Hotel Paradise Pachmarhi

... out the fare of Rs200 (less than £3.00) on a display board rather than try to overcharge us for the 12 mile journey. He then took us to two non-descript hotels before we asked him to take us to the Betwa Retreat. Our faces dropped as we approached the hotel as we just knew we couldn’t afford to stay there. Fortunately the price included breakfast and we were able to negotiate a discount so that the Swiss tent accommodation was ...

... courses are being used
Nov 15 Jim speaks in Chittagong, Bangladesh local church (probably)
Nov 16 fly to Kolkata and spend night
Nov 17 fly to Siliguri, India
Nov 18-19 cross into Nepal and see Emmaus work (Everest is too far away to see!)
Nov 20 Darjeeling, India
Nov 21 Siliguri
Nov 22 meeting in Siliguri; fly to Kokata, then to Delhi, at midnight we board the plane for the 17 hour flight home and arrive in Chicago at 5 a.m. Nov 23!

... land! The men we were with bought some salwaar kameez and sweet treats for their daughters and wives back home "So they will encourage us to travel again" they said.

Finally we visited a Hindu temple. The first cultural experience there is being accosted by little children with marigold "leis" for sale to offer to the gods. When you get by there, you have to take your sandals off and walk around the temple grounds barefoot as a sign of respect ...

After 9 hours of travel (and this by 2 airplanes!) we arrived at the Catholic Centre being used for the all India ECS conference last night. We're thankful for a clean (even air-conditioned!) room even though there's no hot water. *sad face*

After a breakfast of curried eggs Jim and I went for a walk down the main street here, investigating and taking pictures. At one point we walked near a ...

Still doing well in India. Currently in a beautiful, if slightly too touristy town called Orchha. A nice small town though which is just so colourful! Everyone seems really nice and helpful too which is brilliant. In what appears to be a 5* hotel where due to maintenance we aren't camping outside the hotel but sleeping in the rooms! We have had the use of the pool which was used to its max yesterday and we're taking some time to get rid of the dust and pollution we found in Jaipur and ...

Positively buzzing from my 'happy' course I boarded the night train to Jhansi. The family of 10 below my bed didn't bother me. The 2 hour delay didn't deter my smile. Following a wandering Sadhu until I was lost, spending half an hour trying to navigate myself into the darkening skies and 40minutes away to Orcha still didn't darken my spirits. Queuing up for my week away onwards train ticket, did, however, test my ...

While in this small village we stayed at the Ganpati Guest house. It was a clean budget option near the palaces. We then visited the Raj Mahal and Jehangir Mahal structures.These were homes to the Maharaja Man Singh and his decedents. They were the Bundela Rajas and ruled from the 16th century until 1783. These palaces were built along the banks of the Betwa River in Central India.

... The listing is quite extensive, so it may take you a little bit of time to go over each listing.

Volunteer abroad ideas

... quite different - some with tribal paintings and symbolic markings, nearly all made from mud, straw and cow dung. Once a year, tribes are brought in to repair them. Once again, it was only me wandering around the 3km site and then took a guess on how to get to the lake, where I treated myself in a posh hotel to an 'expensive' meal of fish and chips - indian style! Picking up my newest turquoise Salwar suit on the way back, I got off the bus at Hamidia Road and after making ...

... big comfy bed and most important decent toilet and hot water in working shower (although no shower cubicle of course) - yipee my first hot water in a week! Still shabby as anything but safe and meant I could easily sit in bedroom in evenings and eat there too as venturing out into the streets at night without other people is not advisable and especially not for a women - even going to a restaurant in the day time is considered odd for a woman alone. I worked out, despite still ...