© India, Kanha National Park - An Idyllic Park

It is said Kanha was Rudyard Kipling’s inspiration for The Jungle Book.
The national park is breath taking and extremely well maintained.

Things we took / needed:

• Besides our camera gear (Canon 350D with a EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM Lens) and appropriate weather clothes, we did not take anything special with us i.e. mosquito repellents, etc.
  For camera gear, please bear in mind, game drives can get very dusty in India.

Getting there:

• We took a flight to Nagpur.
• Stayed the night over at Nagpur.
• The following day, we took private transportation to Kanha (and took the same guy back).
  This is about a 6 hour journey, so be prepared if you are doing this journey in the summer (we did it in April).

What did we do:

Kanha was the second national park we visited in India, and we were very focussed around spending as much time in the national park as we could.
Our entire itinerary was planned around maximising our time in the park and we were very disciplined about it.

• Safari safari and more safari – in the two days we were there, we did 4 safaris.
  All our safari’s were private, as it gave us the time & space we needed in any location we chose.
• We also did an elephant safari, to experience it for the first time.
  The experience was an interesting one although we swore not to bother this large mammal for anymore trips in the future.

© India, Kanha National Park - A Beautiful Spotted Owl

© India, Kanha National Park - A Barking Deer at an Artificial Watering Hole

© India, Kanha National Park - A Kingfisher Pair

© India, Kanha National Park - A Black-faced Langur

© India, Kanha National Park - A Chital (i.e. Spotted Deer) Pair

© India, Kanha National Park - A Peacock celebrating the Rain Clouds

Where did we stay:

We were on a budget and stayed at the Tuli Tiger Resort.
Decent accommodation and good food. The place even had a spa!

Tiger, tiger burning bright

In the forests of the night …

– William Blake

© India, Kanha National Park - A Feisty Royal Bengal Tiger called Baanda

Useful Resources:

• Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanha_National_Park)
• Tuli Tiger Resort (http://www.tulihotels.com)

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© Amsterdam, How typical - Canals, Bridges, Cycles and all that ..

We had not been travelling in a little while and to address our withdrawal symptoms we decided to do an extended weekend trip to Amsterdam & Bruges. The perfect excuse was to celebrate the missus’ birthday!

This was my first trip to Amsterdam and I was terribly excited about it!

Things we took / needed:

• The Camera – my beloved Canon 40D.
• The Lens – since I wanted to take in the sites and sounds, I decided to take the 18-55 IS.
• Moleskine City Notebook, Amsterdam – this is a brilliant, DIY city guide, a must!
• Thomas Cook City Spot Guide, Amsterdam – a very pragmatic guide, highly recommended.
• City Map – we bought this at the tourist centre outside Centraal Station, an invaluable resource.
• City Travel Card – we got ourselves a 72 hour travel card, very practical.

Getting there:

• We took the Eurostar from London to Brussels.
• And then the Intercity to Amsterdam Centraal.

Things we did:

We had decided that we not do any of the museums, since the weather was brilliant – crisp & sunny winter days. We decided to be outdoors as much as we could and stroll as much as we could to “experience” the city. Otherwise, we commuted using the extremely efficient tram system!  Remember all roads lead to Centraal Station!

© Amsterdam, Centraal Station - An Icon!

• Anne Frank’s House – a very moving experience, highly recommended.
  

  © Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, Westerkerk Church Tower

   

• Canal Cruise – gives you a interesting perspective of the city, highly recommended. A couple of operators start from outside Centraal Station.  
  

  © Amsterdam, A Different Perspective

   

• Flower Market near Koningsplein – a few of stalls were stunning!  
  

  © Amsterdam, Koningsplein, Flower Market

  

  © Amsterdam, Koningsplein, Flower Market

  

  © Amsterdam, Koningsplein, Flower Market - A Beautiful Anthurium

   

• Red Light District – the walk through a part of the red light district was demoralising, not one that I would recommend.
• The rest of the time was largely walk, drink, eat, photograph, sit and watch the world go by! 

© Amsterdam, Jordaan District - Quintessentially Europe

© Amsterdam, Prinsengracht

Places we ate at (vegetarian restaurants / eateries):

Vegetarian food in Amsterdam to our pleasant surprise was not an issue at all, in fact it was brilliant! Probably one of the most amount of choice we have had in a major European city.

• Maoz – awesome falafel, like their punch line says – very addicting!
• Bagels and Beans – another great eatery with loads of vegetarian options!
• Pancake Bakery – truly the best pancakes ever, inspirational!
• Betty’s – organic, fresh and creative! 100% vegetarian!
  In many ways this is a model of what I want to do with my (dream) restaurant.

Where did we stay:

We stayed at the Golden Tulip Amsterdam Art hotel. The hotel is in a quite neighbourhood and a short (circa 10 minutes) bus ride from Centraal Station. Clean rooms, decent service and good breakfast.

We planned to stay in Amsterdam for 2 days and ended up spending all 4 days there! I cannot wait to plan a trip this coming spring.

© Amsterdam Amsterdam

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