Southern India Trip - 29th January to 27th February 2019.
Hooray, we made it this time! This is a re-run of the trip we had to cancel this time last year and it’s fair to say we’ve both been a bit on edge not quite wanting to take this trip for granted but, as I said we’re here now….
Tuesday 29th January 2019 – Home to Holiday Inn Express Heathrow T5.
We were collected by our usual car service at 13:00 today and we had a surprisingly clear, uneventful run to Slough, the only slight hiccup being that the driver’s SatNav decided to take us to the wrong Holiday Inn Express (there are two). It didn’t take very long at all to rectify the problem and we were still at the hotel by 16:30. We’ve used this one before and it’s been fine but this time there seems to have been something of a decline, the choice of food in the restaurant was extremely limited and what we had was okay but nothing more; the room was okay too or so we thought….
Wednesday 30th January 2019 – Heathrow T5 and flight BAO119 to Bangalore.
As our flight wasn’t leaving until lunchtime we didn’t need to rush this morning which was just as well as the shower in our room proved to be worse than useless. Graham said when he came out of the shower that it was “pathetic” but I hadn’t appreciated just how pathetic until it was my turn. The water that came from the shower head was quite literally no more than you’d get from a badly dripping tap and I had a hell’s own job of getting my hair washed. Needless to say we made sure the hotel knew and we were compensated for our troubles but I’d definitely have preferred to have a sensible shower rather than the compensation. Next time we’ll be going to the Crowne Plaza!
We arrived at T5 in plenty of time to drop off our bags (having checked in on-line) and, for the first time, used the self-service bag drop which seemed to work okay. We then discovered that there is now a totally separate check-in area for handicapped people so we made our way there to arrange to collect a wheelchair. That done we had a surprisingly easy transit through security and onward to our departure gate.
Once on board we discovered that the flight was only around a third full, there were empty seats everywhere and people were given the choice to relocate if they wanted. We were quite happy with the seats we had so stayed put. Just as we were about to push back the captain came on the tannoy and advised that there would be short delay as there was a minor technical issue with some of the lighting etc. in the cabin. That didn’t delay us too long and we pushed back only to be stopped again as one of the ground crew had noticed a fluid leak from somewhere on the nose cone so we had to wait for someone to come a take a look at that. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing much and we finally left just over an hour later than scheduled.
The flight itself was fairly long and boring (9 ½ hours) but blissfully uneventful. Unfortunately neither of us managed to get much sleep so we were pretty tired by the time we arrived.
Thursday 31st January 2019 – Bangalore, Southern India.
We arrived this morning at around 05:30 and were met by a man with a wheelchair who sped off at a rate of knots heading for the immigration desk. Once we’d filled in the necessary paperwork we went to the front of the queue and went through the formalities, well, most of them anyway! We had done as we were advised and successfully applied for e-visas but still needed to have them formally issued on arrival. Graham went first and had his photograph and fingerprints taken and then it was my turn; the photograph was no problem but when it came to taking my fingerprints the machine wouldn’t read them. Now, you may recall that I’ve had this problem before (in the USA) but this time despite trying to clean my fingers and the machine and trying a variety of other options the young lady on the desk gave up and ‘skipped’ that part of the procedure, I’m just glad she was able to do that!
Once we’d collected our bags we were taken to the main concourse where we were met by a rep. from TransIndia and the driver who will be with us for the duration of our trip (we really must write his name down tomorrow as we’ve forgotten it already!). The drive into the centre of Bangalore took around 45 minutes and proved to be far less death defying than our arrival in New Delhi four years ago; the roads seem to be in a bit better condition and are definitely (so far) less crowded and we haven’t seen a single cow or camel yet!
Our hotel is very definitely not in a tourist area, I don’t think we’d have found it without a guide, and it’s proven to have been a good choice. As we were very early and our room wasn’t ready we had a very nice breakfast in the café in the atrium and then took tea in one of the comfy seating areas. Just before 10:30 a member of staff came to tell us that our room was now ready and that although we had booked a studio suite they had given us a complimentary upgrade to an Executive suite and very nice it is too. We have a three room suite with a really good shower in the en-suite and there is even a small kitchenette area.
After a few hours sleep we decided to explore a bit and found that the hotel actually has four restaurants, one of which is a brewhouse. They currently have four different ales they brew on the premises as well as their own Single Malt whiskey, definitely not what we’d expected.
Once we’d had a brief look around the hotel we went for a short walk and found ourselves on a main road full of all sorts of shops selling mostly household bits, furniture etc. This walk confirmed in no uncertain terms that we are not in a tourist spot, we had the usual encounters with the locals stopping to look at the strange people walking down their streets.
Once back at the hotel we decided to check out the brewhouse. It’s themed on an Irish bar which is something we would usually avoid (unless we’re in Ireland) but it turned out to be very good. We only had a small one each (as well as a couple of tasters) as we felt we might fall asleep a bit too early if we had any more.
I’ve now re-packed our bags (moving much of the stuff from our hand luggage to the suitcases) and we’ll shortly be going to try one of the in-house restaurants before retiring for the night.
Friday 1st February 2019 – Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
As I mentioned yesterday we had decided to visit one of the restaurants inside the hotel last night and chose the one specialising in Southern Indian cuisine. We ordered two starters and were then thinking of ordering two mains and some bread but the waiter very kindly told us that was too much as the one main would be sufficient and he was right, it was plenty. Whilst we were eating a fairly large family group came into the restaurant and we were quite surprised when one of the small children with them (a small boy of around 5 or 6) came across to us and in perfect English started to tell us about his new Spiderman shoes, it kept us amused for a while anyway.
After dinner we made another brief visit to the Brewhouse so that Graham could try their own Single Malt whiskeys. There are three varieties and they cunningly offer a taster flight of all three so that’s what he had, as I’m definitely not a whiskey drinker I left him to it and had a very strange cocktail (something to do with Lavender).
After a good night’s sleep we were up at our normal time so that we could have breakfast before taking our pre-arranged tour. It was a buffet breakfast and the choice was huge, it also included two ‘live’ stations where food is cooked to order so I made use of one of them and had a dish consisting of some sort of rice flour pancake with a variety of bits in it. I’m still not sure exactly what it was and I certainly couldn’t pronounce its name but it was very nice.
We were met in the hotel foyer by our guide for the morning and then collected by our driver Binoy (we know his name now!). Originally this was designed as a walking tour but as we had forewarned them of Graham’s walking difficulties it was tailored somewhat for us which was great. We started off with a visit to the Lahl Bagh botanical gardens before taking in a variety of other sights including a brief visit to the Bull Temple, a Catholic Cathedral, Freedom Park (so called because it used to be the state prison!?) and finishing up in Commercial Street which is exactly what is suggests, a large street full of commercial properties selling all manner of things but mostly clothing so I’m now the proud owner of two more inexpensive Kurti (Indian style tops).
Now, I said yesterday that the traffic was less manic here and it is but today was a lot busier than yesterday (probably because got here so early yesterday) and we’ve come across one or two things that could only happen in India such as the roundabout with traffic lights on where, once the lights change everyone just takes the shortest route and that included us, we went the wrong side of the roundabout! Oh, and by the way, we’ve now seen a couple of cows wandering around but only a couple so the streets are a lot cleaner. We’ve also seen quite a few refuse trucks and we didn’t see single one when we visited the North.
As we didn’t arrive back at the hotel until gone 14:30 we decided that we wouldn’t ask Binoy to take us out again today instead we had a light and very tasty lunch in-house and we’ve asked a number of people for recommendations on where to eat locally tonight so we’re going to venture out on foot and see what we can find. We always have the hotel as a fall back.
Saturday 2nd February 2019 – Bangalore to Mysore, Karnataka, India.
We did venture out last night but were unable to find any of the recommended restaurants so we took pot luck and tried one on the main street, it was only once we were in there (upstairs) that we could see the restaurant that Binoy had suggested, oh well, best laid plans and all that!
The meal we had was very good; it was what we would have described as a Thali (a platter of mixed dishes) although they seem to call it something else here. We also seem to have taken the restaurant by surprise, I think every member of staff they had in the kitchen must have taken their turn to come and look at us.
We were back at the hotel pretty early but decided to head straight for our room as we’d had enough to eat and drink. The early night we had was to some extent wasted though as we were disturbed a number of times by someone/something banging on and off all night and we had a reasonably early start today too as we had a 4 hour journey followed by a tour of Mysore.
