Thursdaysd's South Asian Sojourn

lol lol lol what a cliff-hanger!

Thought I'd see if anyone was reading. You jump ship already?

BTW, I just reread your Kathmandu thread over dinner, there's really not all that much about the Courtyard compared to everything else.

Waiting for embroidery details, thursday.

Nope, I'm just sailing out of Kusadasi - tomorrow Bodrum. Bizarre scenes. The Courtyard Cabaret is here:
http://thedogster1.wordpress.com/courtyard-cabaret/

- all that was fit to print, anyway. I'm dying to hear your take on the place - and Phulbari.

I'm still reading Thursday but where actually ARE you? I'm getting displacement adjustment problems between what I read and where I calculate you are on your travels. Dogster's interjection with The Courtyard Cabaret has only confused me further tho it makes for great reading.

gertie - sorry for the confusion, but I can't write and travel at the same time, and no travel means nothing to write about. This morning I'm in Lucknow, this evening I hope to be in Hyderabad. I hope my luggage is there too - I'm flying Indigo via Delhi on the only connecting flights on the whole trip!

This post is still pretty much correct: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/planning-for-india-comments-please.cfm#comment-6645966

Kusadasi dogster? Ugh! Hope Ephesus was reasonably empty for you. I quite liked Bodrum, but I stayed in cute little hotel with a pool and English books out of the melee.

Ha Ha Thursday! I remember Hyderabad has a very state-of-the-art airport. Don't know about the rest of it. Are you going to Goa? To Panjim Inn? I loved that place.
I'm with you on Bodrum, I too found a little hotel in the backstreets with a pool and almost no-one else. And I liked their castle and theatre. But Kusadasi...ugh!
Have found you on My Time to Travel and will try to keep up.

i just looked in too

thursdaysd: How is your foot/ankle healing?

My luggage and I both made it to Hyderabad. It was a one-stop flight rather than a connecting flight - I got to sit on the plane in Delhi and see that Indigo manages to have covered luggage carts when it rains, even if JAL doesn't.... I'm in my second hotel room - the AC didn't work in the first (same hotel, though).

I apologize for the delay in the next Nepal post, I was planning to type it on the plane, but my computer chose this morning to lock itself up so completely I couldn't even turn it off! Since the battery is sealed I had to wait for it run down - fully charged, of course. Good thing I wasn't flying in the US, the TSA would have had a fit.

Thanks for asking, indianapearl. Would you believe that just as my right foot finally seemed healed, I hurt the left one??? (Other people have intestinal troubles when traveling, I have bad feet.) I didn't lift the trailing foot high enough stepping over the threshold of the Chinese temple in Lumbini and hit the fourth toe REALLY hard. Not broken, thank goodness, but spectacular bruise the first couple of days.

It seems one gets new aches in an attempt to compensate for an existing ache. Keeps us mentally alert!

Yeeowch, thursday. Take your time. Whenever you report in is fine by me. I know how hard it is to write and travel. Matter of fact, I find it too hard. Your reportage is tremendously impressive.

Nepal will appear when and if it does. We are all in your debt.

And so the promised AWBR once again recedes.

I'm still reading too Thursday. Hope your toe is much better.

anxious for updates as you find time

Thanks dogster - praise from Caesar, indeed!

Toe is considerably better, thanks, one red bar instead of total blue-purple.

Today's priority is organizing onward transport - I want to go to Hospet via Bijapur, but I don't want to pay a fortune...

Inside the Gate

Inside the gate, across a little, hump-backed bridge, rose three red brick wings: breakfast to the left, bar and library to the right, and reception in the center, with benches outside, where Michelle was chatting with some guests. Those benches, and the library, and Michelle herself are the heart of the hotel. Dogster was right, this is a travelers' hangout for travelers who'd like a little comfort with their conversation. Actually, in the renovated rooms, rather a lot of comfort, although those rooms may be pushing the affordability envelope for some travelers.

Next to actually traveling, travelers like nothing better than to talk about it. Enthuse about their finds, bemoan their more hair-raising adventures (have to have some of those), even listen to a few stories from other people, and perhaps connect for a meal or a ride. Hostels, guesthouses, some B&Bs and pensions and low end hotels are all places travelers find each other. But like my guesthouse in Gyeongju, they tend to be on the spartan side. Upgrade, assuming you can afford it, and your fellow guests will maintain a polite reserve, and probably aren't travelers in the first place.

The Courtyard is filling the gap in the middle, and for all dogster's tales of walking into walls in the middle of a freezing night, filling it well. There's a generator now, so Nepal's daily power cuts weren't a problem for me. The showers were admirable. Laundry gets sent to the Radisson so it stays white - just one of those little details involved in running a hotel in Kathmandu.

And dogster's flaky female cast of characters? Well, I met "Aunt Esme", still working with mosaics, but getting ready to move into a flat in Kathmandu, and she seemed pretty sane to me. A couple of other long-term denizens of the hotel might have been busy doing good, but weren't above enjoying themselves at the same time. Nobody trekking in flip flops and a sun dress. No wild-eyed zealots. Not even a visa-less tuk-tuk racer. And dinner at Thamel House, to celebrate the arrival of Michell's father? At my end of the table the three sedate couples vacationing from jobs in the Middle East hardly managed a single bowl of local fire water apiece, and showed not the slightest desire to join the very bored-looking dancers on stage. Sorry guys - better go reread dogster's account. Maybe you have to stay in the depths of winter to meet the true eccentrics.

Plus I have some sad news to share: the wedding scheduled to take place shortly before my arrival between a pink-gowned dogster and one kimmyejones? Never happened. Dogster has passed his opportunity on to Tibby the dog (with the comment: "One pooch is much the same as another"), but Tibby expressed deep disinterest. kimmyejones hasn't been heard from.

So the Courtyard was pretty serene during my stay. Michelle is busy renovating rooms (my upgraded room (many thanks) was gold and green to match a desk chair she had found), and helping people connect. Her husband Pujan, whose parents built the hotel, is a go-getter with loads of nervous energy who seems to me unlikely to be satisfied just running the Courtyard for long. In fact, when I left he was designing luxury tents for a putative resort near a little place called Phulbari. After checking out the hotel scene in Pokhara, though, I'm lobbying for a Courtyard West.

So true your comment re the inverse balance between comfortable places to stay and the interesting people who stay in them. I've often bemoaned that.
Sounds like dogster was using a bit of poetic license re The Courtyard. It still sounds worth a go though.

Checking in and eagerly awaiting more....

I am here too....

Enjoy your trip, thursdaysd.

The car and driver thing wasn't looking so good this morning, so I spent some time on Plan B, which (given lousy trains all on waitlist) ended up being a flight to Goa and a stay at the Panjim Inn. On the one hand, I like the Panjim Inn, on the other hand, been there, done about everything you can do from Panaji.

However, when I got back from today's sightseeing, I had a confirmed reservation. So, I'm taking off for the wilds of Karnataka tomorrow with a driver hired over the Internet... I don't expect Internet in Bijapur, but I should have good access in Hospet when I get there Monday evening. So unless I get something written this evening, it will be a while. Also, if I haven't checked in by Tuesday or Wednesday, the place to send the search party is savaari.com.

Sounds like a fun adventure. Looking forward to the report!

We're all hoping a search party won't be necessary. Keep us apprised of your status!

Don't worry, thursday, Captain Dogster and his mighty Azamara are sailing to India full speed ahead.

Yup, I'm heading for the rescue.

I'll be in Mumbai... err.. I forgot. But whenever it is, I'll be there. Try and hang on for about two weeks.

[Actually Captain Dogster is having a verrry interesting time. AWBR once I get off - if ever. The Azamara KGB track my every cyber utterance]

Well, I made it to Hospet, and the Hotel Malligi, where wifi is only available in the lobby, along with mosquitoes at dusk.

I actually did think a search party might be needed the first day - there will be full disclosure at the proper time. For now I'll just suggest avoiding savaari.com!

Meanwhile, here is the post I didn't get up before I left Hyderabad:

Nov 8-10 - Monuments and Mountains

I'm a mountain person - you can keep the beaches if I can have the mountains - so given I wasn't trekking, my absolute top priority for Nepal was the "mountain flight" out of Kathmandu. On a clear day - the flights don't go on any other - you fly parallel with the Himalaya range towards Everest, and then the passengers take it in turns to gaze through the cockpit window at the world's highest mountain. On my first day I arranged with Pujan at the Courtyard to go the next morning, and kept my fingers crossed for fine weather.

I was lucky. I had a ticket for the 7:30 flight, but my taxi got to KTM in time for me to be moved up to the 7:00, before the clouds rolled in. I couldn't have asked for a better view - just for more time to enjoy it! But while I marveled at the mountains, I could see how much effort was involved in merely reaching their feet, never mind actually climbing one. Personally, I'm quite content just to look. (In fact, I find what has happened to Everest, with "tourist" climbers and a trashed Base Camp, tragic).

That was my second morning in Kathmandu. My first, I took a rickshaw (mindful of my still bad foot) to Durbar Square. Wow, wish I'd made it back there later - I could spend hours just watching the passing parade. Tourists and locals. Old and young. Sellers and buyers - or at least lookers. Sadhus. Cows. And let's not forget the buildings. Dusty red brick and carved wooden beams, rising amid the swirl of activity. I climbed the steps of one of the taller buildings and settled down to watch the show. Later, I found a ceremony under way, with two rows of seated men, garlands round their necks and flowers and lamps in front of them.

That afternoon I took a taxi to Swayambhunath, one of the iconic Nepalese stupas with the all-seeing Buddha eyes. The proper approach to the temple is up a great many steep steps, home to a horde of monkeys. No way would I have made it all the way up, never mind down, so I was glad my taxi could take me to a parking lot near the top. The stupa, impressive on its own, is surrounded by statues and shrines that could keep a devotee occupied for quite some time. After admiring a selection I made my way up to the Cafe de Stupa to check out the views - alas, mostly lost in haze. I could see, however, that the Kathmandu valley, once filled with water, then with fields, is now almost completely filled with buildings. The owner of the cafe said that much of the building had happened in the last twenty years, and that land prices were crazy. I can attest that the resulting traffic is more than crazy.

Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, now essentially one big city, were once separate kingdoms, each with its own durbar, or palace, square. The square at Patan was much more sedate than Kathmandu's, although with similar elaborate buildings. I spent some time in the museum (the one in Kathmandu had been closed) and then went for lunch in the museum cafe, where I had been assured I would find a quiet oasis. Not any more. A buffet had been set up for the several tour groups already present. I did find a table somewhat removed from the groups, and ate (not very well) off the menu, but it wasn't the atmosphere I expected. Bhaktapur's square isn't really a square, with buildings scattered over a wider area. Seeing it third may have affected my response, but I found it less interesting than the other two. I did find a good place for a good lunch - the Watshala Garden Restaurant.

Aside from the square, and traffic jams, what I mostly saw of Kathmandu was Thamel. The closest equivalent is probably Bangkok's Khao San Road, but Thamel is bigger, and louder. A maze of tall buildings, hung with signs proclaiming the businesses crammed into all three or four stories, its streets packed with pedestrians, rickshaws, motor bikes, cars, it exists to make money from foreigners. Whatever you need to trek, or to travel, in Nepal, you can find in Thamel. (You can surely find some less legal things as well, but I didn't go looking for them.) Although raucous by day, it quiets down surprisingly quickly at night, as the action moves indoors.

The time to have visited Kathmandu, of course, was back in the sixties and early seventies. I did wonder, winding my way among the crowds in Thamel, how my life might have turned out if I had headed for Nepal forty years ago, instead of going to work for IBM.

Yes, I often wonder that too. Not the IBM bit obviously but...
I agree with you about the frustrations of travel these days when things are arranged around tour groups, buses and cruise ships. It's the old dilemma of wanting to do it 'my way' and letting other people do it 'their way'!
Oh for a time machine.

Otherwise I'm still with you and still enjoying. Vicarious travel means you get the ups and downs and we just get the ups.

Enjoying your trip report, thursday! Obviously Kathmandu is still quite fresh in my mind. I found your impressions of the Kathmandu airport kind of funny; since we flew there from Kolkata, we actually found the airport in Nepal clean and organized in comparison. We flew into Kolkata from Frankfurt, and felt pretty much like you did flying to Nepal from Hong Kong.

From Alexandria. Great to get a new instalment. Soon Phulbari...!

great info for my trip next fall, thanks

Bob - will you be staying at the Courtyard?

The smart money said dogster would jump ship in Alexandria, but it looks like he'll be staying the course. Perhaps he might get some writing done during all those days at sea? [hint, hint]

I had planned to get a good night's sleep after four tiring days, but then this post started writing itself in my head, so you get a piece of Phulbari early:

Nov 10 - The Road to Phulbari: Take Two

My planning for Nepal did not include Phulbari. Why would it, when I'd never heard of the place? But then, while I was already traveling, dogster wrote about a crazy mountain road through lovely scenery, leading to an isolated farmstead with stellar views, and with accommodation. He even gave a link to the website. How could I resist checking that out when I would be so close? As I wrote in the last post, I love mountains - and I love mountain roads, too. Time was, when I owned first an MX6 Turbo and then an MX6 V6, that I liked to drive them myself, but now I've realized I can enjoy the scenery better if someone else does the driving. Admittedly, based on dogster's description, this was the ne plus ultra of mountain roads, but then dogster might perhaps have been exagerating a little. Besides, the Courtyard Hotel had worked out fine. The Courtyard people had been up, although not for an overnight, and said it was beautiful there. They could arrange the trip for me, and I decided to drop two of my six nights in the chaos of Kathmandu in favor of peace and quiet and views in the mountains.

I should, perhaps, have considered that dogster, while providing a great deal of detail about people, tends to skimp on more mundane matters. And then, just as I was about to leave, he mentioned that I should take any luxuries with me. What would a man whose answer to any travel snafu was to head for the best hotel in town consider a luxury? Would I consider it a luxury (which I could do without) or a necessity (like coffee)? In any case, the warning was far too late to do any good. I did borrow a couple of books from the Courtyard's library before climbing into the Suzuki Maruti beside the young, pony-tailed driver. Another young man, with better English, rode in the back - I don't normally drive alone with two men, but I figured the Courtyard would want me back in one piece.

The road to Phulbari is really three roads - or three and a half if you're a stickler for accuracy. The first road takes you from Kathmandu past Bhaktapur. Fumes and dust and horns and chaos. Motor bikes and rickshaws, cars and jeeps, buses and trucks, all overloaded, and all the drivers poised to jump ahead and gain a few centimeters advantage, while missing each other by millimeters. It's amazing there aren't more accidents. Between the sheer numbers of vehicles, the broken down vehicles, the vehicles loading and unloading, the new road being built and the parlous state of the existing excuse for a road, it's a really miserable stretch. (Coming back a bit earlier in the day, I encountered less traffic and we moved a bit faster.)

Things did ease up some between Banepa and Dhulikhel, and then we turned right past some market stalls and started up what was clearly a mountain road. Surely this wasn't what dogster had been writing about? True, we rounded plenty of bends as we corkscrewed upwards. True, sometimes I saw nothing between me and a sheer drop but some good stone edges. But the road was wide enough for two vehicles - we met some very overloaded buses - the stone edging was in place, the surface seemed mostly smooth, and there was a gratifying absence of potholes. Turns out, this is the "new road to Sindhuli" and India. Probably a couple of Nepalese winters and a stream of Tata trucks will reduce it to the state of the other roads I traveled in Nepal - although I saw no trucks - meanwhile I sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Not lush enough for Bali, not enough trees for Bhutan, but plenty of stepped rice terraces.

Eventually we slowed and turned right again. I looked at the cart track ascending steeply in front of me, I looked at the driver, I asked "the road to Phulbari?" He nodded and we both laughed. Dogster had not exaggerated. I have traveled a road equally as bad, but only once, in Pakistan, and it was shorter, although steeper and muddier. The road to Phulbari is a road only in the sense that jeeps and motorbikes use it. Otherwise you'd call it a rutted track. We spent a good 25 minutes making a slow ascent, backing up once to make it round a particularly sharp bend. Some parts were wider, some smoother, and even narrower tracks led off here and there deeper into the countryside.

When we eventually arrived at the village of Phulbari I discovered the first of those mundane details dogster hadn't gotten around to mentioning. The road goes to the village. The visitor is going to the farm. There is no road to the farm. You walk the last stretch, uphill through bushes and trees, on a shoulder-width, stony trail.

Great reporting.Enjoying it.Looking forward for the details at Phulbari.

Enjoying your stories, thursday. Surely they met you with a palanquin, as they do their other distinguished guests?

Dogster still has a chance to jump ship at the Suez Canal today.

Oh dear! How is your toe?

Will Dogster go staggering across the sand dunes to escape his cruise?

lol lol lol

mmm, yup, there is a weeny hike up a stony trail...

BTW No jumping ship. The beat goes on till Dubai.

Someone died yesterday...

Death by Azamara. For your sake, I hope it was natural causes...

Sounds like a nursing home . . .

It has now gotten interesting. I can't wait for the next installment...

Best travel writing I've read recently. what's your pen name Thursday?

I don't think there was room for a palanquin... At least I didn't have to carry my own bag, although I did wonder how dogster's silver suitcases made out!

Alas, my toe is still a problem. It is pretty much a normal color, but still sore and swollen. I'm going to start taking the anti-inflammatory tablets I got in HK for my ankle. Since it's been more than 10 days I'm wondering whether I really did break it. Possibilities for medical care are Mangalore and Mysore, but I'm not wild about visiting yet-another-doctor.

I arrived in Palolem today. The beach has certainly been discovered, but is still really beautiful. Once again, my room had non-working AC - I did get myself moved, supposedly for one night. We'll see.... Since it was a tough trip across Karnataka, and a tiring day visiting temples at Hampi, I may just chill out here, so not sure when the next mundane details will be revealed.

Thanks gertie, but total amateur (unless you count the Certificate in Professional Writing I got from NC State a while back, which was a lot of fun to get, but all about journalism.)

Have you taped your toe? If it's broken, the only treatment (unless it's displaced) would be to tape it to the two adjacent toes and to wear a hard-soled shoe. Takes about three weeks to heal up.

Thursdays, what a fantastic report!! Hmmm..methinks the road to Phulbari will see me as an armchair traveler only.
Dubai, Dog? I just dont imagine you choosing to go there--unless it is as source of marvelously caustic comments about fake wind and snow!

Thursdays, I'm just catching up with you in Kolkata. It's always gratifying to hear things that others enjoyed as much as you did (like the Durbar Square) and sad to hear of things that have changed for the worse (the lovely little courtyard at the museum in Patan where we had a wonderful thali)

Thursday,if are you in the mood to spoil yourself & up for some fine dining try the 'Sea BQ',delicious fresh grilled seafood or a sundowner at Corta's the beach shack,both at The InterContinental Grand.They have a lovely,rather large pool too,with a variety of cocktails served,in the sunken,open air bar at The Gazebo.
Truly envying you.Have fun

Nov 10 - Mundane Details

In 18th and 19th century England, men who made large fortunes (generally from the despised practice of "trade"), sometimes spent a bit of it on pseudo-Gothic ruins intended to lend an air of antiquity to their newly-acquired country estates. Now we call them follies. These days, freshly minted millionaires (or billionaires) are exhibiting more philanthropic impulses, although in the case of Hans Hoefer's organic farm in the Nepalese mountains, the adjective that comes more readily to mind is quixotic.

