Jaisalmer, India | 21 December, 2006 | $6.67 Jaisalmer was notable for the opportunity to sleep inside the fort itself. My hotel room was the same price as in Jaipur but this one had an adorable window seat with hand-dyed curtains. Another highlight was the restaurant around the corner with cushion seating atop the fort’s…
Jaipur, India | 19 December, 2006 | $6.67 Jaipur was my first stop in what became a thorough tour of Rajasthan, one of the most popular tourist regions of India. After visiting a handful of similar forts I became a bit jaded and unimpressed—what a shame! This was my first Rajasthani fort though, and the…
New Delhi, India | 13 December, 2006 | $6.11 No, I didn’t sleep at McDonalds—but look at the recycling options! As a designer I spend a lot of time looking at packaging and signs on the road. It’s always a treat to see how international brands change their product and design for local markets. I…
New Delhi, India | 11 December, 2006 | $20 My first night in India’s capital was spent at an overpriced hotel in a maze of tiny alleyways. The train from Agra only takes four hours but the Chinese traveler (whom I’d met in Khajuraho and I traveled all the way to Delhi with) didn’t have…
Agra, India | 8 December, 2006 | $4.45 This is it. The Taj Mahal is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and an iconic image that everyone I know is familiar with. These places are always the trickiest to visit because they are always overly-crowded and often a let down from…
Khajuraho, India | 6 December, 2006 | $4.33 I love going through my photos and updating all of these locations, most of which I never even bothered to write about in the first place. However, the images of the rooms have to be the ugliest images I have. I’m making an executive decision and using…
Gorakhpur, India | 30 November, 2006 | $2.80 (my portion, shared with 2 others) The journey from Lumbini, Nepal to Varnasi, India was too long to complete in one day so the couple I’d met in Lumbini and I stopped in Gorakhpur, India after crossing the border. Its a town of no interest to tourists…
Sunday night I got a little travel fix, or at least an international culture fix. The girlfriend of one of my old high school friends is planning a trip to Southern India and she was interested in ashrams. When she discovered that I spent eight days at Sivinanda Ashram in Nyer Dam on my last…
Me-go Mix: Track 4 “Raat Baaki” — DJ Akbar Sami To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai (Bombay) at sunset. Behind me is a busy six lane road, a Baskin Robbins and a Levi’s store. Despite that, this scene feels like…
After three days in transit from Bangalore, including a 24-hour train ride, a 1am airport appearance and a brief layover in Kuwait, I have finally arrived in Jordan. More importantly, I got out of India. I don’t think I’ve talked much about my frustrations in India here, because when I was so angry I had…
After a few more days at the ashram where we got as far as the headstand asana (position), I was ready to leave. Staying would have been good for me, sure, but the possibility of squeezing in a few more towns before heading back to Mumbai for my flight was too enticing. I had to…
Many people come to India to experience it’s spiritual side, either Hindu or Buddhist, meditation or yoga. I thought this trip was the perfect opportunity to take a crash course in yoga from the masters. After a few failed attempts to reserve a spot I finally arrived in Sivananda Ashram on the 31st. It’s a…
I’m on day three in the Ashram. The yoga is still pretty basic but good. We wake up at 5:20 and don’t eat until after 10am, that was quite hard to get used to. My stomach was grumbling all of day one and two. It’s hard to meditate, listen to chants and do two hours…
I just uploaded six new locations to The Gallery, bringing it up to Mumbai. Don’t forget to look for page two in the gallery, which shows the last three locations. At the moment I have things set so that only 15 sub-galleries show per page and I’ve hit my limit. The sketchbook section now includes…
I think I may have been in India too long. I almost changed my dinner plans tonight because I knew that The Office would be on tonight. It’s pretty bad when I’ve memorized pertinent parts of India’s weekly TV schedule.
While checking email here in Alleppey, Kerala I’ve just learned that The Chicago Bears are going to be in The Super Bowl. I remember the last one well… It was 1985/86 and I was in elementary school. Walter Payton was our hero, leading a pack of characters including “The Fridge” and “The Punky QB.” We…
I’ve been getting a handful of bounce-back messages from subscribers, so I hope no one’s missing out. For those non-subscribers, I’ve post-dated a post about New Year’s in it’s appropriate place here. The gallery has been gradually being updated while I’ve been in India and I have photos up through Christmas in the Thar Desert.…
I am still soliciting any advice on Africa, including Egypt and Jordan, for my next leg. You guys know what I like, so let me know if there’s somewhere I just can’t miss. As for animals, giraffes, zebras and hippos are my top 3 so the big cats will just be a plus. At the…
On my first day in Mumbai I spent two hours looking for a hotel. I was only promised two days at the YWCA—surprisingly, the nicest affordable hotel around. Today I spent more than an hour looking for a new hotel but no one would confirm that they would have rooms so I have to shop…
The capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, doesn’t attract many tourists. Sure, there’s some mosques, a few shaking minarets and crumbling city gates but the main attraction is it’s textile museum. Having recently completed a textile design class before leaving on this trip, I naturally wanted to stop in the city for a look around. At first…