Dec 13, 2004 - Mysore

After a tiring couple of days I was relieved to reach Mysore, a relatively comfortable place without being overwhelming. Getting there was just another example of what makes India such a unique place to travel - I was at tiny village waiting for one of the locals jeeps (which pack in as many as a dozen people) to take me 8kms to the next big village which was on the main road to Mysore, when a twenty-seater bus pulled up completely empty and asked me where I was going. For 100r (about AUD 3) it did the 140km journey stopping to pick up...

Dec 13, 2004 - Hopset/Hampi

Hello Friends, Three weeks on the road have revealed some incredible scenes and experiences. We are also noticing that some things are beginning to wear on us like the beggars, hawkers and cow dung in the streets. It goes against our natures to not be compassionate, but like Chris has written, the only way not to be mobbed is to walk by stone-faced and non-responsive to "hello, what is your name..." As we came down out of the coffee growing area in Coorg toward Mysore, we stopped at the Tibetan Settlements to see one of the huge...

Dec 12, 2004 - Bangalore

We have taken a 4 hour bus ride from Mysore to Bangalore. On the way we stopped at the Rangana Thittu Bird Sanctuary. It was a beautiful quiet place where we were rowed around on a slow moving river. We saw Comorants, Spoon Billed Storks, Egrets, Darters, red wattles by the dozens and trees loaded with fruit bats by the hundreds. We also saw a couple of crocodiles one of which was a least three times the size of anyone in the boat. The boatman casually passed about 10 feet from him and all his passengers had visions of the beast roaring...

Dec 10, 2004 - Mysore

Ah, back to big city life. You have not lived until you have had an Indian Hawker try to sell you their wares. If you make any eye contact, or show interest they will follow you anywhere trying to close the sell. I had 4 kids follow me at least a half a mile to try to sell me post cards. The best strategy appears to be to walk briskly to your goal and look neither left or right. If you stroll and look around you are mobbed with street hawkers each earnestly putting their wares in you hands or post cards in your face. I need to point out...

Dec 9, 2004 - Madikeri

Madikeri is the Capital of Coreg which is an independent district in Southern India. It is beautiful hilly country with spice and coffee farms. We are staying in a small hotel "Capital Village" on a coffee plantation. This morning we took a walk through the country side on some foot lanes up to a "snake" temple where the locals come to give offerings and appreciation. It was a beautiful walk. The countryside is green and covered with a canopy of trees protecting the coffee plants. The beans are a ripening red and are being picked and dried...

Nov 26, 2004 - Karnataka, India

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving in India proved to be a non-holiday, no turkey just Prawns, Lentils, Naan, Rice and Singapore Slings. We started the day in Palolem with a walk on the beach before heading to the train station to catch the local train to Mangalore. This was our first experience with a local train instead of the usual 2nd class air conditioned trains that we have grown accustomed to taking. Getting your ticket is easy but finding and fighting your way into a seat is another story. In our experience, Indians are the nicest...

Nov 23, 2004 - Bangalore, India

(pre-arrival entry) We are scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 12:40 a.m. (11:10 a.m. Oregon time). Since Bangalore isn't a city we're interested in spending much time in, since the hotel prices are as much or more than in any large U.S. city, and since we get there in the early morning hours, the plan is to catch a train to Mysore as soon as we can. Here is a little blip about Bangalore (pop. 6.5 million) from the web site www.bangaloreit.com/html/aboutbng/bangprofile.htm : Situated at an altitude of 920 metres above sea level, Bangalore...

Nov 23, 2004 - Mysore, The Green Hotel

(pre-arrival entry) In Mysore, we will be staying at The Green Hotel (photos above) for two nights. The hotel has been described as: "Friendly laid back hotel in turn-of-the-century Chittaranjan Palace, run as a model of sustainable ecotourism, complete with solar heating and mosquito-devouring fish in the ponds. Guests report charming staff, delicious freshly cooked meals and spotless interiors finished with local handicrafts. Very reasonably priced; all profits go to local charitable and environmental causes." The Observer, Our Top 20...

Nov 8, 2004 - Bangalore, the Garden City and India's Silicon Valley.

Hey Yall... Yep. I have finally left the coastal side of India (temporarily!) to visit Bangalore. It's the 5th largest city of India and dubbed as the Garden City and India if not Asia's Silicon Valley. The city is really big and sprawled over the flatland of Karntaka with several parks scattered about. Since it was dubbed as the Garden City, I headed out immediately to check out Cubbon Park right smack in the center of the city. It is considered to be the "lungs" of Bangalore so I imagined the park to be somewhat like Golden Gate Park....

Nov 5, 2004 - Still in Palolem, no luck with the trains!!!

Hi everyone!! Just letting you know that we didn't make it on the train yesterday afternoon. We spent a long and annoying afternoon trying to book another train( whick now it is two trains!) to get us to Chennai before Monday. You think it waould be so easy but it is so much of a mission. We spent the majority of the train at the station just lining up. There are always Indians trying to push in. We get so pissed off and tell them where to go. Especially after waiting 1 hour and then told to come back in 1/2 hour. So we saw the train come...

Nov 3, 2004 - Palolem Paradise!!!

Hi everyone! We are back and still having the best time ever!! We are now in Palolem which is about 40kms south of Benaulim. It is a beautiful beach town covered with coconut palms and beach shacks everywhere. It is so nice. We left Benaulim on Monday morning and caught the rickshaw back into the hectic town of Madgoan to put our big packs in the cloakroom at the train station. We thought seeing as we have to catch our train on Thursday afternoon, then we would only take our little day packs down to Palolem because we are only staying 3...

Oct 29, 2004 - Chilling in Goa(Benaulim!!)

Hi everyone, how are you all? We are now in Benaulim! It is a beautiful little beach town that is so quiet. We had the most langest and painful train trip from Hospet. It was meant to leave at 8.50am but it ended up leaving around 11.15am. It took us 10 hours to get to Madgoan.(Which is about 6 kms from Benaulim) It was only 348kms from Hospet to Madgoan but it took 10 long hours. That was an express train as well. We asked for a 2-tier a/c but got sleeper class. It was pretty basic and grubby. Luckily we had two german girls sitting...