Author: sheenalydon
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Embracing vulture culture…
When we crossed the border between India and Nepal, one of the first sights that greeted us was a massive vulture circling over a sandy river bed. It was the first vulture I have seen in the wild and an impressive sight, all the more important because of the severe decline in vulture populations in…
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Bardia National Park
Namaste! Such a simple word and so important at the same time.We are greeted every day in Nepal by dozens upon dozens of people, from tiny toddlers to old ladies hauling back breaking loads, with massive smiles in this way. The problem is, to do it properly, you really should put your hands together and…
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Agra; Holy Sites and Holi Festival
It was almost inevitable that we would end up in Agra at some stage; although we had both visited India before, neither of us had been to see it’s most famous of sites. Instantly recognisable and known as the ‘greatest monument to love’ in the world, our visit to the Taj Mahal was cemented when…
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Hampi – a tale of two sides of the river
After 145km of cycling, the last thing anyone wants to do is go and view a variety of accommodations, haggle over prices and then choose somewhere to stay. But we didn’t really have a choice. Tired, dusty and just about ready to punch anyone who looked at me sideways, I deposited bike and baggage with…
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Forts, fevers and some really feckin hot weather
Leaving Bangalore was never gonna be easy, a city of 8 million people sprawled in all directions from the city centre, a city in perpetual motion as people commute to and from work, deliver goods and go about their daily business. The ring road to the city limits stretched 30km in front of us, a…
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Through the tiger gauntlet to Mysore.
Neither of us has had a sip from a coconut since we had visited Malaysia a couple of years ago. On that occassion, under a sweltering Langkawi sun, we had tried the taste. It was bitter and nasty and didn’t go down well. Today we were pretty much coerced into trying one for the first…
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In India, Yes means No. Don’t believe everything you hear!
Nobody knows how to be quiet here, and they don’t seem to understand why you would want them to be. At 6 o’ clock this morning for some completely unknown reason, someone released a whole coachload, in fact a rabble, of young school boys in our 6 room guesthouse. They ran amok, screaming and shouting,…
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Why go to London when you can stay in India?
Here’s a question……….. What is the main reason people visit London? I know you won’t have to think long or hard about this. The answer is blatantly that anyone who visits London goes there to visit Madame Tussaud’s, the wax museum. For years now, Indian people have been saving their hard earned pennies to go…
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India – Kottayam to Muvattapuzha
Indians love an excuse for a festival or party and at the moment there seems to be two overlapping (at least!). The schools are busy celebratin education, and everyone is having a holiday for a week. There’s a Hindu festival on, and busloads of pilgrims are being transferred seemingly from one temple to another in…
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Cruising the backwaters
The Indian Coffee House is an institution we have come to know and love over the last few weeks. It began life in the 1930’s, there were 50 outlets and they were run by the Cess Coffee Company. In the late 1950’s, the company decided to close things down, at which point, everything changed. Encouraged…
Sam and Sheena Cycle 