Kate's Travels

Travels around Asia, South-east Asia and Central America.

  • Week 4 – Almora

    We headed to the Nainital bus station after sadly saying goodbye to our hosts. We were quickly surrounded by a small crowd of taxi drivers offering to take us to Almora. We stuck to our guns and insisted that we wanted a shared jeep rather than our own taxi as we had read that this… Read more

  • Week 3 – Nainital

    Arrivals at Indian bus stations are always chaotic and Nainital is no exception – however the level of the chaos was down a notch here. Lugging our heavy back packs we soon saw the lake spread out before us – it looked majestic in the morning sunlight with the tree covered hills surrounding it reflected… Read more

  • Week 3 – Nightbus to Nainital

    We had arranged to keep our hotel room at the lovely Hotel Ganga Maiya until 6pm for a small additional fee. We lazed around ordering room service and then sadly said goodbye to our best hotel room in India so far. An intrepid young traveller who we had met in Rishikesh had told us that… Read more

  • Week 2 – Lucknow

    Like Delhi, Lucknow has a metro system. So far there is only one line snaking through the town, but it is a joy to ride. Our hotel was only a couple of minutes from the Hussainganj stop. It took us until the end of our three day stay to realise that there was an exit… Read more

  • Week 2 – Haridwar

    We had booked an extremely cheap hotel opposite Haridwar railway station to dump our bags and have a rest in before getting the night train to Lucknow. It was a throwback to the places we remembered staying at when we last travelled in India 25 years ago; it did not seem overly clean – but… Read more

  • Week 1 – Rishikesh continued

    Our first meal in Rishikesh was at a hippy bakery/ restaurant. Rishikesh is rammed with various traveller establishments offering croissants, chocolate rolls, banana pancakes etc. My stomach was still cramping but I ignored it and ordered some dhal and bread hoping that as this food was fairly plain it would not have too much impact.… Read more

  • Week 1 -Arrival in Rishikesh

    Even though the walk was only about five minutes it was already hot and sweat was dripping down my back as we entered the station. We immediately spotted a sign for the ‘Shatbati express’ leading towards the platform in front of us. We headed that way after confirming with a nearby porter that this was… Read more

  • Week 1 – DeLHI

    I realised on the train halfway to London Victoria that I had forgotten to say goodbye to the cats.  I comforted myself with the thought that they would be unlikely to even notice that I had gone.  A quiet house, regular supplies of cat food and treats and exclusive attention from our lodgers Monika and Andrea was… Read more