my flight home early on Thursday. However, I shall write up about all that when I get home, and stick up the rest of my pictures. All best, Tom

going to try uploading photos so no text this time. bugger. Batteries in camera have run out as trying to upload photos so ye will have to make do with text updates again. Have a full day in Varanasi the day after tomorrow so may put some up then tho as the title suggests, I'm liking not being near computers for days on end.

... like a temple than a yoga studio, with paintings of Hindu gods on the walls and a large shrine to the center's "guru" at the front, complete with life-sized photos of the guru (an old, bearded man wearing white), and even a neon-lit "Om" sign located at the top of the alter. There were also TVs set up on each side of the alter, and speakers surrounding the room. It seemed to me that this was definitely a well-supported yoga center, with the latest technology in ...

... were ready to head back home, so the three of us got cycle rickshaw to take us back to the house. I didn't think that all three of us would be able to fit on one tiny cycle with a seat big enough for 2 small people. However, we all managed to squeeze in, with my landlady sitting on the small seat and Sharon and I balanced on the wooden side railings. I was a bit skeptical that we'd make it back to the house in one piece, but luckily we only got up to maybe 6 mph at the ...

... up is called "first" floor). The apartment was very nice and larger than I expected, with two rooms with lots of windows, ceiling fans (a necessity), a pretty balcony and terrace with potted plants, an attached bathroom, and a kitchen outside. The shower, as I had been told, was a bucket shower (ie. No shower head), but I'd gotten somewhat used to this during orientation, and bucket showers are also much better for doing laundry! The apartment had two cots ...