Our little family adventure

We are travelling for 6 months for a bit of world education for Lila before she starts school + we like travelling :) Read more

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Trip start
May 20, 2018
Our little family adventure Traveler
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Day 1
Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 8:45 PM
🌙 13 °C
Altitude: 83 m
Australia Royal Theatre -33.86882, 151.209333°52’8” S 151°12’33” E
Off and away
May 20, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
Lila and I set off for our travels, beginning with 2 weeks in India before Jean meets up with us
TravelerYou guys are adorable and loving your adventures thus far!
5/26/18Reply
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Day 2
Monday, May 21, 2018
☀️ 39 °C
Altitude: 462 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.91748, 75.8203126°55’3” N 75°49’13” E
Welcome to India...
May 21, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C
We land to the lovely announcement that it's 39degrees in Jaipur! We are hit with the heat, noise and the all those amazing things which make India India. We get to our hotel and dump our bags then head off to find food... Find bananas before Lila says she too hot and wants to go back to the hotel. Hmmm...maybe taking her to India in the middle of summer wasn't the best idea (crossed my mind). Anyway, after a kilo of bananas and some rest, take 2 goes a little better and we enjoy a yummy thali 😀Read more
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Day 3
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 8:00 AM
🌫 34 °C
Altitude: 455 m
India Tāl Katora Tank 26.92261, 75.8220826°55’21” N 75°49’19” E
Exploring Jaipur
May 22, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌫 34 °C
Early morning was great to go for a little walk through the town, less traffic, less busyness...and you can stop, notice and appreciate things :) Jaipur is an amazing city which encapsulates all the things I love about India...it's an assault to all your senses, which can be both invigorating or depressing depending on how you want to look at it. You can spend hours, days, weeks wandering through the small streets here (however with a 4yr old in this heat we are lucky to get an hour), which are filled with life, character and the rawness of the human condition and realities of the world we live in. From the people (usually men) on the pathway drinking their morning chai, the men and women doing back breaking work shifting building rubble/materials, the lady selling her pile of veges on the street corner, to the kids playing cricket in pretty much a waste dump. I would have loved to take photos of done of this.. But some things I think are better photographed in our memories :)Read more
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Day 3
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 9:30 AM
🌫 37 °C
Altitude: 454 m
India Hawa Mahal 26.92412, 75.8271526°55’27” N 75°49’38” E
Hawa Mahal
May 22, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌫 37 °C
Visiting the Hawa Mahal, palace constructed in 1799
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Day 3
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 5:00 PM
☀️ 43 °C
Altitude: 462 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.91745, 75.8203426°55’3” N 75°49’13” E
Passport pics india style + hair cuts
May 22, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 43 °C
So only in India...
Go into a photo place asking for passport photos. I'm directed behind the little screen to wash my face and comb my hair. I must have looked really bad, because they insisted twice after I first told them I didn't care. I then sit on the stool with the dead pan look you generally need to have for passport photos...and they tell me to smile for a nicer photo 😀 then we went to get hair cuts, maybe we should have done it before the photos and they wouldn't have been so worried about my presentation?Read more
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Day 3
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 7:00 PM
⛅ 41 °C
Altitude: 460 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.91749, 75.8200926°55’3” N 75°49’12” E
Lassi walla
May 22, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 41 °C
With this heat, it's a great excuse to indulge in the amazing lassis... several times a day. Lila's diet thus far has consisted of chapatis (her new favourite food), rice with a few spoons of whatever dahl/curry I can get her to tolerate and lassiRead more
TravelerYummy!
5/26/18Reply
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Day 4
Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 12:00 PM
☀️ 41 °C
Altitude: 462 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.91743, 75.8203626°55’3” N 75°49’13” E
Search for a swimming pool
May 23, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 41 °C
Only in India... Will it take more than 3hrs to find a swimming pool where you can swim + get a tour / buy from this factory for my commision visit thrown in by the auto rickshaw driver. So after attempting to use Uber (which is a whole story in itself for those who know me well), we end up getting an auto rickshaw/ tuktuk to take us to a swimming pool about 20mins away. We get there and find it doesn't open until 5pm (btw its around 12:30pm), so then the driver talks us into a textile factory tour (as well as a whole plan of other things) to kill time until 5pm. Lila is insistent on wanting to go to the pool...so hey we go along with it (only in India). The textiles/clothes in this place are amazing but we didn't plan on doing this so I didn't have any money with me for this stuff, so it was a pretty quick tour when they work out you have no intention of buying anything. Anyway I found another pool about 10km away...so off we go again and then eventually get there to find that its the 'boys' time and 'girls' access is 8-9am or 6-7pm! He then tells us of another pool...and the auto rickshaw driver happily takes us to this one where we find is open :) Driver nicely talks us into getting a discount (because he knows the less money that goes towards the pool, the more money he will get)...anyway so by around 3:15pm we manage to go for a swim and the look and excitement on Lilas face was totally worth it :)Read more
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Day 5
Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 4:07 PM
⛅ 41 °C
Altitude: 442 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.9167, 75.816726°55’0” N 75°49’0” E
India so far...from Lila's eyes
May 24, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 41 °C
When we first landed the heat was pretty overwhelming for Lila...and a few days in it's still one of the big things she talks about. Here are some questions and pics from Lila :)

