Glad to hear that your reactions to malarone has dissipated. We've always taken malarone during lunch based on the advice of our travel doc and as to not interfere with other medications we may be taking in the morning or at night.

Your train ride sounds better than the image I have in my mind. I picture chaos at the train stations, especially with the loading and offloading, based upon what I've seen on TV.

an overnight train---YIKES

Glad you're doing better with the Malarone.

Also good to read that someone else survived an Indian train trip in reasonable shape. @tripplanner - I think you are confusing commuter trains (likely in Mumbai) with long distance trains, which are quite different.

Could be, Thursdaysd. The most recent item I've seen was a BBC documentary about the railway system in India; much of it was about Mumbai.

Interesting about the national anthem at the movies. Many years ago, when I was young, British movie theaters played the national anthem, but at the end of the evening. I have a vague memory that regular theates played it before the performance, but I could be wrong about that.>>

I think you are right, thursdaysd - it's what I remember too.

dgunbug - I'm enjoying this very much, even though I have no plans at present to visit south India, though I'd dearly like to .

I remember you went to Northern India right before we did, so I guess we'll now have to follow you to the South. I'm thinking of just 2-3 places this time (and we missed a place in the north where I wanted to go), so looking forward to hearing your highlights. Mumbai Laundry is on my list. Not certain about the overnight train -- too many memories of yucky bathrooms from my backpacker days.

We went to the movies as well in Delhi and ended up at an indie film (which was entertaining even with no subtitles), rather than the full-on Bollywood production as we wanted. No national anthem, and the seats were large cushions. Apparently the national anthem is a 'thing' in various southern Indian states:

https://www.quora.com/In-which-India...ie-in-theaters

Re: Malarone. We were told to take it at the end of dinner, on the fullest stomach possible. No issues with that. Looking forward to more of this stellar report, with no gastro concerns.

I'm just catching up with your report as we are now in Kauai.

Nice commentary, great details! Southern India is on our list!

I'm glad you figured out to take Malarone with food. The other important trick is to make sure you take it with a meal that includes fats. One of the components of Malarone is fat-soluble.

What a great day we had in Hampi. There are many who say the distance and difficulty in getting to Hampi make it less desirable to visit, however, we couldn't disagree more.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, our driver picked us up at 8:30 am and we set off to meet our guide at the Ganesa (smaller image) temple where we began our tour. Having a guide was invaluable as he explained the history of Hampi and pointed out interesting details of the temples.

During its prime, Hampi was one of the richest cities in the world. Today the ruins are a UNESCO world heritage site. Around 1500 AD Hampi had about 500,000 residences, making it the second largest city in the world after Peking- Beijing. In 1565 the city was besieged by the Deccan Muslim confederacy, the residences murdered and the temples destroyed.

Similar to Angkor Wat, this complex of temples and palace grounds remained covered up and undiscovered until 1800. The landscape abounds with rock formations as a result of a past volcano and gives Hampi a unique and eerie look. Those stones were used to carve the magnificent temples that make up Hampi.

We spent the greater part of a day visiting the religious portion of Hampi, leaving the palace areas for tomorrow.
The weather was warm, but the lovely breeze made it pleasant and easy to move about. Had we not scheduled two days for Hampi, we could easily have seen the remaining sites. That being said, to thoroughly visit the sites of Hampi, one would need severa more days. We will skip those temples riverside as they require much more walking and climbing on steps which is impossible for my husband due to a knee injury. I don't feel like we're missing anything though as we've gotten a nice taste of what Hampi was and is today. Simply amazing!

We have noticed a big difference in the people in the south of India compared to those in the Rajastan region. There is very little begging here and people are quite friendly (not to say they weren't friendly up north, but it seemed that many who were friendly wanted monetary compensation)

We are staying in the town of Hospet, just outside of the Hampi complex. The area between Hospet and Hampi is lush with fertile farmland where rice, bananas, sugar cane and other crops grow. The scenery is especially beautiful against the backdrop of the rocks.

