Lumbini, Nepal December 17th 2010 I was on the fence about visiting Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. But after a 9-hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Bhairawa, I decided to make an extra 1-hour journey to Lumbini. Stayed the night there before going to check out the temple the next morning, which had a greenish…
Category: Asia
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal December 14th – 16th 2010 Power-cuts are part of everyday life in Nepal, I found out. The hotel had a schedule showing what times the power would be cut each day, usually 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours at night. Incidentally, those are also the times most people are still in…
Bandipur & Manakamana, Nepal
Bandipur, Nepal December 13th 2010 I caught a local bus to Dumre, the town at the base of Bandipur before taking a crowded jeep ride (sitting on top of the jeep) on the windy road to the top. Bandipur seemed different from the other towns. The buildings were old and many were made of wood….
Pokhara,Nepal
Pokhara, Nepal December 11th-12th 2010 So after getting to Gorakphur, taking a 3-hour bus to Sonauli, checking out with Indian immigration and crossing the border to Nepal ($25 15-day visa, not doing any trekking so no need any longer this time around), and taking a short bus ride to Siddharta Nagar (and staying a night…
Thoughts while on train from Delhi to Gorakphur as I travel to Nepal.
December 9th 2010 As I lay on my 312-rupee sleeper bunk in a crowded train car, I had some thoughts about my journey through India so far. Andy Mesa, one of my readers, put it best: Most travelers to India have a love/hate relationship with it. I am leaning more toward “hate” than “love”. As…
New Delhi – Part Two
Delhi, India Part Deux December 7th – 9th 2010 What have I learned about bus rides in India? Avoid them whenever possible. I specifically told the bus-booking service I did NOT want a window seat. If anyone here remembers, I had encounters with small roaches along the walls of the bus during my Aurangabad to…
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Amritsar, Haryana & Punjab December 5th – 6th 2010 From McLeod Ganj, I had to take a 3.5 hour bus to Pathankot to catch a 3-hour bus to Amritsar where the famous Golden Temple was located. The Golden Temple is the Mecca of the Sikh faith; every Sikh tries to make the pilgrimage here once…
McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India
McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh December 3rd – 4th 2010 BEWARE OF ESSAY. My bus from Shimla was supposed to be a deluxe. It was supposed to take 10 hours to get to Dharamsala. My plan was to sleep through the journey on a reclining chair, in the warmth of a bus, and arrive around…
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh December 1st – 3rd 2010 I’ve never seen a torn-up dead body before. Until today. Leaving my guesthouse around 5 am, I took an auto-rickshaw to a train station that had my train to Kalka, which would take around 5.5 hours. From Kalka, I would take a ‘toy-train’ to Shimla, which is…
New Delhi, India
Delhi, India November 25th – 30th 2010 Notes: Trash everywhere, especially on outskirts. The colors from trash colored the landscape. Lots of pigs running around in the trash. Had steak and eggs with a Coke for Thanksgiving. Cut of steak was like the one found in pot roast. Not the greatest but it’ll do. I…