I left Trichy to go to Pondicherry by car. This city is now officially known as Puducherry but that only cuts the name down by one letter, so the old diminutive of Pondy is still in use - and sounds much nicer, I think. The French name is also very slightly shorter, as they spell it Pondichery with only one "r". But any advantage this may give them is lost because they use an acute accent over the "e". The journey here took about four hours and was a very interesting one. Soon after leaving the town we crossed some marshlands [View Full Entry]

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OK, they're not really Cheese Temples. But they are Rock Fort Temples and that's close enough for me. The two principal temples are on a great rock that's in the centre of the old town of Trichy. All the rest of the town is completely flat and then, out of nowhere, there's a massive 300 foot high rock. The first temple, about half way up the rock, is dedicated to Shiva and the other, right at the summit, is dedicated to Ganesh. There used to be a fort on the rock too, but little is left of that. There are also [View Full Entry]

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I have been staying at the Old Harbour Hotel in Fort Kochi. It is, as the name suggests, close to the old harbour and when I go down that way the first things that catch my eyes are the giant Chinese Fishing Nets which stand by the side of the sea. Kochi (or Cochin, as it used to be spelled) has been the centre for traders coming to India for millenia. The Chinese first came here many years ago. I would have expected them to have landed on the Eastern coast of India but there's proably some reason involving currents or [View Full Entry]

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I can remember that all my schoolbooks still showed Goa as Portuguese when I was at school - they hadn't caught up with the 1961 Indian takeover. I'm staying in Fontainhas, one of the oldest parts of Panjim, which is the capital of Goa State and it still seems quite European in appearance. It is sometimes known as Goa's Latin Quarter. Most of the food is Indian in style but with lots of influence from the Portuguese which means that this is the only part of India where pork can be quite a speciality. I was hoping that some restaurants mght [View Full Entry]

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As I left Mumbai I saw a sign reading "Silent city - better city / Say no to honking". Mumbai is, in fact, relatively quiet as far as "honking" in Indian cities goes. Hyderabad is a whole lot worse. I noticed a shop here called Paradise Horns which adveritsed itself as selling and repairing horns for four, three and two wheelers. I'm sure it must do a lot of business. I am beginning to think that the length of time that a horn is sounded for is important. Indian drivers seem to be able to detect the positions of multiple other [View Full Entry]

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So far, as I have travelled in India, I have noted the evoution of the tuk tuks or auto rickshaws which seem to bevome more evolved the further south you go. But in Mumbai they seem to have died out. I have seen no auto rickshaws here, nor even a cycle rickshaw. Instead they have taxis that use meters and what appears to be an efficient bus service and rail service. In fact, I have now discovered that rickshaws are banned in South Mumbai but are allowed in the north of the city. There is also (after Udaipur) a strange absence [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Udaipur I went to Amritsar in the North West of the country, near the border with Pakistan. My hotel was very close to the famous Golden Temple - in fact you could hear the chanting of the proests from my room. The Golden Temple is very different from most Indian temples - there is great ostentation, obviously, with the roof and much of the walls of the main temple area being covered in gold - but there are no idols and it feels a spiritual and friendly place. There is a massive kitchen and dining area within the compound [View Full Entry]

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The bus journey was quite a long one, from ten at night till five in the morning. We were in the sleeping compartments which you have to reach by climbing little metal ladders from the seats. Most of us were in doubles and I was sharing with Wes. He is an expert at sleeping and went to sleep soon so I did not have too bad a time. Some of the others found the journey really wearying. When we arrived we went back to sleep for a few hours. I am sharing with Ed who is the oldest and who seems [View Full Entry]

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The train journey from Delh to Jodhpur was overnight, leaving at night and arriving about 9 in the morning. We travelled in the three tier sleeper class without air conditioning and it was a pleasant journey and most of us slept well. I had a bottom berth as I though I might have to go to the toilet a few times in the night but, in fact, I only had to go once. The others are all much younger than me. Frankie, Sophie, Carl, Wes and Ed, who I met in Delhi are all 20 apart from Ed who is 24 [View Full Entry]

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I am now back in Delhi again. My train journey from Benares to Lucknow was quite similar to the one from Agra to Benares, although there were no power outages. I couldn't see much out of the windows, but it was interesting to see that the cows wander onto and across the train lines, just as they do the roads. Lucknow is a much more pleasant city to visit than are either Agra or Benares. It has more of a European air, while still being wholly Indian and it is actually possible to walk about the city without always being distubed [View Full Entry]

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