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Home > Travels >India > Goa to Darjeeling
| Place | Photo | Comment |
| Anjuna Goa |
Leaving a quiet Anjuna
via Mapusa (pronounced Map-sa) for Pune on a 12 hour overnight
bus ride nightmare, I witnessed the terror of lorries leaving
survival up to the Gods when they pull out and overtake
Tip: To avoid Bombay going north 'Poona' is the quickest bypass route as Bombay is best avoided for travelling through |
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| Pune Northern Maharashtra |
Was a staging post
for me, hotels are thin on the ground. The hotel Ritz was out
of a Dickens novel
Get away: Took an early morning luxury bus: 7 hours |
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| Aurangabad Northern Maharashtra |
 Bibi-ka-Maqbara  Panchakki |
And here we arrive
at the Taj already, well no actually, this is the Bibi-ka-Maqbara
built in 1679 the 'poor mans Taj', still: a pleasant place to be. The Panchakki (water mill) is well worth a visit, very calming in a hectic city. Aurangabad is a nice place and the locals are friendly. Try roadside omelette with chilli powder, divine. The hotel Natraj is thick with mosquitoes, but good value |
| Ellora
Caves Northern Maharashtra |
 The Kailasa  Buddhist temples |
The Ellora caves
are many temples carved into the hillside, of which the Kailasa
is the most over the top and unlike the others open to the air.
The buddhist temples by contrast are calm and considered. Ellora
is a totally fascinating place.
Getting there: It
is best to get the local bus from Aurangabad (stunning scenery)
and then return. Unfortunately catching a bus back from Ellora
is next to impossible. Best to club in with fellow travellers
and hire a jeep |
| Ajanta
Caves Northern Maharashtra |
 |
Same style at Ellora,
but in my opinion no where near as impressive. Ajanta is more
about painting the walls rather than carving things out of them
Getting there: Local bus from Aurangabad (3 hours daytime). I then went on from Ajanta to Jalgaon by local bus (short daytime journey). Tip: The hotel at Ajanta seems to be always full, and expensive. It is not really worth staying there anyway, you can see Ajanta in a day |
| Jalgaon Northern Maharashtra |
An industrial city, I found getting a luxury bus away was best method (9 hours overnight) | |
| Indore Western Madhya Pradesh |
 |
Had a mad ride with
a rickshaw walla after getting off the bus at 6:00am, he took
me to far to expensive hotels or ones that looked like squats.
In the end I decided to pay out for a nice place at 300 rupees.
The hotel Tulsi, which I would recommend. TV, hot water, soft
bed, good resturant, well I needed a splurge. I managed to get
a long time here for only one nights payment due to arriving
early in the morning
Next day I moved to the Hotel Shalimar at 45 rupees a night. Indore is a good place to have a walk around, the local museum is interesting. The picture is of the Rajwada: the gateway of the old palace, there is not much to see beyond the gateway, only a courtyard, as the palace has burnt down many times. Even so it is a quiet refuge. Disapointment awaited at the Lal Bagh Palace. The place was in a bad state of repair and the features were unviewable due to being hurded along a set narrow route around the building. As the actual building is whitewashed and quite modern looking is was less than eye candy. The saving grace were the quiet gardens. Even these were thin but quiet. I tried to get to Mandu from here but it is impossible to travel through, it would have meant returning to Indore afterwards Get away: Taking a lux bus (10 hours overnight) I found myself being violently sick at each stop, had a bad Thali in Indore: nice |
| Ahmedabad Gujarat |
Like a small Delhi,
smelly and noisy. At the time I did not like it here. Food is
quite hard to find, so is a good transport away. I had to hang
around at the hotel Naigra for a few days to recover from my
bad Thali
They had the earthquakes there recently, and I worry for what happened to the city Get away: Took a nice train, 7 hours overnight |
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| Bhavnagar Gujarat |
A cute quiet town
with inquisitive locals! Probably they see very few foreigners
Get away: Took a local bus to Una (near Diu) 7 hours daytime and then a rickshaw to get into Diu |
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| Diu Gujarat |
 |
Diu is supposed to
be another Goa, it isn't. Interesting but mostly unremarkable,
it is a little island tacked onto the side of Gujarat state.
The fort is very good though (The dark bit to the right of the
picture). Nagoa beach is worth a look but not very exciting.
