And cue the sun

It's our second full day at Yondah and as with any god holiday I am only just clearing away the cobwebs of sleep at 10:30am after almost 12 hours of sleep. I was crow-barred out of bed by Bec and Jedi both champing to go for a walk; when I finally did muster the fortitude to rise, the sun ducked behind a cloud and sideways sleeting rain took its place. But now, thirty minutes later, the sun has reappeared and a walk beckons.

I imagine today might now be a carbon copy of yesterday, now that it looks like we'll be blessed with sun for most of the day. Yesterday we spent our time either chasing or hiding from the sun - it was bizarre weather, with a cool breeze that was easily defeated by a blazing-hot sun, but the breeze alone was cold. Even the sun became too strong at times, so we moved between decks as needed. At one stage when a balance couldn't be struck, I gave up on the outside world and retired inside with a Pale to watch The A Team, which was ridiculous but fun.

I did get semi-active once during the day, taking my dodgy ankles and toes down the evil goat track to Yondah's private beach with Jedi. He of course had no issue racing down the insane decline and I could see him hunting for a stick while I was still only half way down to him. The water was ice cold but it didn't stop Jedi racing in there to retrieve his stick - although it didn't take him long to work out that the tide would do half his work for him. The cold, salty water somehow also helped relieve the pain in my feet so we ended up staying until the tide began threatening my bag of valuable electronics (of course I had to take the video camera to record Jedi's frolics; I would include one here but as an appalling video recorder it's both too long and of inadequate quality to justify placing here).

The sun is now beckoning me outside so I shall wind up.

Yondah II - The Return to Paradise

His two cents:

I've been waiting for this pretty much since we last locked the doors of this gorgeous place behind us. Bec had purchased the return trip as a Christmas present in 2009 (probably as much to shut me up about it as to secure a good time to visit, given how heavily booked this place is becoming), and I'd been counting down the days since.

If you've got no idea what I'm talking about, Yondah is a self-contained holiday home on the far south coast of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula.  I say 'home' advisedly, as to call it a shack would be like calling Bill Gates 'kinda well off'. This place has, to use the cliche, all the mod-cons - reverse cycle a/c, fully equipped kitchen, three bedrooms, a super comfortable lounge room with stupendous views over rocky outcrops that separate lush farmland from Investigator Strait.

Most importantly, it's pet friendly, meaning Jedi gets a week of jovial, bounding freedom followed by nights on his bed in air conditioned comfort. (Sadly for the cats, as poor travelers, it means a week isolated in the Adelaide house, with kindly visits from our good friend and neighbour Rachacia.).

As always, getting here was NOT half the fun. In fact, the getting here contributed almost no real joy to the holiday. In actual fact (what does that mean anyway?), it was a bit of a debacle. We ran far behind our intended departure time as I'd overslept and spent more time catching up on work I should have done in the week prior than preparing, and was still very much in my usual state of morning filth when Bec got home from a very early visit to Buzz (her horse). I pulled my act together, but we still managed to leave almost two hours later than intended. We also had to stop at the chemist (my fault) and bottleshop (my fault) and to get fuel and check the tyres (the car's fault) meaning it was about two when we were finally under full steam. Determined to defeat the night we drove through the 2.5-3 hour journey.

Apart from our usual entertainment at Jedi's joy at seeing farm animals along the way (he reserves a set of special faces for these moments - cleverly referred to as 'cow face', 'sheep face' or 'horse face' depending on the livestock in question) the journey was uneventful. We had the usual consternation over directions, largely because I only saw signs as we passed them, meaning we took the usual, less direct path to get here, but one which maximises the use of sealed roads.

Despite one ill-advised traverse via a dodgy dirt road we made it here in one piece and promptly unloaded our grossly excessive inventory. We took our exploding dog for a walk along the ridge above the beach, where he tried to convince us, despite chilling winds and descending sun, that it was a good time to go down to our private beach. We weren't tempted by the notion of struggling back up the goat track that leads down to our little beach enclave in the dark and instead headed back to a spot of reading, a pumpkin and bacon pasta and a quiet night in front of the TV.

