Blogs from Kodai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 2

I live in Bangalore, the IT hub of India. Work takes me around the world at least twice a year. Even with the exhuberance of visiting international destinations, I still love to travel to places surrounding Bangalore. Had planned on visiting Kodaikanal for a few days at the end of summer, just before the monsoon set in. Could make it in the first week of June. A planned vacation for relaxation, with wife and kid, just the thing I wanted. Had reserved a cottage at Sterling Resorts, courtesy - a timeshare membership of a relative. For conveyance, had made on-line reservations by Rajahamsa Executive (bus service of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation). Left Bangalore on the night of 1st June. Journey time 11 and 1/2 hours. Bit tiresome, but endurable. Other options were: firstly, train ... read more

So we had escaped unscathed from old man river and his crazy pad lock throwing antics. In contrast the bus journey through the rolling hills of the Western Ghats that followed, was beautifully serene and peaceful. It took 3hrs and we snaked our way through deep lush green jungle to the hill station of Kodai kanal. In those 3 hours the temperature plummeted from somewhere in the mid thirties to around 6 or 7 degrees at 2000 meters above sea level. As soon as the bus pulled into the station, touts leapt up their feat and ran to the bus windows, eying their potential prey in us and a few other backpackers that were among the majority of locals. We got out and started walking down Kodai’s main street with a string of touts in close ... read more

Woke up early as usual and enjoyed the sunrise in the front yard of our private home. The gang got up by 8:00AM and pretty much ready for the breakfast. Our caretaker had prepared Idly, Dosa, sambar and chuttney for breakfast. We also asked for some additional egg dosa and our request was acknowledged without any problem. We decided to go out and explore Kodai town. Our first stop was Kodai boat house. Our caretakers husband was working in the boat house and it was very easy for us to decide what boats we liked. John and Nikki decided to go on a romantic boat ride while me, Heather, Dan and Becca decided on the self row boat. We took turns in rowing the boat and had lot of fun. Dan and rest of the gang ... 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

Ein in weiße Keramik gefasstes Loch in der Erde geht in Indien - zumindest an dem Flecken, an dem wir gerade weilen - als sanitäre Vollausstattung durch. Unsere Dusche ist hier Toilette und Waschbecken in Personalunion, ausgestattet nur mit einem Wasserhahn, auf dessen Griff sicherlich im Moment meiner schlimmsten Notdurft die Details der Weltherrschaft der Fäkalbakterien verhandelt werden. Ich male mir dann aus, welch tiefe Genugtuung es mir gäbe mit einem Super-Sagrotan-Sprühjumbo im Tiefflug die Wohltaten der westlichen Zivilisation über die Landschaft zu nebeln. Wir verabrachten die Nacht noch in unserem alten Guesthouse, also dem mit dem blauen Schimmelungeheuer und der tollen Aussicht. Heute morgen war das dann alles ein bisschen arg früh, denn wir waren um vor der Pastry-Corner (die zivilisierteste Gelegenheit der Stadt, einen Kaffee zu trinken - wenn man ihn ohne Zucker bestel ... read more