It took us over an hour to reach the other side of Bangalore this morning and the roads were pretty clogged until then but it did then thinned out a bit for the rest of the journey. We also had one minor issue when we had a slight coming together with a moped, it wasn’t Binoy’s fault the rider simply pulled across the front of us and stopped. We stopped too but not quite quickly enough. The rider wasn’t even dislodged from his bike but we had to spend a few minutes whilst he and Binoy settled on doing nothing about it (there was slight damage to the car but nothing too much).
After a brief stop en-route we reached Mysore at just before 12:00, checked in to our hotel (very nice and with a huge room) and went for lunch in the hotel restaurant. We didn’t want much to eat so asked for a suggestion which turned out to be to share a meal which was fine but still rather big. That said the food was really good which is just as well as we have to go back there tonight as were pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
We were picked up again a 14:00 and met with Ragu our guide for the afternoon. Our first stop was at the Mysore Palace which is absolutely huge and beautiful; well worth the visit. We had been warned before we arrived here that Graham may not be able to go in as the Palace had a no shoes rule but Ragu spoke to someone he knows in the security team and he was allowed to go in complete with shoes (the reason for shoe removal is to preserve the floors rather than for religious reasons).
We must have spent a good 1 ½ hours looking around the palace before heading up Chamundi Hill to see the views over the City. Next we made a brief visit to another Bull Temple before going to a silk shop where we indulged ourselves by buying a few (small) goodies.
We’re now back at the hotel where there is, unfortunately, a private party just starting up and the music is really, really loud. They tell us it will be finishing at around 21:30 to 22:00, let’s hope their true to their word!
Sunday 3rd February 2019 – Mysore to Nagarhole National Park.
Last night’s party didn’t finish at 21:00 that’s when it started ! Thankfully although the music was loud it didn’t really disturb us and we both had a good night’s sleep.
We had a leisurely start this morning with Binoy electing to pick us up at 10:00 as he said that despite the paperwork saying we had a three hour journey today it was likely to take less than two hours.
It didn’t take long before we’d left Mysore behind and headed out across some more rural roads and through quite few small but very lively small towns. We were passing mainly through agricultural land and Binoy was great at explaining what was being grown and what it could be used for (tapioca is apparently really good with fish curry!).
We have been book to stay at to a lodge close to the Nagarhole National Park (Serai Kabini) and arrived here just before 12:00. We had a short wait before the room was available so we sat outside looking over a pretty lake. We have also been booked in for a total of three game viewing trips whilst we’re here, two land based and one by boat and the first of our land based trips was booked for 15:00 this afternoon.
We met two other guests at the reception at 15:00 and were driven a short distance to another resort where we joined a much bigger vehicle (there were twelve of us in all). The drive to the park entrance was on a paved road but from there onwards we were on very bumpy dirt roads, by the time we came back we were suitably covered in all manner of muck. I think I must have washed a good few handfuls of dirt from my hair this evening!
When we booked this trip we were told we might see wild elephants here as well as deer and monkeys but we hadn’t realised they have tigers and leopards here too. Unfortunately we didn’t see any big cats today but we saw plenty of deer, masses of birds and a few wild boar. Apparently one of the other vehicles out at the same time as us did see a tiger but that’s the luck of the draw, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow.
As, being miles from anywhere, we are effectively a captive audience at the lodge the food is all included and we’ve just returned from having a very nice meal in the restaurant and as we have to be up a silly o’clock tomorrow we’ll soon be retiring for the night.
Monday 4th February 2019 – Nagarhole National Park, India.
We were up at 05:00 this morning for our second land safari. It was the same process as yesterday afternoon i.e. taking a smaller vehicle to pick up the bigger safari bus. It was pretty chilly and still quite dark when we started out but the sun soon came up which helped a little.
There were a lot more deer about this morning but we still didn’t see any big cats and no elephants either which is a shame. We have one last chance this afternoon when we take the boat tour so; once again, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.
Once back at the lodge we had a very nice breakfast followed by a not so nice freezing cold shower (it seems that because none of the switches in the room are labelled we inadvertently switched off the water heater but it’s definitely back on now!) we then spent some time sitting outside in the grounds watching the world go by before readying ourselves for our final wildlife tour.
This last tour was by boat, there were 11 of us in total on a boat that could take considerably more so it was pretty comfortable (apart from the plastic seats and plastic life vests which weren’t too comfortable in the heat of the afternoon). As soon as we were underway we started to see all manner of bird life, not only wetland birds but all sorts, not sure what most of them were but I’m sure we can find out (if it’s not too much trouble Mr Beadle??!).
During our time on the water we also saw a lot more deer, two crocodiles and an otter (which is apparently a very rare sighting) so, all in all, it was a very successful trip despite still not seeing any big cats or elephants.
Once back at the lodge we availed ourselves of the bar (mocktails this time) before going along to watch a short wildlife film, we then sat out under the stars around a very effective fire pit before partaking of our last dinner here.
Tuesday 5th February 2019 – Nagarhole to Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India.
We left at around 09:30 this morning and, initially, headed back on ourselves away from the National Park, we then took a turn towards the south west on what Binoy called a shortcut. It seems he likes to take shortcuts/back roads where possible which suits us down to the ground.
After a brief comfort break we found ourselves being drive along more rural roads one of which took us through two more National Parks/Tiger reserves. It seems odd to us but there is a road which is open to the public (during daylight hours) which runs straight through the park and it is used by the local traffic including mopeds, I can’t imagine mopeds being allowed through a Tiger reserve anywhere else!
We saw more deer some monkeys and a wild boar as we drove through and then once we left the parks behind we started the climb up to Ooty which is a hill station in the Nilgiri Hills. We had expected the road to climb fairly gradually but it was really only the last 15 miles or so when we started to notice the incline, what we hadn’t expected was to take a fairly small road which had a total of 36 hairpin bends (real hairpin bends that were numbered) it was great.
We haven’t seen a great deal of it yet but it seems that Ooty is a reasonable sized town which is spread over quite a distance. Our hotel is on the outskirts so we won’t be walking anywhere but as we have a free day tomorrow Binoy is taking us out to see the sights so, for tomorrow, he will be our guide as well as our driver.
Once we’d checked in to the hotel we had a late lunch and then sat in the hotel gardens for a while and it was noticeably cooler here than down on the flat so we weren’t outside for too long before heading back to our room (where the heater is on) to catch up on labelling some pictures.
Wednesday 6th February 2019 – Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India.
Our itinerary for today read “at leisure with your car and driver at your disposal” and Binoy had already worked out where we should go.
Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens which are just a short way away on the edge of town. We paid our entry fee and fee for using the camera and made our way in to see the gardens discovering as we did so that there were a lot of stairs and fairly steep slopes so Graham elected to sit and wait for me whilst I had a walk around. The gardens are very pretty but obviously quite a lot different to those we’d see at home and rather dry and a little untidy around the edges.
Next on the agenda was St Andrew’s Church, which was built specifically for the English back in the 1830’s. It is a pretty church with some very nice stained glass windows and an old cemetery but we weren’t there for very long.
Next was another brief stop this time at Ooty Lake. We had naively expected this to be a fairly natural lake where we could take a walk or sit and watch the world go by but it was rather like an Indian version of Skegness; there were all manner of boats available for hire, a small funfair, a haunted house and even someone selling candy floss and sunhats, not really our thing at all but we know that now.
When we spoke to him this morning Binoy said that he didn’t recommend the Tea Factory tour here as we’re doing another one in a few days’ time which he says is much better, he described this one as a bit of a waste of money so we gave that a miss and carried on up to the Doddabetta Lookout which is exactly what it suggests a lookout over the town. The road to the lookout was atrocious so despite only being 11km from town it took quite a while to get there, there was then another entry fee to pay before we could take a look at the views, thankfully it was worth the effort.
We had also told Binoy that we were interested in doing some shopping but he warned us that Ooty is quite an expensive town and said there was better shopping to be had in both Cochin & Pondicherry where we are apparently being based very close to the town.
Rather than go straight back to the hotel we asked Binoy to take us to somewhere we could have a light lunch, preferably somewhere the tourists don’t go and he did just that. The restaurant he took us to (Durga restaurant) was very much cafeteria style and full of locals so we got a few funny looks but Binoy joined us for lunch so we were able to order without too many issues. The food turned out to be really good but it wasn’t really a small lunch; Graham and I had a Biryani each plus a large bottle of water whilst Binoy had a Thali he also asked the proprietor if we could have a small sweet rice each (which we did) and the whole lot came to 270 Rupees (around £3) for all three meals, excellent!