Except that the farm, despite the intervening years of Maoist insurgency, is still there and still organic - no doubt entirely due to the abilities of the omni-competent manager, Govinda. Recent lack of rain seems more likely to take it down, although the two page letter from Hans and his wife Cynthia at the front of the guest book says they plan to switch to less-thirsty fruit and nut trees. In addition to the agricultural activities, the farmstead housed a dormitory, and a couple of small houses were built amid landscaping vaguely reminiscent of Tuscany, although the letter said quite plainly that the operation was a working farm, "not, whatever the villagers may think, a resort". It's a good thing it's not trying to be a resort, given that my signature in the book in November 2010 was preceded by only two others, dated September. I did notice, that while up at the farm I was "friend of Mr. 'dogster'", down in the village I was "friend of Mr. Hans", even though I've never met either gentleman.

The fact that it's not trying to be a resort might explain those mundane details dogster didn't mention, and I do think it's a good thing I was the visitor, rather than some higher-maintenance fodorite. Things started out well enough, though, with a cup of tea on the terrace outside the farmstead. Then I followed Govinda up a path edged with gold and russet flowers, through a gate, up another path and through another gate, to reach the Sun House, set back into a hillside and facing the mountains - except the mountains weren't visible. Later, I realized that the Sun House came by its name because the roof was translucent, and the afternoon sun shone through. Unfortunately, so did the moonlight.

Left alone, I checked that the lights worked, and absorbed the fact that the toilet, though Western, didn't flush (not really a problem - there was a tap and a pail) and that the only hot water available would arrive in the morning in a brass bucket (much more of a problem). I went off to explore, finding a couple of low, roofed benches (really tables) beside a pond, with views in all directions. I loved the setting, with trees and flowers everywhere, and a silence so complete I could hear the birds fly. I returned to the Sun House around dusk - to find that the lights no longer worked.

After I located my flashlight, I went back down to the farm, to learn that the power would be out from 5:00 to 7:00, and that someone was even now lighting candles for me (have you ever tried reading by candlelight?) Dinner arrived at 6:30 as scheduled, with lentil soup and rice kept warm in lidded pots and the vegetable curries cold. I had been instructed to leave the dishes outside, which was not the easiest thing to do when trying to carry a narrow-beamed flashlight and manouver over a threshold and down a step.

Govinda had brought a hot water bottle along with dinner, which was just as well, as the guys who showed up later to light the paraffin stove were unable to get it to work. Fortunately, I grew up with hot water bottles, and I knew that if I wanted more than a single patch of warm bed I needed to move it around. And since it provided the only warmth in the room I went to bed early, wondering what on earth I was doing there.

I found out in the morning.

Fabulous.

See?

Phulbari has inspired the best writing of your entire report.

Eager to read whether you remain a friend of Mr.Dogster.

i will be neither a resident at any god forsaken organic farm nor in that particular courtyard...

i think the hyatt might work better for me....at least there would be a better chance of hot water not delivered in a cup

More mundane details please.

Well written -- descriptive, witty. We await the next installment.

Immensely enjoying your report so far Thursdaysd. These places may not be for our more well-heeled Fodorites, but I though the Courtyard was very comfortable, fun and, even though in Thamel, quiet, and in a good location to walk to many interesting places -- glad to hear Michelle and Pujan have finally managed to get a generator. I do hope to get to Phulbari one of these days and am looking forward to comparing your report with that of our intrepid Dog . . . can't wait to read more. Bravo!

travelaw: Are you out of cyberpurdah???

Don't want to hijack thursdaysd's thread, but yes, Indiana I am out and HOME!!!!

Welcome home, travelaw - are you out for good?

Dear me, Bob - how unadventurous! I wouldn't recommend Phulbari for you - no shopping or restaurants - but the Courtyard, as travelaw says, is quiet and comfortable, and surely more interesting than yet-another-Hyatt.

Marija - well, an apology for failure to warn would be nice... But I'm not holding my breath.

All - I had poor net access in Goa, and may have none at Kannur Beach or at Coorg, so I need to use the access I currently have in Mangalore to try to fill in a couple of holes in my India plans. And I need to put up a blog post, so I'm not sure when more details will appear. Good thing Gpanda doesn't seem to be reading or I'd start hearing about penalties, lol.

Interesting reading....descriptive and inspired writing thursdaysd.

They say that India will do that for you.

Eager to hear more.

Nov 11-12 - The Upside

Having gone to bed amazingly early (for me), I naturally woke up amazingly early (for me) - well before my hot water was due to arrive. I cleaned my teeth, put my warmest clothes back on, and took a look outside. Yes! Yesterday's haze was just a memory. Now, from west to east (or east to west), the horizon was one long band of mountains. The ice-white peaks seemed almost ethereal against a pale blue sky. Like the Taj Mahal, the impact of this view is something that neither words nor pictures can fully convey. The photos may persuade you to visit, but when you see the reality for yourself, you realize that they are just faint reflections. I spent most of the morning just absorbing the beauty.

Getting back to earth... Femi wants more mundane details and Marija wants to know whether I'm still friends with dogster... Attentive readers may have noticed that I consider coffee a necessity. It is fortunate for continued good relations with dogster that at an earlier stage in the trip I had bought some of those little sachets of Nescafe. Not real coffee, but better than nothing. Although there was no coffee in the Sun House, there was a kettle. An electric cord, apparently left by a passing Australian, did little to heat the water, while the gas ring worked very well when I managed to turn it on. However, the kettle had a hole in the top. This didn't stop the water boiling, but it did require a very careful approach to pouring it out.

Speaking of boiling water, when Govinda brought my hot water up from the farmstead, it was close to boiling. Since I didn't bother to ask for a hairdryer, and therefore didn't wash my hair, I had plenty of water. (For those who haven't tried it, my technique was to half-fill the dipper with cold water, and then top up with hot. After getting good and wet I soaped up, and then rinsed off. No problem.) Breakfast included a beautiful avocado, and lunch featured a piece of honeycomb Govinda had taken from the hive that day, which was delicious but not nearly as sweet as I expected.

When the clouds began to roll in again, I went down to the village. Really not so much a village as series of farms, with a shop, a school, a clinic and a Development Corporation building as the center. I bought a couple of snacks at the store, and took photos of a pretty girl and her animals at one of the farms, but was most interested by the contrast between the outside of the clinic and the development building, and the inside. I'm not quite sure what the government-appointed development guy was supposed to be doing, but inside his very nice building he had a very primitive office. A middle-aged man was learning to type on an aged computer, but they didn't have an internet connection. I found a similar situation at the clinic. Both buildings had been put up with outside money, from Japan in the case of the clinic, but somehow the donations had stopped short of furnishing the interiors. When I left I gave Govinda tip money for the staff, and extra "for wherever it was needed" - which seemed to be about everywhere.

The clouds had arrived to stay, and I spent most of the afternoon reading and typing. I did locate dogster's bench by the heliport (much to my surprise, a faded "H" did exist on the one flat area) but thought it too exposed to wind and sun - I preferred my perch by the pond. That evening the power stayed on, and Govinda was able to get the stove to work, but otherwise it was a repeat of the day before.

For me, the morning spent gazing at that wonderful view pretty much redeemed the trip. However, if the view had not appeared, and there were no more views for the rest of my time in Nepal, I would have had a different reaction. I also suspect that the same view might be available elsewhere in greater comfort. The ambiance at the farm is alluring - it just needs a few improvements....

What a great read. Yes, I can sympathise. I've stayed in places like that, not often and not recently. I admire your honesty!

Very interesting reports and I had been enjoing them... My heart goes to you in the bad times and love it when everything goes well. I found them full of adventure and they are very descriptive.

On a different note;
I am reading "Shadow of the Silk Road" by Colin Thubron; it is an excellent book and beautifully written. Somehow I thought of you... maybe because I listened , months ago, to the interwiew of your travelings and your interest in the Silk Road 'route'...I bet you would find this book very interesting...
Keep us posted, please, all I do is take notes, who knows? Maybe I will venture to some of those places. Good luck!
Ah, I hope your toe is doing better..

sorry T but your hut won't work for me, i'll stick with the hyatt

Hi, Thursdays, I'm catching up with you now that I'm home. Enjoying your Phulbari tale.

Well, thursday, you've no doubt been led astray by men before, but this may be the first time that you've been under the influence of 150 year old childless widower, who travels with a juicy Rimowa suitcase, loves to embroider, and is in search of great places to drop acid. No wonder you experienced Phulbari just a wee bit differently...

Thanks for writing!

Three nights with minimal net access (Kannur), four nights with NO net access (Coorg), am SO glad to be back online! (Although I'm paying way too much to the Royal Orchid Brindavan Gardens for the privilege.) I'm in Mysore - moving to the Ginger tomorrow - enjoying some slightly-faded grandeur (isn't that the best kind?) for one night.

nalijo - oddly I haven't been able to finish "Shadow of the Silk Road" although usually I like Thubron.

Marija - what makes you think I wasn't the one doing the leading astray? lol

Nov 13-15 Stopping Off in Bandipur

"It's hard to believe that somewhere so delightful has manged to escape the ravages of tourist development." Reading that about Bandipur in Lonely Planet, how could I resist visiting on the way from Kathmandu to Pokhara? It would break the long bus trip, and supposedly I'd enjoy stellar views and interesting hikes as well as "a living museum of Newari culture". I made a reservation with Himalayan Encounters for the Old Bandipur Inn, and when I stopped by their Kathmandu office to pay, I also bought my bus ticket - I figured the people at the Old Inn might then ensure my onward connection.

The taxi driver taking me to catch the 7:00 a.m. bus to Pokhara was puzzled when I insisted I wanted to be dropped at the public bus "stand" (actually a long, long line of buses nose to tail down Kantipath). "Courtyard people take the Greenline", he said, the Greenline being a deluxe bus service with AC and an included lunch. I was booked on a standard "tourist" bus, which doesn't mean that it only carries tourists, but rather that everyone has an assigned seat and the luggage travels underneath instead of on top. Or at least that was true on the Kathmandu-Pokhara run.

All the buses seemed to be leaving at the same time, which meant that in addition to the usual complement of trucks, the road out of the Kathmandu valley was overloaded with buses as well. We inched our way slowly upwards, the vegetation thickly covered in dust, the roadbed in poor shape. Once out of the valley conditions gradually improved and I was pleased I had claimed a seat on the right-hand side of the bus, where I had an excellent view of the wide Trisuli River. Every so often we stopped to drop a group of rafters, and at 10:00 we made a food and toilet stop.

By the time we reached Dumre at 11:30 I was very ready to get off myself. I bartered, not very successfully, with the kid in charge of the shared taxi I'd ride up to Bandipur and climbed in next to a couple from Montreal. We had a nice travel chat while we waited for the taxi to fill. After we made it up the hill to the south end of Bandipur's main street we copied the locals and handed the kid the 25 rupees each the ride should cost. I carried my pack up the street to the Old Inn, while the Canadian couple started a search for a room.

The Old Inn turned out to be a typical traveler's hangout with good conversation but without the Courtyard's standard of comfort. My decidedly basic room was up on the roof with the laundry, so for me the toilets and showers were not only down the hall but down the (steep) stairs. Breakfast and dinner were included in my room rate, but while I approved of a breakfast that included muesli, yogurt, omelet, toast and marmalade and good juice, dinner was a protein-poor buffet. Tea and coffee were free, but wifi wasn't, because there was no wifi. (Aside from the Bandipur Mountain Resort, well out of town to the north, I believe this was the best accommodation in Bandipur.)

As with Phulbari, the saving grace for Bandipur would be the view - my room, like the inn's terrace, faced north towards the mountains - except that for the duration of my stay the clouds remained obstinately in place, and I never saw a single mountain. I was also less than taken with the Newari houses: there didn't seem to be all that many, and they weren't in terribly good repair. I did hike up one hill, chatting with a schoolboy herding goats at the top, but I found the temple that was my target mostly in ruins and the view, again, non-existent. (I was pleased that my foot had improved enough that I was able to make it up and down in good shape.) Still, even without the view there were flashes of charm: a quirky statue, a carved panel, an outdoor chess game with elephants and lions and Buddhist thunderbolts defining the pieces.

While it's true that tourist development has not progressed very far at Bandipur as yet, it has been discovered by the smaller, more adventurous tour groups, making a stop on the way to or from Kathmandu. But while the Old Inn did host a group while I was there, it was outnumbered by the independents. The best part of my stay was sitting around a hot wood fire after dinner, talking travel - the first night with a young couple over-landing by motor bike from England, and the second with a couple living in Holland, the man originally from France and the woman from Hungary, who met while studying in Korea, and who were pleased to find someone else who had been there. I also chatted over lunch with an older Canadian couple who had just finished four months in India and five days on the Annapurna circuit. (A man from Melbourne joined the conversation the first night and for a fleeting moment I wondered whether dogster had suddenly appeared in Nepal. Then I remembered that he was still IN Melbourne, plus the guy was a little too uncouth for the role.)

When I left, after two nights, the manager of the Old Inn did indeed help out with getting me back on the bus. I rode down to Dumre in a jeep that "belonged" to an older couple headed to Mustang with a Himalayan Encounters guide, and a boy from the inn waited for the bus with me. A long wait - none of the tourist buses came through until well after 12:00. Soon after I boarded the bus it made a lunchtime stop, but only a short one. I hadn't missed AC on the morning ride to Dumre, but the afternoon sun really heated the bus up, and we had run out of interesting scenery. I'm glad I've done the Kathmandu to Pokhara trip on the ground, but another time I think I'll fly.

Glad to see you writing again, thursday. Your absence had me worried. Dogster should be landing in Cochin on the 15th, if he hasn't jumped ship in Mumbai, so yell loudly if you find yourself in need of help. (Not even for a second did I doubt your leading-astray skills.)

Good to hear from you again.

Glad to hear you foot is better. It sounds like quite the adventures.

i thought i must have a ton to read but i've caught up easily

Nice that you've surfaced. I was about to send out a search-party.
So Dogster is couth? I look forward to that bit.

Nov 15-19 - Poking Around Pokhara

As I told Michelle when I ran into her unexpectedly with her father, what Pokhara needs is a Courtyard West. I found the hotel scene decidedly unsatisfactory. I started at the River View, where friends had been happy the year before. First, the owner didn't answer his phone when I called from the bus station for the promised pick up. Second, the hotel was further than I really wanted to walk from the main drag, and in the busiest part of tourist central rather than the quieter section opposite the lake. Then, I was up on the roof with the laundry again, up five flights of stairs this time. Some might think it an upgrade, as by some measure it was a penthouse suite, but the extra room was useless to me as it had no TV and no wifi, there were no light switches in the bedroom, so I needed my flashlight to go to bed, the TV remote and fridge didn't work, and the bathroom got so wet when I showered I felt it prudent to dry my hair in the living room. In short, I was unhappy.

I went out to find an alternative, but most of the midrange places in Lonely Planet were full. I wound up at the Green Tara, although later I found it looked rather more run-down in the light of day than it had at night. I chose to wrap the dubious-looking pillow in my silk sleep sack, and I decided I had overpaid. Still, I only needed to trek up one flight of stairs, I had TV, and wifi, and a bay window with a tree outside.

What redeemed Pokhara for me was its lovely lake, even though the only mountain view I had was a fugitive glimpse from the bus on the way out of town. Pokhara's version of Thamel is just one road along the lake shore, with buildings on both sides north of the Royal Palace but not south. Aside from the hotels they are just one or two stories high, and everything is much quieter. I did miss the rickshaws, though, and had to do a fair amount of walking, although I used a taxi for sightseeing.

I dutifully visited the Seti River Gorge, very missable, the Bindya Basini Durga Temple, very missable, the small Newari Bhimsen Temple, very missable, the Japanese Peace Pagoda, on a hill on the far side of the lake, not especially interesting, and the Tashi Palkhel Tibetan settlement north of town, where I settled in to listen to the afternoon chant, but didn't buy from the souvenir stalls. Of course, most people use Pokhara as the starting point for treks in the Annapura area, rather than as a destination in its own right. Or they chill out by the lake admiring the mountains. While I enjoyed the lake, I regretted the missing view.

I did get some good coffee and cake at the Cafe Concerto, close to the Green Tara, and I ate reasonably well, and enjoyed cheap Cointreau, at the Ghurka Restaurant further north. I also indulged in some second-hand Elizabeth George paperbacks. While she's hardly one of my favorite authors, after a couple of months with just a few audio books on my iPod I was delighted to have something new to read.

Originally I had intended to break the journey from Pokhara to Lumbini at Tansen, just as I had broken the journey from Kathmandu to Pokhara at Bandipur, but after spending time at both Phulbari and Bandiur, I felt Tansen would just be more of the same. With my bad foot limiting hikes, and the clouds still down, I added a day each to Pokhara and Lumbini instead.

Love the pictures on your blog.
Just read on the beeb of a horrendous bus accident near Mysore. Hope you were not in the area. Have rather lost touch of where you are in real time

Hi gertie - yes, I am in Mysore, as a matter of fact - read about the accident in the paper this morning. Horrible - 27 people returning from a wedding, the road was known to be dangerous (no guardrails alongside a stretch of water) but hadn't been fixed. Of course, most of the roads in Karnataka need fixing in some way! Some villagers are so fed up they're boycotting upcoming local elections, although I don't know what good that will do.

I'll be here until Saturday, then moving to the Gateway in Coonoor. Just booked a seat on a mini-bus....

Ah! Caught you in real time! I think that stretch of road is the one my bus went along in Feb en route from Coonor to Mysore. Can't remember where we stayed in Coonor but it wasn't as posh as the Gateway looks. More pics please.
And give my regards to Inspector Lynley.

Well, I hope this Gateway is posher than the one in Mangalore, which was definitely in need of renovation! I also hope I can get a gin and tonic, my first night in Mysore was a splurge at the Royal Orchid Brindavan Gardens, but they only had some local gin premixed with orange!!! Nice building, great location overlooking the gardens, but only two other rooms taken last night.

I finally got all the Nepal pix up at http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Round-the-World-2010-11 - usual passwords. Net access was too slow in Nepal. The second (and last) Phulbari blog piece just went up, too - http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/the-view-from-phulbari/

Ah the problems of getting a decent G&T in India. Often places would have only the gin (local gut-rot) and I resorted to drinking it with the fresh lime juice they have everywhere. Could be worse!

can't imagine why G&T is a problem in india....

Both Hinduism and Islam, as well as Sikhs and Jains, take a dim view of alcohol. But not opium, for some reason . . .

my point being the english rules here for so long

A mere 300 or 400 years . . . a drop in the historical bucket in India. I think the East India Company first started business there in the 1600s. But Indian mosquitoes have some fair resistance to chloroquinine.

The Gateway in Coonoor definitely has that British Empire feel -you can almost hear the conversation of colonials sippng their gin and tonics in the beautiful old bar in the main hotel building. The restaurant overlooking the gardens behind the hotel was lovely, the food delicious. We stayed outside town, not there, but peeked into the annex rooms around a sort of lawn. They looked fine, but far from posh.

I think Taj Group changed the names of hotels for which they didnt want to invest much money, to Gateway Hotels.
Looking forward to reading your description of it.

There's a Bandipur between Mysore and Ooty also.

