Inside this issue - Distant Frontiers

Sept/October 2010
Inside this issue
2
From the CEO’s Desk
3
Pedestrian, but far from
boring
5
The Spirit of Varanasi
7
Two wheels, One Soul
Destination Insider
Come explore with us
9
On Time
11
Kathmandu My Way
13
Wanderlust
17
Chasing the Rain
E
X
P
A
T
S
P
E
C
I
A
L
19
My India
From the CEO’s Desk
Dear Friends,
During my recent trip to Agra I went to visit the Roman Catholic
Cemetery in the Civil Lines. It was recommend by our Destination
Knowledge Centre as a must do in the city of the Taj Mahal. I wasn't
disappointed. I spent a fascinating 60 minutes there, re-living a crosscultural mix that has never made it into history books and traveler's
itineraries. The India of the 18th and early 19th century under the
British East India Company has always marveled me. It was an India
which was far more hybrid, with less clearly defined ethnic, national
and religious borders.
What is really interesting from that period are the early Europeans;
mercenaries, travellers, wanderlust. They were mostly acculturated and
saw themselves and their families as 'Indian' albeit with a European
background. My favourite of the lot is Sir David Ochterlony. Ochterlony
was British East India Company's Resident of Delhi. He dressed like a
Mughal and, insisted on being addressed by his Indian title, Nasir-udDaula, or “defender of the state”. Every evening all 13 of Ochterlony's
Indian Bibis (wives) would move around Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi
with their husband on elephants.
It is no wonder then that the grave of Dutch mercenary, Jon Hessing, at
the Roman Catholic Cemetery is shaped like the Taj Mahal. Hessing died
in 1803 and it was his wife who built it in his loving memory. This
cemetery is the final resting ground of many such early Europeans and
their families- English, French, Italian, Belgian, Portuguese, even a
Bavarian. I recommend you go there for an amazing insight into how
the early Europeans embraced the Persian Mughal culture in life and
death.
Fast forward to the 21st century, whilst we continue traveling in search
of out of the ordinary experiences for your clients, we have bonded and
made friends with several such modern day wanderlust and travellers
from distant foreign lands. All fascinated by India, recognising it as the
land of opportunity.
We bring you the third issue of the Destination Insider, which is an
Expat Special – dedicated to these modern day wanderlust and
travellers who have made India their home and are ready to help your
clients see this beautiful country from a completely different
perspective.
Come Explore with us
Dipak Deva
Darren and Malgosia Odell, an English couple, are friends of Distant Frontiers and live in the pink City of
Jaipur. Believing that Rajasthan has so much to offer the inquisitive savvy traveller, between them they source
and develop innovative tourism products that include two heritage walks in the old city. In this issue Darren
writes a few lines about life in Jaipur, and his hope that heritage walks in the city not only excite the visitor but
help ensure the preservation of the built environment and crafts unique to this city.
Pedestrian, but far from boring
“Namaste, you want Rickshaw? Hello, which country sir? I show you City Palace, come to my shop!” Oh, the familiar
sounds of tourism in Jaipur, the 'Pink City' and capital of Rajasthan, where every firang (foreigner) is a potential
source of income, a golden opportunity!
Maybe it was fate that brought us together and in due course to Jaipur, after all we had met each other in India,
travelled extensively in India, lived and breathed India. Then through a bizarre chain of events my wife and I found
ourselves renting our home in the UK and moving to India.
India the 21st century land of opportunity!
My introduction to India was across the border from Pakistan, 12 longs weeks since leaving London I drove across the
border at Wagah entering the bread basket of India, the Punjab. A few days later I reached Delhi. I still remember that
misty January morning driving past India Gate when out of the mist the hazy silhouette of an elephant and mahout
appeared. At that moment it felt like I had arrived..... That was 1992. Now 18 years later, here I am once again living
in this amazing country which excites and exasperates in equal measure!
Today India races into the 21st century and its economy continues to expand at a rate of nearly 10% year on year, a
figure that is set to continue. With growing optimism about what can be achieved and what great opportunity the
future holds it appears to me, the firang, that India is forgetting its incredible past and the lessons its history holds for
the future. In modern Jaipur it seems Jai Singh II, his vision and his ideas are now almost forgotten.
Vastu Shastra, a traditional Hindu system of design based on directional alignment was the principle of design used
by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II who founded Jaipur the first planned city of India when he moved his capital from
Amer in 1727.
The walled city of old Jaipur divided into chowkris (wards) by the main streets and chaupars (crossroads) was further
divided into sub wards. Planned for functionality, mobility and social distribution these sub wards housed the
population of the city according to jati (caste). Referred to as mohallas these wards formed communities of specific
professions and as a result strong social bonds formed. Jai Singh sent many personal invitations to noted merchants
and craftsmen from across Asia offering generous tax concessions and gifts of land if they would relocate to the new
city. In its prime the city housed scholars, poets, writers, musicians, dancers and highly skilled craftspeople in
specialist karkhanas (workshops) Thus ensuring a steady output of utility items and art and crafts artefacts these
karkhanas contributed to the wealth, prestige, prosperity and preservation of the city.
280 years later the original old walled city of Jaipur still survives. Just! Its incredible history, architecture and crafts
are all still there to be discovered, stories of old can still be heard and the skills handed down through generations can
still be observed.