Once we’d had lunch we said we’d like to take a walk around the town and Binoy volunteered to drop us off and wait for us but as we didn’t know how long we might be we said we’d get a Tuk Tuk back which seemed to surprise him somewhat. He duly dropped us in the centre of town and we spent a happy half hour wandering around before finding a shop which had some nice clothing. We are now the proud owners of a new shirt for Graham and a Kurti and matching trousers for me. The only slight issue we had was that the shop‘s card machine wouldn’t accept international cards so we walked across the road to an ATM to find that that wouldn’t take our card either. Having tried a second ATM with the same result we went in to a bank and they explained that not all machines will take international cards, they have given us the details of a machine which should work and we’ll try that tomorrow on our way out of town. In the meantime we returned to the shop and Graham sacrificed one of the two shirts he was going to buy so that we could pay cash for our purchases, we had just enough to get a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel so we really must find that machine tomorrow!
Thursday 7th February 2019 – Ooty to Coimbature, Tamil Nadu, India.
We had a very lazy start today as we had decided there really wasn’t anything else we wanted to see in Ooty before leaving at midday. Consequently we were up late and had breakfast later than normal before checking out at 11:00 we then spent a pleasant hour sitting in the hotel garden waiting for Binoy to pick us up at 12:00.
As we left we reminded Binoy that we needed to find an ATM we could use and he took us to the one the Bank cashier had told us about yesterday but, unfortunately, that one wouldn’t take our card either. Binoy even accompanied me to the machine to make sure I was doing things properly and I was, it is definitely a problem with getting an international card accepted. Thankfully we have some cash we can exchange at our next hotel we can then, hopefully, find a bigger bank at one of the bigger cities along the way.
Once we tried and failed at the ATM we crossed the road (no mean feat here) to a small café for lunch before driving to the station to catch the Ooty ‘Toy’ train. As far as we can tell the ride on this World Heritage train is one of the main attractions for tourists visiting Ooty (it’s a nice enough place but nothing special) and we were expecting to find a very small train aimed entirely at the tourists but what we found was rather different.
As well as catering for tourists this train provides a link for locals not only travelling to the small towns along the way but also for those travelling on to Chennai on the east coast. As a result there were way more locals than tourist using the service which wasn’t an issue just not what we expected. In all the journey from Ooty to Mettupalayam (the far end of this particular line) took around 4 hours and it’s only a 46km run so, as you can imagine, it was a very, very slow service. For the first part of the journey to Coonoor the train uses a diesel engine but it then changes to a steam engine and moves across on to a cog railway line. I guess if you are a real train enthusiast this would have been great but as we’re not it was an okay ride but nothing to write home about (but I guess that’s just what I’m doing). Parts of the route were pretty enough but much of the time was spent passing through trees and rock cuttings so, as I say, it was okay but not something I’d particularly recommend.
We reached Mettupalayam at around 17:45 and Binoy was waiting for us with the car, we then had a further hour’s journey to our hotel in Coimbature which it turns out is a very large city with manic traffic. When we were researching this trip I had asked our travel agent if there was an alternative hotel we could use as the one they suggested seemed to be a very big business hotel but I was told that there really wasn’t an alternative. It seems we were both right, the hotel is very big, very impersonal and comparatively expensive for food etc. but it seems there really isn’t anything else here either , still, we’re only here overnight and we’re then heading back into the hills to stay on a Cardamom plantation which should be interesting.
Friday 8th February 2019 – Coimbature to Ambady Estate, Munnar, Kerala, India.
We left at 09:00 this morning and headed back into the chaotic traffic, there are literally thousands of mopeds here and they all seemed to be on the road at the same time this morning. Our paperwork had said that todays should be a four hour journey but Binoy said it was more likely to be five hours, as it was it took considerably longer.
We were merrily heading through the traffic following the road to Pollachi when we suddenly came to a road closed sign and had to turn around. Unfortunately there were no obvious diversion signs at that point so we ended up driving through a bit of an industrial area where Binoy stopped to ask directions. Shortly after that we found the ‘official’ diversion signs which took us through all manner of small towns and villages and by the time we finally got back to where we should have been we had already been on the road for almost two hours. Once we reached Pollachi we turned south west towards Udumalaipettai. Once through the town we made a brief stop for tea and toilets before turning south towards Munnar.
Whilst at our rest stop we had a call on Binoy’s telephone from the Trans India head office telling us that the trip we had booked for tomorrow was not being recommended because it is very bumpy (it is a 4x4 trip up to the highest tea plantation in India). As this was one of the trips we had particularly been looking forward to we said we’d still like to go, they did their best to dissuade us saying that a number of other guests who had been had complained that it was too bumpy and uncomfortable. When we dug our heels in they agreed that they would still lay the trip on and we have agreed that, as they have warned us, we will definitely not be complaining however bumpy it is. It will be interesting to see who was right!
The last 88km of the journey were definitely the best and most interesting as it took us through another wildlife reserve (saw a different type of monkey) a really pretty valley filled with coconut plantations, a sandalwood forest and a huge area of tea plantations. The scenery was great and despite our earlier delays Binoy stopped at various places for me to take pictures.
By the time we reached the town of Munnar it was 14:30 and Binoy asked if we’d like to stop for lunch. As it was pretty unlikely we would be able to get anything at our accommodation by this time of the afternoon we did just that once again eating at a cafeteria style restaurant where we had a “vegetarian meal” each (It’s what we would call a Thali). The food was really good and to our surprise they kept coming along to refill any empty dishes we had, as if we needed any more food!
Our home for the next two nights is a cottage on The Ambady Estate which grows Coffee, Cardamon and a variety of vegetables and very nice it is too. We were greeted with a cup of tea filled with a number of different spices and then shown to our cottage which is lovely; it has a small lounge area inside the front door and then a few steps down to a very nice bedroom and en-suite, there is also a small garden area with seating and a table so we’ve spent a happy few hours sitting outside watching the birds including one very large bird with a very big beak, at first we thought it might be a hornbill but now we’re not so sure so. It was very difficult to get a photograph of but I did manage to get one so we’re going to take the camera along to dinner to see if they can tell us what it is.
Interestingly dinner has to be pre-ordered as they cook everything fresh from scratch and we’ve chosen to try some dishes we’ve never heard of. When ordering they also asked just how hot we’d like it (definitely medium) so we’re looking forward to seeing what we get.
Saturday 9th February 2019 – Munnar, Kerala, India.
We were up fairly early this morning as we had a tour pick up time of 09:00 and we wanted to make sure we had breakfast before we went. We weren’t sure what to expect for breakfast as the restaurant menu included a number of different options at different prices and as ours was included we thought we might get the basic continental breakfast but we were wrong on that one. When we first arrived at the restaurant we were asked if we would like an omelette and we decided we would, we were then also given some toast. Shortly before our omelettes arrived we had a large plate of fruit delivered (Mango, Apple, Guava, Watermelon & Tree tomatoes which are a member of the passion fruit family), we were also given two Kerala pancakes (pancakes stuffed with a sweet mixture of nuts & other bits) and a plate of homemade Indian sweets; as if that weren’t enough we were then asked if we’d like to try the Indian breakfast but we politely declined and said we’d try it tomorrow when we can forgo the omelettes.
We duly left for our tour, picked up our 4x4 with driver & guide and it was only then that we were told there might be a slight delay. As it was there was no delay as such just a complete change of plan as the road we were supposed to be using to get to the mountain road was very firmly shut as they were doing some blasting for a road widening scheme so after all of yesterday’s bickering the tour we wanted wasn’t available anyway!
Instead we were taken to another tea plantation where we were due to take a walking tour. Our guide Anur quickly spotted that that wouldn’t work for Graham so arranged for us to be able to take the 4x4 up into the plantation itself before getting out to take a much shorter walk to see the ladies picking the tea and to hear all about that part of the tea making process. We were then taken to the tea factory where we had a private tour which took us right through the processing areas (health & safety? What health & safety?) and where we were actually able to handle the tea and to see it at the different stages of the process, it was fascinating, far better than we had expected in fact. Something else we hadn’t expected was to be provided with a small (hooray) packed lunch. Having sampled the tea at the beginning of the tour we decided to buy some to bring home too.