Today is off to a very slow start - for me at least. I slept from about 10 till well after 8 (when Bec set off the fire alarm with steam from the shower) and have managed a measly 15 minutes of exercise. Bec on the other hand has been for a run with Jedi, which entertained him no end no doubt as he would have ran 3km for each of hers.

The day now beckons a great deal of not much; we haven't seen the sun yet, but that allows for a quiet day of reading, eating and sleeping. I can live with that.

Home again

It is with much relief that we make our final report from the comfort of our own home, with our own bed, own shower and tap water that is not only sanitary, but drinkable even. Not that we haven't enjoyed the holiday, but coming home is always the best part of the holiday!

Nothing much to report from yesterday really - Changi airport is like Disneyland, with no shortage of things to do. After a terrible breakfast/lunch of microwaved quiche and beef pie, we signed up for the free Singapore tour, which was quite underwhelming. The two hour tour (which ended up being one hour and ten minutes, plus 45 minutes stuffing around in the airport before leaving) took us on a 'cultural' tour of the city in which we only got off the bus once to look in a Chinese Buddhist temple. The rest of the tour was simply driving around the city, which was admittedly quite beautiful, but severely lacking in culture (the tour that is, not the city). Nevertheless, it did get us out of the airport for a short time.

We had the option of taking a free shuttle bus back into the city after the tour, which we did consider doing so we could actually see a few things, but unfortunately the tour bus had to take us all the way back to the airport and then we'd have to go back in. Considering George had been nodding off in the bus as it was, we decided against this option.

We dribbled away the rest of the day wandering around the airport, looking at duty free options, buying alcohol, considered buying a camera but ended up not doing it, ate quite good ramen noodles for dinner, lay around in the hotel room, then checked out and waited for our flight.

The flight was uncomfortable but tolerable and we're very glad to be home and with our animals again. Some final reflections on the India experience - as with any country, there was plenty of good and plenty of bad. Some of the positive things:

• The Indian head waggle. This endearing gesture, done mostly by men, seems to mean anything from 'yes, that's OK' to 'I like you' or 'you're funny' or pretty much anything positive.
• India is definitely a country on the move - you can feel it, more so than any other Asian country we've been to. While there's still plenty of poverty, there's also a shitload of prosperity, innovation and development going on.
• The food is completely awesome - even better than we expected, and it seemed that the cheaper it was, the better and more authentic. We both have an even greater appreciation for vegetarian food, given how much of it we ate. It seems there are infinite ways to prepare vegetables and they are generally far better than meat. Also, the seafood on the coast, particularly in Goa, was mind-blowingly good. I will dream of that Tandoori pomfret on Palolem beach for many years to come.
• The way traffic just works despite the appearance of utter chaos. I certainly wouldn't brave it, but you have to admire the fact that when millions of people are trying to get somewhere at the same time, horns are literally used out of consideration and there is absolutely no aggro whatsoever.
• Most people seem happy and easy-going. As above, no one gets angry...despite the frenetic activity, everyone moves at a steady pace.
• Goa. Loved it.

The not so good:

• India is still a very patriarchal society, and travelling there as a woman is not as simple as it is for a man. Everywhere we went the men would address George and pretty much ignore me altogether. He was served food and drinks first, doors were opened for him, the works. It wasn't intentional, but it was hard to get used to. The only place I was treated as an equal was at the Taj Malabar, where I'm sure the staff are rigorously trained on how westerners expect to be treated.
• Following the above point, Indian men are not shy about openly staring at western women. Everywhere we went I had men staring right at me, even waiters in restaurants while we were eating.
• The gap between poverty and prosperity is stark, and I think it's only getting wider. The middle and upper classes are flashy in their wealth. We saw one particularly nauseating billboard in Bangalore advertising a new apartment complex with the slogan: 'It's not how you live that matters, it's where you live'. Ugh.
• The persistence of tour operators, auto rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, etc, of taking you to shops that you've said countless times that you're not interested in. We got so worn down by it that we literally bought no products or souvenirs other than the attars (sorry everyone) because we wanted no part of it. And going on the Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia example, most of it is cheap crap that was made in China anyway.

