We headed to the Kerala state capital, Trivandrum (also known as Thiruvananthapuram) in the hope of seeing some fast handiwork and illusionary at the city's "Academy of Magical Sciences". As it turned out we both had our first Indian tummy bug in a case of a "Sag Aloo" becoming a "Loo Saga", so we holed up in our hotel room for longer than originally intended. The hum of HBO and Star Movies filled our ears for two days soilid as I sat in sweats with intermittent cramping and bathroom visits. I'm sure it was a dodgy Thali lunch on the drive [View Full Entry]

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After spending a wonderfully relaxing period in Munnar, we chose to put off going back to the hot and clammy lowlands with a second stop in the refreshingly cool air of the Western Ghats. On a recommendation from an Irish couple staying in the Munnar homestay, we headed to Thekaddy, home of the Periyar Tiger Reserve - a large wildlife sanctuary of highland deciduous forest and grasslands. Following their advice further we made our base in the aptly named "Jungle Palace" - a beautifully kept homestay with bedroom views over the reserve. We barely needed to move to enjoy the peace [View Full Entry]

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Kerala is God's Own Country according to Kerala's tourist board. Well I am not sure about that but our first taste of Kerala from the advantageous heights of the Western Ghats was just like heaven! We chartered a car to take us to Munnar - a hill station town just on the Keralan side of the Western Ghats which has the highest mountain in India - south of the Himalayas that is. As we left Madurai at 4pm, the sun set as we wound our way up to the town and we asked our driver to stop quite a few times [View Full Entry]

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Madurai was to be our final choked city of Tamil Nadu before heading across the state border to Kerala. Our journey from Trichy was one we'd prefer never to have to endure again - a crazy coach driver piloting us on a seemingly suicidal journey. A collection of impossible overtaking manoeuvers and hair-neck cornering speeds made this a white-knuckle ride to forget. Too many near misses to mention! On arrival to Madurai we accomplished the long overdue task of picking up an Indian sim card from a local Airtel office. Phone calls in India are dirt cheap and since forward reservations [View Full Entry]

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Our express tour of Tamil Nadu continued with our next overnighter in Tiruchirappalli, or to avoid that mouthful "Trichy" as it's better known. We boarded the 3-hour long Pallavan express train at Villupuram Junction to make the 150km or so journey south without reserved seats and ended up spending the majority of the journey in standing room only. The train was packed with Pongal festival pilgrims making their way home - apparently this particular train had been booked out two months previously! Laura, being a girl (I can confirm), was offered a seat whilst I did the chivalrous thing and e [View Full Entry]

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Happy Pongal! It's festival time here in Tamil Nadu. With the arrival of the harvest, Hindus celebrate with the month-long Pongal festival which culminates with public holidays for all. Our visit has coincided with the holidays which is a bitter-sweet situation for us. On the plus side the people are happy, joyous and welcoming but on the negative side, prices are racked up and accommodation is full. Arriving into the French colonial corner of Pondicherry, a popular tourist spot particularly for Indian and French people, without a reservation, was foolish. I think we tried every [View Full Entry]

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We arrived into Mamallapuram at exactly the right time, in the thick of the annual dance festival that takes place in this small seaside village. Every weekend evening during January, there are traditional Indian dances performed for crowds of dance enthusiasts and pilgrims (as well as a host of travellers like ourselves). Mamallapuram (otherwise and more correctly known as, Mahabalipuram) is a favourite traveller's hangout and pockets of long-haired, bearded hippie-types appear to have made this place their home. With the dancing it was extra full in the village with many travellers [View Full Entry]

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Well, what can I say... We've been in India for 3 days and we've seen it all already! It's an assault on the senses and nothing can prepare you for the sights, the sounds and particulalry the smells. Let's just detail what I mean exactly with some of my initial observations... Starting with the sights - well it's hard to know where to begin. The city is absolutely crowded - people live and work, many even sleep, on the streets. There is abject poverty everywhere you look but contrasted by so much colour and beautiful dyed fabrics. The 'tache is big [View Full Entry]

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All in all we dropped in on Thailand's colourful capital 4 time, hence the title "The Hub". Despite it being a transport hub, it hasn't proven a simple affair utilising it. A new airport opened (Suvarnabhumi) 3 months ago replacing Don Muang airport - it's pretty swish but a long way out of town and not everyone is aware of the switch (yes, we went to the wrong one!). Getting around within town is also tricky. The Subway and SkyTrain don't service the touristy areas and the roads are "total gridlock" most of the time. Apparently it's improved in recent years [View Full Entry]

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With "ready made friends", we chose to stay on Phi Phi for over a week - plenty of time to get to know the place better and to get stuck into Sangsom buckets! Phi Phi is much more touristy than we expected (the fame that came from The Beach movie appears to be one of the major catalysts), it is therefore quite expensive by Thailand standards and overrun with Europeans (like us). You can still happily live on the island without making trips to the mainland as there are plenty of amenities to keep you going for longer than a short [View Full Entry]

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