Thar Desert, India | 24 December, 2006 | $10 (Camel tour) Sui and I decided to take off toward the border with Pakistan for the holidays. Along with a few other tourists we spent three days traveling (slowly) by camel across the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Going to sleep Christmas Eve on a sand dune,…
Jaisalmer, India | 21 December, 2006 | $6.67 Jaisalmer was notable for the opportunity to sleep inside the fort itself. My hotel room was the same price as in Jaipur but this one had an adorable window seat with hand-dyed curtains. Another highlight was the restaurant around the corner with cushion seating atop the fort’s…
Jaipur, India | 19 December, 2006 | $6.67 Jaipur was my first stop in what became a thorough tour of Rajasthan, one of the most popular tourist regions of India. After visiting a handful of similar forts I became a bit jaded and unimpressed—what a shame! This was my first Rajasthani fort though, and the…
New Delhi, India | 13 December, 2006 | $6.11 No, I didn’t sleep at McDonalds—but look at the recycling options! As a designer I spend a lot of time looking at packaging and signs on the road. It’s always a treat to see how international brands change their product and design for local markets. I…
New Delhi, India | 11 December, 2006 | $20 My first night in India’s capital was spent at an overpriced hotel in a maze of tiny alleyways. The train from Agra only takes four hours but the Chinese traveler (whom I’d met in Khajuraho and I traveled all the way to Delhi with) didn’t have…
Agra, India | 8 December, 2006 | $4.45 This is it. The Taj Mahal is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and an iconic image that everyone I know is familiar with. These places are always the trickiest to visit because they are always overly-crowded and often a let down from…
Khajuraho, India | 6 December, 2006 | $4.33 I love going through my photos and updating all of these locations, most of which I never even bothered to write about in the first place. However, the images of the rooms have to be the ugliest images I have. I’m making an executive decision and using…
Gorakhpur, India | 30 November, 2006 | $2.80 (my portion, shared with 2 others) The journey from Lumbini, Nepal to Varnasi, India was too long to complete in one day so the couple I’d met in Lumbini and I stopped in Gorakhpur, India after crossing the border. Its a town of no interest to tourists…
Lumbini, Nepal | 29 November, 2006 | $1.67 (my portion, shared with 2 others) People always ask if I’m lonely traveling alone. It really isn’t and I’m rarely alone. After leaving Sui in Pokhara (she wanted to head to a National Park to find Tigers), I headed South toward the Indian border. On the way…
Pokhara, Nepal | 25 November, 2006 | $5.56 Sui and I got back from our separate treks on the same day and agreed that we needed time to rest before continuing on to India. I camped out in Pokhara, working on my computer and enjoying a few sunsets from the roof. I felt great the…
Ghorepani, Nepal | 22 November, 2006 | $0.69 Day six of the Jomsom Trek was the day I was dreading, the day when I spent more than eight hours climbing up hard stone steps. We were entertained along the way by schoolchildren heading to class and locals carrying heavy loads with ease. I met up…
Tatopani, Nepal | 21 November, 2006 | $0.69 As we continued to hike downhill the scenery became more lush we passed many more small farms and even saw a waterfall or two. I continued to hike off and on with the two firefighters from Colorado whom I met a few days into my trek. We…
Ghasa, Nepal | 20 November, 2006 | $1.11 By day four the blisters on my feet started to slow me down. We also started to see a lot more traffic along the trail at lower elevations. A road was being cut into the side of the mountains which made me a bit sad for what…
Marphah, Nepal | 19 November, 2006 | $0.70 What a long day! From Muktinath we came back down the path past Kagbeni, past Jomsom and onward all the way to Marpha. Hiking more than seven hours was tough, but once we came down into the valley we were greeted by bright yellow trees that appeared…
Kagbeni, Nepal | 17 November, 2006 | $1.39 After a lengthy stay in Kathmandu and six days in Pokhara I finally did the thing that one does in Nepal—hike. My longtime readers know I’m not a hiker and I don’t enjoy hiking for its own sake. In Nepal, however, hiking is the best way to…
Kathmandu, Nepal | 8 November, 2006 | $4.86 After my first night in Kathmandu both Sui and I searched the outskirts of the tourist area for a cheaper hotel. We found a nice place to settle in for what turned out to be ten days in the city. We did a bit of sightseeing but…
Kathmandu, Nepal | 2 November, 2006 | $11.10 After 13 hours of driving, including crossing the border from Tibet to Nepal, Sui and I were ecstatic to find any hotel room in busy Kathmandu. Arriving so late in the day we didn’t have much choice and ended up in overpriced rooms in the center of…
Everest Base Camp, Tibet | 30 October, 2006 | $5 (my portion of bill – shared with 3 others) Despite what most people expect, there’s not much to see at the base camp on Mt. Everest’s north face, at least in late October. The large field of rocks below Everest stood bare, a small string…
Shekar, Tibet | 29 October, 2006 | $6.25 (my half of bill – shared with roommate) After a long day of travel our driver pulled up to a hotel beside the main road and told us it was Shekar. We knew the main attraction in the area was Shekar Fort and when we pointed this…
Sakya, Tibet | 28 October, 2006 | $1.88 (my half of bill – shared with roommate) Sakya was officially the cheapest hotel room I had in Tibet, tied with the hotel I stayed in on my last day in Tibet at Tingri. After exploring Gyantse and Shigaste, we drove into town after dark. There were…