Well, that's pretty much it. Not wanting to end on a down note, India was a great place to visit and was nowhere near as full on and scary as we'd expected. If we do go back we'll probably make a beeline for Goa and spend a week or two around there. This holiday has made us come to the realisation that we're no longer intrepid travellers wanting the 'authentic' (read: manufactured tourist trap) experience. We like going to places that are set up to western hygiene expectations - it doesn't have to be anything fancy (in fact our one five star experience was actually pretty ordinary), but just clean, hygienic and with a big supply of bottled water!

Until our next holiday...thanks for reading :)

Killing dead time on the countdown to home

Stage one

We’re currently waiting in the elaborately-decorated lobby of the Taj Malabar Hotel on the furthermost point of Willingdon Island, one of the three islands – and an artificial one at that – that comprise Cochin. We’re winding down part one of several episodes of waiting that will make up our return journey.

Before I bring you up to date on what we have in front of us, let’s go back 24 hours. We finally got our swim in the so-called infinity pool, so called because of the illusion that the water line of the pool meets the line of the sea.

It was a very hot day, so the cooling swim was welcomed. Tiring from the exertions, we returned to our rooms and changed for lunch. After our (once again average and grossly overpriced) lunch (a ‘Mediterranean’ pizza, which apparently means tinned olives, and that’s pretty much it), we once again adjourned to our room. This one was truly worth spending some time in – a king-sized bed, two bay windows, both looking onto the sea, air conditioning and all the trimmings. We sat around doing nothing of note:

until we decided the time had come to move some blood into our limbs, so we headed to the bar, of course. Still gun-shy of beer I joined Bec in a cocktail – I had an old favourite, a Harvey Wallbanger, and she a Mai Tai. We then concluded the night with the best meal at this hotel, and the cheapest, at the Thai Pavilion. Back in the room I toyed with the idea of watching Armageddon, but sleep took over.

Sleep had me in its clutches for a long time, and we both slept past nine. Instead of rushing to take advantage of the day we both sat around playing Solitaire, like the radical elements we are.

We finally wrested ourselves from the room around 11 and took the ferry to Jew Town, as the name suggests an area of Jewish worship and trade from old times, which is now more a tourist trap.

Tiring of this we took the next ferry to Fort Cochin. We saw a lunch-wallah delivering shitloads of lunch tiffins to workers on the island we were staying on:

At Fort Cochin we walked along the top of the island to find a restaurant highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. We found it after a parching walk, and enjoyed a healthy, hearty vegetarian lunch. With time already against us we rushed back toward the ferry, stopping briefly to look in a bookshop and to snap some photos in a desperate attempt to compensate for our awe-inspiring lameness in not getting to the Fort prior – the architecture is beautiful, there’s plenty of places to stay, eat and drink, and in hindsight we’re kicking ourselves we didn’t stay there. Oh well.

And the requisite funny sign photos – we declined stopping for soft drings:

And if the food is crap, never fear, the Lilly Grace will MAKE you enjoy it.

Anyhow, our combined slowness and delays meant we missed the bloody ferry and with the aid of some extremely confusing advice from the exceptionally unhelpful ferry ticketing staff, I spat the dummy, and stood around in a sulky strop, waiting for the next ferry. I was cranky because our well-laid plan – to have an hour plus to shower, pack and check out – was cut back to 40 minutes. On reflection, it wasn’t really the sinking of the Titanic, but I admit I am prone to slight over-reactions from time to time.