I visited Jaipur many times during my 18 year relationship with the sub continent, however like every tourist I only
every visited Amber, the fort and palace. I would stay for two nights and visit the City Palace and the museum, marvel
at the astronomical instruments of the Jantar Mantar and stop for a photograph of the Hawa Mahal.
Perhaps the twist of fate that brought us to Jaipur also played a part in our meeting with the founder of a local not for
profit foundation which promotes Rajasthan's rich traditions and cultural skills, art and history. As a result of that
meeting the old city of Jaipur was exposed to us, and over the last four months, far from the cries of “come to my
shop, you want rickshaw, which country sir!” we have discovered small Tantric temples, many private Havelis, the
best Pakora and Samosa Wallahs in the city. We have shared a chai with the relatives of the last financier to the Royal
family of Jaipur, been blessed by many Pandit priests and heard the stories of a bygone age. We have been astounded
by the workmanship of a fifth generation meenakari craftsman, a wood block carver (used for fabric printing) and a
silver caster. The highlights of Jaipur that most tourists visit are indeed highlights for a reason and they have
extraordinary beauty. I hope that in the future visitors to Jaipur get the opportunity to explore this other side of the
walled city and get the opportunity to interact with the locals who have amazing stories to tell and incredible skills to
share.
The folk that live inside the city walls may, like the majority of Indians, be looking towards the future and all that it will
bring, but with encouragement from the tourism industry they may just decide that the past also has a place. Let's try
and ensure that the vision and creation of Jai Singh II is preserved for future generations to enjoy!
Despite the haranguing by rickshaw wallahs and the mushrooming of shopping malls, life in India is an enriching
experience, living in Jaipur is certainly a challenge but I have fallen for this city...... All those that live in or visit Jaipur
have a part in preserving it, if only in a small way, but by doing so those of the future will look back at those of the past
and feel proud, proud of their history, proud of their culture, proud of their city, proud of India !
Distant Frontier's exclusive walking tours of Jaipur Click here
Jeremy ‘Jai’ Oltmann is a friend of Distant Frontiers and former director of a Hindu Studies program for an American
University that engages people in local social issues with the marginalised. He lectures internationally on cross-cultural
communication and often avoids work to take walks with our clients in the hidden back alleys of Varanasi, discuss the
historic architecture, and learn about culture while chatting up anyone from the local milkman to the temple priest. He
has resided in Varanasi for the past decade with his wife Arasi Veeramani and their two children, Arjun and Mrinalini”
The Spirit of Varanasi
This year the monsoon has come late and our family is packing up our bags in 45c heat to get ready to visit Two
Chimneys in Gethia, Kumoun. It is a lovely and quaint 150 year old British Bungalow on multiple levels hidden in a
hilly forest of fir trees. I can see myself now sitting on their verandah, next to the amazing outdoor pool with a cold
one in hand forgetting about all the other things in life. As I pack my bags I wonder why I am still living in Varanasi
after all these years and not there in the Himalaya!
I began my journey of learning from others when I came at the tender age of 25 to India with a community
development group to serve the chemically dependent, destitute and marginalized in New Delhi. After a couple years
of trying to understand the swirling cultures and languages around me I retreated to a lifestyle of learning language
and culture through innumerable culinary trips to eat kebabs & haleem in Nizamuddin, shwarma and momos in the
back of New Friends Colony, parathas and chaat in Chandni Chowk, and downing gallons of filter coffee in strange
beaker laden devices while eating in Connought Place's United Coffee House.
Eventually feeling strangely giddy and linguistically confused (some say 'kaan fused', or 'fused in the ears', pardon
the pun) I left to study Hindi in Mussoorie, a quaint British Hill Station town on the edge of the Himalaya. I can still
taste the tang of homemade sharp chedder from A. Prakash & Sons Stores in Sister Bazaar who were taught to make
cheese by a European. While I was trying to make sense of the beautiful Devanagari, literally 'the etchings of the
gods', in Landour Language Institute, I always enjoyed sitting with Principal Chitranjan Datt and engaging him in
conversation. He is always willing to entertain an interested traveler with philosophical discussion over a steaming
cup of chai and share a beedi, the traditional and cheap poor man's cigarette, strictly indulged off the school grounds
of course, as the school is housed in historic Kellogg church in the Landour Cantonment.
The great lila of life takes us in many different directions so after writing a Hindu Studies course for a small university
I ended up living in Varanasi, the most holy city of the Hindu world, and running an internship program there for 9
years. Varanasi, which is alternately known as Kashi or Banaras is a place having untold layers of culture, amazing
architecture, wonderfully confusing alleyways and is renowned for being a centre of traditional music, hand-woven
wedding saris, historic Sanskrit schools and ancient temples along the Ganga river.
I first heard an often quoted couplet, one that is never far from the lips of all true Banarasi's, of whom I now count
myself, while I was sitting on the great stone steps of Tulsi Ghat.
“Rand, Sand, Seedi, Sanyasi, Inse Bacche to Sevai Kashi!” A rough translation is, “Widows, Bulls, Stairs, Saints, Save us
from these so we can reach Kashi!”
