Cruising on a houseboat in the backwaters of Kerala

From Lucknow we took an overnight train back to Delhi, where we met up with friends Nicole and Jordan for lunch before taking a metro to the local airport.  (Check out Nicole’s website here – she is a great photographer!)  Annoyingly, the metro doesn’t go all the way to the airport, so we had to…

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Historic Lucknow

We arrived in Lucknow pretty shattered after two overnight trains in a row.  Lucknow is a really historic town in India, and we spent a couple of days here relaxing and visiting a few key places.  Lucknow is famous for its kebabs, so we enjoyed some absolutely divine mutton kebabs at a little place called…

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The desert town of Jaisalmer…where we didn’t ride camels

Jaisalmer is a beautiful desert city, with a fort in the middle that is very much a living fort.  Within the fort are restaurants, shops, houses, temples and the Fort Palace.  We stayed in a great guesthouse that was within the walls of the fort – it was fantastic to be able to look down…

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Udaipur

Aside from shopping for new clothes, we saw some amazing things in Udaipur.  Famous for being the city James Bond visits in the movie Octopussy, it is a beautiful place perched on the side of Lake Pichola.  We stayed in an old haveli where our room had stained glass windows and there was a restaurant…

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Losing all my clothes on a train in India

Our train from Jaipur to Udaipur left late – it was delayed by about 90 minutes, which meant we were waiting until after midnight to leave after a full day of touring Jaipur.  When we woke groggily in Udaipur, it was 7.15am – we had managed to sleep through the train arriving 15 minutes before. …

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Jaipur

We spent a day exploring the so-called “Pink City of Jaipur” (we felt it was more of a red sandstone city, but either way the colour was definitely noticeable!) We began our walk at the New Gate (pictured above), where we walked through the bazaars until we found ourselves at Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the…

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The Amber Fort

Amber Fort, also known as Amer Fort (and pronounced that way) is a short distance out of Jaipur.  The fort is a famous one, located next to a lake and with another fort up on the hills behind that is connected to it by an underground passage.  We chose to visit by public bus –…

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Neemrana Fort Palace

Reuben had heard of Neemrana Fort Palace years ago, when friends of his had recommended it to him as a beautiful place to visit. It’s a former fort which has been turned into a “non-hotel” hotel.  We hadn’t been able to fit in a visit on our honeymoon, so we decided to see if we…

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Dehradun

We spent a few days in Dehradun with our Kiwi friend Maree.  Here we had the thrill of getting our new computer in the mail – woohoo!           We had some awesome food in Dehradun, including a wonderful dinner at “My Wife’s Kitchen” – yum!  We also caught up with other…

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Overnight at a rural hospital…as visitors, not as patients!

We were fortunate to be able to visit a rural hospital in Katchua, about an hour outside of Varanasi.  Here we were privileged to see some of the work and meet some of the amazing staff who provide services here.  It was my first time visiting a rural hospital in India, and I was impressed…

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