We have since completed the aforementioned plan, with the only contingency being the local tour operator turning up at 3:45pm – to pick us up for an 11:45pm flight! When he drove to the reception area to pick us up, we asked why we were leaving so early; he got on the phone to his boss, told us he was waiting for a call back and has since driven away, leaving us with limited knowledge of what is to happen next. Last we heard he was waiting outside the hotel gates (security is very tight here, being part of the same hotel chain attacked in last year’s terrorist attack), ostensibly still for that call. But we figure he’s going to just wait there until we’re ready – which by my reckoning is another two hours. Bizarre. Oh well, we’re prepared – we have books, water, snacks and the computer, and we’re currently enjoying watching the staff move in a family that arrived with a quantity of luggage that would ground a herd of packhorses. Classic. That’s it for now – if the battery holds out and we’ve got anything to say we might report again from Singapore.

Stage 2

We’re now hanging out in the transit hotel room in Singapore airport. This room may end up costing us almost as much as the Taj Malabar, but right now it seems worth it after a flight that began at midnight last night and got in at 6.30am Singapore time. George snored through most of the flight but I only managed about 20 minutes towards the end, so we were walking zombies by the time we got here.

We crashed out for about three hours or so before a refreshing shower and a decidedly crap breakfast/lunch. We’re now killing a bit of time before we take the free Singapore tour at 3 o’clock. Waiting is never fun, but it’s certainly a lot more bearable with a comfortable bed, private shower and free wi-fi. At some stage before our 11.30pm flight we’ll do the requisite duty free shopping, but right now we’re just resting and feeling thankful that we don’t have to sit out in uncomfortable airport chairs for 18 hours.

Rest and recuperation, river style

Day 1

We’re somewhere in the Kerala backwaters. You could say we’re wonderfully lost, because we don’t really care where we are and we literally have nothing to do. The two-night houseboat tour commenced around midday after a slightly frightening drive from Cochin to Alleppey and a couple of debacles involving waiting, something we’re not accustomed to given the overall efficiency of our tour operator. While waiting for the boat to arrive we had time to become concerned about the quality of our quarters and the class of our travelling colleagues. Our worries were misplaced as the boat is very comfortable and we have it to ourselves with the exception, bizarrely, of three staff.

We have a host, a driver and a chef, although all three share responsibilities. Soon after leaving we stopped at a small riverside fish market where the chef picked up some pomfret for our lunch. Not long after, when we were back in motion again, we began to smell delicious cooking smells coming from the back of the boat, and we soon stopped at a micro-coconut plantation (where a couple of blokes were gathering sap for fenni, a fiery coconut liqueur) to eat. We have a little dining table on the boat, and this was almost covered in food: three different types of vegetables cooked with fried coconut – cabbage, beetroot and okra – fried okra in a style reminiscent of bhaji and the pomfret lightly fried in turmeric, chilli powder, masala and lemon juice. It was frickin’ awesome, and I said no word of a lie when I told the chef it was better than the food we had at Taj Malabar. He was probably a touch confused, then, when we made a very poor attempt at eating it all – it was a massive serve and I was still not feeling 100%.

Aside from eating we’ve really done nothing but sit and read, and I’m loving it. The scenery is truly beautiful, and the river is very tranquil. The number of houseboats though is quite surprising – it’s certainly not a unique experience any more. We’re now moored for the evening, right outside a tiny riverside duck farm. When we first arrived there were literally hundreds of ducklings trotting around a little shed which seems dedicated to them. I must confess a brief concern that duck was on the menu for dinner tonight…

Speaking of all things wildlife, we have also spotted our first Kingfishers, other than the beer and airline of the same name. They’re a magnificent-looking bird, with the shape of a small kookaburra and the colours of a rosella, but with very different markings and blue as their dominant colour.

We’re currently just sitting on the boat as the sun – once again huge – sets over coconut palms and awaiting the night to commence.

The boat staff are having a pow-wow with their colleagues from other boats, but the smell of cooking is coming from other boats, so no doubt our chef will be back soon to bring on his next food opus.

Day 2

Our second day on the houseboat was much like our first – we both devoured our books, gazed at the scenery, played cards and ate a veritable shitload of awesome Keralan food. If we come back weighing a few kilos more than when we left, it will probably be due to these couple of days.

