Hotel President Porbandar

... it would be a good idea to climb a mountain, why not?, you can stop laughing now. I know Amber and I aren't the usual trekking type but this mountain is different, its has steps, so how hard can it be? ten thousand steps isn't that much, is it?<br><br>Before we arrived in Junagadh we did actually stop one night in Dwarka, on the northwest coast of Gujarat. I did try and write a blog about this small seaside town, but it nearly turned me into ...

Janpal: Today I woke up and was expecting another early morning, but apparently we needed a permit to enter the park and we didn't have one yet. So the driver went out and got us the permits needed to enter the park. We usually leave at about 9 am, and today we did homework until about noon when the driver came with our permits. It took about a half an hour to get to Narara beach. On the way we saw many pink flamingoes. We got movies and pictures of them ...

... companies outside Ahmedabad. After that we saw lots of raw cotton. Our driver told us that the cotton is sent north to spin and then comes back to be woven. It was really neat to see the huge piles. We also saw lots of salt piles. Gandhi's famous salt march started in Ahmedabad and ended south in Surat. Gujarat is surrounded by water and where it touches land, borders Pakistan. So there was a good security presence everywhere we went.

... ejected from the crowd like a squeezed spot. Relieved is definitely the emotion of the moment. It takes me my brain a while to digest all of the information and it's only on the 4km walk back to my hotel that it slowly sinks in how phantasmagorical the setting was, but also so much fun. My shoulder is smarting, my ribs sore and my back tender from all the hits, but it was all totally worth it and I would do it all again no problem, may be not straight away but definitely again.

Since my last blog back in the bustle of Ahmedabad we had a bumpy ride to Bhuj in more ways than one. After an 8 hour sleeper bus to the NGO we are working at here, we were more than ready for a cuppa chai and some serious sleep but this was not exactly what met us here at Veerayatan. Instead we are attending Jain prayers and teaching such special but excitable children. They are all orphans or under-priviledged children as a ...

... spite of he little they have here. It is a big responsibility but a pleasure to brighten up their day with my strange skin, hair, and clothes. In this one week alone we have made our way from Delhi to Amdevad, on to Bhavnagar where we were eased into it all with some Indian cinema home-loving and hooked up with our driver for the next few days. He is an awesome bloke who has become like a brother from another mother in the short time we've known ...

... into abyss over the wall. I'm still trying to work out what is going on, my head hurts to the degree that I check to see I'm bleeding. Then I spot it....those bloody hawks! They are searing in great numbers above the fort effortlessly in the warm currents, but why attack me. At the time I had my sunglasses on top of my head and I think the reflection of the sun made the hawk think it was something interesting. Just as I'm piecing this together I come under ...

The earth has enough for everyone's need, but not for anyone's greed ~ Gandhi South of the peaks of Girnar are the dry deciduous forested hills of Gir, the last home for the Asiatic Lion. Yes, the lion, Ashoka's symbol, Buddha's roar, and an intimate aspect of south Asian culture could easily disappear through disease or another major disaster, and most people don't even know it exists. Tigers of India have become a poster ...

Back on the dodgy buses we headed to the Safari Park at Sasan Gir to hunt down the last few remaining Asiatic Lions in the world. We were unsuccesful! Was it really worth the 10 hour journey...? Probably, we had great Palak Paneer (Spinach and cheese) curry to make up for the dissapointment!

So after the desert of Jaisalmer i decided to head down to the supposedly picturesque town of Udaipur, not before spending one more night back in Jodphur. I wanted to stay another day so that i could see the rest of the sights in and around Jodhpur. This included a palace that is actually half a hotel where the rooms are $250 a night and the tea is 200 rupees. Chatting to the security guard outside this fine ...