We will rest until 5:15 pm and then go back to Hampi to watch the sun set. Our trip continues to be all that we had hoped for.

More later...

Thanks for posting while on the road, and great to hear you're enjoying it.
From another reader, travelling with you in spirit.

love the details and the broad range of your comments

I'm finding it so much easier to post from the road. I woke up from a late nap to go see the sun set. The view was beautiful, but would have been spectacular had the sun set over the rocks. I am told that the sunrise is even better, but I am not feeling well so I want to sleep in till at least 7:00 am. I'm thinking this is environmentally related due to the heavy pollution and dust. Again, Hampi is reminiscent of Siem Reap with its red clay dusty streets. Perhaps things have changed since we first went there. For dinner, I had little appetite but had to eat some food to take my malarone. Hopefully the cheese omelet will do the trick. I definitely had no appetite, another side effect of the medication.

For now I will retire early and hope to awaken feeling better.

I'm finding it much easier to post from the road. I woke up from a late nap to go see the sun set. The view was beautiful, but would have been spectacular had the sun set over the rocks. I am told that the sunrise is even better, but I am not feeling well so I want to sleep in till at least 7:00 am. I'm thinking this is environmentally related due to the heavy pollution and dust. Again, Hampi is reminiscent of Siem Reap with its red clay dusty streets. For dinner, I had little appetite but had to eat some food in order to take my malarone. Hopefully the cheese omelet will do the trick. Lack of appetite is another side effect of the medication.

For now I will retire early and hope to awaken feeling better.

Sorry for duplication.

gosh, I'd never even heard of Hampi before today, and now I want to go there!

thanks dgunbug and keep it coming.

Hampi is one of the reasons I want to visit southern India. Thanks for your comments on Hampi. Can you say a bit about the place you stayed near Hampi? The guidebooks make it sound like the nearby places to stay are pretty bad...

Continued thanks, Dgunbug!! Hope the cheese omelet helped, and you regain your appetite in time to enjoy the marvelous food (coconut/ fish/idlis) of Kerala!! Food there tends to be lighter than north, which might be a good thing for your tummy.
Intrigued by your Hampi report--it never interested me 'til now.
Glad your journey so far is everything you hoped for!! For purely selfish reasons (furutre-trip planning, of course!) am eager to read your report on the next segment of Mysore and onward. Hope you enjoy the Mysore/Coonor area as much as we did. You leave the flatter area around Mysore and ascend into the hills on the road to Oozy--lovely!
Also, like you, I found the people --how to say without sounding too generalized? --even more open/sweet in the South. Perhaps because there is less tourism?? Not sure, but it's changing, has done even in the last few years, and you should be glad you're there now.

Glad that you enjoyed Hampi more than I (and dogster) did.

@Kathie - places IN Hampi are likely to be more backpacker friendly, Hospet is a better bet.

Ah, thanks, Thursdays!

Hope you're feeling better. Hampi sounds like a place we would enjoy very much as well.

A good nights sleep has helped although I'm still a bit congested. The Royal orchard where we are staying is perfectly acceptable. It is an oasis among the squalid conditions of the village which we have yet to wander around. Rooms are very clean, there is a nice pool area and food is decent with a great variety including made to order omelets for breakfast. Hospet is only a 15 minute drive to the sites and the drive itself interesting. On first appearance, the hotel appeared a bit dark, but we have no complaints. We've noticed so far that beds are far more comfortable than up north. There is a hotel in Hampi that was recommended by castle and King and I thought it looked a lot nicer, however, my husband did not like the idea that we would have had to take a boat to get across to the ruins each day.

Thursday - if I recall, you were very sick in Hampi so I'm sure that hampered (pun intended) your experience. Also, I recall Dogster who was initially underwhelmed, ended up saying how magnificent the ruins were once the lights were turned on. Lights are no longer working, but still, we found the ruins and the complex to be extraordinary.

Off and running - this time to visit the Royal palace complex.