The previous night we ate channa dal, chicken curry and fried chicken drumsticks with an enormous bowl of chapattis to scoop it all up with. Once again it was delicious. Once night fell the bugs descended, which was not so great, along with a whole heap of geckos. We started watching a movie on the laptop, but soon gave up and went to our bedroom, only to discover an absolutely enormous bug that looked like a cockroach but was actually a flying beetle of some sort. It was so big that when it flew across the room and landed on the opposite wall it made loud skittering noises. We were not amused, and not much sleep was had that night.

The following morning we awoke to find that there was no hot water, so we had very quick and unsatisfying cold showers before emerging to a beautiful morning and steaming cups of masala chai. But it didn’t end there – to our delight, we were served up an egg curry for breakfast, accompanied by rice noodles and more chai. It was magnificent.

Breakfast out of the way, we settled down to some serious reading. George read an entire book in one day while I polished off the second half of my 600 page book. In between snatches of reading George drove the boat for a while:

The backwaters are lined with beautiful colourful buildings and a surprising number of Christian churches considering the area is predominantly Hindu. Probably stinking missionaries, but at least the buildings are nice.

The deck of the houseboat was very clean and with comfortable chairs to lounge on while watching the world go by. These houseboats are a huge trade in the area – there was almost always at least one within sight, of varying sizes and quality:

The pace of life here is very slow and everything is based around the water – everywhere you go people are fishing, washing their clothes or their hair, or ferrying people back and forth across the channels:

It’s a very tranquil and peaceful place to be. If we’d been any more relaxed we’d be comatose:

Our crew were a jolly bunch, always singing and laughing together:

We had another awesome lunch of fried river fish with various bowls of delicious vegetables and rice. And then all too soon the sun was setting once again and we were served up our dinner – a Chinese-style chicken curry, fried rice and more fried chicken drumsticks.

We slept far better last night (no giant bugs in the room) and the cold shower this morning wasn’t even too bad. This morning was possibly even more beautiful than yesterday, and was highlighted by a huge flock of ducks being herded up the river past our boat:

It was quite an amazing sight to see so many ducks all moving as one – it was literally like a river of ducks.

After a very simple omelette and toast for breakfast, the boat started off once again and after around an hour we reached the end of our trip and farewelled our crew to head back here to the Taj Malabar.

It’s just after midday, so we’ll probably stay here this afternoon and finally get in a swim in the awesome infinity pool (and hopefully get some photos of it to share) and generally lounge around. We fly out tomorrow night at 11.45pm, so during the day we’ll finally go over to Fort Cochin to check that out and hopefully avoid at least one, if not two, expensive meals here.

No doubt we’ll report again tomorrow, if not it’ll be from Singapore where we’ll be stuck for 18 hours.

Best laid plans

Today did not exactly go according to plan. Rather than beginning the day at 7.30 with a revitalising yoga class, we began the day at 2am with George doing a giant yak. And things didn't get much better from there. No sooner had we congratulated ourselves on (almost) getting through India unscathed, George came down with a massive bout of gastro.

Neither of us got a whole lot of sleep, and poor George spent the entire day in the hotel room between bed and the bathroom. I didn't get a whole lot done either, other than reading somewhere between 200-300 pages of various books. I spent the first half of the day in the hotel room being sympathetic before I started going mad and had to get out, so I went outside and sat beside the water and polished off one of my books.

After this I went to one of the restaurants and had a masala dosa for lunch before returning to the hotel room for more sympathy and fell asleep on the divan looking out over the harbour. Around 5 I gently and respectfully coaxed George out of bed and we went and sat near the pool and I had a beer while he had a 7Up and one quarter of a dry piece of toast. We then moved inside to the bar where I had another beer and George sipped on a bottle of water. By the time we were done with that we were well and truly over it so we're now back in the hotel room trying to stay awake until a reasonable hour before we can go to bed.

So not a particularly successful first Valentine's Day as a married couple...

