Redheadpeter

Geo: 25.282, 82.9563The incredible India, unbelievable India, everything is possible India : All advertising slogans that attempt to describe this continent of infinite variety.With a brief visit to the evocative temples of Kujaraho we then flew to our last adventure which was very appropriately in Varanassi, the holy town with a long history on the Ganges to which Hindu, Jain and Buddhist pilgrims travel to bathe in the waters, take water away in elegant bowls and plastic buckets and when sick come here to die and be cremated on its banks, where their Ashes then travel down the river to the sea.Fortunately our hotel looked out onto the Ghats, the Western shore where all the action happened. Unfortunately there were heavy downpours both mornings we were there so we missed the sunrise, but we heard the ... read more

Geo: 24.5823, 73.6882This was completely different from the tropical south; dry, dusty, colourful and historic. Rajasthan involves long car journeys, lots of forts and palaces and temples in the cities and trips to see leopards in the countryside.We started by flying into Delhi to meet our driver for the next 16 days, who proceeded to drive us as safely as he was able through the crazy traffic and crowded roads of Rajasthans towns and villages.We saw the Taj Mahal in the early morning mist, accompanied by crowds of tourists of all nationalities, rich and poor, and Agra Fort to steep us in Mogul history.Then the abandoned city of Fatephur Sikri,which we had to ourselves 40 years ago, now much visited on the way to JAIPUR. Here the massive Amber Fort towers above the city and the ... read more

Geo: 20.5312, 75.7487Riding the train, Kochi to Goa This started well with an air con compartment with 4 beds to ourselves, which we thought we had booked in its entirety, so we were rather horrified when incessant loud banging at 2.00 am woke us and the conductor turfed Peter out of his bottom bunk for an Indian man to join us, and another arrived later about 6.00. It was a bit intimate, Indian style, and we were decidedly unfriendly, being used to more personal space and privacy. Surprisingly this shabby train with dirty windows and toilet rated highly on the India railways survey, confirming that standards of cleanliness are entirely relative.We worked out from the timetable that it would be better to get off the train at the 2nd Goa station,which Peter explained to the conductor ... read more

Geo: 9.91399, 78.1217So Thursday afternoon we arrived back in Chennai with 2 nights in the splendid Raintree St Mary's Hotel to visit the sights of the city and prepare ourselves for the dash through Mahaballipurum, Pondicherry, Chidambaram, Gangaikondacholapuram, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Thanjavur), Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) and Madurai - some of these names take some complicated getting your tongue around. Chennai (Madras, as was) seemed simple enough - a visit to Fort St George, a trip to the headquarters of the Theosophical Society. But we discovered the old Museum in Fort St George is closed on FRidays. Thinking it was still worth a look round we took a tuk-tuk there. Most of the Fort is used for government offices and security is tight and at first they didn't want to let us in because the museum was closed, but ... read more

Geo: 6.92747, 79.8484... read more