The only gin I've seen so far is Indian, and in Tamil Nadu ALL alcohol has to be local, apparently they check at the border. I prefer Gordons, but the Indian Blue Riband is tolerable, provided you don't add too much tonic.

The Gateway in Mangalore was supposedly being renovated, and it was definitely a bit shabby. Aside from a couple of glitches at checkout (when I had a train to catch!) the service was very good, though.

I think I'll be on the road where the 27 people died when I move to Coonoor. Big article in the Deccan Herald this morning about how many other accidents, deadly and otherwise, have happened on that stretch in just the last ten years. Of course, the appropriate authorities are promising to fix things now, though I wouldn't hold my breath. But when it comes to Indian roads, you need to be a fatalist - if it's my time...

Nov 19-22 - Pilgrimage to Lumbini

I am not a Buddhist, but if I were to join any organized religion (something for which a study of history has given me a deep distrust), it would be Theravada Buddhism. Not Mahayana Buddhism: although I love the temples and the rituals, it seems to me to have strayed too far from the Buddha's original doctrines. So, when I realized that the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini, and the ruins of his father's palace, at Tilaurakot, were practically on the Indian border, and not that far from the Indian railway system, I decided to go overland to India rather than backtracking to Kathmandu and flying. The road was said to be very scenic, and I had thought I might stop in Tansen on the way, but I did not initially think of it as a pilgrimage.

Any pilgrimage should have an element of hardship - consider the Camino Real - and partway to Lumbini it occurred to me that it might reconcile me to the rigors of the journey to look on it in that light. I had discovered in Pokhara that I had only two options: either a car and driver, which were likely way over my budget, or a 6:30 a.m. bus. Aside from the afternoon heat the bus to Pokhara had not been that bad, so I bought a bus ticket with little hesitation. However, there is competition on the Kathmandu-Pokhara run, and none on the Pokhara-Bhairawa route. The only thing "tourist" about this bus was the scattering of Westerners riding it. The luggage went on top, some of the seats had been sold twice, there was little legroom, and the bus operated like a local. We stopped to let people off, we stopped to let people on, and we made lengthy stops in every village so that the conductor could catch up on the local gossip. It's true that the scenery was good, but it wasn't that good.

I was relieved to get off for lunch at Tansen, at 11:30, but less enthused by the food on offer. I followed a savvy-looking young couple who had been sitting up front next to the driver into one of the food places (I hesitate to call it a cafe) and settled on a couple of lentil dishes. The woman turned out to have been born in Wilmington, NC, and was full of amazed delight to find someone else from NC traveling. Although, since I was born in England, and since despite my 35 years there the locals still crack up when I say "y'all" I don't count myself as a real tar heel. At Butwal, which we reached around 1:00 p.m., the bus gave up all pretense of being anything other than a local, and we left at 1:30 with a full load of gas and passengers standing in the aisle.

But in Bhairawa, the end of the bus ride and virtually the end of Nepal, my journey took a turn for the better. I had arranged pickup from my hotel, and was met by a young man in a dark suit with a white jeep. I had read some really dire things about the hotel scene in Lumbini, and had initially thought I might stay at the Korean monastery, which seemed to be the current backpacker pick, but after Phulbari and Bandipur I had a hankering for AC and some comfort. A spate of recent building had increased my options, and when the Hotel Kasai offered me a discount for staying three nights, and the more expensive Hokke didn't answer my email, the choice was easy.

The Kasai is owned by a Japanese concern, and it shows. Although the hotel has been open a year, the bathroom fittings gleamed showroom new, my room was big and clean, the gated hotel compound quiet and the service impeccable. One of the two dining rooms was Japanese style - although you could dangle your feet under the tables - and there were staff quarters and a vegetable garden out back. I settled in under an umbrella in the courtyard, snacked on fried paneer and good coffee, and relaxed. The only drawback to the place was its location - it wasn't walking distance to anything, except just possibly the Japanese Peace Pagoda (same style as the one in Pokhara).

The next morning the hotel arranged a rickshaw for me, and I set off to visit the assorted monasteries and the birthplace itself. Most countries you would expect - Thailand and China, for instance - and some you wouldn't - Germany and France - have built, or are in the process of building, temples and monasteries here. Mahayana countries to the west of what may one day be a central canal, and Theravada countries to the east. While the monasteries could be quite elaborate, and Cambodia had erected a replica of the Shwedagon in Yangon, the birthplace itself was covered by a plain white building. I felt no spiritual vibe inside, but the grounds outside, grass shaded by big trees with wide-spreading branches, joined by row after row of brightly colored prayer flags, felt truly peaceful. My rickshaw driver had accompanied me to the other temples, but here I insisted on being left alone - he seemed quite offended.

Unfortunately, just as my right foot finally seemed to have recovered from the sprain in Vancouver, I didn't lift the trailing foot high enough over the threshold of the Chinese temple, and hit the fourth toe on my left foot REALLY hard. In response it swelled up dramatically and turned a spectacular purple. I took the anti-inflammatory tablets I had acquired in Hong Kong, but still, I was limping again.

I saw very few other Westerners, but many Asians (it was Saturday), including a number of school groups. Most of them walked. Although the site has been authenticated, it had puzzled me that a queen, especially a heavily pregnant queen, should have been walking from Tilaurakot, 29 kilometers west, to visit her own family, still further east, when she gave birth unexpectedly at what is now Lumbini. When I saw how far the locals still walked it made more sense.

I spent my second morning writing, than ate a Japanese lunch of tempura and soba, before taking a car and driver to visit the very ruinous ruins at Tilaurakot. While the red brick foundations themselves weren't that exciting - although a group of Buddhist monks were busy taking photographs at the gateway where the Buddha abandoned his life as a prince - a festival was underway nearby, and the roads were filled with men and women in their best clothes. Again, a few people rode in carts, and a very few traveled in style in rickshaws, but the vast majority walked. A double river of bright color flowed either side of me. At the site itself a shrine to Mayadevi (the Buddha's mother) as Kali had attracted a small group, and the several black elephant statues outside were decorated for the occasion.

I was now in the Terai, the hot and humid south of Nepal, its flat agricultural land a great contrast to the mountainous north. The next day I would head further south still, returning to India after nine years.

Can't wait to see your pics of this place.
Sorry to hear of further ambulatory concerns, they seem to follow you around. Hope you are limping less in Mysore... that bus accident has been all over the international press. Hope you made it in one piece.

reading with interest

Made it to Coonoor in one piece, although I took a sightseeing minibus to Ooty instead of a car and driver (700 INR including car on to Coonoor vs. 2800) and it was VERY bumpy in places. The Gateway upgraded me, and I have loads of room!

Sitting room with desk, sofa and fireplace. (They will light the wood fire on request). Bedroom with very high ceiling, TV, huge bed. Dressing area with wardrobe, and dresser. Very nice bathroom with glassed in shower. It is a bit worn in places, but basically comfortable.

Our guide last year in Delhi, although a Hindu, was born in Lumbini. He is fluent in Japanese which he learned from his Japanese schoolmates there. Apparently there are many Japanese transplants who want to live in the birthplace of the Buddha.

The Gateway sounds perfect. I remember thinking of Blue Remembered Hills in Coonoor as there was a stunning view of them. Was rather disappointed with Ooty, though we went to a beautiful tea plantation.
Super pics on your blog. Just about to sit comfortably and read it.
Where next?

Ooty didn't look like much to me on the way through. I plan to ride the toy train up for a look at the Botanic Gardens, but that's about it. I may have to turn the heater on tonight, although I've got two hot water bottles and an extra blanket!

Glad you like the pix. Afraid that after Phulbari the text is the same as here, though. Tuesday I'm scheduled to take the night train from Coimbattore to Trivandrum. Six nights rest and resupply there over Christmas. I picked a place I figured people were more likely to be leaving than visiting, and booked a special rate at a business hotel. (Bah, humbug!)

Oh i can just picture you at the GFateway, as we were there for lunch and walked around the gardens in back, and the park in front, two yrs ago.
Are you in the annex buiding (as you lv the main hotel, it is off the the left) or the main hotel? Have you hit the bar for a g and t? I felt like we were inEngland--esp'lly with that view of the church steeple across from the front lawn.How's the weather?
We agreer-Coonoor was lovely and more peaceful than Ooty. Are you driving out to the Brookfields tea place--the drive out is lovely, you'll pass one of those waterfall where monkeys beg from the tourists, and a little neighborhood of veddy British looking cottages. Just past the tea place is a suppoedly beautiful scenic outlook- "supposedly " b/c the road to it was closed when we went.
There are some beautiful formal gardens in Coonoor too--can't recall name, but it is right across from the Pasteur Institute. You'll meet (if you want to) loads of honeymooners and families who will want you in their photo.
Enjoy the toy train!! It was, IMHO, much nicer than the "HImalayan Queen" toy train in fro SHinla to Kalka.

Yes, CaliNurse, I'm in the annex to the left. Weather is clear and warm in the morning and cool and misty in the afternoon. Drove out to the viewpoints this morning - I really liked Coorg, but the Nilgiri Hills are stunning! Alas, only Indian gin available, and it doesn't feel very English to me - maybe because almost all my fellow-guests are Indian.

Nov 22-24 Into India, Take Two

Since Lumbini was a long, dusty, potholed, 22km from Bhairawa/Sunauli and the Indian border, I arranged for the same young man in the same white jeep to drive me. Not only did he get me to the border, he organized a jeep for the trip to the railhead at Gorakhpur, and escorted me to Nepali immigration - three men in mufti sitting round a dusty table. I switched cars, switched countries, and immediately hit a traffic jam. After we extricated ourselves, the new driver escorted me to Indian immigration - another set of men round another dusty table, but the formalities were equally quick. I had a ticket for a 15:05 train, and had no worries about making it when we got under way at 10:30. Lonely Planet said that the bus took three hours, but since my driver, pushing the limits of my tolerance for speed, took nearly two hours to reach the outskirts of Gorakhpur, and then a full 30 minutes to crawl through the bazaar, I rather doubt it.

Distance lends enchantment to the view... You remember the pleasure and forget the pain... Cliches are cliches because they're true. December 2001, after ten weeks in India, traveling mostly by rail and rickshaw, I couldn't wait to leave. Now I was going back, remembering just the incredible diversity, the vibrant colors and tastes, the magnificent forts and palaces and temples, and the long, long history. Almost immediately, everything I hate most about India brought me back to the reality that all is not good any more than all is bad. The ridiculously chaotic traffic, with constant honking and no lane discipline. The dirt and trash in the streets, with the fragmentary sidewalks used as public urinals. The ugly concrete buildings with hole in the wall shops. Dubious sanitation. Gorakhpur epitomized all that is bad about India. At least, I figured, things would get better from there.

Among the things I had forgotten was just how dirty the stations could be - the platforms at Gorakhpur had no seats, and weren't places where you'd want to put your luggage. However, when I found the cloakroom (left luggage office) closed, I remembered that there should be a waiting room. The Ladies Room was closed, the AC room was closed, but the air-cooled room was open, and I took the one empty chair. I had a long wait. At first my train showed on the monitors as "RT" - presumably short for "right time". At 15:00, with a totally different train standing at its designated platform the message changed to "45 mins late". It finally left, from another platform altogether, at 16:25.

Although called an express, it wasn't a premier train, and the rolling stock seemed old and tired. Darkness set in early, and I spent most of the five hour trip listening to my iPod. Since I arrived after dark I had arranged to be collected by my hotel - a pleasant but regrettably expensive practice - and spotted my driver just as the first taxi tout showed up. I had had surprising difficulty booking a hotel in Lucknow, hardly prime tourist territory, and had wound up at La Place Samovar, which, like the train, seemed old and tired. It did have a still-open restaurant, although the food wasn't great.

Why Lucknow, you might reasonably ask. Besides being the first sizable town with an airport in either direction from Gorakhpur, it was the scene of a historic siege during the Indian Mutiny/First War of Independence, and also boasted a couple of significant Mughal buildings. I started my exploration at the Residency, where large numbers of British civilians, along with British and Indian soldiers, were besieged for a total of 148 days (the first relief column was unable to end the siege). The compound turned out to be much bigger than I had imagined, really a self-contained village in its heyday, and also much more atmospheric than I had expected. Multiple bullet holes still marked the roofless buildings, graceful arches still hinted at their past lives when the Resident would have received guests for dinner and dancing and diplomacy, and the whole quiet, misty, tree-shaded area had an air of gentle melancholy.

Things weren't a whole lot livelier at the Imambaras, mausoleums built as a form of famine relief in the 1780s. The interiors were dark and dusty, hardly worth the hassle of taking my boots off, and I chose to skip the labyrinthine stairs and corridors on the second floor of Bara Imambara on the grounds of incipient claustrophobia (and bad feet). I lunched very well and very cheaply at Tunday Kebabi on spicy mutton patties. Then I disappointed my driver by refusing his suggestion that we visit the Chikan Chowk (embroidery market). I had hired him for four hours, and after taking 30 minutes to negotiate the truly atrocious traffic jam near the hotel, we arrived back exactly on time. The traffic jam was possibly caused by the road works resulting from the installation of water pipes, and possibly not.

I spent the rest of the day catching up on the net, and the next morning catching up with the news. Back in 2001, Bihar state had been so dangerous that my train from Kolkata to Varanasi had carried armed guards. The chief minister who had just been resoundingly re-elected had so improved things that it was now safe for the inhabitants to go out at night. Less happily, I also read about death in Cambodia, at a river festival I had enjoyed attending back in 2004, about trouble in Korea, about plans to limit immigration to the UK, and finally about some authority or other wanting to take cellphones away from Indian girls. (Something to do with love matches, I believe.)

Then, just as I was about to leave to catch my flight to Hyderabad, my netbook's keyboard locked up. Locked up so completely, in fact, that I couldn't turn if off. Since the battery was sealed I couldn't turn it off by removing power either. The battery was fully charged, and would last a good six hours... I thanked my lucky stars I was flying in India and not the USA, where the TSA would have had several fits, and hoped it wouldn't overheat on the journey.

You mean Coonor? Are you going to Coorg as well? I confuse the two names--but not as places--Coorg area is beautiful too, lots of coffee instead of tea. Eg The tea place nr Coonoris Highfields, not Brookfields. I'll haev to revisit sometime so i can see those lookouts. We were lucky, we stayed at a place called Kurumba Village not far from Coonor, it's in a little valley surrounded by the Nilgiri hills. Gorgeous, although very susceptible to the rain washouts due to its position.
Enjoyed reading about Lucknow, as one of my bet buds is from there--and will be making a visit. Re: dearth of good reasonably priced accom, she and I have spoken of going into business and opening a homestay! Sounds like it might be a good idea!

Like all us Fodies, i'm loving your TR Thursdays!! Thank you!!! It's especially fun when we can picutre exactly where you are!

Just catching up thursdaysd on your terrific adventure. I might need a map to sort out the geography but appreciate the details.

I am not happy... After not getting sick in a lot of cheaper places, I finally got sick at the Gateway! Have spent most of the day in bed, waiting for the antibiotic to take full effect - good thing it's pouring rain outside, as it means I might not have ridden the train up to Ooty in any case.

I may not ride it down to Metupalayam either, as contrary to advice in LP I should have bought a ticket a while back. Given how I feel, a car and driver to Coimbattore is starting to look like a better bet, anyway.

I've been following your TR with great interest. Such an adventure which I am happy to experience vicariously. Hope you feel better soon.

Sorry to hear you got sick; very miserable being sick when travelling alone. I feel for you. And rain too.
Wonder, after reading your stuff about Lucknow, if you are a closet historian too. One of the reasons I travel is to see Where History Happened. I'd like to see Lucknow.
Chin up and hope things improve.

Yes, I'm with you in spirit, too. As Wise Mother Gertie says, being sick alone can make you feel very grim indeed. Just know that your loyal Fodor's friends are there and, visa permitting, WILL fly to wherever you are and hold your sweaty, hallucinating hand.

Although, with the prospect of awaking from coma and discovering Dogster staring intently into your bleary eyes, perhaps death is a better alternative.

Stay away from cough syrup, thursday...

Robotrippin' . . .

So sorry to hear you are ill. I'm glad you have your own medicine along. We're all with you in spirit, intrepid Thursdays!

thursdaysd, don't forget to hydrate. I hope you feel better soon. We're all willing you back to normal!

Still with you in spirit too Thursday. Hope you feel better soon. Avoid dog slobber if you can just offer a little pat on the head.

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone! I do feel a bit better this morning, although nothing like normal. Am not looking forward to the trek to Trivandrum, plus my train gets in (theoretically) at 7:00 am and my hotel has 3:00 pm check-in.

travelaw - this may be the reward for hubris. I had just decided there was no reason to carry around two heavy-for-their-size rehydration sachets and ditched one. (I fished it back out of the trash can.)

gertie - once upon a time I planned to become a history teacher. Legions of school children don't know how lucky they are I didn't!

dogster - aren't you out of India for two months now, or is there special dispensation for cruisers?

Ha ha Thursday! The ones that escaped you got stuck with me!
I'm sure you are feeling better now after all these good wishes. Good luck with the trek to Trivandrum. Sounds like a case of paying for an extra day so you can rest up. G&Ts will probably work wonders, think of all that quinine.

Glad to see you're on the road to recovery, and then Trivandrum...

gertie - the extra day thing unfortunately won't work - this close to Christmas I very much doubt I could get a ticket for the train the next night. And I think the Gateway is fully booked tonight, too.

In addition to planning for Sri Lanka after India, I have a month in SEA coming up. I fly into BKK Feb 1, right before New Year's. I was going to hang around waiting to get a visa for Myanmar, but now I'm thinking about flying right out to Luang Prabang. Any thoughts? Any budget hotel recs?

T'daysd, drink lots of Limka , or hot clear tea with honey, with bits of fresh ginger. If you are still at Gateway they'll fix it for you.
If you decide on a car drive (instead of train) down to Coimbatore, you'll be on winding road at the edge of the hills. Lots of monkeys will wave at you. Do you have something for carsickness? After the road down, as it gets flat again, on your left you'll pass a place called Black Thunder Water Park. If you like watching families amusing themselves, and ladies getting their saris drenched while having fun, this is the place to do it.
Keep on feeling better, bit by bit. Hope I dont sound too like a clucking hen--it's the nurse in me.

Yup, out of India for two months - otherwise I'd be straight back on a plane right now. Leaving Kochi was an effort of will... not that I found it overly rivetting. I'll put it on my list of Not Very India India - which is, of course, why it's so popular.

Doctor Dogster recommends Ms Thursday stop faffing about in trains, buses and tuk-tuks and be comfortable until full health and vigour returns. Remember Dogster's golden rule; check into the best hotel in town and do not move until better.

Oh, wait... you did. That's how you got sick.

Ignore all of Dogster's advice.

Luang Prabang is very good for hanging around doing R&R. All the guesthouses are centrally located but I wouldn't recommend the one we stayed in, the name of which I can't remember anyway. Maybe someone else is more clued up. There are lots of budget places in the centre, nice little cafes and restaurants and several bookshops for sitting about. It's also a good centre for getting to other places. Quite touristy though.
Bangkok Airways flies up there for not much.

If you need a rest, Luang Prabang is a good place for it. Quiet, meditative. For me, Bangkok is a good place for a rest, but I know you aren't fond of Bangkok. But if you are feeling poorly, Burma is not the place to be.

