The Ship’s Log covers journeys undertaken by sail or canal boat, and includes general posts not covered by the Travel category.
Cliché or no cliché, Akbar’s ‘City of Victory’ really does “rise majestically” from a barren rocky plateau. Referring back to my note book, before writing up this visit, I found a string of exclamations: “The scale! Location and position! Extraordinary! Fabulously well-maintained! Power! More palace than fort!” An extraordinary place…
Fatehpur Sikri: City of Victory Read Post »
Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, is a huge contradiction. Boasting possibly the most beautiful building in the world the town itself is a filthy disgrace. Still, we enjoyed it from both cultural and photographic perspectives, and so in this little post we take you to Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, grabbing some stunning shots of a legendary landmark.
The Taj Mahal In Agra: Beauty And The Beast Read Post »
We begin our Golden Triangle trip of Rajasthan in Jaipur, a city rich with energy, commerce and culture. It quickly goes down as one of our favourite places visited to date. Known as the Pink City, it is a place where monkeys thrive on the props of the human dwellers in the back streets. In this post we invite you for an early morning walk through the back streets, ending with a little photo slide show of this rather interesting place.
Dusty Backstreets of Jaipur Read Post »
With Liz being short-listed for another writing competition this week we thought we’d start off our Rajasthan series with one of her latest entries, which we’ve also made available for the iPad and Kindle. Beautifully written, this pulls together a number of themes set in Jaipur, Jodpur and Agra (Taj Mahal), the classic traveller trail called The Golden Triangle. The central story, however, concentrates on a remarkable man we met whilst in Jaipur whose quest to empower women from the lowest castes affected us deeply. Setting the scene for the next few blog posts this is moving, brutal yet ultimately uplifting. It is, in my opinion, Liz’s best non-fiction writing to date.
A Rajput Gentleman – Introduction To The Golden Triangle Read Post »
For those fortunate not to have experienced a squatter toilet, you’re lucky: it’s a combination of yoga, swimming and ****ing through the eye of a needle. But what I don’t understand is how I am supposed to maintain a squatting position without getting cramp. And what is that bucket and jug combo for? I’m unsure. I do have a couple of theories though. Read on…
Stand, Sit Or Squat? A Bottomological Dilemma Read Post »
My Mum and Dad have been on at me for not writing anything since we left Turkey, but I’ve been busy, and they write so much there’s nothing left for me to write about. They even stole my favourite topic, FISH, and wrote about all their fishing successes. What they failed to mention, of course, is how I actually lure the fish to Esper with my witchy, feline, telepathic senses, so all their successes are really mine. Anyway, here are my initial impressions of India. Damn snakes.
Munnar is a corner of Kerala that’s tucked away in the mountain peaks of tea plantations and lush green valleys. Miles and miles of strange looking tea trees, interspersed with cardamom bushes and coffee trees, provide great walks and views not seen anywhere else in this mainly tropical state. In this post Liz provides some insight into these wonderful valleys, and throws in a visit to a tea factory.
Munnar Munnar – Do Doo Da Doo Doo Read Post »
Yotties, divers and landlubbers alike are going to love Canon’s latest product release: a 3D compact digital camera, retailing at $250!
Launched last week at the Digital Camera, Imaging and Media Show (DCIM Show) Canon were demonstrating the Powershot 3d-A1sT, a powerful 15 mega-pixel compact, waterproof camera that is capable of shooting high definition 3D video clips. Played back on an HD TV and viewed through the normal 3D glasses this is going to change those precious family moments forever.
