Siem Reap, Cambodia

We left Kuala Lumpur on an early flight to Siem Reap. We were excited to finally see the temples of Angkor Wat, which had been on both of our lists for a while. We were also a little nervous because the flooding reports for Cambodia hadn't been great - nearly 75% of the country was under water - but we knew from a friend of Jo's brother that things were getting back to normal.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We hadn't planned on visiting Malaysia as part of our world tour but it was the cheapest way to get to Cambodia from Ko Lanta so we decided to give Kuala Lumpur a quick visit (only one day). The city is the second largest in Malaysia and is quite the metropolis with more than seven million inhabitants and frequent international events.

Around Ko Lanta

From Ko Lanta we took some day-trips by boat to see some of the other islands close by and do some snorkeling. The area is well known from the movies - "The Beach" was filmed in this area as well as the James Bond film "the Man with a Golden Gun." Limestone outcrops rise from the stunning blue seas.

Ko Lanta, Thailand

After the bright city lights of Bangkok, we headed south to the beaches along the Thailand's Andaman Coast. We stopped in Krabi Town and Ao Nang for a few days before heading to Ko Lanta, which we had heard was a very relaxed and beautiful island. To get there you have to take a ferry across to the island since there are no bridges connecting it to the mainland. After the metropolis of Bangkok it was going to be a change.

Bangkok, Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok slightly nervous at what we would find. The country had experienced its worst flooding in years and we had seen constant news coverage for the last few weeks about the risk of serious flooding in downtown Bangkok. According to the news, Bangkok's outlying areas of were underwater and the central areas were being kept dry by little more than sandbags.

Leaving India

After nearly two months in India it was time to head on to the next stage of our trip. Our experiences in India were varied. We loved some places and detested others. Having spoken to other travelers in this vast country it seems like we are not alone.

The Floating Market - Srinagar

On our last morning in Srinagar we got up before dawn to take a shikara ride to see the floating market, a huge attraction in Srinagar. Needless to say, Nick was toasty warm in his new pheran while Jo had to borrow a blanket from our guest house to stay warm....

Srinagar, Kashmir

We arrived late in the afternoon in Srinagar, the largest city in Kashmir, and our guest house owner was waiting for us on the shore of Dal Lake. We took a shikara, a sort of gondola, across the lake to our houseboat. The house boats in Srinagar are rather large (3 or 4 bedrooms) with living rooms and dining rooms and are moored on the lake. Ours was from the 1970s but the the decor was more 1940s. It was very comfortable and from the terrace we had great views out across the lake.

Pahalgam, Kashmir

Kashmir is known by the locals as Paradise on Earth. After our brief introduction at the wedding we were beginning to agree and eager to see more. We drove from the village to Pahalgam where the groom's uncle runs a guest house. We arrived late in the evening and our hosts brought us fresh Kashmiri tea and lit the fire - a perfect mountain welcome!

A Kashmiri Wedding

The manager of our guest house in Dharamsala was Kashmiri and invited us (and some other guests) to join him back in Kashmir for his brothers wedding. This was not the sort of experience we were going to turn down. Our three-car convoy set off from Dharamsala at 5 am for the long drive up to the valley. There were three other foreigners with us, as well as our host and some family friends making the trip up. The drive was amazing as we climbed the steep mountain side to go over the pass into the Kashmir valley. The Kashmir valley itself was beautiful. There were so many old trees and their leaves were changing color with the advancing winter.

Photgraphy Course, Dharamsala

In Dharamsala we both decided to do a photography class with the Travel Writer/ Photographer who did Nick's Travel Writing class and the local AP Photographer. With our experienced photographers we looked at the basics of photography and cameras, had practical shooting sessions, critiqued our photos and learned how to edit them in Photoshop in less than a week. We took lots of photos but here are some of our favorites:

Jo's shots:

Nick's photos:

While we were staying in Dharamsala, we got invited to a wedding in Kashmir! So next post we head up North for some traditional Kashmiri nuptials. 

Travel Writing Course, Dharamsala

During our stay in Dharamsala, Nick decided to take a travel writing course he saw advertised around town. The course was put on by a published travel writer from Australia at a local coffee shop called the Moonpeak Cafe. The course was fascinating and covered a wide range of topics like genres, techniques, and publishing. It lasted five nights and included a delicious dinner at Moonpeak Thali restaurant. If you ever make it up to McLoed Ganj, we highly recommend you check out the cafe, the restaurant, and the writing course.

Throughout the course, each participant had to write an article to be discussed and critiqued. Nick wrote an article about our experience with the driver we eventually fired in Rajasthan. The guys who run the course liked Nick's article enough that they decided to publish it in their bi-monthly newsletter! Here's the article. Full text below:

Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh

From Amritsar we headed back into the Himalayas towards Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. The flat fertile lands of Punjab gradually gave way to the mountains of Himachal Pradesh where houses and fields perched on the mountain side. We planned to stay for two days, but as soon as we arrived and got to wander the small town we decided to stay a little longer. In the end, we ended up staying ten days in order to take a few courses and see His Holiness in person.

