There are many tourist hotspots in India and once you’ve visited them, if you seek more adventure and more wow factor, Zanskar and the Suru Valley is where you’ll find it. For us to get there, we had to stop in Kargil which is, in all honesty, a rather scrappy highway town. Kargil to Zanskar… Continue reading Finding the Remotest Corner of India in Zanskar
Tag: India
Seeing the Best of Ladakh
Ladakh – Land of High Passes. Ollie and I made our first trip to Ladakh in October 2016, leaving with the first snows of winter and the knowledge that we would return someday soon. That day finally arrived last year, in July 2018, when we excitedly boarded a plane in Delhi, bound for Leh, the… Continue reading Seeing the Best of Ladakh
Hitting the Hills in Manali
There are many places in India that we have been to more than once, usually because there is more to do than can be done in one go or the beauty of the place pulls us back. Mighty Manali, surrounded by high peaks in the green valley of the Beas River, is one such place.… Continue reading Hitting the Hills in Manali
Shimla to Manali: The Epic Kinnaur Spiti Loop
After an amazing month in Sikkim, we flew to Delhi then took a night bus up to Shimla in the south of Himachal Pradesh. It was from here that we began the epic Kinnaur Spiti loop, to finish in Manali just over two weeks later. This is the route we took: Shimla – Sarahan –… Continue reading Shimla to Manali: The Epic Kinnaur Spiti Loop
Discovering Sikkim: Namchi to Yuksom
Back in Gangtok after the thrilling landscapes of North Sikkim, we made plans to explore the rest of the state. Namchi (1675m) Namchi is the capital of the southern district, much quieter than Gangtok with none of the traffic or commotion that plagues the state capital. Sherpas and other people of Nepalese ancestry make up… Continue reading Discovering Sikkim: Namchi to Yuksom
Discovering Sikkim: Gangtok and North Sikkim
Even though it is one of India’s smaller states, the former Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim has been a delight for travelers for some time. Heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, beautiful monasteries are all around and the world’s third highest mountain, Kanchenjunga (8598m), can be seen from almost any viewpoint. Given their size and variety of… Continue reading Discovering Sikkim: Gangtok and North Sikkim
Discovering India’s North-East: Magical Meghalaya
Hilly Meghalaya, its name meaning 'abode of clouds', lies on the border with Bangladesh. It is a cool, fresh, mountainous state with towering rocky cliffs and thundering waterfalls. The people here are predominately of the Jaintia, Khasi and Garo tribes, who reside in the eastern, central and western parts respectively. Shillong Our first point of… Continue reading Discovering India’s North-East: Magical Meghalaya
Discovering India’s North-East: Incredible Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a magical place; its name literally means 'Land of Dawn-lit Mountains'. India's wildest and least explored state comprises a mass of densely forested, impossibly steep hills, which eventually top off as snow-capped peaks along the Tibetan border. Home to 26 indigenous tribes, Arunachal Pradesh is the final frontier of Indian tourism with… Continue reading Discovering India’s North-East: Incredible Arunachal Pradesh
Discovering India’s North-East: Amazing Assam
From Darjeeling Ollie and I took a night train to Guwahati, the capital of Assam. There are seven north-east states of India, attached to the rest of the country by a sliver of land. They are bordered by Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar and Bangladesh. These far-flung states are a world away from the typical chaos of… Continue reading Discovering India’s North-East: Amazing Assam
Finding Cooler Air in Darjeeling
We have been to many hill stations in India but Darjeeling has to be our favourite. At 2135m above sea level, Darjeeling offers a cool respite from the plains, something we were definitely looking forward to after a month in Central India. Darjeeling lies in the state of West Bengal, very close to the borders… Continue reading Finding Cooler Air in Darjeeling