George seems to be on the mend now, although not 100% after eating nothing today and barely keeping down any liquids. Hopefully he should be back to normal tomorrow, since we'll be picked up by the travel dudes at 10 to take us to Alleppey to board our houseboat for the next two nights. It's safe to say that there will be no wi-fi on the boat, so there will be no more entries until the 17th when we return here for our final night in India - and as much as I hate to say it, we're quite looking forward to that! But, we don't want to rush through the last days of our holiday, and I'm sure we'll have a good time. Hopefully on our last day here we'll actually get the chance to get to Fort Cochin and see more than the compound of this very nice but very expensive hotel.

The $25 gin and tonic

Yes, we paid $25 for a gin and tonic. Times two, in fact. And that’s only the beginning to the mega expense that is part of staying at the Taj Malabar.

But first, our final night in Bangalore which, as promised, involved a bar/pub crawl followed by a great big dinner in true Indian style.

We started by going out at around 3 for a late lunch at a tapas place, but once again became completely confused by the outright wrong directions on the map the hotel gave us. By the time we finally found the place, we were hot, thirsty and grumpy, but after a lime and soda, some fairly average tapas and a large bottle of Kingfisher, we were in far better spirits and set out to sample as many of Bangalore’s bars as we could.

First we went to a place called ‘Scottish Pub’, which, surprisingly, sold nothing but jugs of Kingfisher and carafes of no-name ‘claret’.

We had two jugs of beer here before walking on to a place called Koshy’s, which is renowned with travellers – so renowned, in fact, that it was completely full, so we continued on down the bustling Church Street to a crazy bar called Nasa. This place is completely decked out like a spaceship, complete with blue lights, circular doorways and cocktails named after space clichés. The bizarreness of the experience was accentuated by a table of Indian businessmen entertaining Japanese investors, amidst the doof doof and riff raff.

Somewhat overwhelmed by the environment I (George) ‘accidentally’ ordered an entire pitcher of beer to myself:

while Bec, slightly more sensibly, got a cocktail called a Comet – a gin-based number with orange juice and rose syrup. That was tasty. Unsurprisingly I was a tad untidy after pantloads of beer, and with Bec’s support I stumbled down Church Street in search of the ideal eating spot. We settled on Oh! Amritsar, one of several restaurants in a mid-rise building on Church. We started with dodgy local cocktail (mine tasted like toilet, and Bec’s was saltier than an anchovy) and moved onto entrees – mine was a chicken leg stuffed with lamb, and Bec had prawns of some type. The main was gargantuan:

Paneer and spinach dumplings stuffed with mushrooms in a mega-rich tomato-based gravy. Yum. But it was too much, and we stumbled out to argue with an auto-rickshaw driver, who not only gave us the desired price but also let me – highly inadvisably – drive the last few hundred metres. We made it, somehow.

This morning was a hectic rush, but we made it to the airport and, after another uneventful flight, we were met by our tour operators in Kerala. We were driven one and a half hours in great comfort to our super-luxe hotel on Willingdon Island in Cochin, the Taj Malabar. Handing over to Bec now...

This place is absolutely amazing – after putting our bags through their very thorough security system, we were guided to our room, which looks out on the harbour below:

We had a brief rest before going down for lunch in one of the hotel’s four restaurants. The food was about on par with Australian prices, which was a bit of a shock after eating $1-$10 meals for the last couple of weeks, but we decided to not worry about money too much since this is one of our last stops, and it is our honeymoon after all.

We also explored around the grounds, which are literally right on the seafront:

There are some free things here, however. At 5pm we went on the hotel’s complimentary sunset boat cruise around the harbour, which was quite cool. They made us wear dicky lifejackets:

There were heaps of dolphins in the harbour, even closer than those we saw in Goa. We also saw the Chinese cantilevered fishing nets off Fort Cochin:

And returned to the hotel just in time for a great sunset (the photo unfortunately does not do it justice) and a gin and tonic.

And this was where we learned a little more about how expensive it is to stay in such a hotel. Our G&Ts finished, we were shocked when we received a bill for 2000 rupees (around $50). We questioned the bill only to be told that we had been charged a 90% value added tax because it was imported liquor. We were still not satisfied with this explanation, until after several enquiries we discovered that this is a law throughout Kerala, and that somehow we had managed to order double shots rather than singles. A very expensive mistake, but it still smarts a little.

