Being a vegetarian or a vegan in India

Whether you are a vegetarian or a vegan and you are planning on travelling to India, let me tell you that you will have absolutely no problem at all. 

As vegetarians/vegans, one of the things that we worry about before visiting a foreign country is its cuisine and whether there will be many options for us or not. Sadly, in many European countries, their main dishes all have either fish or meat (or both) and we cannot eat many things in regular restaurants without reducing our diet to a basic salad made with lettuce and tomato - sometimes without even a single drop of oil. I have personally faced this problem many times in Spain... going to a mainstream restaurant and finding out that you either eat some undressed lettuce or you go back home with your stomach empty. 

Treating oneself with... Indian ghee sweets!

This post is dedicated to people like me, people who enjoy eating and trying new dishes, sweets and desserts every time they visit a new country; people who consider a country's cuisine as part of their identity and culture; people who, basically, like treating themselves and are willing to try the huge variety of sweets displayed in Indian bakeries. 

The cheap luxury of... Indian perfumes!

If you want me to be totally honest, I believe that this kind of perfumes can be bought in many other places in the world and not only in India. However, the ones that you can see in the pictures below are produced in Mysore (India) and sold here, too. I specifically bought these six bottles while I was in Kochi (Kerala) and I am really happy with my purchase! 

Interviewed by Ser Catalunya while volunteering in India.

English:

Interviewed by Ser Catalunya while volunteering in Anantapur (India).

While I was in Anantapur, I was interviewed by the radio station Ser Catalunya, specifically for the programme "Tot és comèdia". They came to Anantapur to visit the facilities of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and spoke to many professionals working there - Indian and Spanish workers as well as volunteers. 

The art of Mehndi

I am almost 100% positive that most of you have seen henna tattoos on people's bodies at least several times in your lives. The thing is that you don't need to be in India in order to see them - you can be anywhere in the world. The more I travel, the more I realise that this Indian tradition has conquered the hearts (and the eyes) of people from all over the world. For that reason, I know that you don't need to come to India to see them... As a islander that I am, I have seen henna stands on many Majorcan beaches. What I had never seen before is, nonetheless, the huge variety of henna tattoos that one can get, how imaginative and original the designs can be, how precise their shapes and how quick their makers. 

Follow me on Instagram

Dear all,

If you want to see pictures of my trips until I publish another post on one of the trips mentioned here, follow me on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/xescarossellogornals/

Love from India!
Xesca.

Useful tips if you're travelling around India

If you are travelling around the Indian subcontinent or have plans to do so in the near - or not so near - future, here you have some tips that might be useful. As a person that has been not only travelling but living in India for almost a year and a half now, I have acknowledged many things about the Indian culture that can be really practical while exploring this amazing country.

Apologies and relevant information

Dear followers and sporadic readers,

This is just a quick message to inform you all that I have NOT forgotten that I have a blog and that you are all eagerly waiting to see pictures from other places that I have visited. 

However and unfortunately, my laptop broke while I was in India due to the amount of times that electricity goes off every day, which means that I have no way to publish any new posts. The only electronic device that I have right now is my iPad, which does not have an entry for my camera card and/or cable, so I am afraid I will not be able to post anything new until I buy a new laptop.

The good news is that, once I'm back, you'll have news from a long list of places: Granada, Pisa, London, Leeds, Florence, Malta, Taormina (Sicily), Pompei, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Agra, Mumbai, Kadiri (India) and, hopefully, any other new places that I visit until then - maybe Thailand, Goa, Kerala, Varanasi... Who knows!?

I hope you can have news about all those places soon!

Lots of love from Bangalore!
Xesca.

Jaipur: the real magic of the 'pink city'.

English:

Jaipur: the real magic of the 'pink city'.

As I said in my last post, the most extraordinary experience I lived during the month of April was a short trip through northern India, particularly to the cities of Jaipur and Agra.

The first stop after our short walk through Delhi was Jaipur, also known as 'the pink city' because of the colour of the buildings that compose it. In fact, the 'pink city' is only a part of Jaipur located between some characteristic salmon-pink gates. The rest of Jaipur is composed of historic palaces and buildings and fascinating bazaars.

New Delhi: a little hint of the chaos in the Indian capital city.

English:

New Delhi: a little hint of the chaos in the Indian capital city.

Hello everyone!

Today I am coming back with another post to tell you about another of my adventures in India.

From the 6th until the 10th of April, taking advantage of the weekend of Ugadi (New Year for Hindus), two of my fellow volunteers (who have become two good friends of mine) and I decided to spend two days in Jaipur and two in Agra.

Rannalhi (Maldives): our luxurious life in Paradise.

English:

Rannalhi (Maldives): our luxurious life in Paradise.

As I said in my last post, two of my best friends and I decided to spend six days in Maldives last week. I imagine that many of those who read my blog have seen the dazzling pictures that I could take there and I guess that there is no doubt that that is actually Paradise.

Nevertheless, I am pleased to inform you that you have not seen it all yet. The thing is that the best part of the trip is yet to come. And that part involves two days that we decided to spend on another island (Rannalhi) right at the epicentre of our holiday.

Maafushi (Maldives): mixing local people with luxurious five-star resorts

English:

Maafushi (Maldives): mixing local people with luxurious five-star resorts.

I already have too many drafts in this blog. Posts that, due to lack of time or laziness, I have not published yet and do not know when to publish. However, I could not resist the temptation to publish information about my trip to Maldives, which took place last week.

With more than ten entries to post about my still current life in India, I decided to devote this space to the publication of a special trip that I went on with two of my best friends.

In September last year I received a message on a Whatsapp group which I have with these two friends, Antònia and Sandra, in which they told me they were considering the possibility of visiting me for my birthday. However, they noted that, since India is a country that does not attract them, they would not come to see me here, but we would be meeting in nothing less than Maldives instead, provided that I could go. We changed the dates several times because we could not all travel at the same time for some reason or another and we finally decided to do it in March 2016. After talking with my coordinators and seeing that there was no problem in leaving for a week, we decided to start this adventure on March 5th and finish it on March 11th.