Well, I made it to Trivandrum. The ride down the mountain was the best part. I think I posted on another thread recently about how nice and smooth the trains were after the road in Karnataka - not this one!

I won't get to SEA until Feb, so I hope I'll be feeling better by then, but maybe still a bit tired. I was planning on roughing it north of Mandalay - perhaps not this trip!

You're amazing, thursday. How can you not be tired? We're exhausted just trying to figure out where you are, where you've been and where you're heading to.

Glad to hear you made it to Trivandrum. I hope you are feeling better.

Well, I actually wanted to eat breakfast, instead of forcing myself to eat to ward off hypoglycemia, so that's something, but my insides are still unhappy. But the Keys Hotel in Trivandrum is everything I hoped the Ginger in Mysore would be and wasn't (aside from needing to have the sheets changed). Although I could do without the Christmas songs in the cafe (bah, humbug!)

Nov 24-27 - Haunting Hyderabad

Once, so I have read, Hyderabad was a center of high Islamic culture, adorned with fabulous palaces and gracious gardens, and ruled by the impossibly wealthy Nizams - the Koh-i-Noor diamond came from their Golconda mines. That was before Independence and the partition of Pakistan and India. A great deal has been written about the horrors of partition on the frontiers, of whole trainloads arriving dead on either side of the newly-defined border, of hundreds of thousands, maybe as many as a million, killed. The story of Hyderabad is not told so often.

Just as the ruler of Kashmir vacillated, with disastrous consequences still in operation today, over the choice between accession to India or Pakistan, so too did the Nizam. But with joining Pakistan surely a geographic non-starter, he opted for independence from both. Negotiations with the new Indian government failed and the army went in, taking a mere five days to gain control. While Muslim militia units may have helped provoke the invasion (although it was called a "police action") estimates of Muslim deaths after the invasion range from 50,000 to 200,000. The government report on the terror and bloodshed has never been published.

Certainly, there is little now to recall the city of palaces. William Dalrymple writes poignantly of an old man who grew up in the Hyderabad of the Nizams, and lives now in the Hyderabad of modern India, trying to forget the past. The streets are maybe a little broader, maybe a little cleaner, than elsewhere. A large lake is a surprising find near the city center. Here and there the bones of a once beautiful building still stand. But mostly, Hyderabad is just another Indian city. Better off than many, with a HiTec section growing on the western outskirts, and an upmarket area called Banjara Hills, where I stayed in the Minerva Grand.

But one palace, the Chowmahalla, has been recently restored. (For the remarkable story behind its renaissance, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/dec/08/weekend.williamdalrymple ) Situated in the heart of the old city, close to the bazaar, it is a surprising oasis of green grass, splashing fountains, and opulent white buildings. The durbar hall is still lit by 19 huge crystal chandeliers, and collections of porcelain, clothing, arms, photos and even very decrepit antique cars fill the halls.

Before Hyderabad became a city, and before the Nizams ruled it, the Qutb Shah kings held power, originally in Golconda, on the outskirts. When the water supply failed they founded the new city. While the remains of Golconda fort, built on a substantial hill, are still formidable, I didn't find it as interesting as I expected. It could use some cleaning up, as could the much more atmospheric Qutb Shahi tombs nearby. Sometimes I am puzzled by the choice of the Indian Archaeological Society of what to save and what to neglect. Even with the water channels empty, the grass brown and the buildings stained, you can see how beautiful the site must have been, and could be again.

Some people come to Hyderabad for the shopping - my drivers all wanted to take me to jewelry stores. Some people come for the food - the Hyderabad biryanis are famous. I didn't shop, but I did eat chicken biryani, twice at my hotel, and once at a city center place recommended by Lonely Planet, the Hotel Shadab, where I felt distinctly out of place as a solo female. All three were fine, but I am still not a fan of biryani.

Besides sightseeing, I spent some time in Hyderabad figuring out how to leave. I had arrived at the sparkling new international-standard Rajiv Gandhi airport, driving the 22 kms into town on an impressive new highway. (I noticed a sign: "Please don't overload your vehicle" just before we passed an overstuffed rickshaw.) I wanted to leave by car for Bijapur, Badami and Hospet (for Hampi). I had asked for quotes before I left, notably from savaari.com, but they seemed high, and based on my previous experience I expected to do better in-country. But my hotel's quote was much higher, and when I finally tracked down a travel agent in town his quote was also higher, and I didn't feel comfortable dealing with him.

I sent another email to savaari.com, and meanwhile worked out a Plan B. This involved flying to Goa, and staying at the Panjim Inn in Panaji. On the one hand, I liked the Panjim Inn. On the other hand, I had already done about all you could do based in Panaji, and I had skipped Hampi in favor of more time in Goa the last time I was in India. Getting to Hampi is a pain, and I might not be so close again, so when savaari.com replied, I accepted their terms.

do you find that this planning on the go takes away from your cultural and sightseeing time? or is it totally necessary for the fluidity you also want to achieve?

Well, obviously I can't sight-see and plan at the same time, but no-one on a long trip spends all their time sight-seeing. You need some more "normal" time. And although I did make reservations for France and the UK at the very end of the trip (mostly places I'd been before), even if it made sense to plan four or five months out, I ran out of time!

Not reserving drivers for India was a deliberate decision, based on previous experience, and not reserving some of the hotels in India was the result of not finding vacancies - when I tried again a couple of weeks ago, I didn't have as much trouble. Then, I've done SEA before without much pre-planning, although I would have liked to get further with Sri Lanka before I left.

Fascinating stuff on Hyderabad. When I was there the only bit I saw was the airport which was indeed sparkling new and international standard. I suspected the rest didn't live up to it. Now to William Dalrymple.

A totally amazing article. How I wish I'd stopped over and seen all that. I've got Dalrymple's books here, is that article out of one of them I wonder?
So you're in Trivandrum now and feeling better I hope, lulled by the Christmas songs. Have a good one.

Whew, thought I was somewhat recovered, but I went shopping for toiletries this morning (the resupply part of R&R) and the heat and humidity just at 10:00 am wiped me right out. (And the shops don't open until 10:00.) So I spent an hour in a nice AC salon having a pedicure and getting my hair hennaed, and now I have orange hair (normal) and gold toenails (not normal). The gold is in honor of Christmas 2001, which I spent in Kochi with a very good friend. She can't travel any more, but she sent me an email reminding me about the gold toenails I got on that trip.

kathie Could you post the contact info (preferably email) for your BKK travel agent? I'm seeing crazy high prices for BKK to LP, and maybe he can do better. If not, I'll need tickets on the night trains to/from Vientiane and the flight on to LP. I'm a little reluctant to go back to LP in case it's gotten too touristy, but I think I'll risk it.

There is no competition on the BKK - LP flight, only Bangkok Air flies it. Yes, you can train to to (near) Vientiane, or I believe there are cheap flights. Do try Eddie:
aniwat@seatoursthai.com

PS I love your gold toenails commemoration!

Thursday. You can fly cheaply from Bkk to Udon Thani and then a hour or so on the international bus to Vientiane. It's easy and might work for you. Much the same as the train but of course you don't save the overnight hotel. Flights in Lao aren't cheap either Again no competition.

Thanks Kathie, will do. I've taken the train to Vientiane before and don't have a problem doing it again. I really like that the Thai trains have the berths parallel with the side of the carriage, everyone gets more privacy.

Nov 27 - The Sorry Saga of Savaari

The morning of the 27th I was checked out of the Minerva Grand, and ready to get on the road, at 8:20, as agreed by email. Silly me. Half an hour later I called the contact number Savaari had given me. The universal SIM in my cell phone provided a horrible connection, but I discerned that the driver would arrive in "5-10 minutes". He actually arrived after another half an hour, just as I was about to implement Plan B. So I was not paying as much attention as I might otherwise have done to the route we took. When asked my preference, I had simply said: "the shortest", and sat back, not thinking that I needed to treat this driver the way I would a rickshaw driver who had agreed to use the meter.

On my previous trip, as best I remember, my contracts for car hire had specified a particular journey - town A to town B - but all the contracts I was offered this time were distance based. So many rupees for so many kilometers. Or, actually, half that many kilometers, as they doubled the outbound distance to allow for the driver's return to Hyderabad even though he would travel a shorter route. Extra kilometers cost 10.5 rupees each. Except that the extra kilometers were doubled, too.

I had expected that we would take the NH9, so it took me a while to register that the nice, smooth, fast divided highway we were traveling was actually the NH7 to Bangalore, and even longer to conclude we were heading too far south. When I asked how come we weren't heading more to the west, my driver made a U-turn, took the exit we had just passed, and announced that we were going via Raichur. At this point I pulled out my Lonely Planet, took a good look at the sketchy map of Karnataka, and made it quite clear that I knew that Raichur was completely and totally out of the way.

He stopped the car, and went "to get directions", even though he had spent quite a while on the phone doing that already. Clearly, he had been planning to run up the mileage (sorry, I can't figure out the equivalent word for kilometers), and now I had called him on it, he needed an alternate route. Unfortunately for both of us, that turned out to mean we spent the rest of the day doggedly traveling cross-country on roads of varying but generally miserable condition. Before the trip, I had posted, mostly in jest, about a possible need for a search party, given that I had hired this outfit sight-unseen over the internet. Now I started to think one might actually be required. At least my driver was willing to ask for directions, and frequently did so, but when we finally reached Bijapur the last colors of a rather pretty sunset had already turned to black.

While I didn't have to drive, I was stuck with some very uninspiring scenery. For most of the day, flat, agricultural land stretched to the horizon in all directions. The villages we passed - we saw precious few towns - were literally dirt poor: the houses had dirt floors and often just woven walls. And after the first few flocks of sheep or herds of bullocks, they cease to be cute and photogenic, and become simply yet-another-traffic-hazard.

We eventually stopped for lunch in a small town, but the first place we tried clearly wanted nothing to do with us, and I was less than happy with it. The second was pretty primitive, too, but I figured (correctly) that I would probably survive eating a veg thali. Toilet stops? Behind a couple of bus shelters. After we reached my hotel, my driver had the nerve to ask me where he was going to sleep. I pointed out, rather sharply, that the contract said that his accommodation was included in the price I was paying. Perhaps he slept in the car. When I saw my room, I wasn't sure I wouldn't have been better off in the car myself.

[Note: for the letter I sent to savaari.com after reaching Hospet, see http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/bad-experience-with-savaaricom.cfm . I have received no reply.]

yipes!

lol lol lol. Fabulous. I see you've recovered your wit.

I just want to know how you are.

Christmas and New Year can be difficult for us solo travelers. I detect that you've been through a down phase or two on your trip. Swings and roundabouts. Maybe, if you're like me, just the mere fact of getting thru Christmas and NY sets you back on track. In which case, the end is nigh...

Sometimes, also, being in an environment that is geared to people, as opposed to clients can be a blessing. That's why I dropped the homestay idea discreetly back into play on your other thread. Having somebody to be interested in, other than oneself, can be a relief. After all, I know the story of ME - it's fun to have a break from that never-ending story.

This thread is such a time-traveler, jumping back and forth from a month ago to next month, sometimes I lose you in the moment.

So, just fill me/us in. Where are you now? Where are you going to next? How are you feeling? Up? Down? Sideways? You've been on the road for a long time now. I know the dangers that can lurk out there. I'm sure you're not nearly as crazy as Dog can get at times, but I just want to make sure you haven't slipped over to the dark side. lol lol lol

And when is Sri Lanka? You know, it's very easy. If you want a site that gives you all the raw data, reddottours.com has comprehensive listings of almost everywhere. You can almost do it day by day. Be aware tho', you're slap bang in the middle of the Season of Greed. No deals to be had, I promise you.

So update us, eh?

Hi dogster, thanks for asking. And for that matter, where are you? Still in Bangkok? Yes, the holidays can be tough, and they come round much too fast these days - that's why I'm traveling this year - I can handle the holiday season about every other year!

I had lousy net access in Madurai, and it's not much better now, so short and sweet.

I spent Christmas in the Keys in Trivandrum, having a nice rest with AC and very good wifi, and recovering from getting sick at Coonoor. I finally figured out that I had no energy because I'd been carrying my vitamins around but not taking them... Energy level much better now. I thought about a heritage homestay, but opted for privacy.

I'm spending New Year's here: http://www.thebangala.com/ Very nice place, especially after the horrible Madurai Residency, but I'm not sure how friendly my fellow guests will be - seem to be mostly groups.

I fly to Sri Lanka Jan 9th, and I just sent deposits to Boutique Sri Lanka. They were the only people I was getting much feedback from over Christmas (partly my fault for not following up with Quickshaws) and came up with a plan I could accept. Given it was high season, I didn't want to risk winging it.

I'm thinking of dropping Myanmar - too tiring, and takes too long to get the visa. I'm thinking Luang Prabang, Georgetown, a Thai island, and maybe Ubud. Suggestions? Somewhere not humid would be welcome.

I have the piece on Bijapur and Badami ready to go, but I need to get someone to fix the server here so it will recognize me - I'm typing this on the hotel's PC.

Funnily enough, The Bangala was where I was booked to go after Cardamom House and the Frozen Chicken of Death. I never made it. Right now I'm still in BKK, lying low till NYE is done and dusted, staying here: www.tenfacebangkok.com/index.php
Like you, I'm a bit low on energy. No countdown for me. But, we bounce.

So, what's the plan for Sri Lanka? Where, how long? I think you'll probably have moved on before this:

http://www.galleliteraryfestival.com/

which would be a pity, don't you think? Perhaps I'm sending you a sign...

Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know you're locked in on CX miles.

thursdays and dogster: These warm, balmy locations look delightful. I'm staring at two-week-old dirty snow.

Yes, the allegedly 'festive season' can be tricky for those not inclined to join in. Hope you are weathering it OK. At least you are warmer than most of us.
All the best for 2011.

Poor dogster. Spending 31 days on the Azamara eating crepes suzette and rice puddin'. Sooooooooo exhausting. Think vitamins and naps, vitamins and naps.

You are evil, Marija. lol lol lol.

Cut me some slack. It's NYE in 30 minutes, I'm on my own in BKK, tragically staring out into the night, just trying to reach out to another soul who might be feeling the same way.

But this is thursday's post. It's not about me. For once.

Happy New Year, thursday. And all of us. Aro-o-o-o-o-o-o.

Thursday, I am enjoying your meandering and wandering.

Dogster, How was the rice pudding and crepes? Were they improved from my trip.
I have been eagerly awaiting your report on cc.
We will be in BKK and using Tong in Feb/March.

Miriam

Just catching up again to this long, pothole-filled trek Thursday, like something out of the 19th Century. What a woman! Hope you are feeling better and your gold toenails are holding their polish. Looking forward to hearing about Sri Lanka.

Happy New Year to our intrepid thursday and all of her devoted followers!

Happy New Year everyone!

I had a peaceful meal with the owner of this place, accompanied by a not bad red wine, and went to bed before midnight. Today I visited some of the remarkable Chettinar houses, and I'm getting a massage this afternoon. The computer guru here just got me onto the network, so now I can deal with 82 unopened emails...

I leave Sri Lanka right before the festival, and given the difficulty I had getting the award seat out, I don't think I'll try to change it!

Nov 27-29 - Bijapur Bad: Badami Good

The Hotel Shashinag Residency, says Lonely Planet, is the "most upmarket choice in Bijapur". In that case I can only be thankful that I didn't try one of the others, because the words "upmarket" and "Shashinag Residency" do not belong in the same sentence. The place is a dump.

As I entered, the lobby looked promising, but then the first person I saw was a fellow guest complaining bitterly about fresh blood on her towels. At least this alerted me to the need to inspect my own linens. I had the towels and bath mat changed, which produced only minimal improvement, and while I passed the sheets I used my silk sleep sack. I also bathed using the bucket and pail rather than the very dirty shower head.

For dinner I had a choice of eating in the dark, gloomy and low-ceilinged dining room, along with some hungry mosquitoes, or outside, where an al fresco cinema seemed to be in operation, and no doubt the mosquitoes were even hungrier. (Based on the beer bottles I noticed on the lawn the next morning, it was a quite a party outside - although only two other rooms seemed to be occupied in the hotel.) I put some socks on, and the waiter found a mosquito coil. Once again, I felt it prudent to eat vegetarian - dal fry, paneer and mushrooms, and rice - and I drank both beer and water straight out of the bottles. Next morning, over a marginal breakfast, I chatted with the Spanish woman I had seen at check-in, and her husband. They were moving on to Badami for two nights, before heading for Hospet. I was booked for a second night at the Shashinag, as I had thought the Badami hotels sounded even worse than the ones in Bijapur.

My driver duly reappeared as scheduled, and we set off to explore the sights of Bijapur. Golgumbaz, a mausoleum built in 1659, failed to impress me, despite having the largest dome in the world after St. Peter's in Rome, and I didn't bother to climb the stairs to the "whispering gallery", currently more of a screaming gallery. The associated museum proved hardly worth the exertion of climbing the stairs. At this point I decided to skip town. I really couldn't face a second night at the Shashinag, and the town didn't seem worth a whole day's sightseeing. Besides, now I had experienced the roads in Karnataka, driving from Bijapur to Hospet in one day seemed too ambitious

I did visit the Ibrahim Rouza before leaving, but while it may indeed be "among the most elegant and finely proportioned Islamic monuments in India", it's also among the most neglected. As happy as I had been to stop driving the night before, I was just as happy to start off again. The roads were actually somewhat better, and we made Badami in good time. The Spanish couple's driver had agreed with Lonely Planet that the place to stay was the Badami Court, and while I felt it was a trifle overpriced, given the absence of competition, and the marked improvement over the Shashinag, I could hardly complain. Spending two nights there would be quite a good idea, allowing time to enjoy the pool, and more time for the local sights, which were excellent.

After I checked in I visited the cave temples, finding the late afternoon light absolutely perfect. Massive, rocky hills surrounded a big tank, and standing in front of the four nicely carved caves on the west side, I watched the rounded cliffs and the pretty little shore temple opposite glow in the slanting rays of the setting sun. For once, I used a guide for the site, and among a wealth of forgettable data, I learned that several of the statues were of "combined" gods - one deity forming the left half of the body, and a different deity the right half - in a bid to reconcile religious differences.

The next morning I noticed that the hotel owned a big wall map of the state, and had the staff explain the route to Hospet to my driver. Then we headed slightly off course to visit the south Indian temples at Pattadakal. Mostly built during the 7th and 8th centuries C.E., the temples illustrate two different styles, but are worth seeing even if you're not interested in the architecture. There's another, older, group further on at Aihole, but I chose to get on the road instead of visiting them.

The only good thing I can say about the NH13 between Ilkal and Hospet is that a new road is under construction. The existing roadway is at best one, ragged, lane wide, access to which is contested by a constant stream of trucks in both directions. Not that the alternate route via Gadag is said to be any better. It's a shame, because Badami is really worth visiting. Supposedly there will be a train from Hospet at some point in the future, but then you've still got to get to Hospet, inconveniently situated many miles from anywhere else of interest.

Why do I keep forgetting that in India a massage involves oil...

Dogster - you seem to prefer my doom and gloom posts, so I hope you enjoyed the first half of the last one! I figured that if you were still in Bangkok you'd be carousing at the Pickled Liver... Does staring at the dark night mean you're writing? The long-awaited AWBR on the Azamara, perhaps? Either way, I appreciate the fellow-feeling. Whither next? Why don't you come to Sri Lanka - no visa problems there.

