We departed our hotel at 545am to drive the shirt distance to the seventh wonder of the world The Taj Mahal. Security is  now tight since my last visit and no motorised vehicles are allowed inside and not allowed within a radius of 5 klms due to the heavy pollution than sits as a heavy blanket over Agra. Once inside [….]

Travelling between cities can be interesting and sometimes boring with roads in disrepair after the monsoon. But flying between cities also has its hassles due to cancelled flights and delays. Taking a train is another option but sometimes it can be slower than by  road, but at least by road you have the  choice of stopping at interesting places along [….]

We had an interesting long drive from Udaipur to Jodhpur part of the road was rough and winding, but quite pretty as we wound our way through national parks and cities. Jodhpur is known as the “Sun City” for valour and heroism and was one of the largest princely state in India. It was a place of dramatic artistic, culture, [….]

We spent our last day in Udaipur with an early morning boat ride on Lake Pichola  stopping at a small island where the past Kings would spend  leisure time with their several wives and contraband. We motored past our Palace Hotel taking photos of our accommodation. Scattered on the shores of the lake are several new hotels which   fortunately  have [….]

Our flight from Leh was delayed 1 hour which out us in a very tight position with our connecting flight to Udaipur. Arriving in Delhi we had to run to the next boarding gate. Air India were great and held the flights got for us and our baggage. We arrived Udaipur transferred to our hotel the amazing Fateh Prakesh Palace, [….]

Sadly we bid farewell to our hosts in Srinagar and departed to the airport. Our first security was when our vehicle passed through the gates, all were asked to step out of the car and pass through X-ray, our vehicle was thoroughly checked inside, backside and underside. We  crossed the border into Kashmir and arrived at Jammu airport to take [….]

We crossed the border into Kashmir and arrived at Jammu airport to take our flight to Srinagar. The security at the airport was insane, four times we had our hand luggage checked and a body search, but we all agreed that even though it dies take time it is a necessary precaution, so we did not mind. Boarding the aircraft [….]

Today we drove from Shimla to Dharamasala our driver Dilip like most Indian drivers may consider he is a Grand Prix candidate, but he is careful and does not hesitate when overtaking the hundreds of trucks, motor cyclists and cars. Thankfully today the traffic was not so busy as we wound our way up the mountain, down to the plains [….]

Situated at a height of 2200 mtrs Shimla once the summer capital of  British India. Today it is the capital of the beautiful state of Himal Pradash in North India, a land with snow capped Himalayan mountain ranges crossing 6,000 mtr in altitude. Shimla echoes elegance and charm of an imperial past where Victorys, Nobles and Princes maintained retreats to [….]

I arrived at Delhi airport which is new and very modern since my last visit. After an  unbelievable fast collection of luggage, customs check, money change, SIM card purchase  I proceeded outside where I was greeted by the friendly open face of Tanu. It was a long drive across the city through thick traffic to our heritage hotel, time to [….]