Blogs from India, Asia - page 2118

2001………..6wks-2nd CYCLING TRIP-2,200kms IN SOUTHERN INDIA 30.9.01 Mysore Mysore is famous for its silk, sandalwood, incense and essential oils. I'm currently having a beer and then a meal at the ParkLane Hotel no less. It's next to where I'm staying here in Mysore. It's a real treat. It's quite quirky. But maybe this has something to do with having ordered another beer. I've only had alcohol at Kovalam and here and meat on 3 occasions, maybe. It's a great little restaurant that is set outside under a huge pergola of dense vine. There are boys in green tops hovering in the distance to serve you should you indicate you want something by pulling a light switch above your table. It lights up your own personalized red light bulb. It's such a wonderful combination of India and ... read more

2001………..6wks-2nd CYCLING TRIP-2,200kms IN SOUTHERN INDIA 10.9.01 Kodaikanal (65km) The ride from Palani to Kodai was a long and exhausting ride that took me 10 hrs with very little rest. Of the 65km, 50km was uphill from 692m to over 2050m. It was a wonderful ride through tropical forest with spectacular views as I gained altitude. The side of the road was a splash of colour with yellows and oranges of lantana, blue minx, morning glory, orange buddleia, purple bougainvillea, and red flame trees. The Greenlands Youth Hostel where I am staying is overwhelmingly memorable. For $11.50, I have a double room with own bathroom and veranda, overlooking what must be one of the world's best views as it looks across other mountains below & down to the Palani Plain. Mist comes and goes and even ... read more

Domkhedi, India, June 2001 (I think) As the song goes, what a long strange trip it’s been. I’m in Domkhedi, I’m groggy from another night sleeping (if you can call it that) on the rocky ground. Domkhedi is a tiny little village a very remote area of Gujarat in the Narmada River Valley. This is one of more than 100 villages that will be destroyed if the government of India goes ahead with building a series of big dams along the Narmada River, and it has become the local headquarters of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (movement to save the Narmada). The NBA has been waging a 15 year struggle to stop the dams and to promote an alternative model of development that uses more appropriate technology and allows people of the valley to retain their ... read more

McLeod Gang, described by one American here as "beginner's India", is THE most Tibetan-food-eating, tourist-hotel-staying, happy-hour-drinking place. Not to mention meditation-class-taking and Dalai Lama-spotting. (We saw him in his Land Rover, on his way to speak!) It's absolutely comfy here. The hills around us are big and quiet. Looking down on Dharmsala and the gangetic plain makes me believe I can see all the way to Kanniyakumari and reminds me how high up we are. I finally discovered an equivalent to Indians waking us too early - coming back to the guesthouse late, requiring them to open the locked gate for us. But isn't it called "guest" house, not "curfew" house? And I don't think it helped our cause when I returned alone late one night after a few big beers. I was approached by an ... read more

9-day Himalayan trek: $180. 8 candy bars and 2 bags of trail snacks: Rs 240. Hearing the sound of my voice fill a glacial valley while I belt out The Star Spangled Banner: priceless. All the bitter drama of a long and mentally exhausting trip over, our last hike ended with the trailhead leading us directly down the hill in the "balmy" afternoon to....... Ralph! Oh, my god, when do we NOT see this guy? But it's poignantly humorous that we continue to have him imposed on us since Goa! We had a good chance to recount some of our best trek stories, though. Like when the cook got tempermental and quit after Thansing and when the remaining porters (dressed in Howard's extra clothes because they were sadly unprepared) knocked off pieces of the roof at ... read more