Month: February 2012

After Varanasi, we got off the spiritual track and threw ourselves full-force into India’s formidable archaeology circuit: the country boasts thousands of palaces, temples, forts, and other historic structures, showing thousands of years of history from dozens of different tribes, kingdoms, and religious sects. We opted to start in Khajuraho, a backwater town famous for…

Our next stop was Varanasi, one of the holiest Hindu cities on earth, and also one of the oldest living cities in the world. It sits on the Ganges River, and according to the Hindu religion, anyone who dies here will attain instant moksha, or enlightmentment, so the city is said to be teeming with…

Still on a Buddhist kick, we made our way from Sikkim to Bodhgaya, a trip that took about 30 hours in total between Jeeps, trains, and rickshaws. Bodhgaya is the most important Buddhist pilgrimage destination and is the place where the Buddha himself apparently attained enlightenment under a pipal tree now known as the Bodhi…

Looking to escape the crazy and overwhelming cities of India, we headed north to Darjeeling, one of India’s most famous hill stations and world-renowned for its tea production. Despite an incredibly stressful and frightening three-hour Jeep ride up and down curvy, potholed roads damaged by recent earthquakes and landslides, we’re glad we made the effort…

Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta, as the British named it), our first stop in India, was something of a tale of two cities for us: we had fairly different experiences, so we thought we’d split its post in two so we could each present our experience. Claudia Kolkata was an interesting choice for our first…