Author archive
18 August 2013
While the hostel was full last night, it cleared out suddenly. I had my 4-bed dorm to myself last night. That’s great except that the out-of-town tours haven’t reached a quorum. I had written off the idea of going to the rock monasteries at Davit Gareja by public transport as it involves chartering a taxi […]
17 August 2013
The Envoy Hostel is adjacent to the old city which made it really handy for walking around. I took in the synagogue and various churches from the outside; the requirements here for entering churches differ from that in Armenia. Here, men are required to wear long trousers. Women are required to cover their head and […]
16 August 2013
Taking the easy option To go to Tbilisi in Georgia, I could have taken public transport. A minivan would take around 6h. But the hostel had a door-to-door service (to their hostel in Tbilisi) which included several sights along the way. This seemed a time-economical way; I’d save a day doing that. We left about […]
15 August 2013
I woke up really worn out today, considering I had such a great night sleep. Maybe it was the single glass of wine last night (the first in 2 months) or the meat (first significant intake after 3 weeks in India). I couldn’t face going to Dilijan by public transport (which would take some 3h […]
14 August 2013
With limited time in Armenia, I chose to do a tour with the hostel which covered several sights. It’s the easy way; it would take me at least two days to cover the main attractions included here if I had taken public transport, and their deal includes some lesser sights too (and lunch and entrances). […]
13 August 2013
After breakfast in the hostel, I shared a taxi with some others to Tsitsernakaberd (Armenian Genocide Memorial & Museum) which was located on the fringe of the city centre up a hill. Strangely for such a significant site, it opens only at 1100 but luckily we knew that and didn’t set off too early. We […]
12 August 2013
Leaving Delhi My taxi collected me at 0045. Leaving the Paharganj area at that time was interesting. Being a summer evening, there were people sleeping on tables, stalls, tricycles and beds (on the road). The journey to the airport only took about 30 minutes. Check-in had already opened when I got there 3h prior to […]
11 August 2013
Above: View of Pahar Ganj from the restaurant we ate at. We didn’t do any of the touristy sights of Delhi in our 2-plus days here. For me, I’ve done it all before even though it has been 19 years ago. And the main sight of the Red Fort, I had kinda just done a […]
9 August 2013
It was a very civilised departure time of 1110 for our flight from Leh to Delhi. We arrived at the airport about 2h prior to find the queue quite long. As usual, security was tight (but inconsistently enforced, eg. some people snuck water bottles through while others weren’t allowed). After takeoff, we had a normal […]
8 August 2013
A wet start I woke to the sound of rain in the middle of the night. It felt very cold and I was pleased we had extremely heavy blankets to keep me warm. I went back to sleep and woke before 0700. I took a sip of water from my bottle and it taste very chilled. Stepping […]