We then had a somewhat cheaper local version of a G&T inside before going to the ‘Rice Boat’ for dinner. Here we had an over-priced bottle of Indian viognier and a couple of very tasty curries – a prawn malabari (with scampi) and fish Alleppey (ground coconut and green mango).

After this we returned to the haven of our hotel room only to discover that our room had been entered while we were gone and we were left some petit fours desserts plus an elephant made out of towels:

We still haven’t dissembled the elephant because he’s so cute.

Internet here is crazy expensive (of course) – around $4 for 30 minutes, so we’re typing up our blog on the computer and then cutting and pasting online as quickly as we can.

Our plan for tomorrow is to begin with a free yoga class on the front lawns, and then go over to Fort Cochin to look around and get at least one cheap meal while we’re here, and then have dinner on the terrace overlooking the sea (there’s an all you can eat seafood buffet every night) especially for Valentine’s Day…awwww.

Gardens, temples and numerous photos with Indian dudes

Today got off to quite a late start (breakfast here is from 7-11, which of course means that we went down at 10.30) with a tasty breakfast at the cottages we're staying at, before the European owner organised an auto-rickshaw to take us around the sites of Bangalore. There are three or four drivers who they trust who charge people 100 rupees per hour (or around $3.50) to take tourists around and wait for them at each place, and our driver proved to be a jolly fellow who only took us to the places we asked and without the usual bamboozling to which we have grown accustomed.

Today happens to be Mahashivatri, one of the most auspicious days of the year, and everyone dresses in their best and goes to visit temples where they may wait in line for up to two hours to go into the temple. There were also many weddings happening all over the city, and it was kind of cool to see everyone happy and celebrating and wearing their most colourful saris.

We started with a visit to Lalbagh Botanic Gardens, which is 240 acres of gardens, complete with lakes, topiaries and big bloody trees:

It was quite a tranquil place amid the noise, chaos and pollution of Bangalore and quite a nice place to stroll around. It even had specific bins for spitting into so as not to spread disease and filth:

Once again we were subjected to many requests from young Indian dudes to be in their photos, so this time we asked them to reciprocate and take a photo of us with them! Note the guy on the left side staring at my rack (something I am kind of getting used to, although not exactly enjoying):

After this our driver took us to the Nandi temple, another giant statue of a black bull. This time we went inside the temple, and it was an interesting experience to watch the devotees touching the statue and then touching their heads, as well as dipping their fingers in powders and oils and smearing it on their hair. While neither of us are remotely religious, we agreed that it is very cool that Hindus show such reverence for animals.

Once we had emerged from the temple we took a stroll around the complex, which included some nice gardens, a lookout and a couple of other temples, along with numerous barefoot Indians drinking chai and eating tasty-looking food.

The driver then took us to Tipu Sultan's Palace, the residence of a Muslim ruler from a bloody long time ago. The entire thing was made of wood, and while not large compared with some of the other palaces we've seen, it was quite grand with enormous pillars and balconies from which the Sultan used to address his minions.

We then went to see Bangalore Palace, and luckily for us our driver advised against actually going in, since it cost something ridiculous like 500 rupees to enter. They do not look kindly on people taking photos of the outside without going in, so the driver drove us as close as we could get without having to pay and we took a couple of photos. The place was modeled on Windsor Castle in England, complete with ivy growing up the walls, and looked somewhat ridiculous standing in the centre of India. Hence we have not bothered including a photo here.

After the requisite 'do you want to stop at a shop to buy pashminas/jewellery' question, which we declined about 15 times before he got the idea, the driver delivered us back to our cottages, where we are having a brief rest before heading out to get some lunch. We're starting to get into the mode of having late meals, since we've discovered that a 7 o'clock dinner is ridiculously early here.