What is different here? that it's hot in india

what do you notice in the streets? that sometimes I see animals and I get surprised. What do you see? Monkeys, pig, funny hump cow, goats, normal cows

What do you notice about the people? that they have beautiful clothes on

What are your favourite things here? Chapatis

What is the most fun thing you have done? eating chapatis

Most beautiful thing you've seen? palace

Most exciting thing you have seen? chapatis

Favourite food? Lassi (interesting it wasn't chapatis)

Most difficult thing about India? squat toilets

Lila loves the paintings she has seen on the buildings here and was genuinely intrigued when she first saw the monkeys in the street.
Lila is very good at holding hands and getting very good at moving amongst the insane traffic of cars, buses, motorbikes, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, cows, dogs, goats and people...and the associated horn beeping that is ever present here!Read more
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Day 5
Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 8:44 PM
🌫 36 °C
Altitude: 462 m
India Ashok Nagar 26.91743, 75.8203626°55’3” N 75°49’13” E
Lights and lassi
May 24, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌫 36 °C
For our last night in Jaipur, we braved the crazy roads to walk down the road to see the lights at Albert Hall...and then treated ourselves to lassi and chai at our favourite lassi place :) our night train is already an hour late and it's due in 3hrs, so we will see! Lila was also very amused by the 2 camels amongst the traffic and then walking back to the hotel, we passed a cow eating from a rubbish pile weeing in the middle of the lane...only in India :)Read more
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Day 6
Friday, May 25, 2018 at 9:22 AM
🌫 37 °C
Altitude: 436 m
India Jaipur 26.91243, 75.7872726°54’45” N 75°47’14” E
Lila's first overnight train
May 25, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌫 37 °C
Waking up Lila to leave for the train station around midnight and running through a pack of barking street dogs to a waiting uber (who you can't contact due to your technical incompetence...hence the running and then helped by a bunch of guys of which includes someone from the lassi shop or other restaurant we've eaten at)...get to the train station and yep the train isn't estimated to arrive until 1:30am. Lila is understandably upset and tired but then is distracted by the trains coming and going. She is amused by people getting on the train when its already moving, why certain trains stay at the platform longer than others, and people on the tracks walking next to the train 'they're going to get run over?'. And then her nervous anticipation for when our train comes and her utter excitement when she climbs up to our top bunk sleeper 'ahhh bunk beds, I've never slept in bunk beds!' :) these are the moments which melt my heartRead more
TravelerIt is so lovely to follow your journey! Such an amazing experience for Lila! She is a natural traveller! 💕💕
5/26/18Reply
TravelerThat sounds amazing. Lila looks excited. I woupd be too. Have a great time and can't wait to see more of your trip.
5/26/18Reply
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Day 6
Friday, May 25, 2018 at 6:00 PM
🌙 24 °C
Altitude: 236 m
India Gadisar Lake 26.90974, 70.9128826°54’35” N 70°54’46” E
Haveli in the desert
May 25, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Tonight we went for a little walk around jaisalmer, a desert town in Rajasthan and our home for the next few days. We visited salam singh (old prime minister) haveli, moti mahal (meaning pearl palace), the old prime ministers residence from the 1700s. It was built with no water, so put together by sandstone blocks with male and female joins, reinforced by iron rods. The guy who manages the place does a great tour and spends the time explaining different aspects of the building and its history. We had lassis for dinner, flavoured with cardamon (lila doesn't like them as much)...got lost walking back to our hotel and one of the nice things about not having GPS, is that you ask people and they are really nice and helpful :)Read more
