Tag: travel

A statement of intent for 2011!

On By James HandlonIn Uncategorized2 Comments

It was with much enthusiasm that I waved goodbye to 2010. 2010 a year of great highs but oh so many lows, (mainly injury lows) in my case.

So it is with even greater enthusiasm that I welcome 2011, with all the new opportunities and problems that it may bring, (hopefully injury free ones). I have so many ideas bubbling around inside my head and so desperately want to make 2011 the year when I make so many of them happen.

Here then are just a few of those ideas from within my head that I intend to make happen this year, (all of which can of course be followed and read about right here on this very blog). Continue reading “A statement of intent for 2011!” →

Travel is fatal to prejudice…

On By James HandlonIn QuotesLeave a comment

travel is fatal

This is more true of India than any other country I have traveled to thus far. Which is why one day I hope to return to the great sub-continent and delve more deeply into her mysteries and nuances. I wish to return to other parts, possibly in the south, to the Tamil Nadu or Kerala regions and experience the unique ways, cuisine and customs of a people who once populated this great land mass many centuries before the countless waves of invasion and immigration that created the modern day India that we all know today.

But that is for another time, until then however I have the extensive memories of my time in Rajasthan, from the elephants and pink forts of Jaipur to the poverty-stricken slums of Aggra, from the splendour of the Taj and the riches of the City Palace to the street kids that were just about everywhere.

India is the greatest paradox on this planet and that is why it is so alluring and beguiling, and that is why I know that one day I must return.

Sufi’s, Simian’s and Steps! … 01/04/2010

On By James HandlonIn An Indian OdysseyLeave a comment

Fatehpur Sikri

So we left Aggra, headed in a westerly direction, onward towards Rajasthan. A transit day for sure but one filled with much to see. Within only an hour or so of leaving Aggra we rolled up at Fatehpur Sikri the great palace city built by Akbar in 1571. The Royal palace was built here as a result of the famous Sufi saint Salim Chishti who had bestowed good news upon Akbar some years earlier. The palace only lasted as the capital for 14 years and was left deserted and ghost like for centuries thereafter.

Continue reading “Sufi’s, Simian’s and Steps! … 01/04/2010” →

A tale of two Taj’s … 31/03/2010

On By James HandlonIn An Indian OdysseyLeave a comment

The Taj Mahal, Agra, India.

We woke before sunrise and did not partake of breakfast such was our wont to reach our destination. And what a destination it was! For many this was ‘the reason‘ for travelling to India, for others it was ‘the photo opportunity of a lifetime’ not to be missed. I felt myself already beginning to regret those extra ‘Kingfisher’ beers consumed on the hotel rooftop terrace the night before. Sensible people had hit the sack well before 10.00 pm, but not myself and my (not-so-sensible-either), brother-in-law, no we knew better, we needed beer and plenty of it. Now deeply regretting the previous nights stupidity I stood swaying gently from side to side in a queue beneath the early light of morning, waiting for the great gates to open to let us in to the gardens of the Taj Mahal. Continue reading “A tale of two Taj’s … 31/03/2010” →