Crystal Pond Travels

Finally arrived. It is an interesting city and the first of the European colonies in Colonial India occupied by the Portuguese in 1503. It was the main seat of Portuguese India until 1530 when then Goa was chosen instead.  It seemed like a big city, but we didn't do much there, spent one day walking around and doing stuff for my visa (argh) and then decided to catch the ferry across to Fort Kochi, which is an old and pretty fishing village that back in the day was ruled by the Dutch for 112 years, until the British took over. So we decided to stay there for the remaining nights. Ferry over to Fort Kochi It was only 3 full days until New Year’s eve when we arrived. We spent a long time looking for accommodation on the first day, as there wasn't much   availability and the left over  were all a bit expensive due to the time of the year (new years).  We managed to find an okay place, small but pretty close to everything which was handy, we walked everywh...

Well done Maya, after seeing ‘death’ for the 2nd time during this trip in India - the 1st was that Kolkata roadtrip - It was time to take another looong overnight train ride, but this time to the warm and nice Goa! SO looking forward to relax on the beach, wear bikini and get some vitamin D!! Tropical Palolem Beach We arrived at Margao Station at night and didn’t know where to go, as usual. We got a tuktuk and went around the city a bit and around there we could see architecture and names influenced by the Portuguese, since Goa was conquered by Portugal in 1510 and ruled by them for 450 year! Quite a long time. Funny that there might still be some people that speaks Portuguese nowadays in Goa, of course it will be rare, but surnames are still there and also their local dialect borrowed some Portuguese words. I just find it fascinating.  Anyways, at midnight we ended up being taken to a hotel which actually looked really nice and modern, it looked so nice, I ...

Here is where the fun begin… not. Photo taken from our train After another long overnight train ride, we were both very excited to visit the capital city of Maharashtra and a financial center of India! As it is the most cosmopolitan metropolis of India, we were planning on going out at night to clubs, bar, cool restaurants and so on. We ended up choosing YMCA hotel to stay at least for the first night. It was basic but had everything we needed and it wasn’t expensive, plus the location was pretty good too. On our way from the regional train station the local train station we decided to walk. It was quite a long walk and the sun was extremely hot at that time too. We saw a lot of poverty and depressing scenery on our way there. Quite sad this reality. Check out our short video of lame trip in Mumbai here :S haha On our way to the next train station After arriving at the YMCA we freshened up and we went to a famous restaurant nearby called Leopold Cafe whic...

We ended up having to go from Jodhpur to Udaipur by taxi instead of train, because there wasn’t any tickets available. We definitely paid more, however it took us only 5hs instead of 13hs. And also the road conditions were pretty good (surprisingly)! We managed to stop somewhere in between the 2 cities to have (free) lunch at this amazing temple. Unfortunately I cannot recall the name of the city neither the temple. Our driver that decided to stop there for a break actually. Viv and the unknown temple Arriving in Udaipur, what a wonderful surprise! Such a pretty city with white houses and a gorgeous lake called Pichola with a palace in it! Hotel Nayee Haveli is where we stayed the 3 nights, beautiful lake view, cool rooftop area with restaurant and a friendly owner. Watch the short video here :) The White City Here are my favorite spots to watch the wonderful sunset with lake views: Rooftop at Dream Heaven Haveli Restaurant and Guest House Sunset v...

Here we go again, another overnight train but this time to Jodhpur. And it didn't seem very ‘blue’ when we first arrived, however from a different angle we did see the blue! It is the second largest city in Rajasthan state and the old town near the Mehrangarh Fort is where you are going to find the blue houses. The reason behind the blue colour is not certain haha of course, some say it is because Brahmins cast families paint their house blue, others say it is because the blue colour keep the house cool as Jodhpur gets sunny and bright days all year round and the actual temperature is also high. Reason why this city is also known as ‘The Sun City’. The blue city! View from the Fort We stayed at a pretty(and blue) guesthouse called Heaven. There was a rooftop with awesome views of the fort and we felt very privileged to just be able to sit there enjoying a beer watching the sun go down or having some brekky in the morning. Enjoying a cold beer at our guest...

Ah Jaisalmer!  We took the overnight train from Jaipur to Jaisalmer and what a great surprise waking up in such gorgeous destination. It felt like a dream.   It is called golden city for a reason! The yellow sandstone used in almost every architecture of the city and it is definitely stunning.  View from the top of the Fort We didn't know where to stay, as usual, so we went to a few hotels in different locations, the less pricey ones were outside of the magnificent Jaisalmer Fort. Our dilemma was if should we stay outside of the fort and have the view of it or should we stay inside, paying more to have city views. It was basically a win/win really. Well... After a couple of hours contemplating and looking at places, the Fort was so amazing that we decided to stay inside. They have hotels, shops, etc inside of the Fort. It is like an inception city. Holy cows inside of the fort View from out bedroom window We spent a lot of time just ...

What a lovely town! It is the capital of Rajasthan state and I believe you won't regret spending at least 4 days exploring, at least it will be enough time to see the 'main attractions' I guess, since this city has a lot to offer.  Jaipur is also known as Pink City because the buildings are actually painted in pink - 'pink' which is kinda orange I would say. And the reason why Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur (prince) decided to paint the whole city in pink, apparently is because the colour pink means hospitality and he wanted to welcome his special guest in 1876, the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria which were visiting India on a tour. However, others say it was with the intention of reflecting the Mughal cities’ typical red sandstone architecture.  Who knows what is the actual truth, but what matters is that it is pinkish and cute haha.     Looks more like an orange city than a pink city We stayed only 2 days in Jaipur (not enough unfortunate...