truckinon

'We need to get away....' says he....The Jackson family carbon footprint had been commendably small; over 25 years, 2 weeks in Gran Canaria, 6 weeks under canvas in Bordeaux, a family wedding in France, a couple of weekends in Amersterdam, Christmas in Benidorm (more by default than design, I hasten to point out). '....To India'.....Yeah, right. We had both been down this road, albeit 35 years before. He spent 5 years practically commuting between India, Thailand and England. I spent 3 months trying to get to India on a wing and a prayer , an odessey that ended the wrong side of the Khyber pass, minus passport or money, alone, at night. Oh, and did I mention, 5 months pregnant? An ill conceived trip that ended with ignominious repatriation from Kabul and a sigh of relief...'We ... read more

Cannot believe it's been 8 months since we returned to Blighty and all the accompanying trials and tribulations - due to overwhelming popular demand (specifically my cousin Alan...) thought I'd better finish this long overdue blog before the details fade from my uncertain memory bank, so here goes.... And so we wobbled into Matheran in some style, and booked into the Lord's Hotel just in time for dinner - absolute bliss, French onion soup and crusty bread, fabulous curry and rice main course, Floating Islands for desert, it set the scene for the next two weeks at this impeccabley clean tho' slightly shabby hotel (but then we were fairly shabby after 14 weeks on the road so we fitted in perfectly). Our apartment was set in a row of chalets overlooking a magnificent valley that afforded ... read more

Bombay/Mumbai - a city by any other name would smell the same.....The taxi from Bombay to Nehrul took 4 painful hours - Bombay was recently voted '7th filthiest city in the world', tho' a citizen complained to the local newspaper that they were robbed, surely it qualifies for first place? We drove through what is officially named the World's Largest Slum - 150,000 people and 1 toilet to serve all of them - we passed this facility, and astonishingly there was no queue. This particular slum has the added disadvantage of being built on a swamp, miles of ramshackle huts constructed of corrugated iron, plastic sheeting, huddled together with no permanent structure to be seen. Apparently there is a thriving economy in the slum, they even have ATMs, tho the nature of the businesses here probably ... read more

An 8 hour taxi ride from one hill station to the next, sweltering heat and sporadic rain on the plains, Indian taxi drivers only ever seem to have one windscreen wiper, which never works, so drive in rain with the head out of the window. Once we started climbing again into the hills, the scenery reverted to stupendous - at 2000 metres above sea level Kodai is higher than Coonoor, and the road snaking up took 2 hours from plain to summit to climb. Again driving through and then above the clouds the panoramic view was breathtaking, the access road appalling and the adrenalin levels rising with each km travelled. Towards dusk, black clouds enveloped our path and with sunset monsoon style rain and lightening took over. It was dark as we entered Kodai town, rain ... read more

Train journey to Managlore, another large city we did not intend to spend long in - booked in to a very comfortable hotel (still only 20 quid a night) and were promptly marooned there by heavy rain. Would have liked to explore the city a bit, but with the mud and general decrepit look of the place stayed in the hotel mainly watching telly, and me indulging in a facial and haircut which cost all of 5 pounds (being on the road for three months plays havoc with the appearance). Ken got his hair cut here - same sort of style his mum probably made him have at the start of a new school term. It's growing out now. To reach the hill stations we took an overnight sleeper for the 10 hour journey to Coimbatore, ... read more

5 hour train journey to Gokarna, taxi to Kudle Beach - well, not quite....Dropped off on the headland overlooking the bay, impossible to access this beach except by boat or by foot. Ken went down to suss out the accommodation, returned 20 mins later, red of face and short of breath, with a young strip of a lad in tow to help with the luggage. Smiling broadly, the boy grabbed the holdall, hoisted one suitcase onto his head and indicated for Ken to pile the other suitcase on top - he declined, too shaming to burden the boy with all our worldly belongings....so we stumbled after the lad down a steep gully in a boulder strewn ravine and emerged onto The Beach......it could easily have been used as location for the film of the same name ... read more

Now where was I? Oh yeah, Benaulim - been a bit lax just lately, call it the Goa effect. Highlight of this part of our journey had to be the arrival of Kiera for a week, so little time, so much to show her. First morning went on the dolphin boat - sailed out away from the shore bout a quarter mile and there they were, a school sliding in and out of the waves around us feeding - only 5 of us in the boat, our captain suggested getting in amongst them in the ocean - I declined as I swim like a brick and just know there's a shark waiting out there for me, Kiera and Ken leapt at the chance literally, diving into the ocean in pursuit of swimming with dolphins... the animals ... read more

And it did feel like a fairy tale - realised I have got myself out of sequence here, but Wayanad richly deserves a mention - it was magic. Left Kannur by bus for the 4 hour journey to Wayanad - the first hour through dusty, ramshackle villages then we began to climb up from the plains to the cool air of the plateau preceding Wayanad. With every mile the scenery gradually changed, palm trees replaced by forest, arid flat arid land to panoramic mountain views back down the long valley. Oppressive hot air became cool and fresh, and we entered a different world. Bus dropped us at Panamaram, the nearest town - not often visited by Westerners, we were the only white faces around, and relatively little English was spoken - our landlady at the Ente ... read more

Erratum:- My proof reader, aka Ken, advises that Kerala, not Goa, is known as God's Own Country'. So apologies, a rose by any other name etc. Don't want the comment box getting clogged up unnecessarily. Wish hubby was as good at spotting my spelling mistakes, which are legion... Quiet day yesterday, told about a less frequented area, Johny Fishersman's beach, 50R rickshaw ride from Benaulim village, so hied off to investigate - white sand, good surf, shallow water, far from the madding crowd with a funky Beatle-themed beach shack cafe to chill in. We'll be back....for once didn't take mobile, no phone in cafe, so had to walk back - after midday the sun is merciless and effectively fries the brains, took a while to recover from that mistake (we're not looking for sympathy here). Went ... read more

Thanks to the reader who corrected me re the Mysore Palace being built by a Maharaja, not a Sultan - call it poetic licence or ignorance on my part! Had a busy few days, so had better get it down or I'll forget details - will continue with 'stranger in a strange land' info bit if/when I run out of news...... After the Palace visit, we bade farewell to Mysore with some relief - interesting place but hot, overcast, dusty, noisy and it was getting us down a wee bit. Boarded a train for the 2 hour journey to Bangalore, a stop over for the night. Also known as the 'Silicone Valley' of India, the city has exploded over the last decade - IT professionals abound, Parade Street is comparable to Oxford Street, all major stores/Macdonalds/coffee ... read more