A Gift from Hobo

Overcrowded, Somewhere in India- A Gift from Hobo

I open my blog email one day and find this picture give to me as a gift by Hobo. What an apt picture for me. Many thanks Hobo, you are generous.

More Tiger Tale but this time from Mexico

I am linking to Kelly's post (from Gonomad) who was on a press trip to Mexico and guess what she got to pet a tiger! You have to go and see the tiger picture to believe it.

PS. I am taking a short break. Would be back by Monday.

Pictures from the Lahaul Region

Lahaul Region, Picture from Anil's Blog

Anil posts some lovely pictures from the Lahaul region. Have a look. The first one is really beautiful, I wonder how those lovely ladies agreed to pose :)

Train and Travel in India

Steve has put up an interesting account of his trip through India and Nepal. I have not read all his posts and I do not know how to link to individual posts but whatever I have read, I find it interesting.

If you are ever the houseguest of friends that have traveled in India do this. Get quietly out of bed, one night at about 4:30 am , stand just outside their bedroom door and start shouting "CHAI, CHAI, CHAI" as LOUD as you can. They'll think its funny and thank you for bringing back many happy memories of their Indian travels.

Another common item hawked up and down the carriages of trains are short pencil length twigs. People were handing over money for these things and so I thought they must be of some value but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what.

I later saw a man attacking his teeth and gums with one and realized they are used instead of toothbrushes. He was really giving it beans and seemed to be quite pleased with the results, giving me a large wide grin displaying his remaining teeth.

Cross posted at Blogbharti.

Those Who Trek ...

... not always like it. I found this well written account of Jamie about his trekking experience of the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. He says-

When most trekkers get to Jomsom, our nominee’s starting point, they’ve already been trekking for two weeks and they’ve just crossed the 17,000 feet+ Thorung La. They normally complete the Jomsom stage in about 4 days. Our bloke took a week.

His legs simply don’t work any more.

Bits of him ache that he previously didn’t even know existed.

Even I have wondered on so many treks that why do all my vacations involve walking from morning to evening and then trying to relax so that I can walk some more the next day. But then I think trekking defies logic! After every trek, I look ahead for trekking some more.

PS. I saw the reference to Jamie's post first at Indiamike on a thread discussing how to get your significant other let you trek!

PPS. Cross posted at Blogharti too.

Another Account of Prashar Lake

Prashar Lake, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India

I know I should be talking about Spiti, but just before going on vacation I had found this wonderful account of Prashar lake trek by Saroj and I have to share it with you. Have a look.

It must have been an hour of continuous ascent and nothing seemed in sight. There were no signs for direction as well. I could not sight any water spring flowing down the steep path and repented having left the water bottle at home. We sat down for 2 minutes and started waling again, up, up and up. The dense trees had made the entire place shady and dark and the only sign of the light was the rays peeping dimly from behind the trees. Looking down would make my head swirl and I preferred to walk and look up. But where was the Parashar Lake. We were seriously assailed with doubt that we might not have lost the way.

India Travel Blogs and Travel Blogs by Indians

I know there are many India Travel Blogs. I thought I will try and collect as many links as I can at one place. This will be an ongoing work as I know I have missed out on many. If you feel like pass me the links that I have missed.


A Backpacker in India Ravi

A Long Way Ahead Apu

As I See It... Ms. N

A Travel Blog of an Indian Backpacker From a Backpacker's Lens Backpakker

Climber & Explorer Anil

Cuckoo's Cosmos Cuckoo

Feel nothing experience everything Sandeep

Feringhee: The Indian Diaries Sirensongs

Fugue- Celine JS

Travel and Photo Blog Pijush

Impressions Akira


India is a Curious Place Hobo

India Travel Blog Arun

India Travel Diary Rups

India Vacations Rajeev

Itchy Feet Charu

Kalyan Verma Blog Kalyan

Kousik ans Sumana's Travel Ventures Kousik and Sumana

Musafir Hoon Yaaron (Travel with Manish) Manish Kumar

myHimachal myHimachal Group/Avnish

Notes from the Road Sumit

Payaniga Prashanth

Progammer- Outsource Thyself James W

Rambling Around- Ram

Soumya- Soumya.Org

Travel Memoirs Pooja

Travel Memoirs Sigma

Treks and Travel Aravind GJ

Trivial Matters Akshay

Travel Stories- A Log of My Journeys Priyank

Vagrant Jottings Aroha

VJ's Travelogues VJ

Wanderer Karnail

Wandering Souls Group Blog

Where is Deepak? Must be Traveling! Deepak

Windy Skies Anil

Last Updated- 25/04/2009

Cycling from Jammu to Amritsar

Well, not me. I can't even dream of doing it. But Rich is cycling through some parts of India and writing his adevntures on his blog. Many of you travel buffs would certainly enjoy reading it. He also has an interesting account of his interaction with J&K police in his hotel.

Volleyball on a Moving Train?

What does finding one train crazy person leads to? Why, it leads to finding another crazy train story. Have you ever played Volleyball on a moving train? Well, Maverick has.

It was not easy to play on a moving court but defnitely more fun. Sometimes when we were planning to pass on the ball the train would jerk a bit and the person suppose to take on the pass would fall. And some other times when the ball was in air and all of us concentrating to hit the ball, a tunnel would come making the whole place dark and the ball invisible .(And cos it was a goods wagon we didnt had the lights either).

The added bonus is that his write up has the photo of the wagon too.

Have You Seen Someone This Train Crazy?

I have not. I enjoy sitting near a window on a train or a bus and let my mind wander. But Nomad with a Desk Job is in a league of his own. I quite enjoyed reading his post about MG trains:

I remember all the rides on the roof with crazy Jats for company or in the front guard van with dogs, woodcutters with a forest and school children for company. I'll never forget that biting January morning when me and Bharath Moro nearly froze to death hanging on for dear life on the catwalk of a YDM4 as it belched thick black smoke right into our faces.

On this line only, I met perhaps the friendliest railwaymen. There was nothing like having chai with the gateman at Shahbad Mohammedpur as he hurled choicest abuses at the cyclists dodging an oncoming train. Inside the coaches too the atmosphere was amazing. Bidi smoke curled thick in the air while conversation in the typical Haryanvi drawl ranged from Chautala to Mallika.

I am sure you will enjoy reading this one in full.