Click the pic 4 more on this ritual bathing destination in India.

It may not look like a good place to shop, but TravelPoster elisaestla suggests hunting around in Penjim, India for Western clothes at dirt cheap prices. As for the photo, I just liked it. How often do you see an entire street block without people in it these days? The image has a dreamy, otherworldly quality that I liked.

TravelPoster tdanon blogged that these were the biggest elephants she’s ever seen in the post Last Days in Kerala. She took this picture during an annual festival in Kerala, India’s Cherai Beach. During the visit, she and her traveling pals stayed at Kadallkarra Lake Resort and loved it.

New Delhi’s ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton & Towers is battening down the hatches and upping security in preparation for Prez George Bush’s arrival on Wednesday (which apparently marks the first time in 37 years that a Republican president has visited the country). The 5-star hotel has had a busy couple of weeks. Socialite and hotelier Vikram Chatwal’s star-studded wedding festivities took place here just over a week ago. Indian news site Rediff reports in Hotel Bush that the current president may not be looking forward to the food he’ll find during his trip:

From tomorrow Bush’s entourage will take over the entire hotel including the restaurants, like the famous tandoor food eatery Bukhara where Bill Clinton dined with great gusto in 2000 on his first trip to India. Bush may not dine at the Bukhara because he is said not to be a fan of Indian food.

Now that’s a darn shame. There’s simply nuthin’ like a good korma.

ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton & Towers official site

The over-the-top Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ will be adding a $325 million addition between this spring and late 2007. Good information to know if you’re planning on visiting. Not fun to show up at a hotel when there’s construction you weren’t aware of. Also good information to know if you plan to visit after the tower construction has been completed. By the end of the spring, the property plans to open a new 500-slot machine casino area that includes an 85-table poker room. The next phase will bring 800 rooms, a two-story spa, 25-yard lap pool and fitness center. You can read more details at Borgata to Add 800-Room ‘Water Club’ Tower from Press of Atlantic City.

Be the first to review the Borgata Hotel & Casino for TravelPost.com! (And remember, there’s still time to earn your share of $4,000 during Writers Appreciation Month!)

The Borgata official site

This weekend, New York socialite and hotelier Vikram Chatwal, who joined with Deepak Chopra to create the much talked about Dream Hotel, reportedly plans to marry model Priya Sachdev in New Delhi, India at the ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton. The star-studded three-day event is rumored to count such luminaries as P. Diddy, Naomi Campbell, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Deepak Chopra as guests.

The 500+ room hotel is a popular choice among business travelers and foreign dignitaries.

ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton official site
Dream Hotel official site

Gorgeous tea plantation shot by TravelPoster tdanon during a visit to Munnar in India. Read about the experience and view more photographs in tdanon’s travel blog post Munnar.

Got a few minutes to take a spin around the world? Check out recent blog entries from TravelPosters who are buzzing to through places like:

Milan, Italy

Fatehpur, India

Menifee, CA

So many places, so little time.

TravelPoster Mr. Anderson included this photograh in a blog post called Madness in Delhi. As you might guess from the post title, Mr. Anderson found Delhi to be full of energy, sounds and smells that were simultaneously amazing and shocking:

Walking around Old Delhi has to be something like experiencing life in an ant colony; fourteen million people walking, biking, cycling, driving, shouting, selling, chatting, bathing, eating, littering, loitering, living and dying in a maze of streets, alleys, walkways, byways, throughways, and sideways. All of this is in plain view in Delhi. . Chandni Chowk was so congested that it made Los Angeles freeways during rush hour seem desirable. People changed lanes without ever looking to see who might be coming up from behind (the drivers are only responsible for what happens to the front end of the car).

I liked the photograph. And it sort of sums up Mr. Anderson’s vivid description of this city.

When I read TravelPoster gale_geoff’s post about Gokarna, India, I thought to myself, now here’s one for the budget-minded traveler to nota bene. Obviously a spot for the adventurous backpacker set and not the luxury traveler, the town is an ultra cheap seaside paradise:

Lush white sands and a simple lifestyle having little other to do than remembering to wake up in the morning, then order some food from one of the many ramshackle beachside guesthouses and bars. We found the quietest beach of them all, away from the tiresome party-heads, and ended up stagnating here for 3 weeks. It’s the cheapest part of the world I have ever seen, and with accomodation costing us 30pence each/night, we spent little more than 50pounds for the whole time we spent there!

The small beach town is on India’s west coast, about five hours south of Goa and accessible by bus from several Konkan rail stations with stops in the area.

Want more information on Gokarna? Check out Seaside Sojurns Gokarna, Tourism of India’s Gokarna page or Karnataka’s Gokarna page.