To try to capture what may happen in a typical trip between one Indian city and another, I thought to outline the typical 10 steps which may occur during a journey for me. As an example, I’m using Monday’s 10 hour bus journey from the hill station of Conoor, transfer at Coimbature, and [...]
Archive for November, 2008
My Ten Steps to an Indian Travel Destination
Posted in My Travels, tagged bus travel in India, Madurai hotels, Madurai temples on November 29, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I’m not near Mumbai
Posted in My Travels, tagged Mumbai attacks on November 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Thanks to the many of you who have either emailed or phoned family members to express your concern about my whereabouts after hearing about the terrorists attacks in Mumbai. I’m fine and far, far away from Mumbai. One hour plane ride, 19 hours train ride, and at least 14 bus hours at the very least [...]
Hampi’s Vitalla Temple photos
Posted in Uncategorized on November 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This post just has a few additional photos from Hampi’s Vittala Temple. I didn’t include them in the earlier blog because it was taking forever to upload all the photos from the other blog entries that day.
The Vittala Temple is considered the highlight of the Hampi ruins because it is so well preserved and [...]
Hiking in the hills of Ooty
Posted in My Travels, tagged hiking in India, Ooty, trekking in India on November 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Waking up to Ooty’s misty rain, damp winds, and low lying fog confused my coffee deprived mind. No, I wasn’t in Seattle anymore but in one of India’s old hill stations to do some “trekking” and to breathe cooler air for a few days. The mid-afternoon average temperature drop from the lower plains’ [...]
Mysore’s Chamundi Hill Excursion
Posted in My Travels, tagged Chamundi Hill, Mysore on November 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If I were a Hindu pilgrim, I would have gladly trudged up the 1,200 steps to Mysore’s famous 12th century temple with a solid gold idol inside, but as a tourist, my Chamundi Hill trip was completely different.
For instance, I took the local bus to the top of one of India’s eight most sacred mountains. [...]
Other Hampi photos
Posted in My Travels, tagged babas, Hampi, Hampi boat ride on November 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
About the other pictures of local life in Hampi:
the black, circular boat is from a river ride that we took after a hard bargaining session. After talking with our “captain” during the trip, we ended up tipping him to the total that he originally had asked for in the beginning. Hard to begrudge a dollar [...]
Elephant Encounters
Posted in Uncategorized on November 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hampi’s 15th century Virupasksha Temple looks like many other famous Hindu pilgrimage sites except in the inner courtyard, where an Asian elephant named Laxshmi benignly gives her blessings. She gently picks up a one rupee coin with her almost prehensile end of her trunk, drops the coin off into the waiting hand of her [...]
The story behind the pictures of Hampi ruins
Posted in My Travels, tagged Hampi, Indian ruins on November 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In the 15th to the 17th century, Hampi was the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history and the home of more than 500,000 people. The nobility and subsequent kings built huge palaces in the surrounding area using the giant granite boulders as natural fortifications or building materials. Using [...]
Sounds of the morning in India
Posted in Uncategorized on November 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The sounds which wake you up in India are far different than the ones in the typical American city. Roosters, which don’t crow three times at dawn’s light and call it a day, start about an hour before and can crow every few minutes for an hour or until their throat sounds scratchy. [...]
The Indian Beach Experience
Posted in Uncategorized on November 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
After an unpromising start to my India sojourn in Mumbai/Bombay, I impetuously decided to fly to Goa as soon as possible and make my onwards travel plans from there. The laid back, foreigner dominated beaches of Goa – where many backpackers start or end their Indian trip and some just start and end there because [...]
