Rajasthan at its finest, Jodhpur - September 5 India is said to be a very challenging yet rewarding country to travel. Our first week in India was surprisingly simple; we didn't understand what all the hype was about? It wasn't until Jaipur that we understood why people have difficulties traveling in India. Jaipur left us wanting to be finished with India, we were sick of being sick, tired of the relentless haggling and done with the all the filth and garbage. ...

Our first impression of Jaipur was good. The city had paved roads and cool forts and temples on the outskirts of the city. As our bus entered deeper into the city our feelings started to shift. Upon arrival at the bus terminal we were hounded by crowds of rickshaw drivers that chased after the bus banging on it. Luckily there were several tourist police awaiting our arrival at the terminal - I guess it's become a big problem. We witnessed a few rickshaw drivers g...

Agra and the Taj, August 29 The 12-hour overnight train from Varanasi seemed to fly by, largely because of the interesting conversations that we had with three Indian men from Agra. One of the men approached Cameron shortly after departure to say hello and ask where we are from (A question commonly asked by Indians to foreigners before even saying Hello). He was obviously keen to chat with us as he came back three times before relocating his belongings to our ca...

The heart of the holy city of Varanasi is the Ganges and the many Ghats that line its riverbanks. The Ganges and Ghats are where Hindu pilgrims 'come to wash away a lifetime of sins'. The Ghats are basically stairs that line the riverbanks and lead right into the water. They are a place for people to bathe and swim, do laundry, practice yoga, socialize, worship and pray. The burning Ghats are famous for their public cremations, a ritual that is said to bring an ...

Our overnight sleeper train from Gorakhpur to Varanasi arrived seven hours later at 5:30am. Our A/C cabin had eight beds per section, three on each side and two across the walkway. It sounds crowded but the trains are actually quite comfortable. Of course this is dependent on who you get in your section. We unfortunately had a group of three Indian men who didn't feel like sleeping and felt that talking at a high volume was okay (it wasn't). One guy even sat...