Hi!
After Rishikesh we made our way to Kolkata, quite a fantastic and fascinating city. It was so hot (46C)! And so humid! We only got out a few hours each day before sweat and fatigue drove us to take refuge in our air conditioned hotel with rooftop pool:)
After Kolkata we flew to Bagdogra in the North and made our way by car to Darjeeling. It was quite a ride, 3 hours on narrow switchback roads up a mountain. We drove through tropical forest, rain, fog and lovely tea estates. Darjeeling was cool, but busy! It was the holiday season for school children in India and many families also come North to escape the heat. We had been hoping for a bit more of a quiet and charming place, but all-in-all it was a good time and we drank some great tea (Obviously!)
We left Darjeeling a bit earlier than we thought and went to another town in the region called Kalimpong. Paragliding is a popular thing to do there and I was pretty stoked to give it a try...but...it was rain and fog every day so that put a damper on those plans. Here we just went for walks, saw a few temples, a cacti nursery and watched too much TV.
Next we went to Kurseong which should have given us a nice opportunity to do some hiking...however rain and thick fog kept us mostly indoors. We got out a few times in between showers to walk around a bit, hit internet cafes and take some photos. Actually, in Kurseong the air was so damp that we had to buy a space heater to dry the laundry we washed in our room. Even then it took over 2 days for our things to dry.
After Kurseong we drove back to Bagdogra and flew to Kolkata for one night before heading to Mumbai. Mumbai was a blast. We did two tours with Reality Tours and Travel. One was the Dharavi Slum tour (biggest slum in Mumbai and setting of Slumdog Millionaire) and the other was a city tour via bicycle. 80% of the tour proceeds are put back into the Dharavi community and most of the employees are/were residents of the slum. Both tours were awesome and I would highly recommend this tour group to anyone interested.
After 2 short days in Mumbai we took the train (13 hours) to Goa. The train, aside from being a long journey, was super cool. I really enjoy train travel, it's a nice way to see the countryside and for me is a bit more relaxing than flying. We arrived in Goa yesterday and are lucky enough to be staying at the Park Hyatt Resort and Spa for 7 nights. It's so beautiful here and such a nice relaxing change from the chaos of most of the places we've been. I think it will be the perfect way to wind down from this trip before coming home (July 3rd, yay!) Plans for this week are as follows: Some Yoga classes, Spa visits, beach walks, pool lazing, eating, and we'll do a tour of old Goa to get a bit of culture.
Can't wait to see everyone when we get home!
xo Ruby
It's been more than 2 weeks since I've posted. That's been mostly due to lack of a good internet connection, but also, it's nice to be away from technology a little bit.
I'll do a bit of a quick recap of what we've been up to then I'll do some separate posts for pictures.
After Rishikesh we made our way to Kolkata, quite a fantastic and fascinating city. It was so hot (46C)! And so humid! We only got out a few hours each day before sweat and fatigue drove us to take refuge in our air conditioned hotel with rooftop pool:)
After Kolkata we flew to Bagdogra in the North and made our way by car to Darjeeling. It was quite a ride, 3 hours on narrow switchback roads up a mountain. We drove through tropical forest, rain, fog and lovely tea estates. Darjeeling was cool, but busy! It was the holiday season for school children in India and many families also come North to escape the heat. We had been hoping for a bit more of a quiet and charming place, but all-in-all it was a good time and we drank some great tea (Obviously!)
We left Darjeeling a bit earlier than we thought and went to another town in the region called Kalimpong. Paragliding is a popular thing to do there and I was pretty stoked to give it a try...but...it was rain and fog every day so that put a damper on those plans. Here we just went for walks, saw a few temples, a cacti nursery and watched too much TV.
Next we went to Kurseong which should have given us a nice opportunity to do some hiking...however rain and thick fog kept us mostly indoors. We got out a few times in between showers to walk around a bit, hit internet cafes and take some photos. Actually, in Kurseong the air was so damp that we had to buy a space heater to dry the laundry we washed in our room. Even then it took over 2 days for our things to dry.
After Kurseong we drove back to Bagdogra and flew to Kolkata for one night before heading to Mumbai. Mumbai was a blast. We did two tours with Reality Tours and Travel. One was the Dharavi Slum tour (biggest slum in Mumbai and setting of Slumdog Millionaire) and the other was a city tour via bicycle. 80% of the tour proceeds are put back into the Dharavi community and most of the employees are/were residents of the slum. Both tours were awesome and I would highly recommend this tour group to anyone interested.
After 2 short days in Mumbai we took the train (13 hours) to Goa. The train, aside from being a long journey, was super cool. I really enjoy train travel, it's a nice way to see the countryside and for me is a bit more relaxing than flying. We arrived in Goa yesterday and are lucky enough to be staying at the Park Hyatt Resort and Spa for 7 nights. It's so beautiful here and such a nice relaxing change from the chaos of most of the places we've been. I think it will be the perfect way to wind down from this trip before coming home (July 3rd, yay!) Plans for this week are as follows: Some Yoga classes, Spa visits, beach walks, pool lazing, eating, and we'll do a tour of old Goa to get a bit of culture.
Can't wait to see everyone when we get home!
xo Ruby
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