In a daring maneuver, we've circled Kerala and approached from the South, catching it completely by surprise and gaining a foothold in the state! It's not clear whether we'd just panicked and we would have been able to find accommodation during late December, but waiting can't have hurt. Possibly our best executed piece of travelling to get here - we caught a cheap rickshaw to the bus stand, and the 'government bus' turned up almost immediately. Not enough demand for private buses from here we guess. The government buses look fairly uniform throughout India - ancient, swaying metal tanks [View Full Entry]

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There's some sort of mental significance to making it to the very bottom, and it's not a bad little place. The bus stand was right next to the train station in Nagercoil and let us right off at our hotel. We had to sway around in the aisle with our bags on until some people got off and cleared a seat, but it cost about 6 Rs for the 20 minute ride - not quite 2 cents. We stayed at the Seaview; not budget but one of the nicest hotels for the price that we've encountered in India. The place is [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow we plan to leave for Kanniyakumari at the bottom tip of India. We're giving Kerala some time to empty out somewhat after the holidays and sneaking around from the other side. Probably we'll end up skipping Thailand after the bombings there, so we'll have to figure out how to change our plans. Madurai is a big city dominated by an enormous temple complex dedicated to Meenakshi, the fish-eyed goddess. It takes up a whole city block and has has a huge tower on each of the cardinal compass points. The towers are smothered in very complex and brightly painted plaster [View Full Entry]

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Merry Christmas and happy new year! Headed out of so-so and crowded Mysore by bus towards the hill station of Ooty. We passed through Ranthambore wildlife park and spotted some spotted deer, a bison, elephants and 'something small and striped hiding under a bush'. Not bad for out the bus window we thought. (No tigers.) After a while we reached the hills and started winding up, then through steeper and steeper switchbacks. Around one corner in the wilderness, past a sign to manor, we saw the huge sloped lawn covered with very neatly trimmed hedges covering the whole. Tea b [View Full Entry]

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Once we were finally able to get out of Bangalore, we headed to the station to catch a bus to Mysore. We were surprised to find out that Mysore is a popular Christmas week holiday spot, and that the buses were pretty full. We didn't think that Christmas would be as busy as it is back home, but it turns out that the kids get a school break that week, so it's a good time to take a vacation! After a pretty comfortable bus ride (despite the Bollywood movie soundtrack - we took a DVD video bus which has a small [View Full Entry]

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Nice modern looking city with big boulevards and lots of parks. Also surprisingly chilly for being so far south, but I think maybe the elevation is relatively high? Cruised the downtown and did some browsing and eating. Tried 'pan' which is a bunch of spices rolled up in a leaf - terrible! Forcing a smile and waving bye to the vendor, Farah and I hastened to find a secluded spot to expell it. Strangely sweet and floral, it reminded me of the time that I ate a rose-flavoured perfume capsule at grandma's as a small child. Bleh! The science and technology [View Full Entry]

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Now camped out in Soofia's home-town Bangalore, but first Hampi... Hopped on the day train to Hospet for Hampi from Margao in Goa and met a nice couple on the train.. Very nice ride; first up through the mountains and jungle, past waterfalls. Then across a fertile plain with huge fields of sunflower, red peppers, corn, and other crops we couldn't identify. I hopped of the train to get some small bills at one stop and semi-accidentally bought almost 2 bunches of bananas; at least the price was good. At Hospet we disembarked into the typical group of rickshaw touts and [View Full Entry]

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Another full moon just happened, which means we've been travelling for a little over a month! Without a calendar and regular contact with the outside world, we've been losing track of the days. Right now we're taking it easy for a week or two, relaxing on a beach in South Goa. It took us 12 hours on the day train from Mumbai (the foreigner's line at the station had a 2 hour wait, and the night train was booked solid for the next couple of days) and we arrived in Margao in the evening. We are now train converts - it's [View Full Entry]

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(The palaces and mosque are in Mandu.) [View Full Entry]

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Mumbai was excellent. Really beautiful buildings downtown in the Colaba and tropical foliage all around. In that part it was more like a western city, taxi cabs, actual sidewalks, some western-style stores and a relatively expensive western hotel. Had a beer at the famous Leopold's from Shantaram that we are both reading. We went to a couple of museums including a house where Gandhi lived for some period, it was quite something. At one place there's a beach where teens were playing a complex variant of tag in a circle. Every other person tried to rent you a grass mat to [View Full Entry]

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