Toenails are still golden, LAleslie. The problem with nail varnish, of course, is that you need to keep getting it done, or buy some remover, which is why I don't usually bother. Talking of shopping, deodorant has been hard to find. I'm hoping that Pondy will have some western supplies.

Yup, I'm writing. There's usually a kinda psychic squeeze before the words fall out. It coincided with Christmas and NYE, as it often does. The Azamara piece is easy to write. I just had to determine whether I intended going back on board again before I wrote. I fear this won't make me a lot of friends...

Your 'doom and gloom' posts are, of course, the most interesting, the most revealing, the most from the heart - which is what this writing stuff is all about. You've also extracted some good jokes out of the situation. Sometimes it needs a bit of reflection to find them. After all, if we can't find the self-deprecating humour in the ridiculous situations [that we have put ourselves in], then 'they' have won.

You keep on keeping on. Your writing is getting better and better. You are an absolute inspiration.

And yes, smelly thursday, you'll be able to find deodorant in Pondy. lol lol lol. I hope you like it more than I did - altho', to be fair, I was still in the shadow of the Chicken of Death when there. Auroville might be interesting subject matter.

As for Sri Lanka, I was rather taken by this:

http://www.reddottours.com/69/guesthouse-explorer-itinerary-profile.htm

and this:
http://www.reddottours.com/58/undiscovered-sri-lanka-itinerary-profile.htm

It's really only the lit fest that brings my thoughts back there tho'. After three trips there I'm struggling a bit. It's not rivetting tourism. Nice, but kinda India-lite. Me, I like India-heavy.

Me, I'm about ready for some India-light, lol! I'm thinking India-heavy should be taken in judicious doses. I cut back from ten weeks to six this time, and maybe next time it should be four. Although the humidity in south India has a lot to do with it. I'm starting to think kindly of Scandinavia for next year.

My Sri Lanka itinerary (assuming all the confirmations come in), bog standard for a first visit:

Jan 9: Negombo, Villa Araliya,
Jan 11: Cultural Triangle, Deer Park Hotel
Jan 15: Kandy, Serendip
Jan 19: Hill country, Governor's Chalets
Jan 22: Unawatuna + visit Galle, Thambapanni Retreat
Jan 25: Colombo, Galle Face Regency
Jan 27: Fly to Singapore

I wanted to add Yala for a possible leopard sighting, but the only available accommodation got absolutely awful reviews.

Am eagerly awaiting the Azamara expose - I can't believe you actually lasted the whole cruise! BTW, are you ever going to do an expurgated south India piece? And did you get to Madurai? My hotel was horrible but the temple was amazing. Am now looking forward to Trichy and maybe a quick visit to Tanjore. And a bus ride to Pondy...

HNY Thursday. Sounds like you hit a rough patch!
I was very impressed with the temples in Madurai and Trichy and Tanjore earlier this year. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.
I'm still unable to believe that Dogster does cruises....

I always think India is like a mirror, thursday. The trip you have is not about India, at all - it's all about... guess who?

Funnily enough, all the places you're just writing about in Karnataka are the very places I went to on my first trip on the Golden Chariot luxury train. I saw them all in complete comfort, paid too much and regret not a moment. Now, after reading about your horrible shlep, I regret it even less. lol lol lol.

Back in real time: Yup, Madurai was pre-Frozen C of D, just post Patna poisoning. lol Ama-a-azing temple. The story is half-written - in blood. Bits featured in Fodor's but I had the post removed in a lunatic spasm.

Yup, your Sri Lanka itinerary is bog-standard stuff. Nothing wrong with that. Totally logical way to do it first time. I'm assuming you'll have your own car and driver all the way thru as you're going it thru Boutique Sri Lanka. That'll take a lot of the shlep out of it. Don't expect much from your driver, other than driving. Your worst travel day will be Hill country to Unawatuna. If the traffic gods are against you, if it's a weekend or a holiday - hunker down...

gertie, go here: http://thedogster.wordpress.com/cruising/
Dog doesn't do cruises - inevitably, cruising does Dogster.

Gawd the roads in Karnataka are truly unfortunate -- if I were ever to go there again I would have to consider the train. Madurai temple rocks.

Still following your perambulations Thursdaysd. You are an insipration!

Happy 2011 all!

Thursdays, I'm still following along, enjoying your account. The really awful places you stay are always funnier in retrospect... at the time you just have to get through them.

Curse you, dogster for posting those reddot links. We're still debating about next year's trip (oops -it's now this year's trip). We've been thinking about returning to Sri Lanka ever since our trip there, but had put it off to "the future." But a diplomat we met at Glenburn told us that the Chinese are getting ready to build an airport and Bentota and hordes of Chinese package tourists will soon (2012) be invading. So our return trip may need to be soon or never...

Gertie, remember that two pooches board every cruise now: dogster--cruise cynic and dogster--cool cruiser. The stories are getting harder to tell.

You'll enjoy the next one then, Marija. It's about exactly that dichotomy. Remember, you have to put bait on the hook...

i am hanging around here as well, taking it all in

Anyone know what the removed comments were about? Spam, or someone doesn't like my writing?

Bob - you're going back to India this year, right? North or south?

travelaw - the Karnataka roads are now so bad the villagers are starting to protest - although I'm not sure what good boycotting local elections will do! But I don't know that I'll be back - except that Coorg is in Karnataka.

Visited Sri Ranganathaswamy in Trichy today. At first sight even more impressive than Madurai, but on further acquaintance I prefer Madurai - more decoration, in better condition, plus the golden lotus tank. I'm reconsidering the bus to Pondy - if I spring for a car I can visit Tanjore on the way.

For those getting confused about where I was, where I am and where I'm going, I just remembered this quote from T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets:

"Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past."

See http://www.ubriaco.com/fq.html for more.

Thursday, those deleted comments were about a stalker attack on Dogster, including the stalker. It went on all day yesterday. Nothing whatsover to do with you.

Let me go a bit deeper into that wonderful, wonderful poem - my favorite lines, since I was a lost student youth, are these:

'At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance...'

I can tell you are really traveling now. You've been through the fire.

Visit Tanjore.

dogster - yes, I saw a bit of the attack - what a jerk. I hope whoever it was is banned for good. And yes, that's a wonderful passage. Keep dancing.

Nov 30 - Dec 2 - Hot in Hampi

I had gone to considerable trouble to reach Hospet, a forgettable transport hub, in order to visit Hampi. It occurs to me that a number of the places on my Indian itinerary for this trip are "once upon a time" places, like Hyderabad, and once upon a time Hampi was the center of a major empire. South Indian history is replete with empires, really quite separate from the history of the north. Even the Mughal empire never controlled the whole of India. (Whether you think Britain did so depends on how you view the princely states.)

So Hampi, then called Vijayanagar, was the thriving capital of a major empire from 1336 to 1565, boasting palaces and temples and international markets, and with a population of half a million. Unfortunately, when the empire inevitably fell, the city was destroyed, but the ruins, and the site, have become a major stop on the backpacker circuit - although, according to the owner of the admirable Mango Tree restaurant, Hampi is currently suffering a significant drop off in tourism. I have the impression there has been a successful campaign against drugs, on the one hand, and on the other, the owner said that the Indian I.T. workers now had more money, and went to Goa.

The backpackers stay in Hampi Bazaar - tacky souvenirs, cheap clothes, cafes and rooms for rent. I stayed in Hospet, at the Hotel Malligi, to be sure of having AC. I needed it, too, as I found Hampi decidedly hot. I also found some of the ruins decidely ruinous, and I have concluded that for me, very ruinous ruins are boring rather than evocative. I don't care that the rectangle on my left used to be the banquet hall, and the square to my right was a bedroom, they're just patches of grass (or dirt) outlined by a few inches of brick (or stone). Fortunately, I did enjoy a few buildings in better shape, notably the beautifully carved Vittala temple.

The first day I arranged for a car and driver, and visited all the sites south of the Tungabhadra River. Much to my annoyance, once again I had trouble with my driver. I told him that I wanted to start at the Royal Center, conveniently located between Hospet and Hampi Bazaar. I figured I would cover the bulk of the sites in the morning, eat lunch and investigate Hampi Bazaar in the heat of the day, and visit the Vittala temple when things cooled off again. So what did he do? Took me to Hampi Bazaar instead!

We duly got that sorted out and returned to the Royal Center, and happily we had the same idea about where I should eat lunch. The Mango Tree is set into a cliff overlooking the river, apparently the only place around Hampi Bazaar actually on the river. You have to take your shoes off, and sit on mats on the floor, but you get to lean back against a stone slab and stretch your legs out under the low tables, shaded by the mango trees and with a breeze off the river. The hummus and falafel with chapatti and salad I had were so good, and such a nice change from Indian food (although I do like Indian food), that I ate the same thing two days running, so I can't comment on the rest of the menu, but the other customers looked happy.

I had intended to explore the sites north of the river my second day, but after three tiring days getting to Hampi, and given I seemed to be coming down with a cold, I gave myself a break. I took a rickshaw back to the Mango Tree, and spent a peaceful few hours reading, eating and drinking. I had found hot lemon and ginger on one of the cafe menus the previous afternoon, and drank it again for lunch. The cold cure I know calls for hot whisky, lemon and honey, but this one seemed to work just as well. Because of the incipient cold, I ran low on tissues, and discovered that they were not a standard item in Indian stores. I think I was redirected four times in Hospet before I found a place that carried them (not very nice grey ones, at that). But after I bought a few packets, two Indian women customers decided they wanted some, too.

I couldn't remember the last time I had seen a Western tour group, but dinner my last night at the Malligi took a while to appear, as a sizeable group was eating a buffet in the restaurant. A sizeable group of very senior citizens. I hope I'm still traveling at that age!

T.S. Eliot certainly glimpsed time future:
...Not here the darkness, in this twittering world.

The Vittala temple is lit up at night. Well, at least for the paying passengers on the Golden Chariot train [named after the very carved chariot you saw in the forecourt] - that's if they can find the man with the key to the door to the room with the switch that turns them on. I have to say that seeing that was one of my great India moments.

Other than that, I have to agree with you, Hampi is just hot and dry and really quite boring. Gap-year backpackers used to come there in droves. I don't think it was because of the ruins...

"Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden."

Is this a comment on the roads in Karnataka? I don't remember a rose garden in Tanjore but who knows.

And where are you really Thursday?

yes we will return to india in november.... we will go from east (kolkata) to west (jaisalmer) in the north... still no southern routes for us....maybe some day... combo of flying and driver is what i am planning.... any suggestions for decent digs in delhi? i am again astounded at the hotel prices there... it ain't paris or vienna....

thursdays: Have you seen this?

travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/travel/02coorg-explorer.html?ref=travel

indianapearl - no, I hadn't, thanks. I stayed very close to where they were. (I was at http://www.kabbeholidays.com/ ) The coffee was excellent. And the leeches are still in existence...

gertie - another lovely passage. Interesting to find so many Eliot-lovers! Right now I am here: http://www.grandgardenia.com/

Bob - if I were planning to sleep in Delhi I'd probably pick one of the B&Bs - I think this is the place that's gotten good reviews on fodors: http://delhibedandbreakfast.com/index.php and this one looks good: http://www.sawdays.co.uk/search/display.php?BookID=ind1357

dogster - I'm sure the Vittala temple was spectacular lit up. I'd beaten a strategic retreat before dusk brought out the mosquitoes, but I spent quite a long time admiring the carving, almost alone.

We stayed at the Delhi B & B and it was fine. Stairs to climb to the top floor and no internet in the room, but that didn't bother us. We were so exhausted that we collapsed when we arrived. The only complaint for us that it is quite far south of the main sights.

Bob, sounds like you have a fantastic trip in the works!!

re your question about Delhi digs, check out these two reasonably priced places, recommended and used by clients of the lady who's helped with our last two trips to India

Hotel in New Delhi : Palace Heights Hotel. Good hotel restaurant.Great location in Connaught area . metro stop in Connaught now, if you fancy that mode of transport.

B and B in --either the one mentioned above bu Indiana or Saubhag Homestay Bed and Breakfast. There are many, many homestays spread all over new Delhi, most in very residential areas which you will see from main roads as side streets with a gated to the streets.

Indiana--thanks for the linnk. the area is indeed beautiufl. Next time I'd probably stay at one of those places, or where Thurs stayed, instead of Orange County Coorg, also surrounded by coffee plantation,with beautful grounds, and with an incredible coffee pavilion (the best thing there!) but a bit too posh for us.

Thursdaysd, how is your hotel? Are you holding hands in harmony with the management? LOVE that typical flowery Indian language on their home page. I have a "handy wipe" package that says the product is "blessed with long wet life."

Re: rural Karnataka roads--it was on one of them, in a stretch between Coorg and Hassan, that i developed the theory of the derivation of Indian head bobble. It is an instinctive way to balance inner ear fluid, in preparation for journeys on bumpy or winding roads of India!

cali---thanks... i had see the palace heights and looked at their site yesterday....

i am reluctant to do this type in the city but..... i need a salisbuty YMCA or a holiday inn silom in delhi...

Bob: Spread your wings and fly! You will be fine! I can't imagine now why I was so anxious.

There may be rooms on the ground floor of the Delhi B & B, so ask Pervez and Lubna. They were very hospitable. Per Dogster's excellent advice, we asked them to arrange pick up for us at the airport -- no problems whatsoever. The hosts are Muslim (I think), so we took little miniatures of Bombay Sapphire to swill while we stayed there.

For those stranded somewhere between metaphysical poetry and Delhi B&Bs, I thought it might be a good idea to recap India so far:

Nov 22 - Jeep and train from Nepal border to Lucknow
Nov 24 - Plane to Hyderabad
Nov 27 - Car to Bijapur
Nov 28 - Car to Badami
Nov 29 - Car to Hospet (for Hampi)

While I'm glad to have visited all those places except Bijapur, the only one to make the "would revisit" list is Badami, and that's so hard to reach... Moving on.

Dec 2 - Getting to Goa

Hospet is linked to Goa by one daily train in each direction. The train west leaves at 6:30 am, and although I nearly missed it, it wasn't because I didn't get up early enough. The rickshaw I had arranged the day before got me to the station at 6:25, and the train was five minutes or so late. No, my trouble was finding my carriage, as there were no friendly train plans posted in the station, and I got conflicting information.

Perhaps I should explain a couple of things about Indian trains. First, they are very, very long. At least 20 carriages long, and although the air-con cars are usually at the head end, where the ride is smoother, that's not always the case, and it can easily take longer to walk the length of the train than the train is scheduled to wait. Second, there's no whistle to signal that the train is leaving, it just starts moving. Very quietly. Fortunately, someone yelled at me, and at an equally confused Australian, in time for us to scramble on board as the train pulled out (good thing we had backpacks!). Then I pushed and slithered my way through half the non-air-con sleeper carriages to reach my seat. Nothing like that to make you appreciate being able to afford something cooler, quieter and less crowded!

I eventually shared my section with an Indian couple around my own age who had had an identical problem boarding the train, and were decidedly annoyed. After they cooled down I discovered that they were going to Goa to attend a nephew's engagement party. It would be a mixed marriage - a Christian marrying a Hindu. I was going to Goa for some down time, and to check out one of the southern beaches. My first trip to India I spent most of my time in Goa in the state capital, Panaji, at the lovely Panjim Inn (http://www.panjiminn.com/ ), first in the main Inn and then in the Pousada. For beach time I went north, staying at an Indian resort, Sterling Vagator, at the far north end (the quiet end) of Vagator Beach.

This time I was going south to Palolem, as far south as I could get and still have air conditioning. Ten years ago, Palolem was considered "undiscovered", and even though it's now firmly on the tourist map, beach chalets remain the main form of accommodation. The place I booked, Village Guest House (http://www.villageguesthousegoa.com/ ), describes itself as "Palolem's first boutique guest house", and while that's stretching it a bit, it does have rooms with AC and attached bath, and serves a praise-worthy breakfast. At least, the rooms are meant to have AC. I arrived by pre-paid taxi from Margao station (I avoided haggling with the taxi touts, but had to stand in a not very disciplined line in the sun) to be told that the AC in my room would be working "in two hours"...

I asked whether the power was out (everywhere in India is subject to frequent, generally daily, power cuts, although many hotels have back-up generators) and learned that the unit wasn't working but that a technician was coming to fix it. Having little faith in the appearance of the technician, and even less in his ability to fix the unit in the promised two hours, I insisted I wanted a different room. Fortunately a (bigger) room with working AC was available for one night, and Janet, one half of the couple who owned the place, agreed to move me, albeit reluctantly. (Justifying my skepticism, the AC in my original room wasn't fixed until the next afternoon.)

While I found the guest house comfortable - certainly much more comfortable than a beach chalet - it was a little far from the beach and my choice put me firmly in the holiday-maker rather than the traveler camp. Most of the other guests were westerners spending a week or two sunning and partying. Not really my scene, although I did go to dinner with the group one night. As I get older, and my hearing gets worse, I'm less and less inclined to spend my time in loud places with a lot of people I barely know. If you want to party, and you certainly don't have to, the upper verandah is the place. There's an actual barman from 6:00 to 11:00, and other tastes are still catered to in Goa if not in Hampi.

Thursdaysd, have i missed seeing your Kannur beach description?? Were you going to stay with Hyacinth at Ezhara Beach House?Or Costa Malabari? I would love to hear what you thought of the area, esp'lly cpmpared to the Goa beaches.

No, you didn't miss it, I haven't posted for a while...

I've just arrived in Sri Lanka, where it's raining, so there may be a new post soon.

Dec 2-5 - Beach Time: part One

My first trip to India I stayed at north Vagator, and thought it the very model of a tropical beach: a long stretch of golden sand, backed by a profusion of palm trees and with a ruined fort on the headland to the north. I ate breakfast at a secluded beach shack near the fort, and headed south at sunset to drink cold Kingfisher beer while a rose-red sun slipped slowly into the Arabian sea. But I had heard that the southern beaches were even prettier, and Palolem beach, despite the continuous line of cafes and chalets ringing its sands, was indeed lovely. A perfect crescent curved between two rocky headlands, fishing boats still put out at sunset, and the sun made a dramatic exit behind a thick stand of trees. The shacks were set back under the fringing palm trees, and although I had to walk a gauntlet of clothes and souvenir stalls to reach the beach, the vendors weren't especially pushy. The next beach south, Patnam, was following in Palolem's footsteps, but still had a ways to go. I took a rickshaw there, quite early one morning, to find the cafes barely open - the help was still sleeping on the sofas out front - and hardly another person to be seen. Plenty of cows though - I didn't go into the water!

In fact, I didn't do much of anything - isn't that what beaches are for? I spent some quality time in the beach front cafes - notably Draupadi, conveniently situated right where the road met the beach, with a stellar sunset view, and good food and service. I bought some cheap cotton clothes to wear in the heat and humidity. I organized tickets for the next two train trips - I had planned to ride the local train, but when it came to the point I couldn't face several hours without AC. I was lucky to get a ticket on the taktal quote for the Margao to Mangalore leg - these tickets are released 48 hours before the train leaves, at a higher than normal price. I even rode on the back of Gordon's motorbike into the nearby town to buy an Indian SIM for my cell phone (Gordon was the other half of the couple running the Village Guest House). Many tourists can be seen zipping round Goa on motorbikes, but the accident rate is high and no helmets are worn. (For that matter, I don't think I've seen a single helmet the whole time I've been in India, but I've seen hordes of motorbikes.)

