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I’ve been avidly following some friends on facebook who are attending the Kumbh Mela in India right now . It is fascinating. If Kumbh Mela doesn’t sound familiar to you, it is a huge festival where millions of Hindus head to the Ganges River to bath and to participate in religious...
Going on a photo tour is a very different experience than a traditional tour …why? A photo tour is where folks travel primarily to take photos. It’s become a favorite way for me to see the world. On a photo tour typically you don’t spend much time in museums or cultural institutions...
I often get asked why I want to go to India. I’ve been three times. I am already looking forward to the fourth visit marked in bold letters on my calendar in 2018. Why would a woman like me who grew up in a small town, attended Midwestern Universities and settled in a traditionally conventional...
Ahmedabad recently won World Heritage Status and I can understand why. It’s a great place to visit. “Where is it?” you might ask. I pondered this question when I saw it on the itinerary of the Jim Cline Three Festivals Photography trip that I took last March. Had to look it up on a map. […]
“There are no new places to visit. Tauck Tours has run out of destinations.” This was a statement made recently at my book club by a member talking about the future of travel. At the time I was a little skeptical, but it stuck in my mind. Recently on a trip to India I visited a […]
If you read last week’s blog you know that the Kavant Fair in India is the Rathva Tribe’s opportunity to show off their traditions. It’s a very happy time for the people of the area. The Kavant Fair, while an opportunity for the tribal males to show off their proud heritage...
I had no idea what to expect when we rolled into Kavant, India to attend the much anticipated Fair. Kavant is a small village in Gujarat, populated with a tribal group called the Rathvas. Rathva literally means forest dweller. They have inhibited this area for thousands of years. This festival...
I had never heard of step wells until I went to India last March. We visited one but ironically at the same time a major coffee table book came out about them, prompting lots of publicity. After visiting the Adlaj Vav step well in Gujarat, I realized why a photographer would chase all over...
Fascination with Turbans I don’t know why but I’ve always been fascinated with turbans. While commonplace in much of the world, they were seldom seen in the sheltered small town where I grew up in Western Michigan. That’s changed now, of course, but the mystique of a man wearing a turban has...
It was on the road to Anadpur Sahib that I realized what a big deal the Hola Mohalla was. We were smack dab in the middle of a narrow road choked with buses, tractors, trucks, cars and folks on horseback. Masses of us were all heading to the city in Punjab where the three day […]