India - Pakistan Border Closing Ceremony, Wagah, Punjab

Wagah lies just 30 km from Amritsar and is the only overland border crossing point between Pakistan and India. During the last few weeks in India, we have been near to the Pakistani border and decided it was time to get a closer look.

Amritsar, Punjab

After Agra, we hopped on an overnight train to Amritsar in the Punjab Region. Amritsar is home to the famed "Golden Temple," the most important site in the world for the Sikh religion. Supposedly, the shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal - over 100,000 on a weekday alone!

Agra, Uttar Pradesh

From Udaipur we took an overnight train to Agra, home of what is widely considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world - the Taj Mahal.  

Cooking Class, Udaipur

We decided to try our hand at Indian cooking. We had loved the food so much during our trip that we wanted to be able to bring a little home with us. We found a wonderful cooking class that a woman named Shashi runs out of her home kitchen. We showed up at 5:30 pm and started learning the basics of Indian cooking. Over five hours later, we had a huge meal ready and a thick book full of recipes to try at home. Here are a few of the highlights!

Udaipur, Rajasthan (The White City)

The drive between Ranakpur and Udaipur was a complete change from what we had experienced so far – gone was the flat, dry, desert-like landscape of northern Rajasthan. Suddenly, we were in sub-tropical surroundings with steep hills all around. Udaipur is called Rajasthan's most romantic city and we would certainly agree. The city is surrounded by hills and its central feature is Lake Pichola with its two island palaces. Our hotel was perfectly located by the lakeside, close to the Royal Palace, and it had a spectacular rooftop terrace where we could watch sunset with a few cold beers.

Ranakpur, Rajasthan

After dispatching our driver Khan in Jodphur (more on that later), we found a taxi to take us to Udaipur. On the way we stopped briefly at one of the most important Jain temples in India. The temple is in the small village of Ranakpur and was built in the 15th century. It is entirely carved in white marble and is a complex maze of 29 interconnected "halls." There are apparently 1444 pillars inside, with no two alike - we didn't even try to count...

Camping in the Rajasthani Desert

While in Jaisalmer, we were constantly asked if we wanted to do a camel safari. It seems like one of the main attractions for the area. So we decided to pack our things and head off to explore the desert hinterlands around Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (The Golden City)

After Jodphur we headed towards the India/Pakistan border to the last main outpost in Rajasthan - Jaisalmer, "the Golden City." Jaisalmer was built by another Maharaja family in 1156. The oldest part is a massive golden sandstone fort that rises from the desert plains like a mirage. The hilltop fort is a ring of ninety-nine bastions. Inside, the fort is a maze of narrow alleys, beautiful havelis, temples, and of course includes a royal palace. The narrow, car/bike free alleys make for some wonderful wandering.

Jodhpur, Rajasthan (The Blue City)

We arrived in Jodphur in the late afternoon and immediately headed into the city to get the lay of the land. Jodphur is another Rajput town with impressive fortifications. Here, as opposed to Jaipur/Amber, the fort rises imposingly above the center of town and dominates the skyline. After wandering the streets and exploring the main square with its clock tower, we set about finding a nice rooftop cafe to sit and enjoy sunset over a cold beer.

Pushkar & Ajmer, Rajasthan

After the chaos of Jaipur, Pushkar was a welcome relief. The town is a small Hindu pilgrimage site around a sacred lake. It's a quiet, relaxing town most of the time and it gets it's fair share of tourists like us, trying to escape the din of the main circuit.

Around Jaipur, Rajasthan

After two days in Jaipur proper, we decided to explore the surrounding area. We were provided with a driver and a car by the hotel. The car is something called an Ambassador Classic, an Indian made sedan that we recently heard described as "part Rolls-Royce, part Soviet tank." An apt description, though in all honesty, it's far more "tank" than "Rolls." Believe it or not, this car is only two years old:

Jaipur, Rajasthan (The Pink City)

We started our tour of Rajasthan in Jaipur - the pink city. The city gets its name from the pink color the city was painted in 1876 to welcome a prince from Britain. The idea stuck and the old city walls and buildings are still painted pink to this day.

Camel Riding, Ladakh

During our two day trip to the Nubra Valley we stopped off in Hunder, a village at the foot of steep skree slopes set amid sand dunes and desert scrub along the valley floor.  Here we decided to explore the terrain in a new way - on camels, two-humped Bactrian Camels to be precise.

Nubra Valley, Ladakh

On the other side of Khardung La, we had a long descent to reach the Nubra Valley, close to the Pakistani border. The views of the valley were amazing. Fields and villages clung to flatter sections before giving way to cliffs and canyons to the valley floor. We followed the canyon for a while before rounding a corner to reach Shyok Valley where a river trickled at the floor or soaring mountains. The river is clearly low right now but you can see the high water marks reach right across the valley floor.

Khardung La, Ladakh

After our bone crunching ride to Pangong Tso we decided to subject our bodies to a little more. We embarked on a two day trip to Nubra Valley which would mean having to go over the world's highest motorable pass - Khardung La - 5602 m / 18379 ft.

