Out of ‘town’

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Mallory and I took a short stroll out of ‘town’, from the main street with all the shops into the old part of the village, with a few houses and then mostly fields with cows, pigs and other animals, roaming around freely. We passed a temple where a concert was held, talked to a couple […] Read More

Erotic Khajuraho

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The reason to come to Khajuraho are its Hindu and Jain temples. Most temples were built some time between 950 and 1050, during the Chandella dynasty. Records suggest that there were once 85 temples, but only about 20 survived the Muslim raids and conquests, and the vegetation growing over them for centuries. What makes them […] Read More

The Indian Pacific Railway

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I have one week in Perth, then I’ll hop on The Indian Pacific Railway and travel two days through the Western Australian Desert, to Adelaide. I just booked my ticket, 569 Australian Dollars in total – I paid a bit more (current lowest is 329 AUD) to make sure I’ll get a window seat. I mean, […] Read More

Perth

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After the month in Cape Town, the initial end point of my journey, I’ll board an Emirates’ flight to Dubai and on to Perth, the capital of Western Australia. I was really curious to see the other side of the Australian continent, of which I have only seen tiny specs in the south-eastern corner. Time […] Read More

Khajuraho

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It took some time to remember the name of the place. Kha-ju-ra-ho. Funnily, even Indians sometimes shrug when I say it – or maybe I am mispronouncing it so badly that they can’t understand me. It’s a tiny nest of some 20 000 inhabitants, in the Chhatarpur District, in the North of the Indian State of Madhya […] Read More

My Cape Town home(s)

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It was really time to get this booking sorted, after all I’ll arrive in Cape Town in only two weeks time. I found this nice apartment, rented by Thomas, in the historical Bo-Kaap district. I’ll be in walking distance to  the City Centre, De Waterkant, Museums, Cafes & Restaurants…. I’ll stay there for 12 days, then […] Read More

Moving on to Khajuraho

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After five days in intense and colorful Varanasi, I travel on to the more quiet Khajuraho, home to a number of Jain temples with erotic carvings. It’s going to be two short hops, on the same plane with a short stop in Agra. I guess we can even stay in the plane. Here are the […] Read More

Varanasi Silk

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Our guide Manoj took us to a visit through one of the Varanasi silk factories. We had a guide who showed us how the silk gets woven, from the men who develop the patterns, make the cards that steer the electric looms, or weave the silk by hand. I can’t comprehend how you can invent […] Read More

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

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India is the birthplace of Buddhism, so I am running into Buddha over and over again. One of the holy sites in Buddhism is just a bit north of Varanasi, in Sarnath. It was here, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Gomati rivers, where Buddha first taught the Dharma. Today, it is a holy site to Buddhists, with many temples from all […] Read More

Night time on the Ganges

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Varanasi is one of the holy places for Hindus. It’s here that they come to die, and be cremated on the banks of the river Ganges. It is a Hindu rite of passage, where pujas (prayers) are performed and mantras recited during cremation. We hired a boat for the five of us, after tough and […] Read More

Tiny world

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You realize how small the world is when you’re sitting in a roof top café in Varanasi, and suddenly, across the tables, you see a familiar face from home. I met Fabrice from Brussels at the Brown Bakery Café in Varanasi. And then again while walking along the river. He’s traveling through India with a […] Read More

Ganges walk

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We woke up and headed over to one of the recommendations in the Lonely Planet: Brown Bread Bakery. They have a nice roof top restaurant, serve great breakfast – any German specialties from bread to Kässpätzle – and have a wifi. Which attracts the other tourists, too. There, we met up two other travelers, Ceres, […] Read More