Kerala, middle of trip

Well, I have left the Tea plantations - saddly.  I really loved being in the hills and the orderliness of the tea plantations.
Have gone through the rubber tree plantations and the many other spices that are grown in the hills,  Have come down a lot in altitude and into much warmer temperatures.  Am currently sitting by a large lake - Vembanad and will be travelling on in tomorrow via house boat.  I will have to see if I go insane or not just sitting on a boat for 24 hours.  Still have books to read, and I hope if the water looks clean enough, I will get to jump in the lake to go for a swim....

BTW did not get to see any tigers, but not too disapointed as I did see some when I first arrived in India.  Did see some great views of the valleys and even better -  got to see a spectaculare lightning show last night.  It lit up the whole sky and seemed to go on for ever!

Still unable to post any pictures, so can't show you how beautiful it has been, but will do so as soon as I can!

Goa, my weekend getaway

Have I mentioned that I was missing the ocean and that I needed to get away from Bangalore!  Well my choice to go to Goa was a good one.

Goa was ruled by the Portugese most of the time between 1510 and 1961, before India reclaimed it.  The Portugese influence is what makes Goa a unique and popular tourist destination. And there were a lot of tourists from what I could tell, and I wasn't even there during the peak season.  A lot of the tourists were Indian, but I did see a lot of North Americans and Europeans as well and from what I could tell some of them were actual residents.  Just so we are clear, Goa is actually a State in India and the capital is Panaji - which is where I stayed. 

The receptionist at work arranged the flights and the hotel for me.  The hotel was a little odd, certainly not as nice as where I am staying, but it was near the edge of town in the middle of a construction area with half finished buildings all around and a gravel road leading up to the hotel.  I very much enjoyed Panaji, mostly because I felt safe walking around the streets and where most of the streets actually had sidewalks. Since I have not had the opportunity too much in Bangalore to just go exploring on my own, I was very happy to spend most of the weekend doing just that.  My main game was to walk around with my map and try to see if I could get around without looking at it. After getting kind of lost on the first night, I was pretty good about getting myself around after that.   So Friday night, Saturday night and most of Sunday was spent just walking and exploring the town.  Miramar was a good beach about a 45 minute walk from my hotel.

Saturday morning I decided that I should try to see more of the area and more of the many many beaches.  I had thoughts about renting a scooter or even hiring a taxi for the day, but in the end signed on for a bus tour that would take me to several of the beaches and a few other things as well.  I thought it would be better to have some company than spending the day (and the weekend) by myself.  The first stop after picking everyone up at the various hotels was to get gas!  The taxi driver from the Goa airport did the same thing...  Don't they understand that they should fill up before they get passengers?  Anyway off we went and the next thing we did was drive to Coco beach and then jump on a boat.  The boat ride was very pleasant but chasing the dolphins I could have done without.  I ended up hanging out for the day with Varun, a young software developer and his parents.  I think he wanted the company so he didn't have spend all day with his parents alone.  His parents were actually very nice and and I enjoyed spending part of the day with them. So the rest of the day was spent driving around North Goa and looking at the little towns and stopping at a few beaches. The last beach - Calangute (see picture above) was the biggest and busiest beach and a bunch of us jumped in the water at this beach as we spent over 1.5 hours there. The water was unbelievably warm and looked very clean and I had a blast playing in the surf. 

 On Saturday when I was standing on one of the many beaches we went to, my phone rang?!  Not too many people know my cell number so I answered not sure who was on the other end.  It was Nandini, my receptionist who organized my trip.  She was frantic and wanted to know if I was OK.  She had received a text message from my hotel saying that I had not checked in.  Well I had checked in and everything was fine, but she did not know that and was worried that something had happened to me. She had called the airport to make sure I had actually gotten on my flight and had called the hotel again to see if they knew anything and apparently they did not confirm that I had indeed checked in and was seen alive and well.  It is too bad that she had to go through all of that, but it was nice to know that if something had happened to me, it would not have gone by unnoticed.

I did not end up taking many pictures as the battery in my camera died on Saturday, but at least I got a few!  I also didn't run while I was there, it was too hot for that for starters and I felt I was attracting enough attention as it was by just walking around.   If I would have stayed longer I would have found a beach to run on and also rented a scooter like a lot of the other tourists that I saw.  I can see why so many people come to this area for holidays.  Panaji has been the nicest place in India I have seen so far;  picturesque, fairly clean (by India standards), safe and of course by lots of water.