And I made friends with another solo woman traveler, a technical writer from Delhi traveling on her own for the first time. Our last night at Palolem we ate dinner (at Draupadi) with a newly arrived young couple from Chennai (both I.T. workers - maybe the owner of the Mango Tree was right about them going to Goa). When they arrived I was on the net trying to find accommodation in Coorg. I had planned to stay at Coffee Creek, but when I sent an email confirming the reservation before finding an ICICI Bank to pay the deposit, the reply said, in so many words, please find somewhere else. Finding somewhere else wasn't going very well, until the Chennai couple recommended Kabbe Holidays, where I wound up staying.

Am hoping you are not stuck in the massive floods I see on the news in Sri Lanka

Aloha!

Thanks ht! Luckily I'm not flooded, just rather damp! There are floods around me, and we had to drive through a small river on the way to Anuradhapura yesterday, but the serious floods are east of me. I made it up Sigiriya this morning before the rain started, a little wet coming down!

The internet access at Deer Park is abysmal!!! I'm getting maybe 5kbps - yes k, not M - that's worse than the early days of dial up. I'm typing this in an internet cafe and hoping for better in Kandy.

I'm looking forward to all the details about Sri Lanka, as we are considering another trip there (one of three options we're looking at for 2011).

Kathie, i've nver been to Sri Lanka....but i hope you are considering the South of India, eg Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnatake. Three weeks barely touched it for me (return trip called for!) So much there of what you loved on this last trip (even tea plantations)..lots of marvelous heritage properties and fantastic homestays

Still waiting for Thursdays report on her take of the area around Kannur, NO Kerala coast.

Cali, South India is certainly on our list. We've been to Sri Lanka once, but there is much more we want to see.

hang in there and keep it coming

Thursdaysd-I know part of your plans are to visit Tunisia. Just want to be sure you are aware of the political unrest in Tunisia, at the moment. It might be worth monitoring the situation as your arrival date approaches. I recognize the street in Tunis where there has been some rioting and it is in the tourist district. Safe travels.
Shelley

Thanks shelleyk! Someone in Negombo alerted me to the situation, and I had CNN at my last hotel. Now I have net access and no TV, but I checked and the US State Dept & UK Foreign Office are advising against all but essential travel, and apparently the air space is closed due to the State of Emergency - but Tunis Air (who I'm booked with) has NO mention of anything relevant on their web site. However, I'm not due to fly there until March 1st. We'll see... (Am starting to consider a Plan B - I was flying LHR-Tunis and Tunis-Nice - Portugal or Provence are possibilities.)

Great to hear that your in SL now, hope you have a great visit, pity you oicked a patch of freak really wet weather.... things do seem to settling down now a bit. I was in Yala 7th - 9th, gosh it was a mud hole in there! Did you see the picture in the news papers of the baby elephant killed in the floods and stuck 15 ft high in a tree, it was not far away from where you were at Deer Park....

http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/images/9016-baby-elephant-killed-in-floods.html

Will be really enjoyable to follow your posts....

Am now in Kandy and the sun is finally shining! Good timing, as I'm off to visit the Botanical Gardens this morning. (Yes, I saw a photo of the elephant - it was on the front page of the local paper. So sad. I was lucky to twice see a wild elephant eating by the side of the road.)

OK, back to India!

Dec 5-7 - A Little Bit of Mangalore

I went to Mangalore because of a railway. The Konkan railway. Those who read about my 17,000 mile, seven month train journey from Scotland to Saigon in 2004 already know that I'm a bit of a train buff. Not obsessively so, but given a choice I'll take a train rather than a bus, and often a train rather than a plane, so of course I was intrigued to read that the Konkan railway, running down the west coast south from Mumbai, was an engineering triumph with good scenery, and I wanted to ride it in daylight. I did the first leg, from Mumbai to Goa, back in 2001, but having slept badly in Mumbai, I spent much of the train ride asleep and missed the scenery. This time I'd travel from Goa to Kannur (formerly Cannanore) but I needed to break the journey part way. Mangalore, an important port since the 6th century, seemed a convenient stopover, and when I got a good deal on a Taj property I booked two nights.

Maybe I should give up on the Konkan railway. Neither the train ride nor the stopover lived up to expectations. On the Goa to Mangalore leg I had a lower side berth in AC3, and after I convinced the fabric salesman sitting opposite me that I wasn't going to talk to him and he climbed into his upper berth, I had lots of room. What I didn't have was lots of scenery, as I was on the landward side, and the people in the section opposite me drew their curtains. On the Mangalore to Kannur stretch I had a window seat on the seaward side in AC2, but the angle of the afternoon sun turned the view hazy. I did see stretches of flat, sandy coast with lots of palm trees, interrupted by several wide rivers whose lazy estuaries ended in sand bars. Perhaps the really good scenery is further south...

Then I was less impressed than I expected with the Gateway hotel. True, aside from one incident, the service was excellent, but the property really needed the renovation that supposedly was in progress, and had yet to reach my room. The Taj had re-branded several hotels as Gateways, and endowed them all with the same menu. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to retrain their chefs, and while the Indian dishes were fine, the Thai soup and the creme brulee I was rash enough to order were travesties: the only relationship to the originals being the shape of the dishes. And the chicken sandwich I thought would be faster than a thali for lunch the day I left took 30 minutes to prepare and contined three small pieces of chicken and none of the advertised teriyaki sauce. If you stay in one of these properties, order Indian!

I spent the afternoon and evening on the net filling in some gaps in my Indian itinerary, and was not pleased to be charged 600 INR for 24 hours access, plus an equally extortionate 240 INR more in tax! But I did find a seat on a train from Trivandrum to Madurai right after Christmas, and booked hotels in Trivandrum, Trichy and Chennai. When I originally tried to book for Trichy I couldn't find a single hotel room in Trichy or Tanjore, so I was pleased to find a good-looking hotel on agoda.com. I also finalized my reservation with Kabbe Holidays for Coorg, and paid the requested deposit. When I was in India in 2001 we were still in the age of Traveler's Checks, and it could take a good half hour - given that you were at the right bank and that the right person was working - to cash a check. Now I used the ATM at the State Bank of India round the corner from the hotel where I knew my card would work, and then took a rickshaw to the nearest ICICI bank, where I filled in a deposit form and a clerk fed my notes into a machine that counted the cash and recorded the deposit.

I did do some minor sightseeing, but thought the frescoes at the St. Aloysius College Chapel far from "brilliant" (perhaps Lonely Planet just meant the colors), and the Sultan's Battery, a long rickshaw ride north, a sad remnant. In fact, the only reason to visit Sultan's Battery is to see the river, otherwise obscured by run-down or industrial buildings. For almost the first time in India I drank a correctly-made macchiato in a coffee shop in a mini-mall, but the experience was spoiled by deafeningly loud music and surly service. (Mini-malls, air-conditioned, and often with a western restaurant (likely pizza), are scattered among the usual hole in the wall shops in Indian cities and are recognizable by the tinted glass fronts.)

The service failure at the Gateway occurred on checkout - I had prepaid via Travelocity, but a room charge appeared on my bill and it took some time to get it removed. Then they couldn't process my credit card. Fortunately, I had drawn extra money when I visited the bank and was able to pay cash, but I very nearly missed my train. I did get an emailed apology after I sent a complaint.

ah india....walking to the beat of a different drum, but a lovely drum it is..

thursdaysd- How is the weather now in SL? Have been watching the news and the weather forcasts - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/asia/colomboforecast.html

which seems to be improving from tuesday on. Just wondering whether to "press the button" and book my trip for Feb or reconsider and change the flights and head off somehere else

crellston - I'm in Kandy now, and there was sunshine all morning. The really bad weather is in the east, although it was cool, grey and often raining in the Cultural Triangle. I was told it was supposed to get better on Monday and you aren't getting here until next month, right? You could think about going round the other way, and doing the Cultural Triangle last.

Thursday
Just to say I"m back with you and hoping all is well.
Have been a little distracted by Central America of late but am back on the case now!

I'm currently in the Sri Lankan hill country at Nuwara Eliya where it is seriously cold at night! I did a 7-8 km hike to World's End yesterday morning and am pleased that my bad foot held up, although it was tiring and I am taking it easy today. Actually, what I'm mostly doing is investigating alternatives to Tunisia for March! Lisbon looks promising.

Beach Time - Part Two

As the tide of development has spread south in Goa, those in search of solitude have fled further south ahead of it. Personally, I'm not opposed to a bit of development - I like a few creature comforts - but I definitely prefer fewer people on my beach. When I looked south my first pick was Gokarna, with a important temple as well as beaches, but then I read about theyyam in Dalrymple's "Age of Kali", and realized I would be able to witness the ritual if I stayed around Kannur (formerly Cannanore).

I picked Ezhara Beach House (http://www.ezharabeachhouse.com/ ) mostly based on CaliNurse's recommendation for its hostess, and while I certainly enjoyed Hyacinth's company I should perhaps have paid more attention to descriptions of the house itself. Although it wasn't especially hot while I was there, it was humid, and I would have been much more comfortable with AC, not so much at night, when things cooled off and a fan helped, but during the day. I quite liked the sound of the waves breaking on the shore coming through a permanently open window, but others might need earplugs.

Each floor has two rooms sharing a basic bathroom - fortunately I was the only guest during my stay, which also allowed me to use the clothesline in the common hall in lieu of the missing wardrobe. My bag lived on the floor. But if you don't mind the simple accommodation and the mosquitoes Hyacinth is an attentive hostess, the food was very good, the price was right, and the beach was indeed deserted - although I noticed pollution on the water one beach south and wouldn't advise swimming.

One reason it's deserted may be the distance from Kannur, which turned out to be a much bigger place than I had expected. It took the rickshaw which met my train 30 minutes to reach the beach house, partly through town, and partly through countryside notable for red soil and lush green trees. The last stretch is through a small village, home to a Muslim community, and I was shocked to see the women wearing black burkhas in Kerala's heat and humidity.

Hyacinth took me sight-seeing by rickshaw: a neighboring stretch of beach where vehicles are allowed to drive; the rather disappointing market in Kannur; an ayurvedic lunch (the only difference to a regular thali seemed to me to be the ginger drink), and a weaving operation using 50-year-old industrial looms to produce towels, tablecloths, mats and the cloth for lungis. And she took me to a theyyam performance - inside a temple as it was too early in the season for many outdoor performances.

Theyyam (see http://www.malayalamresourcecentre.org/Mrc/culture/artforms/theyyam/theyyam.html ) is a religious ritual involving music and dance during which the main performer goes into trance and becomes the deity he or she is portraying. The temple I visited was quite full of locals, strictly separated by sex - men on one side of the room and women on the other, mostly standing. A small wooden house at one end of the big room was used by the performers for their preparations and was covered in little lamps.

The "god" performer was painted yellow, with signs on his chest and arms, and wore a long red skirt with a red ruff round his hips, a very tall two-piece silver headdress, and false white lips. A senior priest with a gold plaque on his forehead made the preliminary blessings, and participated in some of the dances. A sword and bow appeared at one stage, and the whole performance was backed by very loud hand drumming. For the believers the main point of the ritual would have been the blessings performed by the "god". Although I was very interested in the proceedings, I did not personally get a spiritual vibe from them.

I believe Wm. Dalrymple also describes these performers and this ritual in <Nine Lives/>.

thursdaysd: lovely descriptive writing . . .

http://www.indiamike.com/india/jaipur-f62/jaipur-literature-festival-t125047/

Indiana, i know you are a Dalrymple fan. See above.

Thursdays, If redoing your trip would you have gone, at least for the theyyam dance? Would you recommend the area for beach, vs more crowded beaches to the south of the state?

CaliNurse: Thanks for the link. I love Dalrymple's writing. He seems like a gentle, thoughtful person on paper, but I don't read much by/about him other than his books. The Jaipur Festival sounds like it might be great fun. Am I too old to contemplate such an adventure?

Thursday, I share your disappointment in Mangalore. I was there for just a day, and except for the market (large and very authentic, with nary a tourist trinket in sight), I thought it a bit of a sweaty armpit. Our ship stopped there, at one of the most polluted ports I've ever seen. Why, unless it was to take on supplies, I can't imagine.

CaliNurse - I would go a little later in the season for the theyyam performance. It's nice of indianapearl to compliment my writing, but I thought the description pedestrian after I posted it (and am rewriting it for my blog) because I found the performance interesting but uninspiring. It would be much more atmospheric in a clearing in the trees in the dark...

Later in the season the beach would not be so empty, of course. But there might be somewhere other than crab-infested rocks to sit on.

The interet access here in Unawatuna is awful, and I won't get the blog updated for a while, so here are those last two paragraphs rewritten:

Hyacinth stayed with the rickshaw (being ritually impure at the time) and I walked alone down a long street of shops selling religious paraphernalia and souvenirs. Leaving my sandals in an echoing ante-room I entered, a little self-consciously, a big, high-ceilinged room that opened onto water at one end and housed a small wooden building at the other. The edge of the raised sections on either side provided the only seating, and since I was early I was able to claim a prime spot under a fan. On the women's side: sex segregation was strictly maintained by a middle-aged man in a brown uniform. As the room filled I exchaged smiles with the women near me, but no-one spoke English.

Eventually, the myriad small lamps covering the front of the wooden house were lit, half a dozen men, naked to the waist, processed in, their hands beating a loud rhythm on their elongated drums, and the performers completed their preparations inside the little building. The senior priest, a gold plaque tied over his forehead, brought out a two-tiered, elaborately decorated, silver headdress, blessing it with fire and flowers. Then the man who would channel the god appeared, painted yellow, with signs on his chest and arms, wearing a long red skirt with a red ruff round his hips, and false white lips. The priest lowered the towering headdress into place, and the two began a slow, stylized, shuffling dance. A sword and a bow appeared at one stage, but although the drumming was continuous, the dance remained stately. Towards the end the "god" went round the room blessing the crowd, some of the men individually, but the women collectively and from a distance.

Unfortunately, although I was very interested in the proceedings, I did not personally get a spiritual vibe from them. Perhaps I should have come later in the season, when some of the rituals take place outside. I imagined the same performers treading the same steps, but on red earth in a clearing in the jungly forest, lit only by the flickering lamps and a rising moon. Perhaps then I too would have felt the arrival of a Presence.

Hi Thursday, I hope to be at Galle Lit Festival with my wife and two daughters this Friday - Sunday, will you be around then?

Hi Mohammed - alas, no. I go to Colombo tomorrow, and fly to Singapore very early Wednesday morning.

thursdaysd: Have you read Diana Eck's <Darshan/>? It explains the concept of "seeing" the god.

Where are you Thursday? I've totally lost track of you.
Have caught up with your blog but nothing recent.
From another thread it looks like you might be in Bangkok or even Lisbon.

Hi gertie - have been lazy about writing....

Itinerary has been Colombo to Singapore to Bangkok to Georgetown. I'm taking the night train back to Bangkok today. Laos, mostly Luang Prabang, is next. I gave up on Tunisia for early March and substituted London and Lisbon.

Good to hear from you. Was wondering if you had got sick or just tired and burned out after all this time on the road.
So you've been holed up in Georgetown? I was there in the 70s and rather liked Penang. Looking forward to reading your comments on Luang Prabang, was there in March.

Not sick since Coonoor, but I neglected the vitamins again. Plus, I found a good museum in Singapore and a second-hand bookshop in Georgetown...

This will be my third trip to LP - I was there in 2002 and 2004, am a little worried about how much it's changed.

I'm loving your report, but just got to the part where your photo link is posted and you say "usual password" - huh? What does that mean? How do I get in the club?

Sorry - name of the gallery in lower case. If the name is two words, like "hill country" probably the first word only.

Apologies for the long hiatus, have been traveling, and reading. Would you believe that after the innumerable trains I've taken in the last 10 years with no problems (I actually fell asleep the other night counting the trains on my 2004 trip) the train from Butterworth to Bangkok was cancelled!!!

Also, both Georgetown's Cititel and my current Bangkok hotel, Ramada Plaza/Menam Riverside, charge ridiculous amounts for Internet acess. In Georgetown I used free wifi in cafes and here I'm in an Internet cafe, but it does cut down on my access.

go to a little local place for internet... i pay 25B/hr at a place near the marriott.... just look for kids shoes outside on the pavement and there will be kids playing games in side....ask the doorman....
or
take the marriott boat....go through the mini mall to the street....walk to your right about 2 blocks and you will see shoes out on the pavement..its after the laundry and the barber shop...

I am in an Internet cafe - on this street it's 15 to 20 baht an hour depending on which of three cafes you use. In Georgetown the regular cafes with wifi were more convenient and had AC, here the Internet cafes have AC. But it's still a lot nicer to be in my hotel room with my own netbook...

then pay the price or suffer.... no whining allowed...

I have paid on occasion, but I think $10 - $15/day is extortionate. Interestingly, the places I usually stay - guesthouses, pensions, B&Bs etc - provide wifi free. It's only upmarket places that charge ridiculous rates. As I've noticed before, staying at upmarket places tends to put your other costs up, even if you got a good room rate.

I've often noticed that. My theory is that upmarket places can get away with high wifi charges because they often cater to business people who need the wifi connection and can afford to pay the high charges because they claim them on expenses!
How is Bangkok?

"then pay the price or suffer.... no whining allowed..." - since when did complaining about extortion equate to whining?

gertie - Bangkok the same as ever, although not as hot as I feared, still humid and awful traffic. Am now in Vientiane for one night before flying to LP. Just got here, but love being back in Laos!

i needed to pull your chain a bit...

many of the usa based chains are removing internet costs from their full line hotels...marriott did jan 1 for instance.

Status - well, I didn't intend such a long hiatus, but my muse seems to have stayed in India, plus I'm now in SEA, where there are used bookshops... It doesn't help that the "n" on my keyboard is sticking, and I have to keep going back and fixing things.

I'm currently in cold and misty Sapa, after one of the worst night trains I've ever taken. Will be taking it back to Hanoi tomorrow... I've given up on Tunisia for early March, replacing it with London and Lisbon.

Dec 10 - 14 - Coffee and Critters in Coorg

I had booked with Kabbe Holidays (http://www.kabbeholidays.com/) based on the recommendation of a chance-met couple from Chennai, and the B&B's website. And I had paid a sizable deposit. In cash. I didn't think too much about the deposit, as I had been required to pay cash deposits for both Palolem and Kannur. I'd paid those via Western Union, since the U.S. seems not to have joined the wire transfer system, and it had been more trouble and more expensive than visiting the ICICI bank in Mangalore. However, when Hyacinth decided to call for directions before I left Kannur, and couldn't get an answer on any of the phone numbers on the website, I did start to wonder... Had I been stupid? Did I need a Plan B? I took another look at the not-very-enticing options in Lonely Planet and crossed my fingers.

Hyacinth had arranged my transfer with the brother of the rickshaw driver she usually employed, and both men went with me. I don't think they had traveled the route before, and I don't think they enjoyed it. We climbed up onto the Deccan Plateau, through a Wild Life Reserve, and as we climbed the temperature, not unnaturally, dropped. I welcomed the cooler weather, but these seaside guys clearly missed their accustomed heat and humidity. Then I had to stop them tormenting the monkeys who made their home in the reserve.