I think it is true humilty that the very things that sum up the spiritual lifeblood of the holiest city of the Hindu world is
dealt with in acidic tongue and cheeky humour by the lightning wit of famed 15th century local weaver-poet Kabir,
the Muslim saint with a Hindu guru, to whom this poem is often attributed. We all know that the housing for the
widowed could lead to a loss of virtue, humble Nandi's descendents wandering in narrow alleys can gore you with a
quick flip of their sharp horns, a misguided step while navigating the famous stone steps leading to the holy Ganga
can land you up with a cracked skull (or bruised ego at the least) and the ever pious religious mendicants that
populate the city are always ready to extract a price to lead you to salvation!
Well if you don't have enough time to sit on the steps next to the Ganga your whole life to find these quotes then I
suggest you stop into Harmony Bookstore in Assi ghat and ask Rakesh Singh, the proprietor, which books he is
recommending these days. Often you will be surrounded by other international and local browsers, research
scholars, budding (or decayed) authors, university students and Govinda Baba, a famous resident sadhu and former
passport holder, who enjoys spending his days of renunciation paging through the colourful coffee table books and
vast array of sacred literature held in Harmony's cave of knowledge!
I can almost hear the silence of the Himalaya calling and ready myself for the hustle and bustle of the Varanasi Cantt
station but I know once I finish off the holiday (and paying for it!) I will notice something is missing. It is then that I
realize that the city that is said to sit on Shiva's trident, outside of time and hidden from the god of death, Yama, is the
one place to call home and that even sipping a beer under the fir trees with the cool breeze of the Himalaya can't hold
a candle to living in the great Kashi, the City of Light! It's already time to journey back to Banaras and I haven't even
left yet!
Photo Credit (Background picture): Suchet Suwanmongkol (website- www.pbase.com/khunchild )
Jack Leenaars is a friend of Distant Frontiers and former South Asia correspondent for the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
After six years 'on duty' he decided to change his life radically and follow his passion for cycling. In this issue Jack talks
about his love and hate relationship with Delhi and how India’s bustling capital city finally conquered his heart.
Two wheels, One Soul
Our maiden meeting happened on a chilly night in late November 2003. With a spicy breath filling the air, it was the
full moon welcoming me more than anything else. I have to admit, it wasn’t love at first sight. But she completely
blew me off.
Was this what I had been looking forward to for so long?
Dark streets passed me by as I made it to the guesthouse. Not a single time she opened up or even attempted to make
contact with me. All she did was overwhelm me with shadowy images. Disappointed, I fell asleep only to be woken up
the next morning by a cacophony of street sounds.
Sleepy I walked to the balcony, closing my eyes from the reflecting sunshine. Guided by the ocean of sounds I sensed
that she had decided to present herself differently today. This time warm, colourful and even inviting me to join in.
Thankful for this open invitation I stepped in, never to let her escape again.
She was Delhi. Now my home for the past 7 years.
I have to admit; despite her willingness I wasn’t very loyal to her. My profession of a journalist, that had brought me to
Delhi, made me travel all over South Asia. I was so busy covering the Indian subcontinent for Dutch media including
the leading daily Telegraaf, looking for exciting, beautiful, dramatic and inspiring hotspots that I totally missed out
on the millions of opportunities I was given to explore the city I was living in.
Meanwhile, Delhi had become my base, where my wife Noreen was building her advertisement company, my two
children Mali and Pjotr were born and from where we were hungrily eating away ‘Indian Life’. Life with a capital ‘L’, as
it proved to be good for us. But I was not treating Delhi with the same respect she had been treating me with ever
since that sunny morning. We were still strangers.
Now, looking back after seven years of living in India, I understand why. Delhi is a city with a million faces - as many as
there are Hindu gods. Unlike a magic mirror that always reflects the soul of the eyes staring into the glass. Eyes that
are looking for answers, for hope, for support, for the joy of life, for happiness - the Delhi mirror never provides these
answers. It only asks questions, something most people are not interested in. It asks people questions and tells them
to look for answers themselves. Like a true oracle.
Wasn’t it Delhi’s last great poet, Mirza Ghalib, who proclaimed that ‘The world is the body, Delhi is its soul’? But where
to look?
I realised it is in the streets where you find the soul of Delhi, where all the secrets of life are to be found. You only have
to go out and explore to find the Holy Grail. The moment I realised this in the autumn of 2007, I decided to start an old
habit again….cycling.
With my shiny new bike I started looking for answers, hope, support, joy of life, happiness in the streets of Delhi. I
made myself comfortable in the city I had been strangers with all these years and I found everything I was looking for
- right in my backyard…
I realise not everybody is willing to explore this megacity on their own. It’s a challenging journey and I speak from
experience. Challenging but extremely fulfilling. That’s why I started organising bicycle tours in the winter of 2009.
To share my experiences with as many people as possible.
DelhiByCycle was born.
First in Old Delhi with two bicycles I purchased and by inviting friends, later friends of friends and so on. More and
more people showed interest in exploring Delhi on two wheels and with good reason! Cycling is perhaps the best way
to get introduced to a city - especially a megacity like Delhi with her overwhelming ways of presenting herself.
Now, one and a half years later DelhiByCycle offers forty bicycles, three routes and the sky seems the limit - without
losing its original spirit of course.
Although I know, not everybody is looking for the same answers as I did when I first cycled in streets of India’s
bustling capital city, but each one of you will get a very personal insight into the soul of Delhi in the three to four
hours that you will spend cycling with me. That’s a promise.
