| 1992 |
| I went on this trip with a friend between leaving Secondary School and starting College. Our time in India (5 weeks) took us from New Delhi through the state of Rajastahn; visiting Agra (The Taj Mahal), Bharatpur (Bird Sanctuary), Ajmer & Pushkar (Holy lake and Hippy hangout), Udaipur (Where James Bond Octopussy was filmed. The film shows every night in several restaurants + I must have met 5 guys who reckoned that they did the 30 foot rickshaw jump in the movie) then on to Ajanta (Very old buddhist caves) , a brief stop in the state of Goa via Ahmedabad (Industrial dust bowl); visiting the beaches at Colva, Anjuna (Famous Anjuna hippy market), Arambol (Lovely fresh water lake off the beach where nudists live in tree-houses), Callangute, and the towns of Margao and Panjim and then across to the state of Orissa via Hyderabad visiting Puri and finally up to Calcutta.Next we flew to Thailand spending a week in Bangkok then down south to the islands of Koh Tao (Great reef snorkeling), Koh Phan-gahn (Banjs's beach and Full moon party), Koh Samui (Visited the Reggae Pub) and on to Phuket where we caught our next flight.Cairns Australia (not Asia but Australasia anyway) was our next stop. From here we hitchiked to Townsville, stopping in Innisvail for a night (where the local guys did not like foreigners in their bars) Due to lack of money we decided to head straight down to Sydney and bring our flight forward to arrive in Indonesia early. After 52 hours on the bus and a few nights in laundrettes we arrived in Eden Bay to stay with a friend's Auntie Doreen. 1 week later we were off to Sydney (Stayed in Kings Cross) and flew to Bali.We were in Bali for about 5 weeks travelling all over the island by motorbike and eventually settling in Desa Anturan for about 3 weeks where we had made several Balinese friends. From here we took a bus to Jakarta, from where we flew home. |
| First photo , Second photo , Third photo |
| 1993 |
| Having been once I decided to go back to India, to check that what I saw was real. This time I went alone for 6 weeks. I headed, from Delhi, straight up to the Himalayas. My first stop was the old hill station Shimla, where the British wives and off duty soldiers used to stay during the 'Raj'. Then on to Kulu Valley, Manali and Dharamasala (Home of the exiled Dali Lama and many Tibetan monks). Then I took a 39 hour journey via Delhi to Bombay to meet one of my friends who was flying in. From Bombay (After being trapped in Bombay for 3 days) we went down to Goa (Colva beach) for a few days and then inland to Hampi (Beautiful place of many abandoned temples reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie). Going further south still we headed to Mysore (Where joss sticks are made) and then up to Bangalore (A very westernised Indian city) by which time I had to return to Delhi for my flight home. 45 hours train ride later I arrived in Delhi to find that there had been an outbreak of Bubonic plague. All flights out of Delhi were cancelled so it was a week later than expected that I finally arrived home. |
| Fourth photo |
| 1994 |
| My fascination with India still not satisfied, I went back for a third time. This time I headed East from Delhi stopping at Agra for a second look at the Taj, Varanassi (Where they burn the dead bodies and float them off down the Ganges. Smells like Almonds), then on to the state of Bihar (Mosquito central) where I visited Buddha's tree in Bhodagaya (Interesting experience. Buddha sat under the tree to find enlightenment. Now Buddhists worship the tree almost. They cover it in gold and have built temples for miles around.) and a wildlife sanctuary in Hazariabag (Bus broke down so ended up getting a lift on a truck), then on to Ranchi and then further west to re-visit the state of Orissa. In Orissa I visited Puri, once again, for the good seafood, and then Konark (Very nice place with huge sun temple, however they have an alarming dog leprosy problem), Bhubaneswar and Gopalpur-on-sea (Really nice beach although there is only one restaurant with a limited menu. It gets a bit monotonous after a few days.) By this time monsoon was starting to cause problems and so I headed north into the mountains, via Calcutta, to the hill station Darjeeling (Incredible views, nice tea and very cold weather as opposed to the lower parts of India). Finally, I took a 39 hour train back to Delhi to fly home. |