I have received tons of good travel advice here in the past and thought I'd post some pics from my recent trip to India & Bhutan:

BHUTAN:
www.c-41.net/Albums/2006/Bhutan/index.html

INDIA
www.c-41.net/Albums/2006/India/index.html

Thanks for looking, and feel free to give comments. I'm always hoping to improve.

Great photos. Very good composition and use of light. I specially enjoyed the night photos at Red Fort? The photos from Buthan are amazing. It seems is a great place to visit. Will be included in my future trips. Thanks for sharing.

I am also getting loads of advise for my trip to India in Jan/Feb - this is a great site!

All your piccies are great especially the ones of Delhi where I will be visiting for the first time soon. Were you part of a tour for the Delhi sights or did you get a driver? VHS

Gilawi,
That's the red fort all right. The 50mm f1.8 is one of my favorite lenses, since it really shines (no pun intended) at times like this. For the money ($99) it is hard to beat.

VHS,
I was working there and just took my regular driver for a day, which makes sightseeing very efficient. Unless you really want to meet people, I wouldn't do a tour.

-->HIGHLIGHTS
If you have not looked at the pics yet, I'd stay to the "Highlights" folder on the upper left navbar, as I tend to get a little trigger happy - and for memories sake I include more than just the best photos.

I really enjoyed these pictures! What kind of camera were you using?? Are you doing a trip report??

Thanks. These were all shot with the Nikon D200, and most often with a 18-200VR attched (though there are some with the 50mm and Sigma's 10-20).

I considered a report, but I'm the world's slowest typist. If you have Q's I'd be happy to answer.

We are looking at Bhutan again, as we've always wanted to go there. Who made your Bhutan arrangements? Where you happy with them? How many days were you there? What time of the year? (Wouldn't it just be easier to write a report for us?)

Kathie,

I made the arrangements... ;-) But I used Blue Poppy as my tour operator in Bhutan (all travelers need one).

Blue Poppy is the third largest operator in the country, and one of the partners, Choki Dorji, is based out of the UK. This made planning a lot easier and relieved me of a lot of the uncertainty I sometimes face when using local operators in far away regions.

Choki actually took us around himself and he was very helpful. You can reach him at [email protected]. Tell him Thomas Kramer gave you the reference, and you will make both him and myself happy. (You might even get good pricing, as I got a bargain.)

For traveling in Bhutan, you should know that rack rates give you good, but basic accomodations. Although expensive for the region, it is NOT your typical western style hotels. More like your typical Eastern Europe type local inns. Most people know this and are not surprised. However, If you require luxury, it is available. At a price. A pretty steep price, some would say, but you'd spend more in New York...

As for Blue Poppy, they managed to put us on booked up flights, and in larger rooms with good views. Choki will give you the scoop.

Many thanks, Thomas. I am familiar with the requirements for Bhutan, as I did the research for such a trip a few years ago. I'm not inclined to pay the ridiculous prices for the Aman, for instance. I'm fine with basic, but I know that not all the accommodations are the same. I plan to request specific hotels, and if people have specific rooms they recommend I'd be interested in that.

How long did you spend in Bhutan? We're thinking perhaps 10 days, flying in and out of Bangkok to get there. Our time frame is likely November, 2007.

Any other info you can offer would be much appreciated!

Glad to hear you are informed.

I went up there only for a long weekend from Delhi. I was working and did not have a lot of time (frankly though, I think for hiking it is over-priced). It was, however, right before the main festival season in September/October and so getting anything was virtually impossible. So I may not push you towards my hotels, but I seem to remember there were several recommendations for hotels on this board earlier.

Thanks very much. I did make note of the hotels previously recommended.

You managed to get in some good photography in your short visit.

I am eager to see these photos but can't seem to load them. I've downloaded Flash Media as required and I'm even using Mozilla's Firefox as my browser.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Sorry, but my site seems to have compatibility issues with Firefox. If you boot up IE it should work.

Thomas I saw your photos over on LP and commented on them there. They are great. Like Kathie we have looked into Bhutan before but a few other trips got in there first! We are now starting to look at it again so thanks for all this information. Kathie do you have any idea of how you would like to see your 10 days spent? We are thinking of a similar lenght of time. I have been looking at the set itneraries to get an idea of what is out there so I know a bit more when I contact an operator in Bhutan. We definately want to see a festival so am trying to figure out what differences there may be in these because this will help decide the time of year we go.
Thanks again for sharing your photos Thomas.
J

Thanks for your photos. You really got some great shots. Just got back a month ago and think about India a lot so it was a pleasure to spend some time with your images.

Thanks again Jules. Between Fodor and LP, I usually get all my questions covered.

Good luck with your trip planning.

jules, I roughed out an itinerary a few years back. I'm going to re-read the Lonely Planet guide, then rough out another itinerary. I probably won't contact a guide until I've finished that. I'll be interested in your ideas as well.

Kathie I am in a similar state! I notieced a new LP guide is coming out in April so I want to see what that says. LIke you I want to get a pretty good idea of what we think we would like before making any contacts. We probably won't be going until 2008 as we have this years trip ready to go but it is never too early to start planning!
J

So true, you can never plan too early. We haven't decided on our trip for 2007, and Bhutan is one option. I'll work from the old LP book, but will order the new one once it's available.