For soul searching on two wheels Click here
She was born in Nancy but her heart beats wild in Marseille. Valerie Chalopet is Business Support Manager in our India
headquarters. She wouldn't call herself French, not even a European but a world citizen. Her motto: 'Carpe Diem'. She
does her best to live her dreams and not to dream her life. In this issue Valerie tells us why she thinks that the time
difference between Europe and India is not one but a billion where each Indian citizen seems to have their own concept of
time and hardly shares it.
On Time
To start with, let's kill a “fait accompli”
Time is a 'universal concept'… but not in India it seems!
This is my story (actually just one of them)
Once upon a time, an innocent expat decided to buy an Air Conditioner (totally compulsory in India during the
summer and Monsoon seasons) and an innocent looking salesman offered me, with his best smile to deliver and
install it. That sounded great because in Europe, normally, we have to sort it out ourselves. So I happily accepted
these extra services. Perhaps a BIG MISTAKE because from then on started my incredible experience in the 'Indian
Time”
The delivery was planed two days later between 6.00pm & 7.00pm. I left the office earlier to be on time for the
delivery van. At 7.30pm, I started to get a little bit nervous and gave a call to the shop. Someone answered me 'the
delivery boy is on the way and will reach your place within 15 minutes Ma'am'. No sign of the delivery boy and my Air
Con. At 8.30pm I called again but this time nobody picked up the phone. The shop was preparing to shut down
(closure time at 09.30pm). So I spent a third night under 'tropic temperatures' without cocktails and very annoyed.
Next morning, at 10.00am, I called the shop again, quite upset of course, and tried to ask in the most polite and calm
manner: ”WHERE IS MY AIR CON?????????????” “Ma'am, sorry, very sorry, we had problem with our delivery van
yesterday evening (?) by this evening 06.00pm you will get it Ma'am, is-it ok for you?” …I didn't know what to say, do I
yell at him or do I take this as an opportunity to improve upon my patience…I chose to YEEEELLLLL…at least even if it
won't change anything, I would feel a little bit better!
I spent my day focused and reached home around 06.00pm. The Air Con finally arrived around 07.00pm, maybe by
van, cycle rickshaw or camel, but it reached. Almost on time !!
But…then I was told that the installation will be done…next day!!!! Believe me, this kind of news is a killer but by then I
had decided to be patient and to thank the running boy with a tip. After all you can't always fight…especially with
Indian Time…
No comment concerning the night I spent, looking at my packed Air Con…
In the event of such a nightmarish situation with Indian Time, here are some simple but essential tips:
•
Take a break from your office (at least half-day!)
•
Cook some fresh coffee (no Masala Tea because you will hate anything Indian)
•
Find some good books and a comfortable chair (where you can easily fall asleep)
•
Keep the faith ( I trust Ganesh-Ji, the elephant deity riding a mouse, during such time of crisis)
•
Try to keep yourself in a good mood (Repeating the mantra ‘Everything happens for the Best’)
And…
Open the door promptly like I did when the Air Con was finally delivered, even if you think “ok, now it is your turn to
wait…” because maybe, they will never come back…
I have more electric materials at home which needed a delivery and an installation and I could share with you the
adventures of my washing machine, my micro wave, gas cylinder…
Instead of being angry, bitter or paranoid, Iam learning to “take it easy, not to worry and be happy”, because in spite
of everything, time flies too fast in India like everywhere else.
Tanya Pascual is an environmental geographer with more than 20 years experience working for environmental NGOs.
For the past three years Tanya and her husband have been living in Kathmandu, Nepal working on several projects such
as responsible tourism, community development waste management projects, environmental awareness seminars and
was director for two years of a Buddhist Meditation Centre. Tanya is a friend of Distant Frontiers and is currently
Creative & Projects Director for Wild Earth Nepal, a social entrepreneur company producing handcrafted Himalayan
herbal products by Nepali women but she still continues to carry out environmental project consultancies.
Kathmandu My Way
•
How long have you lived in Kathmandu?
For the past three years.
•
What made you move here?
My husband and I are fascinated by South Asian culture and environment and in particular the Himalayan
mountain range, which is also my professional and academic specialist area.
•
What do you like living most in Kathmandu?
Living in the centre of the city and walking to work accompanied by a herd of cows. You wouldn't see that in
London! Although it life has become busy it is still at a different pace than Europe.
•
Is there anything you do not like living in Kathmandu?
The amount of non biodegradable plastic bags everywhere.
•
Why should travellers visit Kathmandu?
Nepal is the jewel in the Himalayas; Kathmandu is a maze of streets full of culture, history, and temples. A place
to discover the traditional art and handicrafts away from the tourist areas. It is also the gateway to the natural
world or precious fauna and flora and Nepal of old times.
•
Do's for travellers while visiting Kathmandu?
Visit one of the many Buddhist monasteries to hear the ceremonial prayer chanting.
•
Don't for travellers while visiting Kathmandu?
Don't give money to the street children in Thamel; you are not helping them that way.
•
Which tourist sights would you avoid in Kathmandu?
None.
•
Which ones you would never want to miss?
Swoyambunath and Boudhanath.
•
A hidden gem that you would recommend and which most travelers give a miss?
The hidden stupas and lanes in Asan, the real Kathmandu.
•
If you had only one night in Kathmandu which hotel would recommend?
It has to be at least a four star hotel somewhere in the centre of town.
•
If you had only one meal in Kathmandu which local dish would you recommend?
Momos.