Best way there is by rickshaw. Food is a hit or miss affair in
Diu
Tip: Arriving late at Diu you may well find the hotels full Get away: 9 hour daytime lux bus (well they called it a luxury) |
| Rajkot Gujarat |
Saw little here,
the Watson Museum is closed on Wednesday, so I failed to see
inside it
Get away: 5 hours daytime lux bus |
|
| Bhuj Gujarat |
Interesting town,
quite in the back of beyond. The Kutch Museum is interesting
but unfortunately full of stuffed animals. Also the Aina
Mahal (old palace) is good but you get a warehouse feeling as
all the exhibits a laid out in rows. You also have to take of
your shoes for all the palace museums here, and I hate walking
barefoot
They had earthquakes there recently too, and I worry for what happened here as well Get away: Actually very hard to get away from, as transport from here is a little shady, the trains are no good and the station is hard to find. Took a overnight lux bus back to Ahmedabad! Could find no other way. Then on to Jodhpur on a lux bus 10 hours overnight |
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| Jodhpur Western Rajasthan |
 |
The only two interesting
things about Jodhpur are the amazing fort and the name! The Mehrangarh
Fort towers over the city a really fine lump of bricks. In the
streets here it is not unusual to come face to face with the
odd working camel
Get away: 7 hours early morning lux bus booked from the tourist bungalow
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| Jaisalmer Western Rajasthan |
|
At first I thought
Jaisalmer was going to be a flop. Arriving at the tourist bungalow
the touts were held at bay while we were farmed out to jeeps
going to hotels. I was charged a small amount for the hotel but
told to leave when I didn't want to go on a dessert 'safari'.
Something to watch
The huge fortified town is quite something to see and a trip to the Sam Dunes is a slice of 'genuine' dessert Get away: 11 hour daytime lux bus |
| Pushkar Eastern Rajasthan |
 |
Very nice place,
the holy lake had half dried up, as you can see, but a nice place
to stop a definite place to relax. Great food and excellent bookshops
Get away: One thing to watch here is when you book a luxury bus they dump you on the a state bus. Still it is only a 3 hour journey to Jaipur |
| Jaipur Eastern Rajasthan |
I personally hated
this place, total tourist trap! The rickshaw drivers latch onto
you and charge to much. They also think they can become your
personal guide. I think the 'sites' are here are vastly overrated.
I just couldn't wait to move on from the place
Get away: 6 hour daytime lux bus |
|
| Bharatpur Eastern Rajasthan |
 |
The Keoladeo National
Park: a bird sanctuary, one of the most amazing places I have
ever been, the birds are there because they want to be and there are so many it blows your mind. Best time is early morning, but I spent all day from dawn to dusk there. Painted Storks, Cormorants holding out their wings to dry, Vultures, Deer, Crested Great Tits, Kingfishers diving into the water, Pelicans at a distance, Coot and the constant calls of thousands of birds. Stunning The town is not worth a look Get away: 3 hour daytime lux bus |
| Agra Uttar Pradesh |
|
O.k. so I had to
see the Taj didn't I? One thing I never realised was the fact
that the walls are inlaid with jewels. Have a closer look...
I also never really realised that the Taj is a big tomb. Also
the actual gardens and buildings around the Taj add as much to
the place as the main building itself. I hate to say it but the
Taj is a 'must see'
All the other places in Agra can be safely overlooked and the 'torn money' scam is simply annoying, where they will not take a note if it is slightly torn, which is a description of most Indian notes Get away: Short lux bus jorniey |
| Gwalior Northern Madhya Pradesh |
I came here to look
at the Jai Vilas Palace Museum, it was interesting, but perhaps
not worth the diversion. 'Leda & the Swan' is very kinky.
Seeing how the Raj used to live is the experience to be gained
here. Gwalior is another nice place to simply walk around
I was taken on a mad ride with a rickshaw walla here. I told him the hotel I wanted and we went round and round. There was some sort of carnival going on with load bands with lights walking the streets. My rickshaw walla kept showing me dreadful, cheap, hotels. I thought he was going to fleece me. But in the end we arrive at the hotel I had asked for anyway and he charged me very little. Odd Get away: Daytime train 9 hours |
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| Lucknow Central Uttar Pradesh |
|
The old British residency.
Beginning place of the 'Indian Revolution' a spooky ruin. The
picture shows the cannon ball shelled gateway.
Get away: Daytime train |
| Varanasi Uttar Pradesh |
This place is a 'must
see' like the Taj. A city on the river Ganges with the ghats
leading down to the water. Unfortunately I never took a picture
of it (see the links page for great pictures of the ghats). There
is something about seeing the Ganges for the first time
My favorite place to eat here was the 'Aces New Deal Restaurant' not only because the food was good but because the owner was mad. His daft Basil Faulty esqe running of the place kept me quitely ammused Only cycle rickshaws are allowed closer into the ghats. So a motor rickshaw will quote you a price and then half way there say he can go no further. Then you pay again for a cycle rickshaw! Shame I neglected to use the camera Get away: Booking a way out is very hard. There is a tourist quota on the trains but the tourist lounge is always packed. I went to a travel agent in the end who did all the hard work for me. Got a daytime train 12 hour journey |
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| Patna Bihar |
|
A town with a very
British feel to it, and the best museum I saw in India. A good
place to walk around and see the Ganges again. The railway retiring
rooms are a great place to stay, very British Raj. The picture
shows the Ganges taken from on top of the Golghar (grain store)
Get away: Tricky. There is no tourist quota on the trains. In the end I booked a lux bus for Silligri the closest stop for Darjeeling. |