Once back in Munnar Binoy picked us up and, at our request, took us to what turned out to be three different ATM’s before we finally gave up as we still can’t get Graham’s card to work, luckily we have some Sterling notes we can change until we go back to another machine with a different card. We had intended then to stay in town to have a look around but it proved impossible to park so we gave up and headed back to our Homestay. The next hour and a half was spent sitting outside watching the world go by and chatting to the couple who have just moved in to the cottage next door. It had just turned 16:40 when we felt the first spot or two of rain (it had been forecast) so we went inside and it’s just as well we did as I’m currently writing this (at 17:10) whilst listening to the thunder and a ferocious rain storm, I just hope it doesn’t last too long as it’s a few minutes’ walk to the restaurant and we have no waterproofs!
Sunday 10th February 2019 – Munnar to Philipkutty’s Farm, Nr Kottayam, Kerala, India.
Well, that was fun. Last nights’ rain lasted for around 5 hours in total and for at least two of those it rained so hard that we had to shout to one another to be heard (the cottage had a metal roof). We managed to get to the restaurant without getting too wet as we timed our move to a lull in the rain but we did have to watch where we were walking as, at one time, there was a puddle around an inch deep all around the cottage. The storm also caused a few issues with the power which kept fluctuating and we finished our dinner under torch light; fortunately the power was back on again before we went to bed as we didn’t fancy leaving lighted candles about.
This morning dawned dry and much, much more humid. We left at around 09:30 heading towards the coast and we had one major success en-route, Binoy managed to take us to an ATM which worked with our card – Yay!!
We had originally been told that the journey would take around 6 hours but Binoy said it should be more like 4 ½ so with one brief stop along the way we reached the farm property by 14:30. Philipkutty’s Farm is a family run working farm, growing mostly coconut and spices, which is on a man made island on Vemeband Lake; they also have 7 cottages for hire one of which is our home for the next two nights.
When we arrived we were transported to the island on a small motorised wooden boat, it is only around two hundred yards but Graham was still a little uneasy about getting on & off of the boat but it was fine. We were met at the jetty by ‘Mummy’ the matriarch of the farm and were immediately invited in to lunch which turned out to be very generous and very, very nice. Although we had intended sticking to vegetarian food for the duration of the trip we have made an exception here as the food is all home cooked and much of it is what they have grown/caught themselves.
Our cottage is really lovely and we have spent a very pleasant few hours sitting outside on our veranda watching the boats pass and doing a bit of bird watching. We were also invited to join a boat trip out onto the lake to see the sun set so we joined our fellow guests in the small boat (9 of us in total) and we were punted out past the fishing nets to watch the sun go down. Unfortunately it disappeared behind a cloud just before it set but it was still a very pleasant experience. As we were brought back our boatman also stopped and demonstrated how the fishing nets work and showed us what could be caught within just a few minutes (some small fish and quite a lot of fresh water prawns).
We’re now sitting out on the veranda listening to the thunder and watching the lightning which started shortly after we got back, it has been raining but not as heavily as last night so with a bit of luck it will pass through fairly quickly as we are due to join our fellow guests and members of the family for dinner shortly.
Monday 11th February 2019 – Philipkutty’s Farm, Kerala, India.
Last night’s rain did pass through without causing any issues which is more than can be said for the rains that caused all the flooding in Kerala last year. First thing this morning we took up the offer of a guided walk around the farm and Anu (the young lady who runs the farm) showed us the water level marks from those floods which caused untold problems here. Anu explained to us that although the part of the island the cottages are on is built up on banks the land used for the crops is actually two metres below sea level so not only did they have problems with some of the cottages and the main house flooding (to the point where some of the cottages lost all of their footings) but they lost almost all of their crops too as it took 2 ½ month for the water to disperse.
As we walked around the property we were shown the various crops they have re-planted and introduced to the livestock including some rare breed cows which they use for milk; interestingly we were told that their milk is naturally equivalent to semi-skimmed. In all the walk lasted around 45 minutes (and Graham managed all of it with the aid of a walking pole) and by the time we got back we were all soaked as it has turned very hot and humid.
Once back at the main house we were given a brief demonstration on how to make coir rope which was fascinating; breakfast was then the next thing on the agenda and this consisted of a variety of fruits, homemade yoghurt, fried bananas, Dosa & tomato chutney and then, for those that wanted them, omelettes.
Since breakfast we’ve been relaxing around the property and watching the very varied bird life, we’ve even managed to borrow a book on Indian birds which has helped us identify some but not all of them. We also have the opportunity to take another sunset boat ride this evening but as are a number of new guests here today and there’s a bit of cloud about we may leave it to others to take their turn, we’ll see how things go.
Tuesday 12th February 2019 – Phillipkuuty’s Farm to Houseboat on Kerala Backwaters.
We have really enjoyed our time at Phillipkutty’s Farm so were a little disappointed to leave this morning; an extra couple of days would have gone down nicely. We have both said that, if we were ever in this area again we would definitely come back and we would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else travelling this way. Anu and her family made us feel very welcome and we were certainly treated more like friends than paying guests; the team here couldn’t do enough for us.
We were still sitting on our veranda when we saw Binoy arrive across the lake so we reluctantly checked out and were taken across to meet him. This is the one thing which seems a bit daft with this trip as Binoy has had to drive 1 ½ hours from his home to drive us 20 minutes up the road to get on our houseboat and he then has to drive home again, we would have been perfectly happy to us a taxi although the ever laid back Binoy didn’t seem to mind a bit.
After a short drive we were deposited at a very plush looking resort (one which belongs to the first hotel we staying in in Bengalaru) where we were told our houseboat was still being prepared; we had just settled down and were drinking from the coconuts we’d been presented with when we were told it was ready, this surprised us somewhat as we’d originally been told check-in would be at 14:00 and it wasn’t yet 12:00.
Once we arrived at the houseboat we were surprised once again, we had been told to expect basic accommodation but what we have is a very nice air conditioned bedroom, a decent en-suite, a glass enclosed dining area (also air conditioned) and an outside seating area. There is also a small galley at the back where our meals are being prepared.
We were underway shortly after 12:00 and within a short time of leaving we had spotted a group of four Indian Otters, something else we hadn’t expected! At 13:30 the crew moored up for a while whilst we had a most enormous and extremely good lunch; we started off with a bowl of chicken soup, a whole lake fish each, this was followed by a bowl of mixed seafood, next came the main course (yes, honestly!) which consisted of a large bowl of rice, a chicken curry, a mixed vegetable dish and a Sambar (another type of curry) this was then followed by not one but two pieces of cake!!!
The rest of the afternoon has been spent watching the world go by and trying (fairly unsuccessfully) to take photographs of the many and varied birds we’ve seen. We’ve now moored up again for the night and we’re sitting outside in the dark watching the bats fly across the water whilst we wait for our dinner to be prepared; we’ve made our chef promise that dinner will be smaller than lunch, let’s hope he keeps his word otherwise we’ll be waddling off the boat on Thursday!
Wednesday 13th February 2019 – Kerala Backwaters, India.
It seems our houseboat Captain made a good choice of mooring spots last night. Once we’d mastered the intricacies of the on-board shower we ventured out from our cabin to find that some local fishermen were hauling in their nets right in front of the boat and there were untold numbers of birds trying to get their share. We spent a good hour watching the comings and goings and we’ll hopefully have some good pictures to look back on.
After breakfast we set off for a further trip through the various waterways. We were asked if we’d like to make a short stop to visit a “very famous” church and we decided we would; this meant mooring up against another houseboat from the same company and making our way across their outside deck to get off. The church itself was right on the waterfront and it made for an interesting interlude. It is, apparently, a Syrian Catholic church (whatever that means) and there has been a church on this site for over 1500 years; it certainly isn’t like any church I’ve seen in the UK its painted purple and white. The rest of our day has, once again, been spent watching the world another go by and trying to photograph the vast array of birds there seem to be here.
We’ve just now had another ridiculously big meal (Soup, King Fish with steamed vegetables, Masala fish then fried Yam followed by a main course of Kerala Prawn curry, Jeera rice, Kerala Long Beans & Chapatti and then of course there’s dessert i.e. a of huge plate of fresh fruit (I think that’s his idea of a lighter meal) and all of this whilst sitting in the air-conditioned dining room with the lights out just using the light from outside as we’ve suddenly been inundated with the odd million or so bugs; interestingly there were very few about yesterday evening.
Thursday 14th February 2019 – Kottayam to Kochi Fort, Kerala, India.
Rather than have a second shower in Lake water (which was decidedly brown) we chose to just wash the necessary bits this morning and take a shower once we reach the next hotel. Consequently we were ready quite early so sat and looked out over the backwaters which were, this morning, like a mill pond.