The road had progressively deteriorated, but after we passed a rubber plantation (apparently within the park) suddenly we were treated to smooth, well-maintained, asphalt. At Virajpet, the southern gateway to Coorg, my driver started asking for directions ad once we reached the village nearest the B&B I was relieved to find that the locals had at least heard of Kabbe Holidays, but the further we went, the narrower the road became, and the fewer buildings we passed. Eventually we were traveling up a country lane, and during the final stretch we lurched over loose stones. But then, on the last coffee plantation before government land began, we found Kabbe Holidays and my deluxe cottage.

I hadn't particularly wanted a deluxe cottage, but the deluxe rooms were occupied by two Indian couples: a brother and sister and their spouses. The sister and her husband were IT employees from Bangalore, and the brother an army officer with an IT specialty based in Kanpur (formerly Cawnpore, another place intimately associated with the Indian Mutiny/First War of Independence). As this was a family group, I was pleased when they included me in their conversation at meals (eaten family style on the verandah of the main house) and really enjoyed their company. I enjoyed the food too, plenty of it, and a good variety, and one big advantage to staying on a coffee plantation - really good filter coffee.

After two nights the Indian couples left, and I moved into one of the deluxe rooms, although not solely for economic reasons. The second evening of my stay I was horrified to find a large slug on the bathroom trashcan. After I recovered from the shock I scraped it off outside, only to return to see three more comfortably settled in on my washcloth. At this point I called for help, and one of the young men who worked on the property removed them - with some reluctance, I thought - and Dilip assured me that they showed up in his bathroom all the time. I can't imagine how that was supposed to reassure me! When I subsequently found a large spider on the the night stand I was only sorry I couldn't move that night. When I did move I found the smaller room warmer, and the bed big enough for three. And no unwelcome wildlife!

In addition to running the coffee plantation and the B&B, Dilip acted as tour guide for his visitors. One morning we all hiked up to a nearby viewpoint (before breakfast!), and another we visited the coffee plantation and Dilip's parents, who lived in a traditional style house behind the B&B. Initially I enjoyed visiting the plantation, seeing the coffee beans ripening on the waist-high bushes, shaded by silver oaks, but then we took a detour through a damper area infested with leeches. I had met leeches on a previous hike in Laos and had absolutely no interest in seeing them again. Luckily I was wearing boots, but the other two women were in sandals. Even my boots didn't help too much, as some sections had mesh on the outside and the leeches were able to crawl in, although when defeated by the inner layer they had to crawl out again, and I wasn't very good at getting them off.

I enjoyed a visit to two nearby waterfalls much more. Of course, I'm always happy to sit, or even stand, mesmerized by falling water, but I would think anyone would enjoy these two. The second, higher, fall could have been a bit of a challenge for me to reach, except that a film crew had improved the access just a week earlier. (I have a hard time imagining how a waterfall could help sell mattresses, though.)

My last afternoon Dilip took me to see a rather drab "palace" (Nalakunad), built by a local ruler so he could hide from Tipu Sultan, busy extending his Mysore-based empire. Then we drove to Dilip's ancestral home - easily the highlight for me. The Kodavu, the warrior people of Coorg (they are still allowed to own guns), are ancestor worshipers, and the tombs of Dilip's ancestors, and a temple, were outside. Inside, photos dating back to 1840 hung on the wall of a long terrace, with beautiful carving decorating the main door. Every Tuesday, some of the seventy members of the family meet there for food, drink and socializing.

I loved the cooler weather up in the hills, a welcome relief after the steamy conditions down on the coast, but Dilip wasn't happy when it rained one afternoon, which wasn't supposed to happen in December. The coffee harvest was drying out in the open, and needed several days with no rain. Mostly I had sun and good views in the morning, and mist, clouds or rain in the afternoon. I had just missed the harvest festival, but barley and five kinds of leaves had been tied to one of the columns in front of the cottages for good luck. Didn't seem to protect against slugs, though.

Good to see you writing again, thursday. Are you missing your own bed yet?

"Are you missing your own bed yet?" Lol. I could certainly use my electric mattress pad up here, but in general, no. I had, however, become very tired of heat and humidity - Hanoi, cool but not cold, was a welcome relief. I am definitely thinking Scandinavia and the Baltics for the next trip.

great ongoing report

I'm delighted to read another installment!

Happy to see you writing again, thursdaysd.

It's fun to get a taste of rural/ pastoral living for short spans, isn't it.

Nice to see you back on form. The wildlife made me cringe. I saw Hyacinth in terms of Keeping Up Appearances. I'm sure she wasn't really like that.

Still here and plodding along too! Don't the Naruto Whirlpools now seem like a long time ago,lol?

Aloha!

So nice to "see" you all here!

ht - it's been almost five months since the whirlpools, but it does seem a lot longer!

gertie - I hadn't thought about Hyacinth Bucket, but Hyacinth in Kannur does have to take some care with her behavior as a woman living alone in a Muslim community.

The slugs and leeches were definitely ugh! I felt a bit bad about the spider - I upended a glass over it, but it moved at the wrong moment and I killed it by mistake.

Am back in Hanoi - rain - train back was quieter but no smoother. Hanoi-Sapa almost my worst night train ever and I've done over 40 (I counted while not sleeping). Am watching coverage of the NZ earthquake - I remember Christchurch as quiet and cute...

Yes, me too. That was 1979. Pics on BBC are horrific.
I too would've felt bad about the spider....I'm OK with spiders in fact but...
When I was in Hanoi last March/April it rained the whole time. And in Hue. And in HK.
It will stop sometime.

Dec 14-15 - On the way to Mysore

Mysore was the only place from my 2001 trip that I had chosen to revisit (I don't count the night I'd need to spend in Chennai before catching a plane to Colombo), but I planned a couple of stops on the way. Although I'd really like to visit Dharamsala, headquarters of the Dalai Lama, this shaped up as a south Indian trip, and I was saving the whole north west for a separate visit (wouldn't want that ten-year visa to go to waste), but I discovered a Tibetan refugee settlement, Bylakuppe, on the northern route from Coorg. Then I remembered a brief glimpse of the illuminated fountains at Brindavan Gardens, 20 kms outside Mysore, at the end of an exhausting day tour arranged by the local Tourist Development Corporation, and wanted a longer look.

Dilip organized a car and driver for me, although after we set off I had to insist that we were going via Madikeri and Bylakuppe, instead of taking the direct route - why do I keep having trouble with Indian drivers??? Lonely Planet had been dismissive of Madikeri, the largest town in Coorg, and I agreed with the author - not a place to spend longer than it takes to admire the view from the Raja Seat. The main temple at Bylakuppe, on the other hand, is quite impressive, although, obviously, new.

Commandingly sited at the end of an avenue, with a huge picture of the Dalai Lama dominating the facade, it's surrounded by accommodation for the monks. The frescoes are crisp, the Buddha statues golden, the decorations elaborate and the marble floors a pleasure to walk on barefoot. The cafe where I ate lunch proved rather less clean and bright, but at least I didn't get sick. I was interested to see a group of young women in blue saris, escorted by white-clad nuns, also visiting the temple and eating in the same cafe.

After lunch we sped towards Mysore on a four-lane divided highway (where I noticed that, just as in North Carolina, slow-moving traffic hogged the fast lane) before turning off onto bad back roads to reach the Royal Orchid Brindavan Gardens (http://www.royalorchidhotels.com/royal-orchid-brindavan-garden-mysore/overview.asp ). This was a splurge, although less of a one than I feared thanks to an internet special rate. I was very amused by the hotel, where it seemed only two other rooms were taken, and which was all faded elegance and colonial grandeur. I thoroughly enjoyed my balcony overlooking the gardens, my big bed and easy chair, and my well-equipped bathroom, although I was less than happy with the pricey wifi and disastrous breakfast.

The hotel's Elephant Bar had plenty of elephant heads (not real ones), but was quite unable to provide me with a gin and tonic. All they had was gin premixed with some kind of orange drink! I took a look at the fountains from the bar, before going down to enjoy them close up. Good thing I hadn't waited any longer, as the lights were turned off quite early. I suspect that there is a more elaborate display on weekends, which explained my cheap hotel rate, but I was quite happy and feel no need to go back again.

why don't you buy some gin and have a drink on your balconies, etc??

Because I don't want to lug the bottles around with me (and I certainly had no balcony at the next hotel, lol). Those palanquin bearers never did show up. I suppose I could look for an airline size gin. But in any case, I wanted to check out the bar.

Status: I've been home over two weeks now, and am pretty much caught up. I've taken care of the critical: taxes! - the urgent: hair cut - and a lot of the mundane: Quicken is up-to-date. I'm still reconnecting with friends, and I could write a long things-that-need-doing list if I chose. But instead I'm trying to finish the blog and get started on the photos.

Dec 15-18 - More Mysore

In December 2001 I spent several luxurious-for-me nights in Mysore in a former palace, the Green Hotel. Admittedly, it bore little resemblance to the main palace, an Indo-Saracenic extravaganza in the middle of town, and I had the cheapest room in the house (avoid the motel-like building in the grounds), but I loved the palace, the gardens, and the food. (Not to mention the library of English-language books!)

So why was I staying in the Ginger Hotel this time? Partly because I thought the Green was too far out of town – I got tired of the perpetual fights with rickshaw drivers who flatly refused to use their meters. Partly because I wanted to check out Tata’s new chain of budget business hotels.

I should have stayed at the Green. Initially I thought the Ginger stark but functional. Then I discovered the downsides: no free wifi, a useless shower curtain, a hair dryer with a plug that didn’t fit the sockets, a rapacious travel desk, no food options aside from a boring buffet, and a headache-inducing band pounding drums in the lobby my last night. And I still needed a rickshaw to get into the center of town.

Mysore itself charmed me for a second time. Cleaner, greener, and with more interesting buildings than most Indian towns its size, I found it a welcome oasis in the wilds of Karnataka. It is also a comfortable base for visiting the exquisite Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid, but I chose not to make the day-long trip a second time. Instead, I revisited the once-fortified island town of Srirangapatnam, capital of Tipu Sultan’s empire in the late 1700s and site of his final defeat at the hands of the British. Besides wandering among the towering columns of the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, and lingering over the detailed frescoes adorning the walls of Tipu’s summer palace (no photos allowed), I went down to the river bank, where I found a number of alfresco religious ceremonies in progress.

Naturally, I revisited the main palace, built for the Wodeyar dynasty at the turn of the 20th century. Again, no photos are allowed inside, which is a pity, as the lavishly-turreted exterior only hints at the over-the-top decoration inside. The Wodeyar’s signature peacocks are everywhere, from mosaic floors to stained-glass ceilings, solid silver doors confront the visitor outside the durbar hall, used for public audiences, and the ceiling of the hall itself, 155 by 42 feet, is supported by a dizzying array of oddly chubby columns. Foreigners are eligible for a free audio guide, although that hasn’t deterred the would-be guides at the gate.

Mysore is a shoppers’ mecca, known for its silk and sandalwood. I already owned three delicate sandalwood deities (Ganesha, Lakshmi and Saraswati), but I did embark on an unsuccessful search for a salwar suit. I had more fun at the huge Devaraja market, where I was especially taken by the stalls selling religious paraphernalia and those heaped with blossoms, which are sold by weight for crafting garlands.

I hate buffets at the best of times (stay tuned for how that proved disastrous later) and the Ginger's was short on protein and short on choice. I ate dinner a couple of times at the Hotel Roopa's roof-top restaurant Infiniti instead, with quite good food and glimpses of the palace (centrally located, this might be a good place to stay). One lunchtime I splurged at La Gardenia in the Hotel Regaalis, but this was clearly a place where I should have opted for the buffet. Another day I ate lunch at the popular Indra Cafe's Paras, but although the thali wasn't bad it didn't have enough protein to last me until dinnertime.

My next stop was Coonoor, up in the Nilgiri Hills, where I hoped to find cooler temperatures and good scenery. Finding the quotes for a car and driver rather high, I signed up for a day tour by mini-bus to better-known Ooty (now renamed, by some sadistic bureaucrat, Udhagamandalam). A short ride down the mountain would get me to Coonoor.

The tour was cheap enough I had no expectation that the sight-seeing would be worthwhile – how many wild animals can one realistically expect to see from a noisy bus driving through a National Park? – but I had hoped for a better bus and a faster departure from Mysore. I should have asked more specific questions, as the bus I was shown on booking bore little resemblance to the one I rode out of town, and although my pick-up was scheduled for 7:30 (actual time after 8:00) we didn’t leave town, with me crammed into the backseat, until 9:15. But we did get to Ooty, and the guide did arrange a car to take me on to Coonoor, and the bus ride only cost me 250 rupees.

anxious to read more

Absolutely fascinating and riveting reading!

I've been away for awhile, but it's always a pleasure to pick up on your travels.

Sorry about slugs and spiders. I always take a mini-mosquito net. It came in quite handy in Provence, of all places, which has scorpions. Who knew there were scorpions in France?

Tipu Sultan? Have you read Dalrymple's "White Moghuls"?

Welcome back!

Welcome back! Did the trip meet (or exceed) your expectations?

Thanks!

Marija - I would say in general the trip met my expectations, with Japan and Taiwan exceeding them, and India and Sri Lanka perhaps under-performing. I didn't enjoy India as much this time, and I had some bad weather in Sri Lanka.

indianapearl - yes, I've read most of Dalrymple's books. Some more than once. Are you in Texas yet?

Dec 18-21 - The Coonoor Chicken

All the guidebooks tell you that the way to arrive in Ooty is on the mountain railway from Mettupalayam, but that’s south of Ooty, and in Mysore I was well north. While I was sorry to miss the train ride, I have to say that the trip up by road wasn’t too shabby, either. My tour bus took the scenic route, scaling the mountain by way of 36 hairpin bends – at each bend a signboard listed the number still to go. I enjoyed the views of mountains and waterfalls, but wasn’t too impressed with Ooty when we finally arrived.

But then I only got a glimpse of the town, and a slightly longer look at the touristy lake area, before I left for Coonoor. The drive down the mountain was a bit more hair-raising than the drive up, as we quickly descended into thick mist. I was splurging on the Gateway Hotel, formerly the Taj Garden Retreat, and was welcomed with a flower garland and the news that I had been upgraded to a suite in one of the cottages. With a sitting room, bedroom, dressing area and bathroom I had the biggest quarters of the whole trip, but it was rather dark and far enough from the main building that the expensive wifi only worked in the sitting room. The Gateway didn’t really deliver the colonial-era ambiance I had expected – it was nothing like the Windamere in Darjeeling, although I did get hot water bottles in the evening.

High season in the hills is April to June, when people go up to escape the lowland heat. There seemed to be plenty of people about in December, but the weather wasn’t great, with afternoon mist hiding the view and one day of heavy rain. Fortunately the morning was clear the day I had a car and driver for a visit to the nearby viewpoints, although I had yet another (male) Indian driver who didn’t want to listen to his (female) passenger’s instructions, and it took a call to the hotel to get me to the tea “factory” I wanted to see.

Not that there was any shortage of tea – all the gentler slopes near Coonoor were blanketed by an apparently smooth layer of vivid green bushes. I had visited a tea factory in Darjeeling and seen the leaves being processed, so here I just wanted a shot of the ordered slopes backed by the steeper, forested hills in the distance, while the operation my driver favored was too close to town. I really preferred the views of the craggy hills and of the Catherine Falls across the valley to the regular rows of close-cropped tea bushes, and I did get to enjoy those in sunshine.

That afternoon I indulged in a massage in the Gateway’s spa, so by dinner time I was feeling pretty good. The Coonoor Gateway had the same menu as the one in Mangalore, but they also had a big buffet, and they REALLY wanted you to eat that. But I hate buffets – the food is never as good when it’s been sitting around, I always eat too much, and even so I never feel that I’ve eaten enough to justify the price. I discovered that if I wanted to order off the menu, the hotel would like me to call the order in from my room, and then come down in half an hour to eat.

So I ordered chicken curry and dal makhani and rice, and waited half an hour before wrapping up for my walk to the dining room. The curry tasted fine, but I noticed it wasn’t as hot as could have been. You know where this is going, don’t you? That night I got really sick.

Now I rarely, rarely get sick when I travel – I have fragile feet but a tough digestive system – but luckily I was carrying an antibiotic just in case. Even so, I spent the entire next day in bed, subsisting on toast and pineapple and listening to my iPod. I had intended to try for a seat on the mountain train up to Ooty (unlike the Darjeeling train it turns out that you can, and should, book tickets) and was only somewhat mollified by the pouring rain that might have kept me indoors anyway. I will say that the hotel staff showed appropriate concern, wanting to call a doctor and giving me extra time in the room before I left the next day.

Fortunately by then I no longer needed instant access to a bathroom, but I arranged a car and driver for the trip down to Coimbatore instead of taking a bus. The mist held off and I loved the scenery, but I was concerned about the four or five hours I would have to kill before boarding the night train to Trivandrum. My driver left me outside a restaurant near the station, and I nursed a big lassi for an hour before gingerly tackling some rice and channa (chick peas). Then I carted my pack over to the station – to find a minor miracle.

A sign by the electronic departure board just inside the entrance pointed the way to the AC waiting room. Not only was it open, it was clean, quiet, and provided with deep leatherette arm chairs and sofas flanking glass-topped coffee tables, with racks for luggage at one end, and not-quite-so-clean but acceptable toilets at the other. Only a handful of passengers shared a room that could easily hold twenty. The explanation for this miracle? Entry cost 15 rupees an hour. About 30 cents. I had no hesitation in handing over 45 rupees and settling in!

Many of you will remember dogster's Chicken of Doom, which had rather more serious consequences than my encounter, but took place not too far away. Perhaps this is not the best part of the world for carnivores - after all, many if not most of the locals are vegetarians. I do become a temporary vegetarian in India when I have doubts about the place I'm eating, but I hardly thought that I needed those precautions at the Gateway.

And it was a not hot chicken curry that did Cheryl in when we were in Sri Lanka. I think perhaps we should put chicken curry on our "avoid" list when in the subcontinent.

I guess once bitten twice shy but beg you to defer your decison, promise you there are lots of good chickens in Sri Lanka and also India, and you don't want to miss the butter chicken masalas or chicken palandi! It's more about chossing he right places to eat, one can even fall sick on potatoes at the wrong stop.

"It's more about chossing he right places to eat" - neither dogster nor I (nor, I think, Cheryl) got sick in what one would expect to be the WRONG places. Come on, the Gateway Hotel, owned by Taj, was one of my splurges!

Dec 22-28 - Taking it easy in Trivandrum

Major holidays can be difficult for solo travelers (just as they can for singles at home). The last time I spent Christmas in India, a friend flew out to meet me in Kerala, and after a couple of lazy nights on a houseboat, we settled into a boutique hotel in Kochi. We had a great time, but my friend can no longer travel, and I didn’t feel like going back – a lot more people were traveling in December 2010 than December 2001, and I had heard that the handful of houseboats I remembered had exploded into hundreds. I also wasn’t wild about the idea of sharing a beach with a lot of romantic couples or partying groups (the same thoughts that had put me in Laos instead of on a Thai island when the tsunami hit in 2004). Nor did I want to pay inflated holiday prices.

