Blogs from Tamil Nadu, India, Asia
May 18th 2012
What is it with ‘non-veg’ restaurants and sleazy rowdy men? Why is it that if an un-escorted girl enters a ‘non-veg’ restaurant post 6pm, then SHE is what’s being served! At least in India. Well appetites apart, Coimbatore Railway Station has a variety of lodges and accommodation for nearly every type of traveler. I, being one of the lesser value ones, chose a single-occupancy (very fancy word for a not-so-fancy place) room at Raja Lodge, just behind KR Restaurant (a landmark here), for Rs 300/- per night. If I must rate it then I’d give it a 1.5 on 10. Actually, it depends, if you’re an Indian sportsman then it’s a 6.5, but if not then it’s 1.5. I think every Indian sportsman has stayed in conditions far far worse and even appreciated some of those. ... read more
April 16th 2012
On the 15th of March we flew from Kolkata to Chennai (but missed our connecting flight, obviously. This is India after all). After splashing out for the next flight down (with the so-called 'cheap' Indian airlines....) we arrived in Chennai and went straight to Pondicherry. Pondi is an old French town on the southern East shore of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. We saw a different India here: Shops, cafes (with real coffee!), friendly people (finally), less hassling, laid back culture and even rubbish bins on the streets. We stayed about a week due to being extremely feverish and sick. Our room was in a very nice ashram park guest house by the sea (run by the rudest, most pathetically fundamentally religious rule-abiding morons in the world). We then moved on to Thrivandrum in ... read more
April 8th 2012
The first day of the Ricksaw Run.... Festivities started off at 10:00 AM with a parade of rickshaws around Fort Cochin. A few speeches, including the Chancellor of Cochin, later was the official inaugaration and we were off by 11:00AM! After an hour of navigating around Cochin city traffic, we finally hit the Highway. Inspite of today being Easter Sunday some spots still had significant bus and truck traffic. Outside of the inevitable damage we are constantly inundating our clutch with, we are trying to ensure our Rickshaw is getting the TLC it deserves with regular stops, "petrol/oil breaks" and checking of air pressure. We definitely underestimated the curiosity and excitement of the Indian population when seeing us drive around in a rickshaw, with some cars driving alongside just to get a better look Tomorrow we ... read more
April 1st 2012
Sorry for this late backup, but here it is! My friend Sepp arrived in the early morning on my birthday, 23.1., in Chennai. Outside the airport it is (like everywhere) extremely loud due to the much traffic that wants to go to or away from the airport. For people that dont want to flight it was forbidden to get into the airport or you have to pay a visitor ticket. Of course, I didnt buy such a ticket, so I had to wait outside. I had the feeling that Sepp was the last passenger who came out. Immediately a taxi driver came to us. We said we want to have a prepaid taxi. He said, yes, of course he is a prepaid taxi driver, 450Rupees. Very funny. If he were a driving a prepaid taxi, he ... read more
March 31st 2012
We started on 31st March 2012 toward Kanyakumari from Bangalore at around 4 PM in the evening. It took around 1 hour to dodge the traffic and get out of the city. But we all were excited for this long trip. I forgot to tell you guys that the entire trip was a road trip so lots of driving involved :) (Best way to travel in India). Our first stop was near Krishnagiri On a Fuel station. We had our dinner in McDonald’s. Just make sure fill your self here because you wont get anything good after that. We stopped to refuel in couple of places. Complete road is a 4 Way higway NH7 so you can speed upto 120-160KMPH but be careful of coming wrong side traffic. We reached Kanyakumari before the sunrise, but got ... read more
March 25th 2012
24 mars 2012, Ooty En arrivant à Ooty, comme la ville n’a de charmant que son nom, nous nous sommes mis à la recherche d’un hôtel un peu excentré pour profiter du calme et de la fraîcheur des montagnes. Nous cherchions en compagnie d’un Allemand que nous avions rencontré dans le bus. Nous avions trouvé un hôtel génial, soit un YWCA installé dans un vieux bâtiment religieux en pierre et en bois, avec des salons meublés style 1940, un parc, un jardin et une chapelle. On avait même une bible dans notre chambre! Le charme fût brisé quand on nous a annoncé qu’une seule chambre à un prix vraiment raisonnable était libre, ainsi qu’une deuxième de luxe qui ne valait pas son prix exorbitant. On a pensé la prendre une nuit et changer le lendemain matin ... read more
Trip to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary with just Rs. 100
Published: April 9th 2012Asia » India » Tamil Nadu
March 12th 2012
'Yes, you can go to Vedanthangal alone' This was the first statement from my wife as I woke up.But I knew there were some hidden constraints underneath. 'What's the condition?',i asked She smiled and said,'No camera (except ur cell phone),your budget would be 100/- and still need to write a blog with photos,once you come back' I said yes,but I was thinking how to make it possible. I started from my place in Chennai around 10am.Before that I took 3 cigs: from my packet and she deducted 15/- for that,so I was left with just 85/-. I knew the route,so it wasn't difficult for me to point the place but the 'big' question was how to make it with just 85/-. I took a bus/train and reached Chengelput bus stand.This was a funny place. And even ... read more
A day trip to Pichavaram,Second largest Mangrove Forest in the world
Published: March 8th 2012Asia » India » Tamil Nadu
March 8th 2012
'Sir,birds are fine but beware of snakes and they are poisonous too' This was the first statement from my boat man Madhi and we were hovering around the dense channels of Pichavarm Mangrove Forest. Couple of years ago, during a java discussion, I was comparing West Bengal with Tamilnadu. Starting from The Himalayas, Darjeeling when our discussion reached Sunderban, my peer Sriram said, 'Dude,Sunderban may be the best but we have Pichavaram' I asked with raising eyebrows, 'Where the hell is that?' 'Just 20kms from Chidambaram Town and don't you know it is the 2nd largest Mangrove forest after Sunderban' I said,'Man, you must be joking or getting high and dry after two cappuccinos' Sriram said,'Na,You can refer to any book or site, my information is correct, i've been there'. It was way back in Sp ... read more
March 6th 2012
Day 2 – Woke up at 5:30 am. I couldn't fall back to sleep so I laid around until 6:30. It was extremely hot in our room because our air conditioner was broken. I couldn't take it anymore so I got up and started to wander around the guest house. We had a nice balcony on our floor and I got to see some of India for the first time in the daylight. For being so early it was pretty hot already. The high for the day was around 95 degrees. I wandered around a while and headed back to the room to take a shower and try to get ready without “waking up” Jess who really hadn't even been able to sleep yet. I made it downstairs around 8 and met up with Dave, Megan ... read more
March 4th 2012
Day 1 – One the plane We all arrived to campus early and eager. We weighed our luggage and by some small miracle we were able to fit all of the donations that we collected. At campus we got to meet Raj's wife and daughter who came to say goodbye. The drive to Newark airport was pretty uneventful. Although there were jokes here and there, people were pretty quiet during the drive. Probably lost in thought about the fact that this trip was real and actually going to happen. It didn't take us too long to get through the check in and security screening at the airport. Once everyone was settled, groups broke up in search for a place to eat. The only place was a small bar/restaurant where Ashley, Jess and myself split some awesome ... read more
