Preview of Jdn86's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Jaipur, India Entry Title: "The Pink City" Entry: "After returning from the Taj Mahal on Sunday, I was ready to begin another week of volunteering. But unfortunately, the whole city of Faridabad experienced an unusually bad electricity cut overnight, and beginning at 4am, Dr. Bandhu's generators ran out and I was awoken by the unbearably hot temperature. No one in the house could sleep all night, and when the power wasn't back in the morning, volunteer projects had to be canceled for the day. We all spent the day reading, laying around, and playing with the kids until the power finally returned in the early afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday, I went around with Dr. Bandhu to his hospital. He works in a very nice private hospital near his house. His hospital is similar to the hospitals we have in America, with A/C in the lobbies, many different departments, and many patients and doctors. It even has a fancy fingerprint recognition sign-in system for workers. Dr. Bandhu and I saw patients during the days and then ran errands to other volunteer projects, as he made sure all of the volunteers he had placed were comfortable. During the car rides, Dr. Bandhu put on his favorite cd, which consisted of Sweet Home Alabama, Guns N Roses, and Matchbox 20. He is not really a fan of Hindi pop. On Wednesday ...
Preview of Gra8ful'sblog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Machu Picchu, Peru Entry Title: "Machu Picchu At Last!" Entry: "We made it to one of our top 5 must see sites, Machu Picchu! It was truly an amazing experience. The ruins are spectacular and you can´t help but to be awed at how they could have built such a magnificent place in the middle of all these mountains. The day we went was mixed with sun and rain. The rain, mist and fog added to its mystery and kept the crowds at bay. We tooled around the ruins from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm though you can really see it in 3-4 hours we just really took our time. We also did a hike up Inti Punku aka Sun Gate which provided amazing views from above the ruins. The masonry work is beyond explanation. The cost for the train, bus and tickets was about $125 pp plus food and accommodation. Not the cheapest site to visit. Many tour groups go through so we would pick up bits and pieces when we passed by otherwise our guidebook provided enough explanation of what we were seeing. We know so little about their culture and traditions. We are now in the town of Ollantaytambo that is surrounded by an Inca fortress above and is a quaint, laid back village where we could spend weeks just lazying around and taking hikes to ruins around. We hiked up a steep hill to some ruins that provided magnificent views of the mountains ...
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Machu Picchu, Peru by TravelPod blogger Travellingtans titled "Machu Picchu - The destination, not the journey". TravelPod is a company of TripAdvisor™. Travellingtans's travel blog entry: "Four days of hard work and the view was worth every step. We could have taken the train up in the morning but of course I'm going to say that it's more special making the pilgrimage on foot like the old Incas did. I mean no disrespect to those who did train it up there because Machu Picchu is so cool that it doesn't matter how you get there, just that you go. Up for debate is what Machu Picchu was actually used for. For so long, Machu Picchu was hidden until it was found by Hiram Bingham early last century. The Spanish didn't know about it and it is safe to say that many Inca descendents also didn't know about it (if they did then the Spanish would have been there in a flash). So its secrecy made it hard to pass on stories about what took place there. For the most part, many opinions are that Machu Picchu was used as a religious and ceremonial site. Let's just settle on that for the purposes of this blog. The best spot to start exploring Machu Picchu is from the farming terraces. Climb a little higher on the terraces and you're at the spot that all the postcard pictures of Machu Picchu are taken, called the Watchman's Hut. The ruins on top of a mountain in the foreground, the steep Wayna Picchu mountain in the background and a big ...
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Bath, United Kingdom by TravelPod blogger Mollyandmikeuk titled "A day in Bath" Mollyandmikeuk's travel blog entry: "Yesterday we went to Bath, a swift 15 minute train ride from Bristol. What a beautiful town! Besides the plethora of Georgian style architecture and cobblestone streets, the first thing that surprised me about it was that it was so busy and full of shops. On a chilly winter Saturday, it was packed with shoppers and tourists. We headed straight to Bath Abbey. It's a beacon in the center of town. I think I'm going to start sounding like a broken record soon, but it was just beautiful. The cathedral that stands today was built in the 16th century over the remains of the original cathedral dating back to the 10th century. You can still see the remains of some of the columns below the floor of the existing church. The first King of England, King Edgar was crowned in the Abbey in 973. That's nuts... We moved on the to famous Roman Bath house after that, a sight equally amazing but in a much different way. The Romans were brilliant. The baths date from the first century AD and they still are water tight. How can that be? They constructed the bottom of the baths with interlocking lead panels. I suppose they didn't have caulking back then. The baths are fed naturally by a hot spring. There is even a simple yet effective drainage system that still works today to constantly filter excess water so the water remains ...