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Day 7
Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 10:51 PM
🌙 25 °C
Altitude: 235 m
India Gadisar Lake 26.90957, 70.9127426°54’34” N 70°54’46” E
When hot water comes out of the cold tap
May 26, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
So we are visiting jaisalmer in the off season (which I love) but it means its around 45deg at the hottest part of the day, and the minimum is 31deg. You desperately want a cold shower but only warm/hot water comes out of the cold tap! Tonight we walked around and up the jaisalmer fort for some great views of the city. Today Lila had chocolate bought for her, her cheeks patted more than several times, only 2 requests for selfies with randoms, and was very focussed on not stepping in cow poo!Read more
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Day 8
Sunday, May 27, 2018 at 4:00 PM
☀️ 38 °C
Altitude: 236 m
India Gadisar Lake 26.90962, 70.9128126°54’35” N 70°54’46” E
How to unbog a car in the desert
May 27, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C
So how many people/vehicles does it take to unbog a car in desert sand... Well at least 10 guys, a jeep and then a tractor and about 1.5hrs later. Lila said it would have been handy to have our neighbour Stefan here (not sure if it was for his unimog or muscles) and then said Piri from preschool would have been helpful because he's stronger than her! Before the car bogging we went for a 'camel safari' or camel ride...which lila had been looking forward to the last few days and she really enjoyed her bumpy ride. She also loved making sand angels in the sand and sliding down the sand dunes on her bottom and diving down on her tummy! Earlier today she was also really excited about her first time on a motorbike (that she can remember)... So it was a huge day of firsts :)Read more
TravelerDid Lila get a big surprise when the camel stood up and sat down?
5/28/18Reply
TravelerHaha, less of a surprise than me I think!
5/29/18Reply
TravelerI’ll let Stefan know. He’ll be over the moon either way!!
5/29/18Reply
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Day 10
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 12:08 AM
🌬 36 °C
Altitude: 269 m
India Ratanada 26.29614, 73.0145226°17’46” N 73°0’52” E
Is popcorn a vegetable?
May 29, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌬 36 °C
So we found popcorn tonight (hence the fleeting thought this is the closest thing to a vegetable she has eaten in the last week), amongst our battle with motorbikes, auto rickshaws, occasional cars, push bikes, cows, dogs and other people walking through tiny streets in the old town in Jodhpur. Lila's food intake thus far has pretty much consisted of chapatis, rice, and now popcorn + mango ice cream we found today! However it's nice to see her creativity when eating chapatis, because each bite changes it to being a different animal, object or thing.

Today we arrived in the 2nd biggest city in Rajasthan, Jodhpur. Known as the blue city, you often see in some tourist promo pics. There is amazing fort, which we have a lovely view from our guesthouse. It's pretty hot here at the moment, getting to 45-46 degrees at the hottest part of the day, so people do things before midday or after 6pm. The old city has an amazing maze of small streets lined with old buildings with amazing architecture and beautiful old doors, small shop fronts selling anything and everything, small shines to the various gods, and amongst the various traffic either people with push carts or just on the street selling fruit or veges. It's so full of life, movement and colour!

