India is behind us now and Bangkok is our current little hideaway! We’ve been a bit behind in publishing stuff in the past few weeks as we’ve been doing so much. So, rummage around and you’ll see all sorts of new pics and posts. We’ve also launched Liketytrip TV, our attempt at making little movies of our experiences. If you ever want to just watch Liketytrip TV on the site just select liketytripTV from the category menu on the right hand side and they’ll all be there for you to giggle at in one place.
We had a pretty eye opening time chasing the east coast from Kolkata down to Kanykumari, the most southern point on India. After learning plenty about driving in India, sending mail at the post office or trying to find some food which didn’t burn our innards out we finally arrived at the peaceful backwaters of Kerala.
Then on to Goa’s beaches for a couple of days to fully unwind.
Mumbai got us right back into the swing of things with a Bollywood blockbuster Om Shanti Om (highly recommended). Rajisthan’s forts, colours, people, markets and cultures showed us why it really is “The Land of Kings”. From Rajisthan we headed straight up to the Punjab to visit one of the most magnificent buildings in the world, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. At lunch time we joined hundreds of Pilgrims for Guru-Ka-Langar.
The Pakistan/India border ceremony at Attari just a few miles from Amritsar gave us something to giggle about too and we headed from there to Chandigarh to see what you can really do with a whole heap of rubble if you put 50 years into it!
We’ve met some extraordinary people in India and had some equally extraordinary conversations with them. As the Tourism Board’s slogan proudly states, Incredible India!
So, whilst you’re kicking back at work before Christmas or relaxing at home in preparation for vast amounts of Christmas food and drink we hope the blog entertains you a little. It’s been wonderful to receive so many little comments too, please keep it up, its great to hear from you.
Remember you can see all the pics here and look for specific ones by using the tag cloud here. Also, there’s the map which you can zoom into and see the where we were when we took the pics.
We wish you all a very happy Christmas and hope you have a great 2008.
We’ve been up-rooted and re-planted in France! The modernist architect Le Corbusier built this town and based it on a typical grid system. There are pavements, cycle lanes and wide boulevards for the cars and rickshaws. The avenues are lined with trees. One of the first things you notice is how few cars are beeping! Guy was right earlier when he posted that all India needs to do is provide pavements for the pedestrians! It seems to be a lovely middle-class environment; all the streets are clean, all the houses are big.
The only reason for coming here (and the only reason Chandigarh is famous) is to see Nek Chand’s Rock Garden. Now 80 yrs old, the refugee Pakistani built it in the years following Independence. As Chandigarh was being built, villages were cleared and waste was generated; Nek Chand took this rubble and junk and turned it into Gaudhi-esque sculpture frenzy. Everything he’s used is recycled. When the local council stumbled across it in 1973, they helped turn it from a man’s back garden in to a tourist attraction. It was a great afternoon fix of art inspiration!
See the pics
Our journey from Jaisalmer to Amritsar was a long one. It took us on an overnight train to Delhi where we had a few hours to kill before continuing up to Amritsar in the Punjab. Surprisingly, our time in Delhi wasn’t so hideous the second time round and I really fear it’s because we’ve slowly become accustomed to Indian life!
Now, what a stunning place. All round India we’ve seen pictures of the Golden Temple adorning the walls of guest houses and proud Seikhs saying we must visit. We certainly weren’t let down. Once you’re inside the walls of the Golden Temple, you leave the grey, dusty, unremarkable town behind. Inside it’s an oasis of beauty with gentle singing and music floating in the air around you. People are bathing in the lake. In the middle is the Golden Temple itself, it’s made from real gold and it’s so bright and reflective in the sunlight. Continue Reading »
India has one of the most eclectic mixes of people from every class, culture and religion you could imagine. Before the East India Company ran a portion of this part of the world it wasn’t one country so, put simply over 1.2 billion people have been thrown together for only the past 60 years. That’s pretty remarkable given it is now racing to be one of the largest economies in the world chasing the West and China with vigor.
I’d like to think we’ve met a pretty good mix of the people here from the poorest of the poor in Kolkata to country folk in the mountains up north, middle classes in Mumbai and Hyderabad, as well as the surprisingly well educated masses of Kerala.
The most interesting conversations Continue Reading »
