Aug 1, 2007 - Mysore + Somanathpur (66km) km 3176

A 5h du matin, je suis deja reveille. Le froid des montagnes m'empeche de dormir et les passagers devant moi ont releve les volets des fenetres pour admirer le paysage. Nous allons bientot entrer dans une reserve naturelle perchee entre le Kerala, le Tamil Nadu et le Karnataka. Il parait qu'il y a 2000 elephants sauvages, 80 tigres, autant de pantheres, et de nombreux cervides dans la region. Ceux qui sont deja reveilles scrutent le paysage a la recherche de traces de vie. Nous entrons a peine dans la reserve naturelle que nous croisons...

Jun 10, 2007 - Mysore

I went to Mysore Saturday with one of my agents, Deepak. Everyone else was either busy or had to work, so it was just Deepak and I who went. I had a really fun time. Mysore is a very famous town that is a couple hundred km south west from Bangalore. The farther we got away from Bangalore the greener it was too. Mysore is the place where the Indian kings ruled. It was absolutely amazing. The palace was HUGE. It was also nice to see white tourists there. There are pictures posted of me outside of the palace. Cameras are not allowed in the...

Apr 25, 2007 - Time for a loooong update...

So now that they fixed the Internet in all of our rooms, I am able to take the time to let you all know about my first full day in India. I took a very very cold shower when we got into Mysore this morning (around 5:00 am Indian time) because the water never seemed to heat up. At breakfast, I then read in our guidebook for the Center that you have to let the water run for at least 5 minutes. So I guess that was my first real lesson in India :) We spent the morning converting currency (39 rupee = 1 US dollar), getting a tour and orientation...

Apr 24, 2007 - Greetings from Mysore!

I'M IN INDIA!!! Sorry that it has taken me so long to post something, but I haven't had Internet since Washington, DC on Monday. We arrived in India around midnight Indian time (about 2:30 Eastern time) then drove 3 hours to the Center in Mysore. I'm on the Center's computer and others are waiting to get on - the Internet in our rooms isn't working yet - so I will write more later. Just wanted to let you all know that I am here!! Lots of love :)

Mar 9, 2007 - Mysore

What an enchanting city! I know that I haven't seen all the cities of India, yet, but I would have to say that Mysore is my favorite. I can't wait to tell you all about it and for you to see the photos I took. The bus dropped us off near the city bus terminal and our guidebook listed several hotels nearby. There has been quite an explosion of mid-range hotels being built in India so we hoped that we would find a relatively new hotel in Mysore. We were able to leave our suitcases at the bus booking office and set off to see the rooms on...

Feb 11, 2007 - The Faces of India

I wanted to post one more entry with some additional photos this week before I left the comforts of my beach paradise to start moving again in a couple of days. Once I begin to move I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get to the internet and I won't have any idea on what the connection will be like. As it is, when I uploaded the 10 photos for my last entry it took about 35-40 minutes, and I'm on a pretty good connection here. As for the photos and the faces...I have really been enjoying taking these pictures. I was showing another...

Feb 10, 2007 - Mysore - 'Cancelled Train, Road Blocks & Micheal'

Left the guest house in Bangalore at 0830. Bags packed stumbled out and the first Rickshaw driver wanted 300 rupees to go to the train station. Told him what he could do with that and offered him 120 he said no and drove off like I was going to be stranded, trying to find a Rickshaw is like trying to find a car on the M25 in rush hour. As he left another turned up slapped the meter on and 93 rupees later we pulled into the train station. Waited an hour at the station, got on the train moved all of 0ft and got off. It was cancelled due to...

Jan 22, 2007 - Over the Western Ghats to Mysore (Laura)

We are a bit sad to leave Calicut as the adventure has been quite extraordinary and we suspect it might be a highlight of the trip. But, more adventures await and we know this is our last bus trip for a while as trains will become our mode of transport for some time ahead. Buses are much less comfortable and we want to get this last trip over with. Luckily we have reserved seats so we are at the front of the bus. I find this really helps with the potential motion sickness that can begin as the bus careens along mountain roads. We manage to...

Dec 17, 2006 - Mysore arse!

Christmas is a pain in the arse! The greatest thing about traveling is that you can just go with what ever seems right to do at the time. That is all about to change because all the rats in the race have their two weeks of freedom and are descending on India en masse. I know how it is, not so long ago I was one of those rats and those two weeks are so precious. Unfortunately, for all the travelers though the prices quadruple and you have to book everything ahead, which means planning...ughh!Enough moaning I realize I am in a privileged...

Sep 8, 2006 - MYSORE

Despres d'una visita llampec a Chennai, per fi el dijous a la nit vaig acabar la feina (Xavi...la Jessica la feina la va acabar fa mooooolt de temps). I el divendres, per gentilesa d'un dels proveidors, ens va donar un bitllet per un tour turistic cap a Mysore, la ciutat dels palaus dels Maharajas. Sortida a les 7 del mati i arribada a les 11 de la nit...toma ja!!. Un tour d'aquells , vull dir que, un tour com Deu mana: paradeta al cap de una horeta en una botigueta per comprar joguines de fusta i incens, despres una altre paradeta en una...

Jun 21, 2006 - Mysore!

ooootay. Mysore is pretty cool i must say. Oh actually before I write anything more, I want to say that if you have left me a message in my guestbook and I haven't replied, its not because I don't want to....in fact, I really want to reply to all of them really badly, but the page that I have to load to make replies from this site takes an extremely long time and I'm often pressed for time even in my entries. I love getting messages from all of you.....and thank you much for the smiles they bring to my face. Alright, we got here lastnight...

Jun 21, 2006 - Bangalore and Mysore

From Goa it was off to Bangalore on an overnight bus. The journey wasn't so bad, although the water dripping down at the front of the bus was a bit worrying, seeing as it wasn't raining. The man I was sitting next to started to complain very loudly that the air-conditioning was to cold (I presume that was his complaint but Hindi is nearly as bad as my Mandarin) and the driver just ignored him. My neighbour then started threatening the driver (a bit worrying as he was driving at 120 km/h at the time along a dark lane) and so he stopped the...