•
Where would you eat?
Yangling Restaurant, Thamel; the best momos in town.
Road House Café, Baluwater, Patan and Thamel; Great pizzas and fresh salads.
Lotus Japanese Restaurant, our favourite place in town for healthy clean food.
Chez Caroline, best quality restaurant in town, Baba Mahal Revisited
Bakery Café, a chain of standard food restaurants with great service and breakfasts.
•
Where would you go for a drink?
The Factory, Thamel, bar with good cocktails and snacks.
Irish Pub, Lazimpat, home from home.
•
Best Festival and why?
Buddha Jayanti, Buddhas birthday visiting Swoyambhu stupa at night all lit up during full moon.
•
Your favourite Nepali and why?
Namindra Dai for being an honest and reliable taxi driver.
•
What's your best insider tip to Kathmandu?
Don’t eat in just any restaurant especially in the tourist areas.
• That one word in the Nepali language which, according to you, every traveller should know and will help
them get by in Kathmandu?
Namaste
Mark Shipley is President and Chief Strategic Officer at Wanderlust, a New York based travel and destination marketing
firm that specialises in communications strategies, internet marketing, branding and management consulting for the
tourism industry. He is a friend of Distant Frontiers and in this issue he shares his expert insight on website strategies
and best practices.
Building a Destination Website – Part 2
In the last issue, we shared best practices on choosing the right web platform and defining a content strategy. In
this issue, we discuss how to keep your site fresh, how to open up a two-way dialog using social media and
blogging, and conversion tools to help move prospects closer to making a purchase decision.
Keywords, check. Content Strategy, check. Now what?
Now that you have your initial keyword list of, say five hundred terms and phrases ranked by monthly searches and
attainability, and have a web content strategy outlined, it’s almost time to start creating content. Before we jump into
the different kinds of content a great travel website can offer, let’s go into a bit more detail on a topic we touched on
in the last issue: how websites must offer content that is compelling – not just to humans seeking travel information
at all stages of the buying process, but also to search engines on a quest for relevance.
Unlike print and broadcast communications created for a very specific group of people, web content must serve two
audiences – people and search engines. Fortunately for us, both audiences are looking for the same thing: relevant
content. Robotic search engines sift through content to identify, index and rank the relevance of content so inquiring
humans can find exactly what they’re looking for. By identifying the common ground shared by your audience and
your brand – where their interests overlap your offerings – content can be delivered to anticipate their requests and
optimized for search engines using the right keywords. Suddenly, your travel and destination brand appears at the
top of their search results, and your well-crafted content begins to draw consumers to your site.
Playing to search engine algorithms
At Wanderlust, we base our search engine optimization decisions on Google's search algorithms. They go to great
lengths to evaluate every page on every website, indexing and ranking each based on its relevance to a particular
search term. Let's take a look at a web page to see what Google sees.
The Anatomy of a Web Page
When the google.bot considers a web page, it looks for a meta title, URL and h1 title to determine what that web page
is about. Populating each of these fields of your web pages with appropriate keywords helps Google understand the
content of the page and, at the same time, helps your page to rank for the keywords chosen. A few things to keep in
mind:
1. When selecting keywords for the meta title, it's best to use as few words as possible to accurately identify the
page subject. For each additional word included, Google reduces the importance of each keyword by its ratio to the
total number of words used. For instance, each keyword in “Skiing in the Catskills,” is half as important as those in
“Catskills Skiing.”
2. Whenever possible, pages on better travel marketing sites use the same keywords in the meta title, URL and h1
title , but use them differently. For instance, the meta title could be “Catskill Skiing”, the URL could be “/catskillskiing” and the h1 title, “Skiing in the Catskills.”
3. It's best to limit the number of pages on a website with the same exact keyword combination to one. When there
are multiple pages with the same exact keywords, that website is effectively competing with itself for Google
rankings.
4. It's a bad idea to try to fool Google (either knowingly or unknowingly) with keywords that inaccurately reflect the
content of a web page. Over time, if the meta titles, URLs and h1 titles are accurate, Google will reward the site with
high rankings quickly. If they are inaccurate, Google will become suspect of the site and wait for inbound links to
confirm relevance before rewarding each new page with a ranking.
Google looks in the body copy of the web page for instances of the keywords placed in the meta title, URL and h1 title,
to make sure that the content is relevant to those topics. Google also looks for enough words in the copy to qualify as
“informative,” as people who use search are looking for information. We generally recommend web page copy
lengths between 200 and 600 words. Less than 200 words and the page is not informative. Pages with more than
600 words can usually be split into multiple pages, giving the ability to rank for more than one set of keywords for the
same content.
Currently, search engines cannot see the contents of graphics, photos and video files on a web page - and what they
can't see they deem to be irrelevant. That's why it's also important to include anchor text for each of these items:
anchor text adds relevance, particularly if the anchor text includes one or more of the keywords on the page.
One last thing to keep in mind is using internal links on the page to related content elsewhere on the website. While
this doesn't necessarily improve search engine rankings, it can help a travel consumer who lands on the site via
search find additional information they might find useful in making travel decisions.
Core Content: Words To Help Them Buy
Now that we've discussed how to make destination web content attractive to search engine bots, let's turn to the
main subject at hand: how to make it attractive to travelers. We know that people making travel plans are looking for
two things on the web: inspiration and information. The key to inspiring them lies in telling the travel brand's story in
detail, using vivid mental imagery. The key to providing them information is doing this on as many pages as possible.