We set off from our mooring at around 08:00 as we were having breakfast at the resort the houseboat belonged to and were being picked up at 09:30. As it was they had a little trouble docking back at the jetty so we were a little late meeting Binoy.
The drive to Kochi (or Cochin if you prefer) took around 1 ½ hours so we were at the hotel before 11:30 and we were greeted with some red roses (oh yes, of course, Valentine’s Day). The hotel we had chosen to stay in is a heritage hotel called The Tea Bungalow and we were initially shown to a ground floor room which looked very nice but which had a very pretty but totally impractical (for us) shower room which was designed rather like a rockery, it had a step down over a gravel area on to a large concrete slab with an overhead waterfall shower. As I said very pretty but….
Having explained the problem and confirmed that Graham can manage stairs we have been moved to a first floor room with a much more sensible shower room so all is well on that score. The only slightly disappointing thing is that they have a ‘special’ menu for Valentine’s Day and it really isn’t what we want so once we’ve had a shower we’re going to head out into the surrounding area to see what we can find for later.
Once we’d showered we went to explore the hotel which didn’t take very long as it’s only a ten room property; it has a small swimming pool, a lounge area and a small restaurant where we had what was intended to be a light lunch. I ordered a vegetarian sandwich and Graham vegetable pakora; the pakora turned out to be a whole plate full, the sandwich came with fries and we were scuppered still further when they brought us a complimentary piece of cake each for Valentine’s day!!
After lunch we took a walk to find a shopping area we’d been told about but it seems we got slightly mislaid en-route as it took us a long while and a few changes of direction to get there which would have been fine but it’s been really, really hot and humid (around 37 degrees c). By the time we reached the street we wanted we were both soaked but we persevered and had a good look around and Graham now has a very nice hand woven shirt. At the far end of the street (Princess Street) we came across an area filled with small cafes so stopped for a cold drink before getting a Tuk Tuk back. I then managed to buy a pretty top just across the street from the hotel and next door to the ATM which, once again wouldn’t let us have any cash – arghhhh.
We’ve also had a change of heart regarding our food tonight as it seems we were misinformed earlier and the hotel restaurant will be serving it’s full menu tonight so as we didn’t spot anything else in easy reach we’ll likely stay here to eat but we’ll maybe eat out tomorrow after we’ve taken our tours.
By the way, this hotel has, intermittently; a better wi-fi signal so there should be some more pictures showing by now.
Friday 15th February 2019 – Kochi, Kerala, India.
This morning we were picked up by Binoy and joined by a guide for a half day tour of the city which included visits to a Church, a very pretty Basilica and a Synagogue but no Hindu temples as the major temple here is strictly for practising Hindu’s.
We also saw the Chinese fishing nets the town is famous for and a very interesting set of models/statues of Asian Elephants made from a form of straw or similar material; whatever it was they were very well done. We were also shown a number of heritage properties from the time the area was ruled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Another very interesting if brief visit was to a Dhoby Khana or laundry as we would call it, fascinating!
After a brief return to the hotel for lunch we ventured out in a Tuk Tuk to do some shopping. Initially we went back to the Jewish quarter and then to the market area close to the fishing nets and we now have a number of additional items to bring home.
After another brief visit to the hotel we were picked up again as we’d been booked in to see a Kathakali performance. This is a traditional form of dance which is used to tell a story and relies very much on facial expressions as well as make up and costumes. We arrived early and watched as the actors out on their elaborate make up, we were then provided with a demonstration of the art of Kathakali which was fascinating. The final half hour was then a snippet of one of the epic stories the full version of which would apparently have lasted until tomorrow morning!
Once the show was over we asked Binoy to recommend a restaurant for us and he duly dropped us off at a seafood restaurant. It turned out to be a very popular place and we had a good, reasonably priced meal before making our return journey in another Tuk Tuk.
Saturday 16th February 2019 – Kochi to Kumily, Kerala, India.
After a very nice Indian breakfast of Idly (rather like rice flour dumplings), Sambar and Coconut chutney we left Kochi behind and headed back towards the Western Ghats. It took us almost an hour to get from Fort Kochi across the city proper and we then turned towards the South East through all sorts of interesting small towns.
After a short tea and toilet break we resumed our journey with Binoy telling us that the last 69 kilometres would take around two hours and he wasn’t kidding. The roads certainly became smaller and more twiddly and we came across one small town whose roads had been almost completely destroyed by last year’s floods. Work was underway to reconstruct the road as evidenced by the huge digger that was working away but, this being India, every man and his dog was trying to push their way through the single vehicle width gap beside the digger at the same time so everything came to a complete standstill until somebody (who didn’t look like an official) decided to direct the traffic.
We eventually reached our hotel just over 6 hours after leaving and we were, by this time, quite hungry (which is something of a novelty for this trip) so we went straight to the restaurant for what turned out to be a larger than necessary snack.
The hotel itself is very nice but, with hindsight, not something we should really have chosen as it is a long way from anywhere on the side of a very steep hill and is more of a Spa/Resort hotel which isn’t really our thing. There are some very nice views; they have a really nice infinity pool; a small gym and a treatment centre which offers things like stress management courses which last a minimum of 5 days. As a captive audience we are also having to pay some pretty high prices for food etc. whilst here.
One plus (sort of) is that they have provided us with a handicapped persons room which is great as far as the bathroom is concerned but it’s up a pretty steep slope so not the easiest for Graham to get to and anyone in a wheelchair would certainly struggle without a good strong pusher; still, ten out of ten for effort I guess.
The main reason for staying in this area is to visit another wildlife area i.e. Periyar Lake and we will be doing that early tomorrow morning (leaving at 06:20) so it won’t be a late night for us tonight.
Sunday 17th February 2019 – Kumily for Lake Periyar, Kerala, India.
We were up at silly o’clock this morning to go on a boat trip out on to Lake Periyar. There are apparently around 700 wild elephants in this park and we saw precisely none of them! What we did see which we hadn’t seem before was a herd of Gaur, a type of Indian Buffalo; we also saw Indian Otters and a variety of birdlife some of which was very difficult to photograph as it was really quite hazy first thing.
The boat ride finished at 09:00 and it was then a not so quick but very steep and bumpy ride back to the hotel for breakfast (a very nice Masala Dosa) and a quick shower before heading out again. Binoy collected us again at 11:30 and drove us back down the same steep bumpy road to a spice plantation where we were given a private guided walk around to see the various plants growing whilst we learned what they could be used for (I now know that Nutmeg is good for Migraines, or so I’m told).
Once we’d finished our tour and visited the spice shop which just happens to be on site (yes we did buy some) Binoy drove us in to the town so we could have brief look around. Being Sunday many of the shops were shut but there were still enough open for us to lighten our wallets even more.
Rather than return to our own hotel we then drove to a different hotel which looked really, really nice and much more what we would have preferred to stay in. When we mentioned this to Binoy he said it was just a budget hotel which lots of people visited as it had a very good restaurant and one ‘Kerala Meal’ later I can confirm that it does, even if the red chilli pickle was way too hot for me!!
We’re now back at our own hotel relaxing for a couple of hours before going up to the roof garden to watch the sunset; it’s hard life this!
Monday 18th February 2019 – Kumily, Kerala to Maduarai, Tamil Nadu, India.
It was 09:30 when we left this morning with a four hour journey ahead of us. The first part of the journey was on fairly small, very windy roads but things changed pretty quickly when we crossed in to Tamil Nadu and the open fields filled with rice, coconut plantations and grape vines.
There wasn’t a great deal to see along the way other than lots of very busy towns and an unusually high number of weddings going on, it seems this is a very popular time for weddings here. We made one brief stop en-route and arrived in Maduarai at around 13:00.
We had been warned that this was a big, chaotic city and the warnings proved to be very accurate; we are now ensconced in a very ordinary business hotel (it is apparently the only decent hotel in town and there are consequently a number of other western tourists here too) with the ‘stunning’ view of the new flyover which although unfinished is being used by a small amount of traffic! The hotel also has a small fairly ropey looking swimming pool which has room for around six plastic chairs around it, there is also a bar in the basement which we checked out after lunch and that doesn’t look like anything to write home about either.
Once we’d had lunch in the hotel’s only restaurant we decided to go for short walk and it turned out the be very short as there is absolutely nothing of any interest in either direction from the hotel, oh well, you can’t get it right all the time.
The main reason for tourists to visit here is the abundance of Temples in the vicinity and we are scheduled to see some of those tomorrow morning and with the obvious lack of things to do in and around the hotel we may ask Binoy to take us somewhere else tomorrow afternoon, we’ll see how we feel.