For yotties, however, the camera has a more pragmatic application: because it is waterproof it can act as a forward-pointing sonar. When synched with Google Earth running the ‘oceans’ layer (underwater bathymetric contours), the yachtsman can now draw true, real-time submarine information. No more excuses for grounding the boat. Get one here: http://tinyurl.com/3oojmbl
Canon’s Waterproof, 3D Digital Compact Camera – Bargain! Read Post »
We’ve now left Madurai and we take you up into the mountains. Kodaikanal is an old hill station in the Western Ghats and at over 2,000m it is cool, quiet and peaceful, the perfect juxtaposition to Madurai, that mad and crazy city in the plains. This mountain village offers some of the best views of the Ghats and this little post provides photographic and video evidence of exactly how English some of the countryside looks. Think Lake District in the autumn…
Eerily Familiar Kodaikanal Read Post »
Firstly our apologies for some unscheduled email updates regarding Somalia and piracy. We’re experimenting with a new service but the emails today were only supposed to be test alerts and you weren’t supposed to receive them. Ooops. Please delete these messages. So…before we leave Madurai we wanted to show you our photographs of the people and the scenes of our fave city. It is a pictorial observation of our time there, presented as two slide shows. Once you’ve clicked on the slide-show to activate it, you can select the four-arrowed button to view in full-screen mode. You’ll need a fairly decent connection as they’re high res images but it’s worth it as the portraits are very personal, whilst the street scenes will give you a good idea of the environment in which these people live.
The People And The Places Of Madurai Read Post »
As is probably evident from our previous posts, Madurai is a pretty crazy place. Rest, then, from the madding crowd in the calm of one of her grandest buildings, Thirumalai Nayakkar Palace. Deceptively understated from the outside, the open court-yard of the interior is imposing and beautiful. Liz: “If you are in southern India please do not miss this most beautiful palace. I fell in love with it in many ways. Its shape, colour and structure are sublime. Palest peach, vanilla, apricot, and cream combine to impart an ethereal quality”. The palace is close to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site, which goes some way to illustrate how wonderful this simple building is. At the end of this short post we include a little slide show of a few of the buildings of Madurai.
Thirumalai Nayakkar Palace – Easy For You To Say Read Post »
Last time we left you we’d been wandering the back streets of Madurai and offered plenty of photographic evidence of its energy. In this post Liz gives a more cerebral account of our experience in this fabulous city, taking in the huge Meenakshi temple, which wouldn’t look out of place in Disney World. Her guide teaches Liz about the five sense, and they’re not the sense you or I learned about at school. Strangely every single photograph taken inside the temple ‘disappeared’ from Jamie’s camera, but we have plenty more images of the huge ‘gopurams’, as well as the people of Madurai. Liz’s prose is what travel writing is all about…
Meenakshi Amman Temple Of Madurai Read Post »
Having finally made it to Madurai after our fairground ride through the Western Ghats, we were able to relax, put on the walking boots and go for a romp through the back streets of this great city. It is full of strange wonders and fascinating people. This post, with its many photographs, captures just a small part of this: street vendors, manual labourers, layabouts, kids, beggars and strange architecture…
The Magic And Madness Of Madurai Read Post »
In the previous post we finished somewhere in the middle of the Western Ghats, lost, yet the journey up until that point had been fascinating. Not only were the local people preparing for the fantastically named ‘Pongal’, a celebration not too dissimilar to Harvest back at home, but Tamil Nadu was over-run with pilgrims from all over India. As we drove in one direction, so there were thousands of pilgrims walking barefooted the other way, heading towards the temple in Palani that wouldn’t look too out of place in a James Bond film.
Pongal, Pilgrims And Palani Read Post »
Over the next month we will be serialising our road trip of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the two southern-most states of India. We cover 1,200km, ascend over 2,000m, get lost in the mountains, rub shoulders with gods and relax in tea plantations. The eight or so posts will come out on Mondays and Thursdays, where each new episode continues from the last. They return to what followtheboat was always about: documenting our observations of the people we meet and places we visit through words and pictures. Lots of pictures! We start by taking in the incredible Western Ghats, the huge mountain range that divides India and dictates the monsoons. Just don’t hire the driver we had the misfortune to end up with…
Getting Lost In The Western Ghats Read Post »