Other highlight of Lila's day, her amazement of where the poo and wee goes when you go to the toilet on the train !Read more
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Day 10
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 12:00 PM
☀️ 39 °C
Altitude: 224 m
India Jodhpur 26.24094, 73.0233126°14’27” N 73°1’24” E
Lila's first sari
May 29, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C
I should be banned from going to markets...on the other hand, I'm getting quite good at just squeezing more stuff into our backpack :)
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Day 11
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 3:52 PM
☀️ 40 °C
Altitude: 172 m
India Nāharganj 27.16797, 78.0500727°10’5” N 78°3’0” E
Tadpoles, squirrels and the Taj Mahal
May 30, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 40 °C
We headed off our overnight train directly to see the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra today.
It really is quite a grand and amazing structure, also because of the grounds around. Inside the mausoleum isn't that big, however it's difficult to really get a feel of it as it's a stream of people going in and out (we were there around 7:30am in the Off season, so I can't imagine what's it's like when it's actually busy!)

Lila's highlights include seeing the tadpoles in the water features outside the mausoleum, the squirrel she saw in the tree on the way and the crazy monkeys wrestling outside the entry gates.

I was also very excited to get semi cool water out of the tap (instead of warm/hot water) its slightly more mild at 41degrees today!Read more
TravelerTrip sounds amazing so far...can't wait to hear what's next!
6/1/18Reply
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Day 13
Friday, June 1, 2018 at 12:00 PM
☀️ 37 °C
Altitude: 210 m
India Teen Mūrti 28.61395, 77.2090228°36’50” N 77°12’32” E
Delhi, some photos from Lila
June 1, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C
We've come to Delhi to meet up with jean who is flying in. Here are some photos from Lila at the local market. We also got to the post for some stamps to post off some post cards and then visited the train museum :)Read more
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Day 14
Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 5:00 PM
☀️ 37 °C
Altitude: 75 m
India Varanasi 25.30692, 83.0107825°18’25” N 83°0’39” E
The holy 'City of Light'
June 2, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C
After another overnight train we have arrived in the holy city of Varanasi. Varanasi is considered a holy pilgrimage site for many Hindus, as the city founded by the god Shiva. The city is on the banks of the river Ganges and it's believed that a cremation on the banks of the river, or your a ceremony and your ashes put into the river will bring that person salvation. They say Varanasi is not a place to 'see' but 'feel', and you start to feel this quite quickly, from the crazy night street markets to the mesmerising river Ganges. We went on a little walking tour of the old city, full of small interesting inter connecting maze like streets that Google maps would struggle with. We then went on a boat to see the cremations and then a pilgrimage ceremony, and lit a candle to make a wish and offering to the river. It is indeed a magical, mystical but also peaceful place.Read more
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Day 16
Monday, June 4, 2018 at 5:00 AM
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 93 m
India Lahartara 25.31766, 82.9739125°19’4” N 82°58’26” E
Varanasi at sunrise
June 4, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
This morning we woke up early to catch the early morning sunrise activities at the Ganges (early mornings are usually a huge effort for our family!). Lila dipped her feet into to river, and Jean went for a swim. After the buzzing activity of the evening, the relative calm of people bathing and washing in the morning shows the amazing life this river brings. Later that day we explored more if the old streets and was so humbled by a rickshaw driver who gave us half our money back when we paid him, saying it was only fair. This honesty in a rickshaw driver in this city is really rare, and was really nice :)Read more
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Day 17
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
⛅ 23 °C
Altitude: 806 m
Nepal Basundhara Park 28.20546, 83.9679228°12’20” N 83°58’5” E
Welcome to Nepal
