After leaving the serenity of Om Beach, we began our adventure northwards into Goa proper. We left our beloved Ganesh cafe, and headed off to the Gokarna train station which kind of looked like it had been abandoned, due to lack of interest. We did however find an interesting local soft drink, marketed under the unlikely name of Jeera Masala Cola. Intrigued, we purchased a bottle. Initial reactions were as to be expected, not great, with each of us grimacing, and then gagging when we had a taste. As the name suggests, the drink tastes a lot like a stock made of curry spices, flat diet pepsi and water. We agreed that the Coca-Cola corporation was safe for now, and boarded our train. One hour later, and we had arrived in Agonda. Avoiding a fight that ... read more

A leaking bus took us overnight via OOTY to the town of Mysore, famed for several things, most notably its amazing palace and profusion of skilled craftsmen in hundreds of fields. We spent several fun filled days wandering the very colourful streets. We came across "cottage Industry" style production of Beedies (small cigarettes made of leaves and cheap tobacco), incense (hand rolled by local widows from a fine charcoal paste, and then mixed with an infusion of distilled oils), and a variety of local craftsmen producing a huge assortment of goods from guns, to tables inlaid with fine pearl. Attending the local market was a feast for all our senses. The different smells from each row of stalls packed with unrecognisable fruits and vegetables intermingled with stalls selling incense, distilled oils and spices. Some stalls were ... read more

Sweet Time to find GP... guess what? more long bus rides via Chennai to take us to Bangalore, arriving the day before ...to make absolutely sure that we'd be there when GP lands. We were able to organise a fancy hotel (indian fancy), and a car with driver to pick him up. After waiting outside the airport ( you had to PAY TO ENTER!!) we found him, tired and travel weary, but here! Off we went to celebrate with the bottle of Jack Daniels, he'd thoughtfully brought along... We had a brief look around the very modern city of Bangalore before heading off on a night bus all the way back to Kodaikanal. The photos are of us waiting in possibly the World's most polluted bus terminal... carbon monoxide is great !!! ... read more

The French have saved us Well what we thought was going to be one buss turned into 3, nice. We not only stepped back in time here, we seemed to have changed countries!!! Pondicherry was once governed by the French, and we stayed in the french quarter, with wide clean streets beautiful pastel coloured buildings...very colonial. We ambled through parks, and promenaded along the beach front, even found coq au vin on some menus!! Pasta, Guy ate so much pasta. There is no tax on Booze here so the beer is really cheap, even found a Carlsberg quart. There are many Ghandi statues around this part of India, not only is he a national hero, he also made significant decisions in and around here ( weaving alt m his own cotton, and the end of the ... read more

Fort & Temple Town Gripped by temple fever we made our way by train this time to another of Tamil Naidu's great holy towns. However we managed to arrive in the middle of wedding season and all the accommodation was full, we spent the afternoon driving round like lunatics to settle on a decidedly average pink room, Liff loved it though. The streets where alive with bling for every aspect of a wedding. This time we found a rock temple...437 steps (hard work in 38') took us through and up a massive 'boulder' sitting like Ayers Rock, to the temples. Some were carved into the rock to create 'caves', some were built on the granite, and the views were stunning. Another beautiful temple elephant guarded the entrance, and devotees offered money, flowers and fruit in return ... read more