Martine

better late than never…

travel tip number two – once you’re done with the quiet of south india, fly north and go hiking in the serene hills of darjeeling. not to mention the tea. drink lots of tea.

darjeeling hills

gorkhaland

toy train

sun rise over mt. everest and hundreds of tourists

flags

keep away lovers

japanese peace pagoda

locals

if you ever find yourself in need of a quiet, relaxing break from the craziness that is indian cities, kerala is the place to visit. stroll down the empty streets of fort kochi or set sail for the beautiful backwaters. i guarantee you will feel like a new person.

school in fort kochi

kumarakum housewife

backwater church

backwater boats

early morning

captn anders

after the madness that is peak season jaipur we retreated to the sea side metropolis of mumbai where we followed the tourist trail to the harbour, cafe leopold and victoria terminus. sadly though – no dancing.

we were far from the only tourists

me at my very best

boats

victoria terminus by night

by day with the famous premier padmini taxis

new martin

if anyone told me six months ago i would be driving a rickshaw i would never have believed them, but you never know what might happen in jaipur.

the gang at amber fort

rahul - jaipur's coolest rickshawdriver

anders the tourist attraction

amber fort

fort window

martine the rickshaw-walla

haathi - our sweet ride

bussy pink city

what better place to celebrate christmas than a 14th century fort?

neemrana fort palace

palace guard

martin sleeping like a maharaja

come into my cave

palace garden

for aase marthe - we missed you

flower girl

peacock

even in india. and though i would have loved to decorate my flat with christmas ornaments of santas on elephants, elfs on camels, and maybe even cover a palm tree in christmas lights, my friends have come all the way from norway to rescue me from wintery delhi and take me to warmer climates .

my brother fredrik and his friend martin left delhi last night for amritsar, and tomorrow  my friends martin and anders will arrive from norway. we will explore neemrana where we will spend chistmas eve in a fort from the 1400s, jaipur where we will ride on elephants at the amber fort, and  mumbai where martin has promised to do a bollywood number at the train station, before we embark on a houseboat in the kerela backwaters for new years with fredrik and his friends.

while martin and anders will sadly set sail for norway after this, the rest of us will continue our great indian adventure with a bangalore road-trip before we return north a weak later for some (long overdue on my part) sight seeing in delhi.  i will be saying good bye to my friends shortly after this, and will continue the last leg of my trip to the north east on my own. oh what a month it will be! i am sure i will return with thousands of pictures and will upload them to my blog as soon i am back behind a computer.

merry christmas everyone!

there are a lot of things i never thought i would do in india. without a doubt horse back riding up the snowy mountains of kashmir tops that list. though wearing multiple layers of wool and still feeling cold was a new experience in india, winter in kashmir definitely has its charm. especially when you stay in a wooden houseboat on the dal lake and in the maharajas old palace by the lake, explore pahalgam by horse and ride the gondola up the snow filled mountains of gulmarg, and last but not least drink a lot of kashmiri kahwa tea. see for yourselves.

shikara - lonely boat taxi on the dal lake

corner shop

misty morning lake

horses

snow in india!

pahalgam in the morning

can you see the fish in the gurudwara pond?

om and aruna dressed up like kashmiris in the mughal garden

garden pavillion

children playing in the garden

sign on the way to gulmarg

sign in gulmarg

i want one of these

gulmarg gondola

gulmarg chic

last week i finally visited kolkata, the india of my childhood. like the rest of india, the city is constantly changing. though some of my childhood favourites had faded, it is still the city i would pick over any other city in india. i was there with my parents for a silver wedding anniversary, and i even got to play rotarian for a day.

new market

busy busy new market

famous yellow ambassador taxi

hooghly by night

east kolkata wetlands

more wetlands

one birthday, two parties. that’s the way to go about things. one with parents, family, and family friends, and the other with friends, komler, kålrabistappe and tyrkisk pepper. who would have ever thought this took place in india? and all of this the week i (sans camera) saw my first random elephant in the street, spotted my first bollywood celebrity, aamir khan, met a nobel peace prize laureate and will be off to kolkata. hadippa.

me and my cake - thanks guro, hanne karen, katarina and monica for the perfect birthday cake

komler and kålrabistappe!

my parents at qutub minar - they brought their PIO cards and paid rs 10 each to enter. i forgot mine and paid rs 250.

one of the many tombs at qutub minar

the minar

festival season has come (and gone…) since i last blogged. though i have not had a chance to leave the city since shimla, delhi life has kept me busy. I have celebrated diwali, twice, gone to see a russian dance troop at jnu, met countless politicians, had four hundred guests over for a concert at the ambassador’s residence, and not least gone to my first ever festival in india.

next week my parents are coming to visit, and i will yet again be off exploring. this time kashmir and calcutta.

delhi student politics. interesting.

crazy russian dancers

festival of lights

lights, lights, and even more lights

playing cards as one does on diwali

i spent the entire evening taking pictures of the fireworks, and this is my only good one

we launched the norwegian government's india strategy this week. unfortunately, due to rain it was mostly used as makeshift umbrellas

secret garden and our improvised roof

frogfest