Jump to content

Autumn / Winter Travel Plans - Advice Needed


Delphouneso

Recommended Posts

Xining is where we overnighted if I recall ( it's a Muslim town and a nightmare to find somewhere for a beer )  .. the station is a way way out of town and not where you'd think it would be  ... it was complete chaos when we went , but luckily we had a Chinese guy we'd paid the ticket agency to smooth the way for us ..

 

Kathmandu I first went to in 2001 ..been back 3 times since and yeah it's far too westernised now sadly ... strip clubs etc , I'm expecting a casino any time soon ... I went to the Palace last visit (2013) where the royal family got assassinated by the son , it only opened for tourism in 2013 if I recall .. don't know if you got a chance to see it , all the bullet holes in the courtyard are quite eerie  ....

 

shame about Pokhora , i think it's actually a nicer trek than the Everest one up to Annapurna ..gives you an excuse to go back though :)

 

surprised about Wagah  not being safe but it was a few years ago I went and times do change  , Amritsar would have been nice to have seen from your point of view , but again I'm sure there will be other times for you

 

 

enjoy the rest of the trip :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure I read about a casino in Kathmandu, I think it's a little outside of town though, and as far as I'm aware the Nepalese aren't allowed to gamble so it's probably just full of tourists and Indians.

We checked the travel advice about the border before we left and it was advising against all travel to the Pakistan border except Wagah, then the week we left there was a bombing at Wagah, we checked the travel advice again and nothing had changed and we figured lightning wouldn't strike twice so we still planned on going but all the advice we received over here swayed us in the other direction. To be honest I'm more gutted about not getting to see Jaisalmer! We've also had to change our plans quite a lot for the next month due to transport so we're now spending quite a bit of time in the south and may have to rush through Calcutta, Darjeeling, Khajuraho etc. Also we're now definitely not going to Bhutan as I only got given a single entry Indian visa in Nepal! Speaking to other people in the visa centre it seems like very few people were managing to get multi entry.

We're currently in north Goa, spent a night in Calangute and we're now in Vagator, and it's quite nice, but I'm looking forward to going south to Palolem tomorrow. Vagator is quite quiet and laid back (now New Year has passed) but Calangute was like going on a package holiday to the Costa Del Sol or something, full of British expats, Russians (so many Russians in Goa), and white plastic garden furniture. I didn't see a Rovers Return but I don't imagine it'll be long til one crops up.

Edited by Delphouneso
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Darjeeling was a real highlight of India for me , the train journey up the mountains and Tiger hill  , but even so you can still do it in a few days if you are pushed  so try not to miss it  ...

 

Calcutta the main thing to see is the Victoria memorial  , the bridge and the cricket ground :)

 

Khajuraho would be the one I'd miss out on if time is short   , just a load of temples with erotic images on them  ... we were kinda in the area hence we went but I'd happily have missed it 

 

just my opinion of course ....

 

shame about Bhutan  .. do you have to go back via India ?   I went in via Bangladesh (visa on arrival) and out via Kathmandu  so didn't need to go via India at all  .. if your return flight is from India then you don't need a visa if you are transit only  ( if flight timings work ) ... but saying that I don[t think you can just get a Bhutan visa on a whim , it would need to be sorted by an approved agency in advance ( though the one I used was based in India anyway )

Edited by tonyh29
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â