When we say vivid mental imagery, we're not talking about just showing a picture of a beautiful woman in a bikini on
a beach in the Caribbean, alongside a clever headline. Nor is it a picture of a couple sitting at candlelit dinner in a
fancy restaurant. In fact, vivid mental imagery does not mean showing a picture of anything. It means helping the
traveler IMAGINE what it would be like experiencing your destination. More often than not, this takes words - ideally
between 200 and 600 words per page - not just pictures. And it takes a lot of pages - a minimum of 50 and preferably
more than 100 to get started. If you're thinking there's not that much to say about your travel brand, you're wrong.
That's where the fine art of story telling comes in.
Six Ways To Keep Them Interested
Keeping travelers and search engines coming back to your site requires that new pages of content are added on a
regular basis. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to repurpose content that can help accomplish this without
dedicating every waking hour of every day to the effort. Here a just a few ways to keep your site fresh.
News Releases
Not to be confused with press releases (which are designed to gain media coverage), news releases are simply
keyword enhanced announcements of interest that are posted as new pages on the website. They can also be
published elsewhere on the web using distribution services.
Online Newsletters
Assuming the email addresses of customers and prospects are being captured, a periodic online newsletter is a great
way to add pages to a site and reach out to those who have shown interest.
Blogs
It's still surprising how few travel brands have embraced blogs, considering how much potential content they have to
offer. A travel website could have a single corporate blog, or several that come from different points of interest: the
concierge, the special events coordinator, the chef, the wedding planner, the head of the ski school, the golf pro, the
list goes on. With the ability to post comments, customers and prospects will join the conversation.
Podcasts
Have a subject that can be serialized? Informational and educational content like tours, reviews, lessons and the like
make great podcasts. They can be hosted on site and distribute through iTunes, too. And if dialog is transcribed, it can
be published as keyword optimized content on new web pages.
Embedded Video
Who among us has never seen an embedded YouTube video? If your destination has interesting things to point a
camera at or footage in the can and it fits the brand position, we recommend using it. The cost is negligible compared
to broadcast media, and someone will surely be paying attention.
Online Communities
On the simple end, an online community can be a guest logbook much like those found at a small inn or a bed &
breakfast, where visitors can share their experiences. A little more involved would be a photo/video of the day
section, where visitors upload and then rate and comment on each others' content. Still more involved (and
potentially more interesting) would be a section of the site where frequent visitors and those with upcoming
reservations could share personal experiences, just chat or make plans to meet up.
Converting Travel Planners into Buyers
When we talk about conversion tools, most people think about making the sale. While this is the ultimate goal, most
website visitors are not ready to purchase. That's why it's important to include devices that help them move from one
stage of the purchase cycle to the next, all the way from initial contact through purchase to advocacy.
RSS feeds & social bookmarking tools
Early stage prospects are inherently shy. They have recently become aware that the travel brand exists and, at best,
are mildly interested in what it has to offer. The last thing they want to do is give up their email address so they start
receiving spam. They may, however, be inclined to have an anonymous online relationship with the brand. By
offering RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools, they have the ability to subscribe to the content, bookmark a page
from the website for future reference, and share it with others.
Capturing email addresses
As prospective customers become more actively involved in travel planning and are contemplating offerings, they
are more apt to identify themselves by sharing their email address - particularly if there's something of value offered
to them in return. While it's tempting to make offers like “enter to win,” remember why they've come to the site - for
inspiration and information. What could be more inspirational and informative to a traveler than emailing a
concierge directly (we're not talking about site pal - that's simply too forward for most people) who can answer their
personal questions and offer them local knowledge that they can't find anywhere else? When they ask their question,
email address can be captured and permission to add them to your email list can be requested. Better yet, the entire
email discussion can be turned into a web page that other visitors can find via Google or your website search
function.
Another thing to consider offering in return for email addresses is a downloadable (city / area / resort) guide. Email,
RSS feed or SMS news and event alerts that the prospect can customize by interest and date range are also great
things to offer. In all cases, it's essential to allow the user to manage his/her own communications preferences and
that they have the ability to unsubscribe at any time.
Closing the sale
Finally, we reach the moment when the traveler is ready to commit. This is where your
booking/reservations/ticketing system comes in. First, if you don't have one, its time to ante up (a growing
percentage of your prospects will demand to book online, particularly the younger ones). Second, it should be easy to
use. There's nothing worse than entering a page of purchase information only to have it cleared when one field
wasn't filled out correctly. Except maybe showing up at your destination only to find that by purchasing online, in
advance, it takes three times longer to check in than when you wait to pay upon arrival.
After the sale
One last thing: we recommend offering the ability for customers to post comments throughout the site. If you're
worried about negative comments, its possible to hold posts until they can be reviewed by a moderator. When you
receive a negative comment, its possible to fix the problem to the customer's satisfaction, then post their complaint
and the resolution online. Where else but on a website will you have the opportunity to rebound in a way that
everyone can see, now and in the future?