I decided that what I really needed were rest and a good internet connection – I had done zero planning for Sri Lanka, and my flight to Colombo was just a couple of weeks after Christmas. So I picked a place people were likely to be leaving, Kerala’s state capital Trivandrum (renamed Thiruvananthapuram – what was wrong with Trivandrum?) where I found a good rate for the Keys, part of a budget business chain.

I really liked the Keys. The decor was cooler, the staff more efficient and my room both bigger and more comfortable than at the Ginger. And the wifi was free. While almost any hotel room looks good fresh off a night train, especially when you get to check-in early, I still liked the Keys after six nights. Even the buffets weren’t bad, and no one made a fuss if I ordered off the menu instead (for some reason I developed a sudden taste for french fries!). The staff made a special effort for Christmas, both with the buffet and the decorations, although I was a bit puzzled by the blue and white balloons.

I was still recovering from the chicken disaster in Coonoor, and I found the humidity level way high, so I didn’t do a lot of sightseeing. Along with a great many locals I took a look at the zoo, which I found rather sad, and I wasn’t impressed by the over-developed beach at Kovalam. An expedition to visit the wooden palace at Padmanabhapuram gave me a good look at crowded roads and last-minute shoppers, but the palace itself was closed for the day. A prominent Kerala politician had just died, but it hadn’t occurred to me that the day of mourning would affect a palace in Tamil Nadu.

I did get a rest, I did get my trip to Sri Lanka planned, despite the holidays, and I Skyped friends and family with Christmas greetings. I also got my hair hennaed and my toes painted, and did a little shopping. I had a trouble finding deodorant, and failed altogether to find dental floss and small plastic bags – interesting cultural differences you don’t notice on shorter trips. I also bought the first souvenir of the trip – a pashima shawl. I bought at the government store, the SMSM Institute, so no bargaining.

Hi thursdayd
What a trip. I definately could not continue travelling for so long.
I hope that you have reviewed the hotels you stayed at on TA. It would be so good to have a current view of some of these hotels that indicate that they are the best. The photographs of many were taken in their heyday and not updated and the poor traveller gets seduced by the beautifully lit photographs.

Rasputin1 - I posted what I considered the most important reviews on TA while I was traveling. I'll post more after I get caught up on the TR!

Dec 28-31 - Temple Town

There is one reason, and only one reason, to go to Madurai: the massive, mesmerizing Sri Meenakshi Amman Temple. True, there's also a rather nice if neglected palace and a Gandhi Museum, but I can't imagine putting up with Madurai just to visit them. I don't know whether the town seemed grungier than usual because it actually was grungier, or just in contrast to the temple. (Not that the temple floors are particularly clean, even though you have to take your shoes off.)

Of course, my jaundiced view of Madurai might have been colored by my first sight of the town, trekking with my pack down the streets near the station at 11:30 at night (the hotel was too close to make a taxi worthwhile), or by my hotel, the Madurai Residency, which suffered in contrast to the Keys in Trivandrum (but was much cheaper). The hotel hadn't looked too bad when I checked in, but then I discovered that the sink drained partially onto the floor, the shower was so feeble I used the bucket and pail instead, and if I wanted hot water in the evening I had to have it delivered in a bucket anyway. Instead of wifi the hotel provided one virus-laden computer in the mosquito-infested lobby, and breakfast in the too-small dining room was hardly worth eating. After I had to switch beds and dig out my silk sleep sack because I was getting bitten, I seriously considered moving. The Royal Court, an equal distance from the station in the other direction, where I ate lunch one day, looked a great deal nicer. But it was also a lot pricier.

But the temple was worth a little discomfort. I'm not a big fan of Indian religious art, simple representations of gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures in bright primary colors, but I enjoyed the exuberant gopuras (gateway towers) at Madurai anyway. The town's been around in one form or another since the 4th century B.C.E., but the temple complex, dedicated to the "fish-eyed" goddess Meenakshi Amman, only dates from the 1600s. I say complex advisedly - the enclosing wall, with its 12 gateways and gopurams, defines a 15 acre space, filled with halls, corridors, shrines and a big tank.

Unfortunately non-Hindus aren't allowed in the main shrines, but this meant I had no reason to stand in the long lines of pilgrims waiting for entry. Instead I walked the halls, admiring the carvings, and then sat on the steps of the tank for a leisurely look at some of the soaring gopuras, absolutely covered in painted statuary. One was crowned by a massive tusked face, green but with round blue eyes. A surprised looking cow provided a mount for two figures with high crowns and multi-colored stockings. I was particularly taken with a depiction of the Churning of the Ocean of the Milk, with Mount Mandaranchal reminding me more of a bunch of grapes. I finished by wandering through the lively market selling religious paraphernalia and souvenirs. And I people watched - I saw just a scattering of other foreign tourists, most of the people crowding the walkways were Indians.

I visited the temple twice, but also took a look at Tirumalai Palace, unfortunately not as well looked after as the temple, but still impressive, with good carving and nice lines. The Gandhi Museum, on the other hand, was disappointing - just text and photos. The highlight was a schoolgirl I met outside, who interviewed me for a school project.

I had arrived in town by train, sharing a 2AC section with two couples from Rajasthan. The husbands worked for the railway, and were being transferred to Tamil Nadu, to my surprise they all complained about being in the south. The language was different. The food was different. Everything was different! Interesting - Indians getting culture shock in India. It actually seemed that I knew more about south Indian food than they did. I didn't leave by train, though, my next stop was off in the country and I arranged a car and driver for the trip.

so what is next, where will you go??

You mean in real time, not TR time? When I got tired of heat and humidity on this trip, I started thinking Scandinavia, but I'm not sure I want to pay mid-August Trans-Atlantic airfares. South America is very high on the list, and I'm also considering Eastern Europe - I'd like to revisit Ukraine and Romania, and maybe Slovakia, adding Bulgaria and some of the former Yugoslavian countries I haven't seen.

So wonderfully written by such an intrepid traveler! Really look forward to your next report on either South America or Eastern Europe or wherever you go next. I am sure it will be equally entertaining.

Dec 31, 2010 - Jan 2, 2011 - Charmed by Chettinad

India's amazing diversity fascinates its visitors, although its inhabitants may be less pleased - remember the unhappy northerners I met on the way to Madurai? The people are as varied as the landscape, the food and the languages. In Coorg I had stayed in a B&B run by a proud Kodavu, between Madurai and Trichy I would stay with Chettiars. The Kodavu were warriors, the Chettiars were traders and bankers, whose wealth funded elaborate mansions before their trading routes closed down and their banks were nationalized after World War II.

The Chettinadu Mansion was full, so I stayed at the Bangala. Still a splurge, and not only because I took a car and driver in and out, and car, driver and guide for an informative tour. But it was New Year's Eve. My large room, with an excellent bathroom but poor seating, opened onto a fan-cooled terrace facing the open dining room across a grassy courtyard. Part of a French TV crew, filming an historical series, was in residence, and kept to themselves, but I ate my New Year's Eve dinner with the owner, a charming older woman.

My first afternoon I wandered around Karaikudi on my own, finding several nice buildings in poor shape, some not very antique-looking antiques, and a lively market. But my tour of the Chettinad region the next day was the highlight. My guide told me that the Chettiars had been sent to the region in the early 1900s by the maharajah of Madurai as traders and had done well with trade to Burma. Now some families can't maintain their houses.

Like the Kodavu, the Chettiars built ancestral houses used for special occasions. Well designed for the climate, they featured an elaborate marriage room, and side rooms to hold dowries. I loved the intricately carved teak decorations (from Burma) although the wood was covered by layers of dark polish. We also visited a temple - the Chettiars worship Shiva - where statues of horses are given to celebrate the birth of a boy. The ranks are moved back each year. I had noticed several temples in Karaikudi, each with its own tank (big, rectangular pool of water), and was interested to learn that each tank was designated for a different purpose - one for drinking, one for bathing, etc.

We finished the tour with a visit to place making tiles, where I was surprised to see how little actual color was used - just a very thin layer. I asked about the fast-drying shower floors I kept seeing, and was told they were granite. I need a new bathroom floor, but it sounds heavy.

After the tour I indulged in a massage which turned out less relaxing than I hoped. The Bangala had just opened a new swimming pool and massage room, and it really wasn't ready. The room opened right on to the pool, there was nowhere to put anything, no AC (and the fan stopped several times), no hot water and the shower didn't work... Hopefully things have improved. The pool did look very nice.

Thanks for continuing your report. It's south India that seems to be calling to me the most as perhaps our next trip to India.

yes i mean on going travel.... all of those places sound like good bets, but don't expect any bargains like asia esp. in scandanavia where prices are truly outrageous...

Kathie - I do plan to finish it. Really... And lots of good places to go in the south, although I'm thinking northwest for my next visit.

rhkkmk - after looking at air fares I'm now considering doing "the Baltics to the Balkans" for Sept-early Nov. The fares didn't go down early enough for Scandinavia, and the fares to S.A. were higher than I expected.

Jan 2 - 4, 2011: Totally Temples

South India is known for its temples, and according to the guidebooks, its people are known for their devotion to their gods. I can attest to the magnificence of the temples, but not that south Indians are any more religious than northerners. It is true that the temples weren't short of people patiently waiting to pray, but I had no way of knowing where they were from, and I still remembered the crushing crowds in Kolkata's Kali temple during Durga Puja.

Anyway, I was in Tamil Nadu to see temples, and after my New Year's Eve diversion in Chettinad I was back on the trail, being driven past flooded fields to Trichy. Sorry, Tiruchirappalli. Really, I have no objection to the Indians erasing the colonial names of their cities, and am careful to write Kolkata and Mumbai, but did they have to come up with so many jaw breakers? And about those floods - not normal for the time of year. Hundreds had died and thousands been made homeless by unusually severe weather.

After checking in and eating lunch in Trichy I headed right out to visit the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, which Lonely Planet said would "knock [my] socks off". Sorry, Lonely Planet, but Madurai's Sri Meenakshi Amman had already done that, and Trichy's temple didn't quite measure up. It may have been a bit bigger, but its soaring gopuras boasted fewer figures and less paint, and I missed the tank whose stepped walls had provided seating with a view in Madurai. Besides being quieter, the much smaller Sri Jambukeshwara temple I visited the next day also included some excellent carving.

Of course, there's more to the temples than impressive buildings and intricate carving - they are a kaleidoscope of color and scents, inside and out. Stalls selling souvenirs and garlands line the entryways. In Madurai there was even a whole section inside devoted to stalls. There's often a temple elephant, a big draw for the kids. Here you find a small group conducting a private ceremony, there a statue swathed in cloth of gold. The great cathedrals of Europe must have hummed with life like this when the pilgrims arrived - some still do (think Santiago, Fatima, Lourdes) but not with the same intensity of color.

When I started booking hotels for India back in August I drew a complete blank for Trichy and neighboring Thanjavur (formerly Tanjore), but when I tried again in early December I found a good price for the Grand Gardenia in Trichy. Although rather out of the center, its halal restaurant seemed a big hit with the locals, and I appreciated the spicy Chettinad cuisine after the rather bland fare at the Bangala. I also appreciated my comfortable room.

Because of the hotel problems I hadn't scheduled a stop in Thanjavur, but I arranged a car and driver for the trip onto Puducherry so that I could stop off and visit the Brihadishwara temple. Wow! A thousand years old, without the paint of the newer temples, and drop-dead gorgeous. It's easy to see how the later temples evolved from this one, but I thought the older carving much finer. It also reminded me of the Champa carvings in southeast Asia - not surprising given the trading links.

If you have to choose between Trichy and Thanjavur, go to Thanjavur, not least because for once non-Hindus are allowed in the inner sanctuary. This is apparently because the rajah of Tanjore decreed that "Harijans" (Dalits, "untouchables") would be allowed in back in 1939, and foreigners counted as untouchables. A plaque on the wall records both the event and Gandhi's appreciative comment. Sadly, even though this aspect of the caste system was outlawed in 1950, it's still an issue. I had just read an article in the local paper about access for untouchables to one of the smaller temples in Trichy.

I had thought about stopping at yet another temple, Nataraja in Chidambaram, but after Thanjuvar the skies darkened ominously, and we drove into the town through driving rain. I felt sorry for the people we passed in the countryside, who disappeared indoors or huddled under awnings. Although the rain stopped while I ate lunch, the temple wouldn't open for another hour or so, and I wasn't wild about walking around in the floods in bare feet. I chose to keep going. Perhaps I'd seen enough temples for one trip.

Jan 4-7 - Formerly French

If Clive had lost the battle of Plassey in 1757, maybe the call center workers in Delhi and Bangalore would be speaking French instead of English. His victory gave the British East India company control of the riches of Bengal, and French imperial prospects in India never recovered. But just as relics of Portuguese ambitions in India remained on the west coast in Goa, on the east coast Puducherry (aka Pondicherry, aka Pondy) remained under French control until 1954.

I had read a lot about how Pondy was still an oasis of French culture in India - croissants and coffee, quiet, mansion-lined boulevards, and lots of shopping. I had my doubts, but was interested to see for myself, and it made a convenient stop between Trichy and Chennai.

Well, its true that a small part of Pondy isn't quite India, but it isn't France either. Most of Pondy, formerly known as the "black town", has always been Indian, the "white town" was a few blocks along the waterfront in the east. The promenade boasted the first trash cans I'd seen in India , although some had been beaten up a bit. The streets were wide and quiet, the buildings clearly colonial, the restaurants offered western food, and I never saw a cow, but I didn't need the rapacious rickshaw drivers to remind me that I was still in India.

The heritage hotel (http://colonialeheritage.com/ )I stayed at was a little more basic than I expected, but I appreciated the verandah, the high, wide bed (and the mosquito net, which I needed) and the wi-fi, which I used extensively to book for my upcoming month in southeast Asia. Unfortunately, I found both the food and the service in the western-style restaurants sub-standard, until I tried the very modern Promenade (http://sarovarhotels.com/pondicherry-the-promenade.shtml ). The roof-top restaurant had a good view, although rather too much wind the night I ate there, but the service and food - both western and Indian - impressed me.

I didn't do a whole lot in Pondy besides eat and stroll. I had my hair cut - much shorter than I intended, I restocked Imodium and Cortisone - that required quite a trek into "black town", and I was ecstatic to find a bookshop with second-hand English-language novels. I did visit the Catholic cathedral, the in-town branch of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and walked past the Sri Manakula Vinayagar temple, and got no spiritual lift from any of them.

I also had interesting chat with an Indian woman who worked for the Ashram. She shared my table at the sea-front Le Cafe, where I was surprised, and rather horrified, to realize that she was never served. I was also surprised by her rationale for the dirt so prevalent in India: "it's a tropical country".

Status - longer gap there than I intended, but I've been busy planing the next trip... I finally booked the long distance flights this weekend - New York to Helsinki at the end of August and Budapest to Washington at the beginning of November. After a couple of weeks in the Baltics I plan to fly to Budapest and go south through Serbia to pick up a tour of Bulgaria. Then I'll wander through Albania and the rest of the Balkans.

Jan 8-9 - Farewell to India

If I had known that many people headed straight to Chennai airport from Pondy, instead of stopping off in the city, I would have followed their example. I wasn't wild about Chennai the first time I visited, and even less so this time. I would have avoided one last tussle with an Indian driver, and being booted from my comfortable-sounding hotel to an isolated annex.

I had the driver, rather than taking a bus, because I wanted to stop on the way in Kanchipuram to visit a few more temples. And I have to say that the wonderful carving in Devarajaswami was worth the detour. Kailasanatha is much older, dating back to the 7th century, but it was Devarajaswami that captivated me. Unfortunately, the day just went down hill from there.

Lunch was an uninspiring buffet and the drive to Chennai took longer than I had expected, through flat and boring scenery. I had already had a couple of fights with my driver - no, I wasn't going to the airport, no, we were going the wrong way to get to the temple I wanted to see - and now he had no idea where to find my hotel, and I had trouble finding where I had written down the phone number. Yelling at me didn't speed the search, but did significantly reduce his tip.

I had booked a studio apartment at the Malles Manotaa through agoda.com. The place looked good on the website, but I never saw an apartment. Instead I was driven to an office building several streets away, which I was surprised to find included a bedroom and bath. It was dark, tired, and isolated. Although the young man detailed to look after me was most solicitous, I was not happy. An expedition to the nearby Pondy Bazaar didn't help - it really wasn't worth risking life and limb crossing the roads to get there.

I didn't like Chennai any better the next day, although after a poor breakfast delivered to my room the taxi was at least on time. The only bright spot was the Kingfisher Airlines representative, in a red jacket, who met me at the kerb and escorted me through security and up to the correct check-in desk. I had had some doubts about dogster's reports on Kingfisher service, but it was all true. The airport rather let the side down, though, looking older and dingier than I remembered.

Kingfisher served an excellent-for-airlines-lunch, and I had an interesting chat with an Indian woman, married to a Sri Lankan, who had the seat next to me. But as we crossed a narrow coastal strip and descended towards Colombo airport over a broad lagoon, I was more than ready to move on from India.

Alas! You did have some bad luck with hotels and with drivers. But the temples sound wonderful.

thursday--During your fall trip to the Baltics, if you start yearning for India, stop in at Sue's Indian Raja in Vilnius for some perfectly decent Indian food. I was very pleasantly surprised. (We felt we had to support anyone who was running an Indian restaurant in potato-engulfed Lithuania.)

Kathie - the temples were magnificent. Some photos of them are on my recent blog posts - http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com

Marija - thanks for the suggestion, but I visited Vilnius - and loved it - in 2004, and will be skipping Lithuania this time. Something had to give... Am currently thinking Helsinki with day trips, ferry to Tallinn, bus to Tartu, bus to Riga.

All - if anyone else is still reading.. I was going to just keep going with Sri Lanka on this thread, but it's now rather long. Should I start a new one so the Sri Lanka posts will be easier to find?

Yes still here and enjoying your adventure and posts. A new Sri Lanka thread would be nice and might be easier for someone doing research to find.

Aloha!

Still reading and enjoying your adventure. I think starting a new thread would be better than continuing here.

still reading and keep going here...

our fav baltic was tallinn.... stay in the old town...pay extra... give it an extra day or two...

prices are not to be believed in the scandanavian countries...hope you are flying finn air.... we are again in oct to bkk and home from delhi

Well, counting me the vote was 3 to 1, so the new Sri Lanka thread is here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/thursdaysds-boutique-sri-lanka.cfm

Bob - I'm out of FF miles, so I had to pay for these tickets. Therefore, no Finn Air. Outbound on Continental and return on Lufthansa. Wish me luck.

Thanks for the temple photos, Thursdays!

Glad you liked them, kathie. There are a great many more here: http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Round-the-World-2010-11/Tamil-Nadu password "tamil nadu", but they are, so far, totally unedited. I didn't even delete the duds on the road this trip, since I was traveling with a netbook.

Thanks, I'll spend some time with those photos.

Hi Thursdaysyd, I'm bookmarking this wonderful yarn to read later. I'm in the very early stages of researching a trip to Nepal next April.

Thanks in advance for all the tips & entertainment I know I'll glean from your tale. Yours too, Dogster.

All praise should go to thursday for this mega-report. A true milestone in the history of trip-reports, a thing of beauty - a masterwork...

I'd better stop. I'm getting emotional.

I'm blushing.

I suppose it was a bit of a mega-trip. That's my excuse for why my blog is still nearly two months behind.