South India Travel and Accommodation Details, Jan. 20 - March 27 2008

cristos7

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been promoted to the Articles section. You can read the article in its entirety here:

South India Travel and Accommodation Details, Jan. 20 - March 27 2008

rebeccam

I'm reacting to your thread as your partner did to the Kathakali dance.
As a later-this-year traveler to some of those places, and a member of the same generation as you, i am fascinated, awed, and tickled by your trip report. Amazing!
THANK YOU!!!!

andyanderson

Most amazing travel writing read so far. I am on my way to South Asia. Your descriptions and impressions are extremely valuable to me.
Thanks,

vandy

Interesting & fascinating Reading not only for
First Timers, Thanks for Sharing.

I constantly Advise(Warn) First time travellers to
India to Keep travel to a Minimum UNLESS they have
a lot of time on their side.Too many try and do too much in a very short period of time and Leave India Exhausted and hence some negative Memories.

There are also many,many travellers who SWEAR they
will NEVER RETURN after their first trip,only to
Make numerous Return Journeys.

vandy

brownboy66

just beauuuuutiful! fantastic write up of a great trip.....

thank you.

__________________
"the last meal is history - its the next one that's important" - Garfield (the cat)
IndiaMike Mod Team.... just some plonker with access to the mod tools

Tobias

Thank you for this thorough, informative and well-written post! It is much appreciated and helpful for someone contemplating going to South India for the first time.

theyyamdancer

Brilliant post! The Kathakali part was amazing... is she OK now?

Jean-Philipe

One of the very best posts I have read on IndiaMike.

Thanks especially for the recommendation of Ashtamudi Home Stay in Alleppey. It sounds like a great place to stay. And also TM Lodge in Madurai.


Trivandrum to Madurai by overnight bus -- uugghh! Take the train: 728 Kollam to Madurai passenger leaves Trivandrum at 20:20 and arrives Madurai at 05:20. Sleeper (Rs 100) and First Class non-AC (Rs 370).


"Instead of back-tracking to Madurai and then taking the train through Bangalore to Mysore (16 hours) I chose to take the "shorter" and more direct route via bus through Combiatore."

Kodaikkanal to Mysore by bus -- another uugghh! Much more comfortable to take the train, even if it takes a bit longer. It won't be so bad in a couple of years when they finish the road construction in the Nilgiri Hills, but right
now it's pretty awful.


"Virtually all of the English language signs in India are misspelled as a polite way of saying f**k you to the English."

Brilliant observation and insight. I didn't realize it was deliberate!

__________________
It's all part of the adventure of travelling!

cristos7

... and yes, my partner has recovered from her exposure to Kathakali;-) (She was braced for but unfazed by a Kathakali DVD we watched recently; guess you gotta be there;-D

And while I do heartily recommend the alternative train travel advised by a previous poster for trips to Madurai from Trivandrum and Kodaikanal to Mysore, booking train travel during anything other than (possibly) the monsoon season is often a *double* uuugghhh in itself;-(

Namaste, Happy Trails, Que te vaya bien,

Chris

snonymous

Very interesting write up - for first timers and for local residents. Im intrigued at how anyone could get so affected by a Kathakali performance. Was it the heat and humidily, or was it truly a 'mesmerising' effect?

nishanthe

Really interesting as well as informative. Although Tamilnadu and Kerala are similar to Sri Lanka (Where I am living).. this article pushes me to travel to this part of the India.
Thank you

__________________
Sri Lanka Tourism

cristos7

re the Kathakali: it was NOT the heat or humidity (and mind you this was not a 12, 24 or 36 HOUR ceremonial showing...)

You're welcome nishanthe.

And re the misspelled signs: while they *may* not have been deliberately misspelled, failing to correct the misspelling certainly *is* deliberate...

abhi76

Dear Christos

Thank you for a very frank, informative and entertaining piece. I took 12 of my European friends for a north Indian trip last year and the variation in what they liked/disliked, what they felt was amazing for me to see as an Indian. And you are dead right on the bit where you say that even tourists who swear by never going again, do so repeatedly. Not only are most of those guys coming back to India to visit my home town of Calcutta in November, a couple of them were actually swearing and cursing the last time for 95% of the trip.

I am going to Alleppey and Munnar for my honeymoon and so I read the Alleppey bit quite closely. I am planning to stay, not in the center but more towards the northern end of the town, in the outskirts. Would you by any chance know if thats a good idea? Again, this was recommended by the Rough Guide, but from what you say, I shouldn't be relying on that. The LP has proved quite consistent in their recommendations for me in the past for many parts of the world, but I don't know why I went for the RG this time....

Once again, great article and very well written. Did you by any chance record the writings on the back of the trucks?? You'll see an amazing variety of spellings - usually of only one word: Danger (or Dengar or Denger or....)

Best
Abhi.