Jodhpur, This city sounded like sweet music to our ears. For the first time after our wedding (08/09) we were heading for a real break. We had booked a five starts hotel called Raas. This oasis was located at the centre of the noisy and labyrinth-like Blue city. Our first days in India were intense and led us to absorb city after city the essence of Rajasthan with their vibrant colours, strong smells, infinite number of new faces, loud noises, and spicy flavours. Now our mind

Udaipur, On our train to Udaipur, we finally traveled in a class with air conditioning. And the difference was enormous. In fact, for just Rs.200 more per person you would notice a huge difference in the type of Indians that was in our cabin. They would look less but smile more. The clothes were more delicate but the outfits were simpler. No need for big accessories or for talking loudly. This is when we met Priyanka and her mother. They are two Indian women from the Brahmin

Reinventing Food is series of blogposts where as a chef, I will share a few of the food discoveries and recipes I am collecting throughout my world tour. Each traditional dish will be the playground for creative cooking and ideation. Tea in India is drank like water. Everywhere you go at any time of the day you will find people, making, selling and drinking chai. Chai in Europe means a particular type of tea made with spices. In India, chai simply means tea and you can fin

Pushkar, Jess and I were super excited to visit the small town of Pushkar. It is located 10 km from Ajmer and it takes around half an hour to get there by bus for the ridiculous amount of 20 rupees. Pushkar is beautifully built around a lake and it's surrounded by green hills. This town is famous for being a pilgrimage location for Hindus (a bit like Varanasi but in smaller size). Hundreds of temples can be found across and around this village. My first observation was the am

While in Jaipur we went to visit the Jantar Mantar, an exquisite observatory with giant objects to measure time and the movements of the planets. There was a unique section with 12 instruments, each corresponding to a specific sign of the Zodiac to be used whenever that particular sign approached the meridian. This coincided with an interesting conversation I was having the day before with an Indian woman about the importance they give to astrology in India and how it is deep

Jaipur, Today we are leaving Jaipur to Pushkar, we have been here since two days. We have been welcomed to the city by Veena who works at the Tushita Foundation. She was introduced to us by Isabel as well as Mr.Jan in Delhi so we could learn more about the Tushita project. Luckily enough she sent someone to pick us up from the bus station at our arrival two days ago. We had just arrived from Agra and had a terrible trip! Although the morning started magically with us visiting

Reinventing Food is series of blogposts where as a chef, I will share a few of the food discoveries and recipes I am collecting throughout my world tour. Each traditional dish will be the playground for creative cooking and ideation. India contains a large spectrum of vegetarian dishes. One of the most iconic in Rajasthan is Dal. Dal is a souplike sauce made out of lentils and sometimes you will find chickpeas or beans added to the lentils. DAL RECIPE (Intermediate cooking le

I started to read a book called “An Indian Poem”, a Nobel price book written by Hermann Hesse. Right from the start I got absorbed by the beautiful messages behind the story of a young Brahmin called Siddhartha. Here is a message I would like to share: Siddartha was a Brahmin loved and respected by everyone. He had everything one could ask for but inside he felt bothered by an emotional and spiritual unrest. He felt the need to understand these frustrations and this became hi

New Delhi to Agra, Antonio, The alarm rang at 5.20am and we were going to take our first train in India. We decided to go for the cheapest class in the local train and I was a bit anxious to discover what it would look like. The train was going from New Delhi to Agra. I was so happy because nothing was planned yet and we had no driver to guide us anymore. By ourselves, I had this immense feeling of freedom and presence pumping into my veins. When the train arrived, finding ou

Old Delhi, Today was our second day in Delhi. We spent the day with our friend Vijay again who is very dedicated to pleasing us and showing us the best of Delhi. We started the day by going to buy our train tickets to Agra at the station. Vijay funnily seemed to want to avoid this at all costs :-) . Maybe he was afraid of what we would think or it was his protective rib kicking in? The ticket office was a bit further from the station. Not even Vijay himself knew where it was!

New Delhi, Today we set foot in India for the first time. I was devastated from the lack of sleep and the cold was getting worst. I couldn't feel the excitement, I was in zombie mode. But rationally, I knew I wanted to be here in India. Jessica seemed quiet, tired, attentive and a bit destabilized with the arrival. We grabbed our backpacks and the adventure started. Our first contact with India was Rajender, the loyal assistant of the still unknown and mysterious Mr. Jan. We

Antonio, Lisbon, It all started with a dream when I was 17 years old travelling with my family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During that trip, I set the intention to the Universe that one day I would travel the world. This intention gave me a feeling of expansion beyond my own body and mind that I wanted to explore at the right time. 10 years later, here I am on a plane to my first destination: New Delhi, in search of experiencing the world. I am bringing with me a special pers