by Nick
It took some pulling and prying to remove Lianna from the sands of Palolem in Goa but afterwards we boarded our sleepless sleeper bus for the 12 hour trip to Hampi. Immediately upon arriving we knew this was a place quite unlike anything we had seen.

Gigantic rust coloured boulders in the millions are scattered throughout the landscape making for a prehistoric and almost ‘Flintstone’ like scene. Hiding amongst them are some of the oldest ruins and temples as this was the site of one of the greatest Hindu …

by Lianna
My requisite for coming to India was a promise to spend Christmas in Goa. Besides being known as a hippy hangout from the 70’s onward, Goa also happens to be India’s highest concentration of Catholics as it was previously a Portuguese colony. Having never spent a Christmas away from my home and my traditions, I wanted to be somewhere that at least acknowledged the holiday.

As soon as we settled on a date I was on the Internet to make reservations as Goa gets extremely busy during the Christmas season. …

by Nick
We are near the end of our North India loop and before flying to Southern India for Christmas, our last stop was Rishikesh in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya. Getting there proved rather uncomfortable for us as we could not find any private buses from Chandigarh to Rishikesh or nearby Haridwar and were forced to pile onto a government bus bursting with passengers for the next 7 hours.

December is apparently high season in Rishikesh and not wanting to recreate our experience in Chandigarh we decided to book ahead. …

by Lianna
After having a rough week with our 2 day stay average starting to take it’s tole on our brains, we were starting to wish we had booked our Goa tickets for an earlier date for some much needed beach time, but unfortunately our tickets weren’t changeable.
We arrived in Chandigarh with the hopes of having a bit of a relaxation break considering there isn’t much to see in Chandigarh from a tourist stand. All those hopes were shattered the minute we stepped off the bus. Walking away after …

We boarded yet another train this time in Delhi, and after falling asleep, we woke up the following morning just outside our destination, Amritsar.

Amritsar is in the state of Punjab and is home to the Sikh’s most important religious site, the Golden Temple. Not long after unpacking our bags we decided to have a look around the temple grounds. After 4 weeks in Hindu India and not being allowed to enter most Hindu temples it was nice to visit a temple open to foreigners. A few requirements must be followed …

by Nick
Maybe it was my constant reading about Jim Corbett (famous tiger hunter/conservationist) and his hunting maneaters, or maybe it was my obsessive looking at photos of tigers online that caused Lianna to suggest we should try one last time for a chance to see a tiger. Our only logical choice was to head to Jaipur for a night before catching the next train to Ranthambore, Rajasthan’s best known tiger park. After discussing our budget and time frame before flying to Goa for Christmas we figured we could only afford …

by Nick
Still sore from our camel excursion the past few days, we boarded a bus for the 7hr ride to Bikaner. Bikaner is another common place to depart for camel treks and originally we had bought a train ticket departing Bikaner because we were going to ride camels there but changed our plans last minute. Nonetheless, we still made it a stop on our loop of Rajasthan.

Bikaner is much larger than Jaisalmer and does not seem to have much in the way of infrastructure for tourists, although our hotel (harasar …

by Nick
After some debate Lianna and I were signed up to join another couple on a camel trek into the Thar Desert outside of Jaisalmer. Sometimes in relationships, compromises must be made and this was one of those times. Lianna agreed to 2 nights provided she had a tent to sleep in instead of being exposed at night to the desert wildlife (spiders and scorpion she wants to add) so after paying a little extra her requirement was arranged and we were off.

The novelty of riding a camel wares off …