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Archive for July, 2007

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India – Agra to the Pink City

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

April 10-14

After leaving Nepal, our favourite destination of the trip thus far, we had mixed emotions about visiting India. Since our primary reason for visiting India was to visit our foster child, Hansu, near Bikaner, we had decided to limit our visit to Rajasthan and stay only 12 days. Everything we had heard from fellow travelers was that India was a beautiful, but often difficult, country to travel in and to expect to have a love/hate relationship with the country. They were not far off the mark. [read on]

Adventures at the Indian Embassy

Friday, July 27th, 2007

Why, you might ask, would I devote an entire blog entry to the Indian Embassy? Well, considering the amount of time, energy and patience I expended there, it deserves an entire chapter. Let this be a lesson to those of you who wish to obtain an Indian visa at the embassy in Katmandu (or, I have a sneaking suspicion, any Indian embassy) – do not underestimate the power of mindless bureaucracy to reduce even the most even-tempered individuals to raging lunatics. After our experience at the embassy in Katmandu, I’m starting to believe that the Indian government has a secret conspiracy to keep tourists out of their country by making it next to impossible and utterly distasteful to get a visa. A few words of advice:

1. Before attempting to obtain your Indian visa, take a large dose of Prozac for at least two weeks (it’s widely available over-the-counter at most pharmacies in Nepal);
2. Plan to do nothing else for at least two of the next three days;
3. Paste a bland smile on your face and resolve to keep it there no matter what;
4. Bring along a good book (preferably a joke book);
5. Set your expectations low so you won’t be disappointed – plan for anything and everything to go wrong;
6. Set aside any preconceived notions you may have about customer service and remember that these are government officials you are dealing with – it’s not their job to serve you; they are there to confuse, frustrate and exasperate you while acting as if they are doing you a favour. [read on]

Reflections on Nepal

Friday, July 27th, 2007
Reflections on Nepal April 7-10, 2007 Before going back to our hotel in Katmandu, we had two more places to visit. First, our driver took us to Nagarkot, a little town perched on a small peak about half an hour from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Elephants Rock!

Friday, July 27th, 2007
Chitwan National Park April 5-7, 2007 I thought it would be difficult to top our jungle walk, but Gupal still had more surprises in store for us. That afternoon, he took us to the Baghmara Bufferzone on the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Walk softly and carry a big stick!

Friday, July 27th, 2007
Chitwan National Park April 4-5, 2007 When we returned to Katmandu, we discovered that the temperature had risen over 10 degrees since we left and was now hovering in the low thirties. This had created an inversion effect ... [Continue reading this entry]

Back to Katmandu

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
The long downhill trek back to Jomsom wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I wore two thick pairs of socks to protect my ankles and didn’t suffer too much. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Muktinath

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
Annapurna Circuit V Muktinath When we arrived in Jomsom, Claude told me that he was enjoying trekking so much that he was considering completing the entire Annapurna Circuit. This meant continuing on from Muktinath over the Thorung La Pass (5600m/18,500ft) and ... [Continue reading this entry]