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Our travel highlights for 2015

Our travel highlights for 2015

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Following our career break in 2014, when we spent 7 months travelling around South America, 2015 was always going to be a little less travel-ey. However, we still managed to get in some great trips.  Here are our highlights:Fairytale TallinnIn early April, over the Easter weekend we headed to Estonia’s capital Tallinn for an explore of the fairytale city.  Despite the cold (yes it snowed) we loved wandering around the pretty old town and going up Toompea Hill to survey…

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5 things every traveller should know about India

5 things every traveller should know about India

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1. Watch out for the Indian paparazzi! As a (white) westerner travelling in India and particularly when visiting sites that are popular with Indian (rather than foreign) tourists, you will at some point become a tourist attraction yourself.  So it starts … with one baby Mostly, the interest is harmless. Families want to come and say hello, welcome you to India and have their photo taken with you. It can get a bit annoying though, particularly when you’re just trying to…

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Being vegetarian in India

Being vegetarian in India

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I considered leaving this blog post blank, as its so easy to be veggie in India that unlike some of our other posts on eating as a veggie (particularly in South America), I wasn’t sure what I’d actually say, other than ‘go forth and eat‘. However, I did really enjoy the food we ate for our two weeks in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu and so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to talk food! So, without further ado, here’s…

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Destination guide: Snooty Ooty

Destination guide: Snooty Ooty

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In the time of the British Empire, Ooty in the Nilgiri hills was the hill station where the British administration in Chennai – then known as Madras – headed to in the summer to cool down.  Nilgiri Hills Being in India during the heat of summer ourselves, we could understand the attraction.The town itself is definitely not 19th century British- its a bit of a sprawl, loud and full of traffic and cows! Get out into the hills, however and its a…

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24 hours in Mamallapuram

24 hours in Mamallapuram

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Arjuna’s Penance relief From Pondicherry, we caught a local bus 2 hours north to Mamallapuram. Buses leave really regularly from the bus station in Pondi. Practically as soon as we got to the bus station, we were pointed to a Mamallapuram bus that was just pulling away.  Running towards it, I double checked with someone who looked official that it was the right one and received a classic Indian head wobble in reply. Only having been in the country a…

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Our Pondicherry Top 5

Our Pondicherry Top 5

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1) Walking the streets of Pondi The French Quarter of Pondicherry is where most tourists spend most of their time while in town. The streets are lined with pretty colonial buildings, mostly white or yellow, with ornate gateways and doors. Many of the buildings are also adorned with pretty plants and flowers.  Pretty doorway Outside, chalk geometric drawings decorate the entrances to welcome visitors. For the most part, the designs are in white chalk, but apparently more colourful chalk is…

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The Bangalore Palace: In pictures

The Bangalore Palace: In pictures

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Owned by the Mysore royal family, the Wadiyars, Bangalore Palace was particularly used the Maharaja in the late 1800s and early 1900 as a getaway from the bigger and fancier Mysore palace. The audio guide includes stories from family members who have fond memories of intimate summers at the palace.If you’re in Bangalore, its worth a visit, if only to admire the turrents and towers from the outside and the fading grandeur from the inside. Downstairs, the medieval looking ballroom is…

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Introducing Pondicherry

Introducing Pondicherry

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Pondicherry, affectionately known as Pondi, is a large town on the East Coast of India, about three hours drive south of Chennai. It was the largest French colony in India and the town is very proud of its ongoing links to France and its French heritage. On our walking tour of the town, our guide told us about the schools and hospitals the French built (which us Brits hadn’t seen fit to do when in charge), helping explain why the…

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At the temple in Bangalore

At the temple in Bangalore

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Shiva statute at the temple I might become a Hindu!  I am not a religious person, but our visit to the Shiva temple on Old Airport Road, Bangalore was quite the experience. And I had a lot of fun! Taking part in a spiritual activity You enter into the temple by walking through a grotto-like tunnel, with encouraging statements on the wall, telling you to have hope and to believe! Chants of Om Namah Shivaya are played out through the speakers. …

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Highlights of Bangalore

Highlights of Bangalore

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Bangalore is not a city filled with must-see tourist sites. Instead, it is a vibrant, lively and fairly modern place where people live and work, rather than visit and sightsee. And this was why we were here. Not to live and work ourselves, but to visit some friends, Sara and Mike, who are working out here and to see a snapshot of their new lives, living in India. Eating out! They looked after us very well, taking us to some…

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