Posts Tagged: India

North Goa – Chapora, Vagator and Anjuna

We took a taxi for the short distance between Arambol and Chapora, sharing the cost with our friend Roy. Roy had already enquired about the cheapest guest house, sunset view, which had basic, grubby rooms for 200 rupees a night. The bathroom was located on the roof top, which had a view over the bay through the trees. Chapora itself was a small village, with a small shrine around a Banyan tree in the center, not 20 meters from our guest house. Most foreigners hung out here, smoking chilums and drinking fresh juices from one of the two juice bars…. Read more »

North Goa – Arambol

Our two day train journey ended at thivim station, from there we took a taxi to arambol. We should have gotten off at Pernem, much closer to Arambol but this was not marked as a station in the Rough Guide. Straight away Goa felt like a completely different country to the rest of India that we’d visited so far. The roads were good and there was a noticeable difference in the amount of rubbish lying on the ground. The buildings were well-kept with well tended gardens and the taxi itself was luxury with clean leather seats. We arrived in Arambol… Read more »

Varanasi

At a point where several rivers join the sacred Ganges or Ganga river lies the ancient city of Varanasi, also know as Baneres, is the oldest still-inhabited city on the planet. According to Hindu mythology it was founded by Shiva and provides a gateway for the departed to escape the endless cycle of death and rebirth. This also means the inhabitants have had longer than anyone to master the tourist trade and even the children are experts at pilfering money from Indian and foreign tourists alike. Arriving at Varanasi station we were dubious of scams and touts. We immediately picked… Read more »

A Short Visit To Corbett National Park

Our visit to the Jim Corbett National Park was to be a short one en route from Almora to Varanasi. The bus from Almora dropped us in Ramnagar in the afternoon. Ramnagar; a bleak and rather horrible town which serves as the administration base for Corbett national park. Besides the park there is no reason why one would want to stay there. We had arrived one week before the central zone of the park – Dhikhala – was open so we were unable to stay within the park itself (which is also quite expensive). This left us with two options;… Read more »

Kasar Devi, Binsar, Jageshwar and Almora

Since arriving in India we have come to realise that we aren’t really that good at the actual “travelling” part of travelling. Setting up camp for a couple of weeks in each special place we come across means that we can find peace and comfort amongst the chaos. Hitting the road every 3 or 4 days is tiring and leaves us with little opportunity to really get to know the people we meet and places we stay. With the helpful advice of two fellow backpackers, we headed off from Rishikesh to Almora, by way of taxi along the perilous, dusty… Read more »