And they’re off! This is the introduction to our trek into the Himalayan foothills. “Cold and travel weary by 5pm, we stumbled across Joey’s pub… with its cosy bar, ramshackle tables and faded posters it felt immediately like home.” All that Buddhist culture and we end up in a pub. Typical. Lots of atmospheric photographs and an argument with an Indian tourist in this blog entry…
Arrival at ‘The Queen of Hills’ Read Post »
Our Pic of the Day today is an image taken from Gangtok (the capital town of Sikkim) of Kanchenjonga, the world’s third highest mountain. If you look very closely you’ll see that Kanchenjonga itself is on the far right, sitting way above the massif in front, which is in turn beautifully lit by the setting sun.
Pic of the Day: Kanchenjonga From Gangtok Read Post »
This is our final entry of our Rajathan trip, written by Octopussy…I mean Liz. Why Octopussy? Because we’re in Romantic Udaipur, where the rather kitch 1983 Bond movie was filmed. However, as Liz writes: “shunning the ‘antiques’, carpets, and tailoring being thrust at us we ended up by the water, watching the sun go down over Udaipur from the best viewpoint in town, in the company of professional photographers and the homeless.”
“We teach them about their appearance, good dress sense. Most don’t know where Jodhpur is, or even that they live in Rajasthan. Their lives are simply this: get up, brew tea for Dad, do the dishes, clean the house, cook lunch, sleep, clean the household, make dinner, go to bed. Every single day of their lives. They have no weekends, no holidays. They are married at 15, and then have the exact same life with a husband who probably rapes and certainly beats them.” This is the account of one man’s mission to ’empower’ disadvantaged women from Rajasthan, in a superb write-up by Liz that is packed with first-hand accounts, facts, sad stories and, ultimately, the positive action of the Sambhali Trust.
Sambhali Trust: Charity begins in a Rajput Home Read Post »
Only four days in and already the week has been a busy one on the piracy front. We have three important news items for your perusal: the release of the Danish sailors from Somalia, the Chandlers talking on BBC and the Piracy Update Facebook page and poll.
Danish Released, Chandlers Talk & Piracy Poll Read Post »
Our Pic-of-the-Day today is a candid shot of some locals from Darjeeling waiting for something to happen. What, we don’t know, but the woman above seems to know what’s going on. Click the link or image to see the large version and let us know what you think!
Waiting In Darjeeling Read Post »
As our blog moves into the Blue City of Jodhpur, we thought we’d post up our Pic Of The Day: a little bad boy, his home-girl and his wheels, taken in one of the back-streets of this amazing city. Kids, eh? Same the world over. [Click to see the full image]
Our copy of the Lonely Planet describes Jodhpur as “crowded and dirty”. What utter tosh. Being in India ‘crowded’ is a given but The Blue City is by far the cleanest place we have visited so far (and certainly cleaner than London right now). Its smart clock tower in the centre gives it a friendly market-town ambiance and the streets between our niwas (home-stay) and the centre were wide, airy and populated by some rather grand houses. The wonderful tight back-streets are in stark contrast, but all daubed in a bright blue paint and bustling with locals at work and play. We have three (yes, three!) slide shows to illustrate the grandeur of The Blue City to take your mind off the horror of the London riots.
Jodhpur Crowded And Dirty? Read Post »
The second part of our Newport Primary School feature, where we answer the questions put to us by Mrs Savill’s class. Also in this post is the video clip we showed the children of Newport Primary, to help give them an idea of life in the Himalayan foothills.
Class Five’s Letters – Part Two Read Post »
We take a break from our travelling and return to Newport Primary School, more specifically Class 5 who we visited last week. We showed video clips of our time in the Himalayas and we talked about life on the sea. We were there to start a cultural exchange programme between the students of Newport and the students at Magno Vale Academy, a school set up by the MondoChallenge Foundation. The project is being coordinated by Class 5’s teacher Jude Savill, MondoChallenge representative Amy Pettipher, and ourselves. More on MondoChallenge later, in the meantime we just had to print and reply to these wonderful letters. Here are the first three:
Class Five’s Letters – Part One Read Post »
The Taj Mahal is the main reason for visiting Agra, but it’s not the only one. Indeed anyone in the area who doesn’t take in the ‘Baby Taj’ (Itimad-ud-Daulah) is missing a treat as its beauty is almost on a par with her big sister. Sadly this is in stark contrast to the acid-burned arm of the beggar boy we saw at the trainstation. That’s India for you. This week’s post is packed full of photographs, for those who just want to skim through the last of our Agra blog entries.
Agra’s Not Just The Taj Mahal, You Know Read Post »
Pic of the Day today is the last spread from our Sailing Today series. This was taken on Anjuna Beach in Goa and features four Indian life-guards with little to do except look cool. Baywatch eat your heart out!
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 »
My Pic of the Day is a shot everyone is familiar with. Next week our blog takes you to the Taj Mahal so in anticipation I thought I’d post up this classic image given some HDR treatment (a photography technique where three different exposures of the same shot are overlaid to pull out the detail in the shadow and hightlights).
World’s Most Clichéd Shot, In HDR Read Post »
