hambone
John Hambleton Joined: December 2nd 2005
Logged in: April 1st 2011
Logged in: April 1st 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Conclusion -- the Travellers
The trip is over but the memories are many. I spent the last few hours on the subcontinent in Mumbai with my guide, Amin. Anyone vaguely interested in Mumbai (Bombay) should check out this novel http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2004-11-17-shantaram_x.htm and also use the services of Amin who loves the city to take you on a memorable tour -- check Amin out at: www.snehatravels.in . Heres some pictures of the travellers, the faces and inanimates that will stay in the memory bank for a long time. Here is an excerpt from Jan's diary re: the trip (I could not be as eloquent): "India is more than just a foreign country with different customs. It's an ancient land. People talk about its timeless quality. That's more than poetic description. I could not have experienced a greater range of contrasts on my ... read more
CMCT -- Saving the slum kids
Finally reached Chennai where I visited the Christian Missions Charitable Trust which runs a school for kids from the slums and an orphanage. Also,visited the tomb of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas) who brought Christianity to Madras in 52 AD and viewed the world's largest Banyan tree. Since Jan has a wonderful way with words here is her diary entry for her last few days in India: "I left off with our afternoon in Pondicherry. Hugh and I went shopping -- I for a new pair of sandals that would make blisters in a different place than the ones I brought, and Hugh for sari silk for Suzanne, his wife. I was very taken aback at the civility of all the street stalls. They allowed us to browse unmolested, and thanked us for stopping by as we ... read more
Raveshwaran -- Typhoon Destruction
Pondicherry and Mamallapuram. Setting up for spending the weekend in Chennai. Since I am word-deficient, here is what Jan had to say: I'm woefully behind at this, but it's been a jam packed trip. We were still in Madurai when I sent my last. Forgot to mention we were all blessed by the temple elephant there. For Rs. 10, she rests the end of her trunk on the top of your head, sometimes patting and sometimes slightly rocking. We had many encounters and conversations with pilgrims and tourists alike. Will add specific comments to photos when I get that together. John -- I mean Hambone (he says only his mother and I call him John) -- and I have made several valiant attempts to transfer my photos to his portable hard drive, but it won't talk ... read more
temples == detail
From Ooty on the "toy train" (narrow gauge stream train) and headed down to the plains to Mettupalayam, Coimbatore and finally a 7 hr day liner on the Indian Train network to Madurai. In Madurai we tripped around the palace of 1000 pillars (actually 986) and this incredible bunch of temples in Madurai -- http://www.exotiqueindia.com/tourist-destinations-in-india/madurai-tourism.html. There were thousands of pilgrims in town chanting, praying and providing gifts to their gods. From there we headed to Rameshwaram http://www.tamilnadu-tourism.com/tamilnadu-cities/rameshwaram-tourism.html . It has a huge temple with the worlds longest corridor (1 Km) where you can get your sins washed away by going thru 22 water stations including #22 in the Bay of Bengal. Then we hired a Jeep and headed out to Adams Bridge where we could see (actually not) Sri Lanka 18 km away. So, we s ... read more
Ooty -- hill station
William, Hugh, Jan and Bone have been in Ooty -- a hill station -- for 2 days. We are all taking the famous steam train on the narrow gauge tracks down to the plains this afternoon. Here are some photos from our time in Ooty: ... read more
Kochi
we hired a driver to take William and bone to Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu from Kochi in Kerala. We need to be in Coimbatore to pickup Jan (friend of Williams from Albuquerque who should be in great shape since that trip takes 55 hours via Atlanta, Paris and Chennai) and Hugh (from Singapore via Chennai) before we head up into the Nigiri hills town of Ooty. Heres a flowery tourism description of Coimbatore but it appears to me to be a spawling, noisy, indian city -- http://www.touristplacesinindia.com/coimbatore/about-coimbatore.html All the pix below are from the 5 hr trip up into the hills from the coastal waterways. Heres a nice writeup on Fort Cochin (which is also called Kochi) : http://www.frommers.com/destinations/cochin/3480010029.html... read more
Kochi -- Spice port
Town built by the Portuguese after Vasco de Gama made his 1st visit to start the sea-based spice routes. Vasco lived and died in Kochi.... read more
Kerala Backwaters
Heading up the west coast of Kerala state on the west coast of India through the famous backwaters. Here are some pix taken on that 3 day trip north with journey completion in Kochi. ... read more
Man in Market
After 27 hrs on planes we arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) at 03:30 AM and met our driver, Amin, who gave us an amazing tour of Mumbai. A city with a population somewhere between 15 and 20 million on an island about the size of Montreal Island. As soon as you arrive in Bombay you notice the smell of the city. Here is an excerpt from a book called Shantaram where the authour, Gregory David Roberts, describes that smell that I cannot describe any better than this: "The first thing I noticed about Bombay, on that first day, was the smell of the different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India, even as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport. I was excited and delighted ... read more
William James
Keith & Bone flew to TRV and headed to the beach to meet up with Bill James. (more dialog to come)... read more