About Wanderlust
Wanderlust provides marketing and branding expertise to destinations, resorts and tourism attractions. We uncover
what drives people to choose where they go and build integrated marketing programs to attract them — using the
internet, social networks, direct marketing and mass media. www.createwanderlust.com
###
Contact: Mark Shipley
Phone: 518-272-2500
Email: mshipley@createwanderlust.com
Venetia and Gautam Kotamraju are friends of Distant Frontiers and organise motorbike trips and charity rides of all
shapes and sizes. An Anglo-Indian couple based in Bangalore, they will take you along the meandering tree lined roads of
South India on the old British Royal Enfield motorcycles. In this issue Venetia talks about her bike journey during the
monsoon to Kukke Subrahmanya where people come to get rid of the curse of the snake. She also tells us that monsoon is
the best time to see India, tumultuous, but shining new.
Chasing the Rain
In England rain is one of life's necessary evils. In India, a wet, cold (ok 22 degrees plus but chilly by Indian standards)
morning is a cause for celebration. Nevertheless, even Indian enthusiasm for the rain takes a bit of a beating when
you're caught on a bike in the stuff. Within a few seconds of a sudden, fierce shower, city roads are emptied of all two
wheeled traffic; riders and pillions either abandon their bikes for the relative shelter of a shop front, tree or bus stop
or cram, bike and all, into the few dry meters of road under a bridge. They're missing out.
Riding through a monsoon storm is not so far removed from sailing through a fierce squall – minus the salt and plus
the odd tree branch, complete with electricity line. Not safe, but definitely fun. And the monsoon is the best time to
see India, tumultuous but shining new. Poets have always celebrated the rains – Varsha – for their drama as well as
the generative surge they bring to the land. And of course the passion and romance of storm outside, couple inside.
Even Buddhists monks several hundred years again were singing the same thing. Any respectable Bollywood film has
at least one soaked-through-in-the-rain scene. This is the land of the wet sari after all, and standing in the rain can be
sexy even in London (think Hugh Grant and that American woman in Four Weddings and A Funeral…)
It may not be love at first sight, but the monsoon grows on you, just like India. When I arrived at Bombay airport – in
its old avatar, before the blingy makeover one that makes you feel like you're in the Middle East – aged 19 and all
alone, and walked out into a mass of brown men and that indescribable Bombay air, I started to cry. Three months
later, I was again on the airport road in tears, this time on the back of a Bullet ridden by one of those brown men with
whom I had managed to fall in love. When I returned, I was horrified to find the sunny paradise I knew covered in the
muck of the rains. My shoes grew mould, the walls of the bedroom dripped water every time it rained and there was a
frog living in the bathroom. Bombay rains are monumental and also terrible. A flood the following year, after 24
hours and a metre of rain, was to kill 500. But they are also glorious; like a king arriving in full parade say the poets,
drums beating, elephants trumpeting and golden banners flashing.
Seven years later, my husband and I set off – on two separate Bullets now – for a pilgrimage of sorts, our first after
getting married, to Kukke Subrahmanya. A jungle pilgrim spot in the Western Ghats dripping with green even in high
summer, the village is home to Subrahmanya, Shiva's first son born to help the gods defeat a particularly
troublesome anti-god. Here he reigns amidst a glorious mix of other, local traditions; it is to this temple that you
come to rid yourself of the snake curse. Despite a visit a couple of years ago by India's number one cricketer, Sachin
Tendulkar (who had the snake curse and wasn't playing very well as a result), Kukke Subrahmanya is still almost
unknown to all except those who make the pilgrimage to its temples.
The one-street town sits at the bottom of a valley down which thunders the Kumaradhara river. Once you hit
Sakleshpur, a hill station high above Kukke, there are 50 zig zag kilometres of steep and treacherous ghats that follow
the river down to its base. This is a notoriously bad road. It used to be so broken that everyone was forced to go slowly.
A recent resurfacing job which is already beginning to come apart - the life expectancy of an Indian road is roughly
equivalent to that of the colonial Englishman freshly arrived in India: two monsoons – means that cars now career at
full speed round the corners in order to overtake the rumbling trucks. When the road is running with water, the stakes
become even higher. Glorious nonetheless for the road is also inhabited by the huge clouds that sit in the valley. As
you ride, you first hit a slow, slight rain, then the belly of the cloud – where your vision reduces to about 20 metres –
followed by heavy rain. Finally the mists start to thin, the rain peters out and the wet road flashes in the sun.
When you turn off to Kukke, you have the road to yourself; the trunks trundle, and the flashy cars zoom, on to
Mangalore and the coast. Here the road takes you through the bottom of the valley, across bridges and past the
luminous orange of temples. And then the pilgrim-covered banks of the Kumaradhara and Subrahmanya temple
itself, its towering gokula set off by the soaring mountain behind, bare feet, dhotis and cows before. All oblivious to
the rain that descends in straight lines, softly and silently.
To get an idea of the sensuous beauty of the rains, read Kalidasa's Meghdootam (The Cloud Messenger) in which a
cloud is sent as a messenger by a lovesick husband separated from his wife. Those that are interested in reading more
such poetry are welcome to get in touch with the author, whose love for motorbikes is exceeded only by her love for
Sanskrit;
at
venetia.ansell@gmail.com
(you
can
read
a
http://venetiaansell.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/varsha-the-rains/)
short
article
on
monsoon
verse
here
Isabelle Heini is a Swiss national and a friend of Distant Frontiers. She is a trained nurse and an alternative medicine
therapist. Isabelle has travelled and lived in India for several years studying the ancient science of Yoga. She later opened
her own Yoga school in Switzerland before deciding to build a new home with her husband Karan in the wilderness of
Kanha National Park, a premiere Tiger park of Central India. In this issue Isabelle shares with us her experience whilst
building the Flame of the Forest, a cosy 4 room jungle lodge entirely with local expertise. Isabelle believes, to make a
change we have to set an example, work and learn with the local community.