Pangong Tso, Indian/Tibetan Border

We hired a jeep and a driver, Dorje, (along with two Aussies we met on the flight up) to go see Pangong Tso - a lake on the border with Tibet which features on many of the postcards up here. We set out at six am and the drive would not be easy. It was five hours each way on bumpy roads along steep mountain trails and over the third highest motorable pass in the world - Chang La (5289m / 17352 ft).

Leh, Ladakh, India

Our first stop on the Indian leg of our adventure was in Leh, a pretty little town high in the Indian part of the Himalayas. Although nestled in the foothills of the mountains, Leh is 3530 m / 11581 ft above sea level so our first day was spent getting acclimatized to the altitude before exploring. The Ladakh region, of which Leh is the capitol, is incredibly remote. It's a two day jeep ride over near 5000 m / 16,000 ft passes to the closest town of any size. The region is primarily Buddhist, not Hindu, and culturally much more similar to Nepal and pre-China Tibet than it is to the rest of India.

Transport in Nepal

We've already mentioned the chaos of traffic in Nepal but nothing prepared us for the numerous bus trips we took to get around the country. For long distance journeys we resorted to “tourist” buses - called tourist buses since they are supposedly more expensive and a little bit more modern than the regular ones. Unfortunately they weren't always made for foreigners though, or at least not for foreigners who are taller than the average Nepali. We were sold air conditioning on our ticket but soon realized we would be using local air con – open the windows and hope that the bus keeps moving to move some air around!

Chitwan National Park

In the south of Nepal, close to the Indian border, lies one of the largest national parks in the country - Chitwan.  To get there, we had to endure a six hour bus ride through the mountains, a ninety minute taxi ride over dirt roads, and boat ride across a crocodile infested river in an old wooden boat (see pic above). "Chitwan" means “heart of the jungle” and the description is very apt. It is miles from everywhere and the scrub is quite dense. In places the grass grows 6-8 m/18-24ft tall and vines join all the trees together to make a thick green canopy in every direction.

The Beard

In case you hadn't noticed, Nick had grown one hell of a beard over the last few months. In fact, he hadn't shaved in approximately four months:

Poon Hill

As promised in the previous post, here's what we saw at the summit of Poon Hill.

Trekking in the Annapurna Range

After five days in the Kathmandu Valley, we headed across the country to Pokhara - a quaint little town in the mountains on a large lake. Pokhara has excellent views of some peaks in the Annapurna Range when the weather is clear. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and we never got great views, but we did spy Machapuchare (Fishtail Moutain) for a brief moment one morning.

Bodnath & Pashupatinath

Bodnath used to be on the main trade routes to Tibet and is, according to Lonely Planet, one of the world's largest stupas.  The stupa is enormous and decorated with lots if prayer flags fluttering in the breeze. While we were there an old couple, obviously on pilgrimage were getting some young boys to help them put up the flags. The boys dutifully climbed the staircase to the very top to attach one end, and then climbed a pole at the bottom to attach the other end - no mean feat!

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur, the third of the royal towns, is the jewel in the crown, or at least that's what we thought. The town is well outside the city limits and quite rural - tractors replaced tuk tuks in the local traffic jams! The town boasts three squares as must-see destinations. The first is, once again, "Durbar Square" filled, of course, with temples and royal palaces:

Patan

Kathmandu is one of three former kingdoms in the Kathmandu valley. The other two are not far from Kathmandu and each has their own impressive "Durbar Square."

Patan is was a short ride outside the city ring-road and there are buildings the entire way so it's hard to tell where Kathmandu ends and Patan begins. In Patan, we first visited the Patan Museum which, for novices in Eastern religions, provides a great overview of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism. Then we got to test our new-found knowledge strolling around Patan's Durbar Square - qually impressive to Kathmandu's:

Central Kathmandu, Nepal

After a brief stop in Bangkok, we arrived in the first stop of our Asian adventure - Kathmandu. We arrived at around lunch time and after dropping our bags at the hotel set off to explore the city.

Our transfer to the hotel was a first look at transport in the weeks to come - chaotic and noisy to western eyes. As far as we can gather, traffic joining the road has priority over traffic already on it and horns are the only method of indication - blow the horn can mean get out of the way, I'm passing you, I'm turning off, I'm behind you, or any other possible message. With cars, buses, tuk-tuks, bicycles, and trucks all sharing the road, it leads to a cacophony of horns at all times.

Road Trip UK

After a week of relative peace and calm in Ireland, we set off for a road trip around the UK to visit Jo's friends and family. During the 500 mile round trip we were spoiled with good food, great company and quite a few drinks along the way.

The Emerald Isle

 

Our next stop on the trip was a visit to Jo's family in Ireland.   Driving back from the airport was a complete contradiction to the US roadtrip - bumpy, twisty 2 lane roads compared to long straight multi-lane highways.   Home is on a narrow backroad in the middle of the country side with stunning views all around.