Tuesday 19th February 2019 – Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
This morning’s was a fairly early start with our tour guide arriving at 08:30 to take us first to the Trumalai Naicker Palace and then to the enormous Meenakshi Amman Temple.
Madurai is much more reminiscent of some of the cities we visited in Northern India with hordes of people and traffic everywhere; it is also rather more grubby and generally run down than the cities we’ve seen so far on this tour, that said, it is worth a visit just to see the markets and temples.
Our first stop was the Palace which is pretty ornate but in something of a state of disrepair. It was privately owned until relatively recently but the local Government are now slowly bringing it back to life, it’s just a pity that so many people seem compelled to scrawl their names on the walls a pillars! I don’t think it was quite what I expected of a Palace either, what remains is more a set of covered walkways with a large open area in the middle. There are also a few other remaining rooms but much of the property was, apparently, destroyed by the son of one of the Princes who built the place – great shame.
Our next stop was to be at a major temple complex and we explained to our guide that Graham would need to wait outside for me as he isn’t able to walk without shoes but he suggested there may be an alternative. The complex itself is a little way from the Palace and we were asked if Graham would be able to travel by rickshaw and we said he could if he was able to get in to one (one of the reasons they like to use these is that they support handicapped workers here). After a little deliberation Graham worked out how he could get in and I then joined him on what was a very narrow seat, not our most comfortable journey but it was way worse for the poor soul trying to pedal us both through the ridiculously congested streets. The route he used was really interesting as it took us through a variety of small markets; one dedicated to selling onions and garlic, another bananas and so on. We eventually arrived at the temple via a very wet, grubby, smelly lane and were greeted by the sight of a massive temple tower which, I’m told has over 1500 statues of deities on it; it was really quite impressive.
Once we reached the North gate of the temple our guide went to speak to the security men on the gate and after some deliberations, a few ‘phone calls and a visit from what appeared to be the man in charge we were provided with a wheelchair and a pusher which was great if not a little interesting as there were a number of steps and ledges to negotiate inside. The local male population were really, really great and offered help where it was needed to negotiate the various obstacles we encountered along the way.
Unfortunately cameras are not allowed in the temple so there are no pictures of the inside but, take it from me, it was very ornate with a total of twelve towers of differing sizes, a variety of highly decorated corridors and ceilings and a massive central pool. There was also an area off limits to non-Hindu’s which is used by believers for their private prayers. It seems the temple was preparing for some form of ceremony today so we were fortunate enough to see some of the preparations which included groups of men carrying very large sedan chair type platforms on which a decorated deity was seated; there was also a decorated elephant and cow which were to follow the procession. We didn’t see the procession itself but it was fascinating to see the bits we did.
By the time we left the temple it had gone 12:00 and we had run out of time to see the third venue that had been on our original itinerary but as it was another temple and we’d have had the same issue with Graham removing his shoes that was no bad thing.
Before he left us the guide asked if we wanted to go straight back to the hotel for lunch or if we’d prefer to eat outside (we think Binoy had told him we like to eat local) we, of course, said outside. We were duly dropped off at what we were told is a “very famous” vegetarian restaurant called Gowri Krishna, this time Binoy decided not to join us so we were left to our own devices which was fine as they have a member of staff who speaks a little English. We did seem to cause a bit of a stir though as we were the only white faces in there and we almost had an audience to watch us eat!
At the waiter’s suggestion we both opted for a Thali and we were given a few tips on what went with what but I’m sure by the looks on people’s faces we still didn’t quite get things right. When we asked for the bill we were given a slip which said we owed 260 Rupees (less than £3) and were told we should pay at the desk. As we left the table we did the usual and left a tip for the waiter who duly ran after us gave it back and told us that they weren’t allowed to take tips. When we tried to leave a tip at the front desk that was also refused – most unlike India!
After lunch we returned to the hotel for a short rest as Graham’s leg was, by now, so hot and wet that it was slipping off but before leaving the car we arranged for Binoy to take us to the Gandhi Museum this afternoon. He picked us up again at 14:30 and we drove through the ever chaotic streets to the museum where we spent a very interesting hour learning about the history of India and Gandhi’s part in it.
Before bringing us back to the hotel Binoy, without asking, drove us further around the city to show us one or two more sights including a very pretty temple on a manmade island. We’re now back at the hotel trying to cool off (it’s been really hot and humid again today) and as there’s nowhere to go locally we’ll be having a light meal in the hotel later this evening or at least that’s the plan.
Wednesday 20th February 2019 – Madurai to Kanadukathan, Tamil Nadu, India.
When we booked to stay at our next hotel we wrongly assumed that we were staying in a town called Chettinad; as it turns out Chettinad is actually an area that includes 74 small villages which were, at one time, occupied by the Chettiar ‘s a group of wealthy merchants who moved to the area after their coastal homes were torn apart by a Tsunami. When they moved here they built themselves a series of huge palatial homes and our hotel for tonight is one of them.
We left at 09:30 this morning and headed out into the total chaos which is the Madurai rush hour and slowly but surely ‘honked’ our way across the city. After around 45 minutes Binoy pulled off of the road to show us the famous flower market and it is absolutely massive. Graham and I took a walk around part of the market whilst Binoy stayed with the car (in case it got scratched) and it was absolutely fascinating. Unlike a flower market in Europe those being sold here were just flower heads which were for use in making garlands, hair decorations etc. and there were all sorts on offer and each one was being sold by weight.
Another hour or so down the road Binoy asked if we’d like to make a slight detour to first visit a ‘famous’ tile works where each tile is made by hand and then to visit one of the few Chettinad houses which is open to visitors, we decided to do both whilst we had the chance.
The tile factory was actually a straw shed where we were given a demonstration of the making of the variously decorated tiles and very clever it is too; the guy making the tiles takes a sized sheet of glass, puts a frame around it and drops some coloured clay on to it often freehand then uses a small piece of wood to draw across the colours to make a pattern.
From there we drove a short way into the next village to visit the house and Graham was granted permission to enter with his shoes on which was much appreciated. The house itself was beautiful with expensive tiles everywhere (which is why they ask for shoes to be removed) there were highly decorated ceilings in some areas and carved teak ones in others. The houses are built around a central courtyard area with doors and windows placed in such a way as to allow the breeze through, lovely.
From there we drove on to our hotel which, as I said previously, is a restored Chettinad house and absolutely beautiful. We were met at the entrance by a lovely young lady who showered us with a local fragrance (I didn’t think we smelt that bad) and then gave me a pair of glass bangles and Graham a lovely decorated scarf as gifts from the hotel. Once we’d finished signing in and drinking our welcome drinks we were shown to our room which is on the first floor at the front of the property and it is absolutely enormous. Once you pass through the double entry doors you find yourself in a large sitting room which has a small ante-room off of it, next is the bedroom which is massive (the furniture looks almost lost in it) and there is a very large bathroom too.
Another thing Chettinad is famous for is its spicy food and we went along to the poolside café for a spot of lunch (very nice thank you). Dinner is apparently taken on the terrace and has to be pre-ordered so we made our selections during lunch, there is also another eating area for breakfast I believe.
After lunch we decided to take a short walk around the village and it turned out to be a very short walk as it’s a very small village. There are a number of other historic houses here some of which have been restored and others which haven’t and we will be seeing more of them later this afternoon as Binoy is picking us up a 16:00 to drive us around some of the other homes in the area.
I take back what I said earlier, the centre of the village may be small but having now been out and about with Binoy it is obvious that it covers a very wide area. Just a short distance from the hotel we stopped to take a look at the Chettinad Palace which is absolutely huge, it apparently has over 500 rooms, is sometimes used for filming and looks every bit big enough for that to be true. We also saw many more Chettinad houses some have been restored other unfortunately look to be on the point of collapse which is a great shame but the cost of restoring such ornate buildings would obviously be prohibitive for most people.
A short drive further on we went to take a look at what is currently a small temple but which is being turned into a big temple. At the centre there are a number of statues of horses (couldn’t quite get to grips with the significance but…) and a new much large area is being constructed around it.
We are now sitting on the first floor balcony listening to the cacophony of sound coming from the village which has sprung to life since the temperature has started to drop a little.
Thursday 21st February 2019 – Kanadukathan to Thanjuvar via Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India.
