stuck in madurai

theinsomniac

hi everybody
right now i'm in madurai and i wonder where to go from here...it's really a nice place, not too hectic, good atmosphere...i have seen it now however and i wonder where to go from here...i have two more weeks in india and i am not sure whether i should include a backwater trip at this time of the year...any experiences? i could otherwise head straight for mysore....and apart from that, what is there to see in kodaikanal? ah yes, if anyone's around here at the moment and would like to meet up, just let me know....thx in advance...
cheers

Alan D

I would say a trip on the backwaters is not to be missed. You can just take a day trip which stops at a couple of places for food and drinks.

If you haven't been to an Indian hill station then Kodai is a good choice. It hasn't grown the way some other places have, like Ooty or Shimla and is a really pleasant town to walk around. There's a good choice of hotels and restaurants and some scenic walks with great views-- if it's not raining that is! But then again, we had some spectacular thunder-storms there.

archits

yes,and you should go to kerala - somuchto see there . move up to thanjavur and kumbakonam and thiruvannamalai.....have yu been to pondy ?

theinsomniac

yeah, i've come down that way...doing a roundtrip from chennai to chennai and went down here to madurai via mamallapuram, pondy, chidambaram, thanjavur, etc....the greatest thing about temples so far definitely was the friday night puja at the nataraja temple in chidambaram...a little bit different from the pious kind of service you can witness at a catholic church maybe
okay i guess i'll check the weather reports...if it looks too dodgy, i go to mysore and leave out kerala...i still hope i can find some company...i found out that it's much more enjoyable to discover things when you have someone to talk about it....hey archits...who was that guy yet with the business idea on thorn tree? the one for the lonely backpacker hearts...maybe i was wrong and it's pretty much a promising idea after all...
cya

Midnite Toker

I believe there is a direct bus from Madurai to Kumily, the village which is a gateway to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. The area is rather confusingly called Thekkady. This is a "not to be missed" destination in Kerala, IMHO. Have a day or two watching wildlife (tigers might be harder to spot in the wet, but birds, butterflies and elephants are plentiful), and take a boat trip on the big lake (it's cooler up there). If you can afford it, stay at one of the hotels right in the Sanctuary. Continue by bus from Kumily on to Ernakualm.

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Snowy

If you get to Mysore and have money to burn try staying at the Green Hotel. Its a couple of miles from town but if you get one of the rooms in the main house its pure luxury. The building is an old summer palace and is run as a charity to train staff in hotel management. Evening meals are taken out on the lawn, food is great and staff excellent.
It cost about Rp1400 a night but having subjected my girlfriend to the nightmare "Palace on wheels" sleeper bus journey from Goa a couple of days earlier it was money well spent !!!

Barry

Kumily (or Thekady or Lake Periyar) is not to be missed, Lonely planet plays it down and makes it look average.. I think they don't want to turn it into a horrible tourist town like they have done to some other places.

The coffee inn is a good place to stay, quiet and overlooking the jungle. I stayed there a couple of weeks and managed to get some work done, now I only wish I could find the time to get some more done and break from these slave chains.

Alan D

Agree with Midnite Toker and Barry, Periyar is a great place to visit. Unless you stay in one of huts out on the reserve, wild elephants will only be seen at a distance but there are many species of birds in the park as well as otters and the giant tree squirrel ( well, not really giant but much bigger than the average tree squirrel).

The hotels in the park were all full when we were there but we stayed in Kumily and walked into the park each day.

buddha

dear insomaniac

from madurai travel by road to thekkady which houses the periyar wildlife sanctuary. Elephants tigers (ofcourse very rare) dears, bisons etc will be a visual treat for u. a boat ride and the cool climate will ofcourse kindle ur romance to this place.from there u could also visit a village in tamil nadu which is an hour by jeep for the bullock cart ride. Stay I recommend spice village for an over night stay and that is the best.

from there travel 110 kms by road to the coconut lagoon a resort on the back water of kumarakom. that is the most romantic resorts in the state of kerala and the staff like in the spice village are the best that u can come across. they have the best seafoods platter served there. Speak to Mr Dinu who is the lobby manager the best bargain u can get for the money u pay there. Pls also note that both spice village and coconut lagoon belongs to the cghearth experience group of hotels.

further after a two day stay at the lagoon either board in to a house boat to lazy out on the vembanad back water lake or drive off to cochin the city that will host u for the best of history in christianity and jewish religions. stay for a couple of days and take off from cochin to any city that will put u on the international flight to any where in the world

sny other clarifications pls feel free to write to me at rakki05@gmail.com

see u have fun
buddha

fsg

Great. He had 2 weeks left in 2002. Did he miss the return flight.
Still all the info goes into the big melting pot for others to access. and enjoy India

Sama

good catch, fsg! I wonder if he ever took everyone's advice?

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