Mysore

Mysore is about 200K away, but takes over 3 hours to get to because of the traffic. First we had to drive clear across Bangalore city which took an hour in itself. I was told that Mysore is also a must do visit - so off I went this Saturday morning. My driver suggested a 7:00 am start to beat the heavy traffic. I am sure he would have liked to have left earlier, but this was the earliest I had gotten up since I arrived here, so I think he knew not to push it. Plus I have been sick for the last few days and was not willing to get up any earlier. I woke up on Wedensday feeling absolutly fine, but a couple of hours into my work day I felt absolutly horrible. It is just a cold, but it started in my chest which is a little unusual for me. I was having trouble breathing, and then could not stop coughing. Today, my breathing is better and coughing has subsided a little, and it has moved into my sinuses now. Was feeling a little better when I woke up, so I decided that I was well enough for an outing - besides, it was mostly spent driving there and back and I figured getting away from the air pollution here would be good for me.

After Bangalore, Mysore is the second largest city in the province, but unlike Bangalore and it's high-techiness, Mysore apparently still has some old world charm - there are no Aon offices!. Upon arriving to Mysore, we went straight up Chamundi hill where there is a temple that looks over the city. I looked around a bit and even walked into the temple - it did not do much for me I must admit as it was fairly croweded and I wasn't sure of the protocol. So didn't hang around there long. On the way down made a short stop to take a picture of Nandi, Shiva's Bull which was carved from a solid rock of granite in 1659.

We then made it to the Mysore Palace, which I was told I had to see and walk through. They would not let me take any pictures inside the palace, but got quite a few shots of the outside. My entry fee incuded an english recorded commentary of the palace, but I won't bore you with the historical details - most of which I have already forgotten! It was nice to walk through - of course they make you take off your shoes so I can attest to the nice floors!

It was only 1:30 pm by the time I was done with the palace and Naryanan suggested that we go and visit Brindavan gardens. He already knows that I would rather walk around outside than go shopping or more museums! The gardens were another 20k outside of the city on the down stream of a dam. The gardens are well planned and have well maintained lawns, innumerable pools and fountains. It was not busy at all when I was there, but at night it supposidly is very busy as the gardens are transformed into a kind of fairy land when the concealed lights near the flower beds and fountains are turned on and add a new dimension to the garden.   So after almost 13 hours after I left this morning, I made it back to the hotel safe and sound and no worse for wear...

Bannerghatta National Park

I was feeling a little cooped up after this past week and needed to get outside and away from the office and the hotel. After talking with people at the hotel and the office I decided this national park was the best bet. I was told that it was about 45 minutes away from the hotel on the outskirts of the city. It took the driver almost 2 hours to get there. Perhaps he didn't take me on the most direct route or I was mislead on the distance? I didn't mind too much as I still enjoy seeing the city streets as we drive through.

We finally made it to the Park and I paid the $150INR to get the grand safari tour - about $4! The grand safari tour included a bus drive through the park to see lions and tigers and other native Indian animals. I was ushered onto a bus and felt lucky to get the last seat at the front, next to the driver with unobstructive views out of the front and side windows. The tour took about an hour and sure enough we saw different types of deer, bears (Asian black bears), lions, and tigers, including white tigers.

The lions and white tigers were sleeping as it was the middle of the day, so didn't get to see them up and about but we did see them sleeping close by.
The animals all looked healthy and well taken care of which was nice to see. After the tour was over, I was made to realize why I was given the best seat on the bus. Everyone got off the bus first, and as I was getting off, I was held back and told I had to provide a tip! No one else had to which kind of irked me, but since I had the best seat and the driver did take a couple of the pictures for me with my camera, I gave him an additional $150INR. He wanted more, but I refused and had to practically push my way off.

I then went into the attached zoo where they had a surprising amount of other animals. I spent another hour and a half waking around looking at snakes, crocodiles, monkeys, birds, elephants, and more. It was just nice to relax and wander around outside. I could have taken a ride on an elephant, but felt I could live without that experience and I think the elephants could too as they did not look that thrilled with their occupation. Unfortunately the animals here did not look as well taken care of. Their cages were mostly small and bare and not really all that secure. It would be so easy to jump into the hippo or crocodile pens. I guess Indian people have a lot more sense than North Americans and Europeans - or it is an easy, cheap way to feed them!

Made it to India!

Got into Bangalore just before 2:00am - about 24 hours after leaving Vancouver. My driver as promised was there to greet me and whisk me off to the hotel.. Actually the airport is about an hour away from the hotel so I didn't really feel whisked!

I was pretty tired from travelling for 24 hours without much sleep, but managed to notice that even though the traffic was quite light, for that time of the night at least, my driver had to concentrate on his driving more than answer all of my questions. The drivers (mostly trucks at that time) like to drive in between lanes and about 25% of them did not have any back lights! Did see quite a few of the wild dogs I was warned about roaming around. They actually don't look that wild, just homeless and harmless, but then again I didn't get to close to them.

Have now slept for a bit and am off to go wander. Probably won't wander too far today, just get myself acclimatized to the heat and humidity. The hotel is on the outskirts of an industrial park. There are some shops around which I will go check out and perhaps use the pool and fitness facilities later.