When we originally booked this trip for last year we had planned a stopover in Trichy but when re-booking we were advised that the hotel we had planned to use was no longer available (It was either no longer recommended or was under renovation I can’t remember which) so the suggestion was made that we stay in Thanjuvar (Tanjore) instead and visit Trichy en-route.
As this meant a longer day than was originally planned we were asked if we could be ready to leave by 08:00 and we of course said we could. With breakfast not due to start until 07:30 this was going to be a bit tight but we thought we could settle our account before breakfast leaving us time to just clean our teeth and leave. Unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan as when we went to the front desk at 07:15 there was no one there, not even a light on anywhere so we went along to breakfast instead. When we arrived at the breakfast area we found that they were only just starting to set up and as they were definitely working on Indian time we ended up with just tea and toast plus a bit of fruit still, it won’t do us any harm for once.
We finally left at around 08:10 and spent a little bit of time driving on some smaller roads before reaching the toll road which runs all of the way to Chennai. After around 45 minutes Binoy rang the guide we were due to be meeting to let him know where we were and what time we’d arrive. We made it to the meeting point at around 09:45 the guide however, despite a number of chaser calls, didn’t arrive until 10:00 having said a few times already that he’d be there in “two minutes”. When he did finally arrive he proceeded to try to blame Binoy in some way for his lateness it didn’t help either that he said he was going to be our guide tomorrow in Tanjore.
This didn’t sit well with us and things continued to get progressively worse when he told us we should get out of the car at the meeting point a go to see the river; he didn’t bother to explain why we were going to the river or what we might see he just sped off leaving us in his wake. When he eventually realised we weren’t behind him he finally stopped and waited for us; at this juncture I pointed out to him that we had been assured he would have been made aware of Graham’s mobility issues but he didn’t seem too interested although from then on he seemed mainly to address me (it’s a mobility issue he’s not deaf or stupid!!!).
The riverside area we visited was actually quite interesting as there were a number of different ceremonies going on. It seems that there are certain procedures families go through when they lose a parent or when they’re trying to marry off a child and all of these and more were going on around us. During this time I started to get even more fed up with the guide, I do not like being told what to photograph, if he said “Madam take a photograph of that” once he said it a dozen times.
Once we’d seen what we needed to see and I’d taken the pictures I wanted we headed back to the car and then drove to the Sri Ranganathswamy temple. By this time matey still hadn’t appreciated Graham’s problems and when I again explained that Graham couldn’t walk without shoes he simply said to Graham “you’d better give Madam the camera then”. I did ask what provision he’d made for Graham to sit this visit out but there hadn’t been any at all, absolutely nothing so Graham ended up sat in the car whilst I went for the visit.
This temple complex is, apparently, the biggest in India and it certainly covers a big area. Once we’d deposited our shoes at a local store the guide headed off at a pace in to one of the outer areas of the temple where he explained something about the temple but whilst there he also received a telephone call. Now the odd call I don’t mind but I counted at least seven calls whilst he was supposed to be acting as my guide and each time he took a call he just kept walking so what I missed out on (if anything) I don’t know. After about the third call when he said it was his office trying to book him for a tour in French I suggested they should know he was working and not call during a visit, he said nothing. Eventually I started to get quite cross and told him he should switch is phone off, he said he had this was obviously a lie as it rang again not long after. By the time of the last call we were back in the car and Binoy heard me say to him “I thought you said you’d switched that off”. It’s fair to say Binoy wasn’t happy either and there were a few words exchanged but I, of course, couldn’t understand them.
Whilst I was off visiting the temple Graham had told Binoy that we weren’t happy with the guide and Binoy rang his office to tell them. To cut an already very long story a bit shorter both Binoy and I had a conversation with his office and we now have a different guide for tomorrow – hooray!
This morning’s tour was listed as a half day tour but it actually lasted less than two hours so we had plenty of time on our hands so we asked BInoy if we could stop for lunch on the way rather than eat lunch at our hotel. He said he was happy to find somewhere for us and he joined us for lunch at a roadside restaurant where he, once again, tried to explain to us the intricacies of eating an Indian meal properly (I swear we’ll never quite get it).
Tonight’s hotel is another Heritage hotel and once we been through the palaver of having paint dotted on our heads and being given bracelets of jasmine flowers to wear we were shown to our room. It’s very nice but definitely not as grand as last night’s and it feels quite small by comparison still, it will certainly do the job for the next two nights.
A quick exploration of the hotel, a drink in the rooftop bar (non-alcoholic) and a cup of tea in the gardens was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and we’ll soon be making our way to the restaurant where tonight’s meal will, apparently, be accompanied by a flute recital, sounds very nice.
Friday 22nd February 2019 – Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.
Well, last night’s flute recital might have sounded like a nice idea but by the time we’d finished eating we were glad to get away from it; who knew you could make an Indian flute screech? It was like a flutist’s version of Les Dawson on the piano. Unfortunately the food wasn’t a great deal better either, we were asked how hot we’d like our food and we said medium but what we got was decidedly bland. As has happened with a number of the hotel restaurants here we were asked to fill in a feedback form and we were honest about both the food and the service (too quick, we were in eaten and out in less than an hour). Since then we have been plagued with serving staff falling over themselves trying to redeem themselves.
As far as our tour today goes I have to say what a difference a day makes. It seems that after yesterday’s disaster Binoy spoke to his company and suggested they use a guide he knows and fortunately for us they did and we were met outside our first point of interest by a very lovely lady called Abbi (incidentally it’s the first time we’ve ever had a female guide over here).
The first stop on our Agenda was the Brihadeeswara temple complex and we were surprised to find that Abbi had already called ahead and arranged for a wheelchair and pusher so that Graham could go in (as I said, what a difference a day makes). We spent a very interesting and informative hour or so looking around and hearing the different stories attached to certain monuments before returning to the car.
Next was a visit to the Sadar Mahal Palace which it’s fair to say is in a bit of a mixed state; some parts are in really good order and others not so much, parts of it are also still occupied by local royalty. Much of the Palace is used as a museum with displays of statues from previous temples/palaces which have been excavated from various sites, these were a mixture of stone and bronze and very intricate. A short distance away was the Saraswathi Mahal Library where we saw hand written documents and artworks from a variety of ages, again very interesting.
We had one last place to visit but Abbi asked if we would like to see a local Artisan’s shop first which we did and, yes, we do know she gets a commission. The store was one of the better quality ones and we were finally able to purchase something from our shopping list i.e. a table cloth and napkins. Something else to try to find packing space for!
The last official part of our tour was a visit to see a family of artists creating bronze statues. We were shown the process almost from start to finish and it is undoubtedly a very skilled and time consuming job but the prices were just a bit too rich for us so we left empty handed.
It was obvious that Binoy had told Abbi that we weren’t keen on eating in the tourist hotels as she asked if we would like her to recommend somewhere in the city for us which she did and we had a really nice, relatively light lunch for less than the cost of two cups of tea here in the hotel.
As we’re something of a captive audience here we will be eating in-house again tonight but we’ve said we’ll most likely try the café on the terrace rather than go back to the restaurant as the menu there was pretty limited.
Saturday 23rd February 2019 – Thanjvur to Pondicherry, India.
When we discovered that there was no Indian food, only continental pizza’s pasta’s etc. on offer in the hotel café last night’s plan to eat on the veranda was almost scuppered but as the staff were still falling over themselves to make up for our disappointing meal the night before they got special permission to serve us an Indian meal outside. One of the staff even volunteered to make us a special vegetable curry just for us so we had that and a pot Biryani and it was very nice and reasonably spicy which is just what we’d asked for.
We left at 09:15 this morning with a five hour drive ahead of us. Shortly after we left Binoy told us that he planned to stop at two temples en-route as they were both quite different and worth seeing so we did just that. As these were unguided visits and Graham wasn’t able to join me I went in on my own and had a fairly brief look around; Binoy was right they are both different and worth a look.
Both temples were pretty busy and being a Saturday there were a number of school outings visiting so I ended up being included in a number of Selfies again. After the visit to the second temple Binoy asked if we’d like to visit a small hand weaving shop and we decided we may as well. It turned out to be a very small shop with just one hand loom where a young lady was very adeptly making a beautiful silk sari on a hand loom. The shop was owned by another young lady who explained that although this is a small shop she has a total of 45 hand looms across the village. Not surprisingly she wanted to show us some finished pieces and the colours were absolutely stunning, I managed to convince her that there was no way I could/would wear a sari but I did come away with a very nice silk shawl at a reasonable price.