June 5, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We had a day of travel, heading from Varanasi to the Indian-Nepalese border and on to the small city of Pokhara, which is a starting point for many trekking the beautiful Annapurna mountain range. We were lucky to get last minute train tickets to leave Varanasi just after midnight. We arrived in Gorakhpur just in time for the local bus to sunauli, the border town to Nepal. It was here Jean felt the effects of the famous 'delhi belly' so without too much description (anyone who has had food poisoning could relate), we slowly managed to cross the border on foot (Lila's first overland border crossing) and because Jean was not in much state to take public transport we then took a car for 6-7hrs on the very scenic drive to Pokhara...including 2 vomit stops for both Jean and Lila! It was nice to finally arrive at our guesthouse after around 20hrs of travelling.Read more
TravelerOh no! I think Jean was mentally getting ready for the “Delhi belly” already some time before he left Australia. I hope that experience is well and truly over now for both Jean and Lila and you are all well and happy and enjoy Nepal.
6/9/18Reply
TravelerI think Lila will have grown so much by the time you are back. The best thing you can give to your child is experience.
6/9/18Reply
TravelerYeah funny after US it was Angie but now btr we on our way to annapurna :) bonjour a Stefan n go france for world cup :)
6/9/18Reply
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Day 18
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: 890 m
Nepal Manipal 28.238, 83.9955928°14’17” N 83°59’44” E
Pokhara
June 6, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Today we got our permits for walking in the Annapurnas and then at sunset we went for a little walk along the lake. Lila enjoyed running through the park and was intrigued by some people playing chess
TravelerLila looks so happy!
6/9/18Reply
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Day 19
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Altitude: 890 m
Nepal Manipal 28.238, 83.9955928°14’17” N 83°59’44” E
Old Pokhara, Nepal
June 7, 2018 in Nepal
Jean is feeling better after almost 2 days in bed, so we head out to check out the old Pokhara. Jean got a shave and we had a nice tea in a small tea shop
TravelerGlad Jean is feeling better!
6/9/18Reply
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Day 20
Friday, June 8, 2018
Altitude: 914 m
Nepal Rahughat Khola 28.3727, 83.567428°22’22” N 83°34’3” E
Leaving for our trek
June 8, 2018 in Nepal
After a big thunder storm last night, we woke up to drizzly rain for the start of our little trekking adventure to the Annapurnas. We have decided to follow a trek we found online of a small family with a 4.5yr old in the lower Annapurna region. They did their trek over 19days, but we have about 2 weeks now. A 3-4hr bumpy bus ride, to travel around 80km, in a packed local bus took us from Pokhara to Beni. Here we learnt of the 5-6 ATMs they have, none accept MasterCard. It was my turn to experience 'delhi belly' and we did a small walk from Beni to next village Galeshaw. It started in tantrums and tears from a tired Lila (so she was on Jean's shoulders), but once we got out of the town she was happily distracted by the amazing long bridges over the river, other children along the way, goats and cows along the trail, numerous rocks and stones, finding a stick and writing her name or patterns in the dirt :)Read more
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Day 21
Saturday, June 9, 2018
☁️ 17 °C
Altitude: 1,246 m
Nepal Tatopani 28.49793, 83.6543628°29’53” N 83°39’16” E
Day 2 Galeshaw- Tatopani
June 9, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We visited the local temple in Galeshaw which is apparently a sacred pilgrimage site. We saw 3 buses in a row come (which made us excited that we wouldn't need to wait too long for the bus) only to find they were buses coming specifically for this temple. We waited some more...and then decided to get a bus going back to Beni for a better chance to get our bus to Tatopani. As we got into Beni there was of course a bus leaving for where we wanted to go, so we hopped on this bus and experienced more bumpy ride to get to Tatopani. We wanted to do some walking today, however I had little energy after not eating a huge amount in the past 24hrs, so we stopped and also changed our trekking plans with the amount of time we have plus the road conditions with the beginning of monsoon season setting in.Read more
TravelerLooks amazing
6/9/18Reply
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Day 22
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Altitude: 2,764 m
Nepal Jomsom Airport 28.78492, 83.7351828°47’6” N 83°44’7” E
1
Day 3 Tatopani to Jomsom
June 10, 2018 in Nepal
Today's we left Tatopani on foot as it's a bit unknown when the bus will come, after a short while we were lucky to hitch a ride with a truck driver to Dana a few towns up. He said the bus would come after midday, so we had a tea and waited for the bus which took us for a bumpy, dusty and scenic ride to Jomsom.Read more
Traveler 😂
7/18/18Reply
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