My India
It was the year 2000. After I finished my studies as a nurse, a friend and I decided to travel to India. We both had
never travelled alone before, we had no clue about India, my English was extremely basic and she couldn't speak
English at all.
We simply booked our flight tickets, had no plans for the 5 weeks that we had in hand and no hotel bookings
anywhere. The only thing we heard about India then was there were cows on the road and people used the streets as
public toilets. We reached Mumbai in the middle of the night, booked a hotel room from the airport and went to sleep
after a long drive through Mumbai city.
I woke up the next morning, opened the curtains, saw Mumbai in day light and felt that I finally had reached home.
Being Swiss I had a very organised life and to be out in the nature was a basic need of mine. There is no way I can
explain till today why I fell in love with the dirty, noisy and chaotic city of Mumbai.
India since then keeps calling me back and my love for Mumbai kept on growing every year. I met wonderful friends
and most of them were part of the vibrant Bollywood show business. And so was I.
In 2001, I was in Mumbai for 9 Month. During the day I worked in an orphanage with the babies who were found
abandoned in the streets or at the doorstep of the orphanage. And in the night I was part of the show business;
walking the ramp as a model for fashion shows. I also acted as a model for TV commercials, and was hired as a
stuntwoman for Bollywood movies. Each day I lived the two extremes of Mumbai.
In 2005 I decided to become a Yoga teacher and since the oldest Yoga Institute in the World is in Mumbai, I was back
and this time I was back for good. It was a 7 month long course and one day I saw a man with long hair sitting in my
class. His face was more like a Nepali than Indian. He was sitting crossed legs and his eyes. He was Karan whom I
latter married.
It was Monsoon in India and the National Parks were closed. Karan had come for a vacation to spend time with his
family. His mother is closely related to the Yoga Institute I was studying to be a Yoga teacher. I had no idea about
wildlife. Karan took me for walks in the beautiful garden of the Yoga institute and showed me all the birds possible.
Well what to say, birds have wings and some of them are colourful but that was it for me though he made quite an
effort to light the fire of interest in my soul.
A year later I visited Bandavgarh National Park with Karan where he worked as a naturalist. Another year and a half
we decided to get married and start our own Lodge in Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. We
decided to call it the Flame of the Forest Safari Lodge.
Karan was a Naturalist and I was a nurse and Yoga teacher. You can say that Iam creative and maybe I have an eye for
style but I was definitely not an architect nor was Karan. But his faith in Nature and in our Project kept us going.
Together we sat for hours, discussed and dreamed about the Flame of the Forest. I sketched the cottages roughly on a
paper, took the approval of a local architect and we started the construction.
As I said, Iam Swiss to the core. Every thing has to be well planned, organised and thought out. To construct a lodge in
the Indian Jungle with that kind of attitude or expectations is asking for trouble. I wanted a plan of every plug point,
water access, lamp or what so ever before we start construction. And I tried my very best to convince the local
construction experts about the importance of the same. Karan had to translate my demand into the local language.
After a few attempts the local foreman told me: “Listen lady, we are not constructing holes we are constructing
buildings. You will get your toilet where ever you want it but now you please let us do our work”. Till to day we laugh
about it. The entire construction was done with the local people. There was never a machine on the site. Only once we
had to bring one to cut the stones for the floor tiles. All the other construction work was done by hand.
I was so impressed and touched by the dedication and hard work of the indigenous people of Kanha. The air of the site
was filled with chattering of the ladies, some times laughter or crying of the kids which came from the village close by
and the singing of the birds. As I got excited about big Insects or snakes, the labourers called out for me when ever the
found a scorpion, a crab or any other big bugs or even snakes. I exchanged English words and got Hindi in return and
as Iam a horrible cook, the ladies brought local delicacies to bring excitement on my plate. If there was a local festival,
we didn't find any workers on the site for days and there are a lot of local festivals. But if at any given point we were in
desperate need of help we always found people who were ready to help us.
Every thing and nothing is possible in India it all depends on your attitude. So many times we reached a point where
Karan and I thought: now the project can't go on, there is too much rain, too much trouble and too less money. And
always like a miracle there was a way and the project went on. And here we are. Flame of the Forest is looking forward
to start the second season. Karan and I own a wonderful Lodge at a stunning site. We both still can't believe it. It
seems like a fairy tale which could only happen in India.
There is an every day struggle to get things organised on time in India. But there is uninterrupted luxury of time. Time
to have a cup of tea on an extended afternoon or time to just sit and watch the rain. On time in India is now or later.
There is love of people and for people and for every thing that we are surrounded by. Every thing is holy and filled
with the spirit of the Lord; it's just that the cow got famous for it. There are rites and rituals and rules and regulations,
which seem to be unorganised and chaotic and no one can tell me the truth behind. Yet all of them hold meaning and
truth. Every thing and nothing is possible in India. If you want to see the dirt you will find plenty of it. But if you want
to see beauty, love, possibilities and peace you will find plenty of it too.
Yoga Safari with Isabelle Heini – Click here