As we continued on towards Pondicherry we came across an incident which showed us the first aid skills of the local Police. The first we saw was a policeman running towards a junction where someone was lying in the road bleeding and unconscious close to his two wheeler. He had obviously chanced his arm once too often. The policeman then proceeded to take hold of the rider under his arms and unceremoniously drag him to the pavement where someone started throwing water at him to bring him round. We don’t know what happened after that as the traffic started to move; we just have to hope he was okay.
As Binoy had said there weren’t any good restaurants en-route we stopped at a petrol station to use the toilets and bought some snacks instead. We arrived at our home for the next two nights at around 15:00 and I’m afraid to say we’re both somewhat disappointed; it is a heritage hotel from the same group as a previous very good hotel but this one is on a rather smelly side street and is really rather claustrophobic. There is no outside space and our room is very small, there is a restaurant but is seems they only serve a set meal in the evenings and they have to be pre-ordered, as we’re not interested in what they have to offer tonight we’re going to take our chances outside.
We’d also been told that we were very close to a lot of shops so once we’d sorted ourselves out we went to take a look. There certainly were a lot of shops about but none of them selling anything that we would want so after a very hot sticky walk we took a Tuk Tuk back. Whilst Graham stayed in the room to cool off I decided to take a walk to the promenade (Pondicherry is on the east coast) which we’d been told was a five minute walk away, well it isn’t, it’s not a ridiculous distance for most people but it took me just over 10 minutes to walk it and a further five minutes or so to walk far enough along it to see that there was nothing much to see, there are a few hotels but nothing in the way of eateries so I don’t really see any reason for Graham to try to walk it.
There was one reasonable looking restaurant we spotted a short distance from the hotel so we’ll maybe give that a whirl later.
Sunday 24th February 2019 – Pondicherry, India.
We did try the restaurant around the corner last night and it was definitely a local’s place with glass covered tables and benches, we weren’t quite the only white faces in there, there was one young Brit who’d just finished his meal who said his food was very nice. We ordered one rice, one main course and a couple of naan breads to share and the waiter warned that our choice of main was medium spicy and checked that we were okay with that; it’s interesting to note that the ‘medium’ in the local restaurants is way different to that in the hotels, it was pretty much on my chilli limit (but okay for Graham) but still very nice.
After a reasonable breakfast we were picked up at 09:30 and met with our guide for the morning. The first thing I decided to do was to check to see if he had been informed that we weren’t going to be visiting the Ashram which is part of the usual itinerary because of Graham’s walking difficulties and once gain it seems the message hadn’t got through; I really must feed this back to Trailfinders when we get home.
Our altered tour started with a brief explanation of the history and make up of Pondicherry we then visited the cities Basilica, a Hindu Temple, had a drive around the French quarter and along the promenade before stopping to see the memorial gardens and gravesites of the founders a visit which Graham sat out. We also made a visit to the Pondicherry museum which has a few interesting items in it but which is generally a bit tatty and haphazard. Our final stop was to visit the weekly Sunday market which sold mostly fruit, vegetables and flowers and which was absolutely teeming with people, very interesting.
We had asked Binoy before our tour started if he could recommend a restaurant for us to visit this evening and he suggested the Villa Shanti, when we asked how much we should pay to take a Tuk Tuk to and from the restaurant he very kindly volunteered to take us there and back which is really good of him as this is supposed to be an evening off for him (he’s going to get a good tip at the end of the trip though).
Monday 25th February 2109 – Ponicherry to Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
We’ve had a very long day today leaving at 08:30 for our drive to Chennai. Had we driven straight here it would have been just a three hour or so drive but we didn’t, instead we stopped off at Mahabalipuram which is home to a large group of Monuments created by the Pallava’s in the 7th and 8th centuries. All of these monuments are created from the naturally occurring granite and they take a variety of forms and most are thought to have been created as practise runs for other temples built around that time hence a good number of them remain unfinished. There is also a very large granite rock which appears to be very precariously balanced, it may seem unstable but it has apparently withstood all manner of attempts to move it including Mother Nature’s attempts in the form of earthquakes and Tsunami’s.
Once we’d had a good look around we made a stop for lunch in the town before taking another detour to visit the Hindu Pilgrimage Centre at Kanchipuram. There are a number of significant temples in the town but the main one (which I visited with the guide whilst Graham waited with Binoy) is said to be one of the oldest temples in India. We made one more brief stop to see another silk weaving operation before dropping off the guide and turning North and East towards Chennai.
We had been warned that Chennai was a very big chaotic city and never a truer word has been spoken! It took us a good hour to get across the city and find our hotel and all of that time was spent in a mass of honking traffic. We finally arrived at around 20:00 after one slight mishap with the directions (I’m surprised anyone can find their way around in this madness) so it was a case of having a quick wash and brush up before dinner and we’ll shortly be calling it a night so that we can be ready for our final guided tour of the trip tomorrow morning.
Tuesday 26th February 2019 – Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
We were met in our hotel foyer at 09:30 this morning by not only our guide but the Trans India rep I had spoken to on the telephone when we had the issue with one of the previous guides. He was apparently here just to make sure all was well and to make sure we knew we would have a ridiculously early start tomorrow. It seems there is only one flight per day direct to Heathrow and it leaves Chennai at 07:30 so we will be leaving here at 04:00, lovely!
Our final tour of this trip started with a drive through the absolutely manic rush hour traffic and up to St Thomas’s mount where the Apostle was said to have been killed and where he hid in a small cave after being banned from preaching the Christian message. There is also a very good view over the city from the top of the mount. Next we made a stop at the Shrine to St Thomas where there is a cross which was said to bleed on the anniversary of his death. Next was San Thome Cathedral; it is relatively small by Cathedral standards but it houses what are said to be some of the remains of St Thomas and where we arrived just as a mass was being celebrated
From here we were driven to see the city beach; it is apparently the second largest city beach in the world, second we’re told to Miami Beach although we both think this is better. It is a huge very wide beach which although empty today is very well used during evenings and weekends.
Next on the agenda was Fort St George which was home to the East India Company and then the British Army. It is now largely used by the local government but also houses St Mary’s Church and the Fort St George Museum which made for an interesting if relatively short visit.
Before we left this morning Graham had asked Binoy if he would be able to join us for lunch one last time and he said he definitely would and would ask for a recommendation so once the tour had finished we stopped at a very nice local’s restaurant where we had lunch with both Binoy and the guide.
Once back at the hotel there was just time to get the guide to take some pictures of us with Binoy before we sadly part company tomorrow. Having Binoy as our driver has certainly helped to make this trip and with a little bit of luck and some technology we will be keeping in touch with him when we get home.
All that was left to do this afternoon was to re-pack as much of our stuff as I could ready for our early start tomorrow.
Wednesday 27th February 2019 – Chennai to Home.
When I said we had an early start this morning I really meant it. We were up at 02:30 and picked up for our drive to the airport at 03:45 as there is only one direct flight a day from Chennai to London and it leaves at 07:30.
Bearing in mind the time of day the drive to the airport was much quieter than normal (not quiet by our standards but….) and we arrived in plenty of time to check-in and get a wheelchair to take us to the gate. I then went and spent our last Rupees in the one and only shop before we boarded. Although Chennai is the third largest city in India the International airport is really rather small with only seven gates and, as I mentioned one single solitary shop and what was labelled as the food court had one small food stand and one small outlet selling cookies!
The flight home although very long passed without incident and we arrived at Heathrow at around 13:20 where the usual farce of the handicapped service kicked in. I won’t go into all the boring details except to say that I felt quite sorry for the one poor lad who’d been sent with his wheelchair to off-load 31 people. We were actually quite fortunate as we were last off of the aircraft and possession being nine tenths of the law managed to keep hold of the one and only wheelchair (with the permission of the supervisor who’d turned up to try to sort things out after some complaints from the BA crew) so I pushed Graham through Immigration and customs myself.
The driver from our car service was waiting for us when we arrived and we had a largely uneventful journey home arriving at around 17:45. As we had, by this time, been up for around 24 hours we had something to eat and managed to last until 21:00 before calling it a night.
Summary.
This has been another really good trip. Southern India was, as we expected, very different to the North far more westernised, more affluent and less grubby. One thing we have both said though is that if we’d known then what we know now we’d have taken the trip the other way around as the start of the trip was much more relaxing than the latter part, the only downside with that idea is that we wouldn’t have had Binoy as our driver (he works out of the Kochi office) and he, as I’ve said elsewhere, helped to make the trip what it was; he wasn’t only our driver but a pretty good if unofficial guide and someone we can now call a friend.