Because 2 weeks of traveling isn’t enough

Mumbai is not India. There are not many cows in the street. Prices have doubled. There are hip bars. The sidewalks are walkable. Half of the women are wearing Western clothing. Sunday, we fly out of Mumbai to Singapore which will also not be India – even though we’re staying in “Little India” for our…

From the content in Lonely Planet, one day should be plenty to see Jamnagar’s three minor sights. In the six days we were in Jamnagar we saw each of these sights multiple times, but it was the normally mundane activities and hospitality of its citizens that kept us occupied. For most people, on arrival in…

Checking into our hotel in Jamnagar, we were pleasantly surprised to be offered a roll of toilet paper with our hotel room. We also don’t have to take hot showers from a bucket! 9 days left in India. In the past 2 weeks, we have met some of the friendliest people of our trip and…

We had been sitting on the hilltop an hour without hearing a lion roar, and we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. One of our three guides had fallen asleep and the other two were on their fifth cigarettes. It was after midnight, and we stayed awake by gazing out at the forest…

In the past week, which we will probably detail later, we have: Stalked lions under a full moon Attended 2 days of an Indian Muslim wedding (in full traditional regalia for Cara) Gorged ourselves on street food and Gujarati thalis Survived several trips on rickety old Indian buses Drank about 50 cups of chai –…

Both Indian and foreign revelers descend upon the small island of Diu for New Year’s Eve. This old Portuguese settlement is covered with nice beaches, brightly painted buildings, and lots of cheap alcohol, especially important in the dry state of Gujarat, our home for the past 2 weeks. We arrived in Diu Town the day…

Chais 1-2. We woke in the dark at 7:00am for our “tour” of Kumbulgarh fort and Ranakpur Temple. Farida had breakfast and chai waiting for us, which Cara and Azad needed much more than Adam. Chai 3. We knew it was going to be a long day when Cara fell off the bike. Thankfully the…

Besides being awfully fun to say, Ahmedabad isn’t such a bad city. Supposedly it has choking pollution, but maybe after a few of the other indian cities it doesn’t affect me so much. The runny black snot nose count is much lower (enjoy the visual). More people ask our names and where we are from,…

Inevitably most of the stories of India will involve chai in some way. From the 9 chai in a day motorcycle ride (more on that later) to sipping Chai with Ansar in his auto repair shop, most of our memories will probably contain it. And here is how I was taught to make chai by…