Overall we've had a far better time in Bangalore which, while very polluted, seems a lot better organised and modern than Mysore was. And it's really no surprise since this city was virtually the birthplace of web mail as we know it, the inventor of Hotmail having grown up here. There are numerous bars and restaurants to choose from just within walking distance of where we're staying - the only difficult thing is deciding which to go to!

We head off early tomorrow morning (we're getting picked up at 8 for an 11 o'clock flight, that's how crazy the morning traffic is) to be taken to the airport to fly to Cochin (actually Kochi, but we've long given up on using the correct names of cities since the residents still call them by the English names).

We'll be staying at the Taj Malabar, which we've been told is the best hotel in India, even better than the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai (and half the price). The hotel is a luxury resort on an island just off the mainland. It's the most expensive place we'll be staying, but we decided we should live it up a bit for our last stay.

We'll be there for two nights and will then go on a houseboat around the Kerala backwaters for another two nights before returning to the Taj Malabar for our final night in India.

Back to civilization

Oh well, drunk again.

Today has been quite unproductive, with the exception that we made it from Mysore to Bangalore. We really did SFA this morning; we slept in, had breakfast and packed - and took 8:30am until 1:30pm to achieve that much. The only thing of note for the morning was the aforementioned band playing school back to class.

The train trip was genuinely uneventful too. Despite what we'd heard, first class really was quite good. We got fed, the seats were spacious and comfortable and it didn't stink. The only downside was being ripped off by porters taking our bags to the train for a ludicrous 100 rupees. We have since determined to carry our own bags, which has already confused the crap out of a few people.

Our latest accommodation is comfortable and well located near the heart of the city. We got dropped here by our tour company, who got lost on the way, and had a beer while waiting for our check in to be finalised. Ironically, the only beer available was Foster's - and it actually wasn't too bad.

Soon after settling in we realised we hadn't eaten anything substantial since breakfast and got ourselves lost on the way to the main eating and drinking centre. After a few dangerous road crossings we found our way to Mahatma Gandhi Road, and made our way to one of the tallest buildings on the street, reputed for its city-view bars. We got ourselves a bit confused, having first got into a lift that only went up two floors, but were aided by local generosity and eventually found our way to the 13th floor, where we chose the nearest available bar. It was virtually empty, so we only had a few beers and enjoyed the city view with the setting sun.

On our way to this place we'd seen another bar that had yet to open (most locals don't eat dinner until after 8pm), and we decided to have a look on our way to dinner. But as you can see, it was pretty appealing, so we ended up staying:

We had an awesome entree of risotto balls with blue cheese, which were sufficiently small to remain bite-sized and munchable. They were seriously good.

Our mains matched, and were really, really tasty. I had a chicken dish called 'Ballantine' and Bec had a Burmese curry which really rocked. We ate far too much and drank similarly - we had beers, G&Ts and rums, and we ended up spending close to Au$100. But it was worth it.

After an auto-rickshaw ride that, expectedly, got us lost, we're now crashing out, and are looking forward to a lazy day of a few sites tomorrow followed by a bit of a Bangalore bar crawl.

Signing off.

Brief observation

Our hotel room in Mysore overlooks a school parade ground. We were just relaxing after breakfast (before a leisurely 2:15 departure by train to Bangalore) when an explosion of drums and wind instruments erupted from outside our third-floor window. Thinking it was some kind of major parade or other cultural activity I rushed to the window to see a small band playing to call students back to class. All the students merged into single file for each class and walked into their tiny rooms in time to the music. The band was made up entirely of students as well; as the last of the students entered their classrooms, the music hit a crescendo and the band, in seconds, packed away their instruments and rushed to class as well.

It was a bit more interesting than the mono-tonal 5-chime bell I was accustomed to...

A better day

Thankfully today has got off to a much better start than yesterday. We began the day with a fairly decent breakfast in the hotel and then decided to take the slightly lame option of getting the travel agent we've been dealing with to organise a car to take us around Mysore's sights. It was a little more expensive than an auto-rickshaw, but a lot more comfortable, which is exactly what we needed!

We started with the drive up Chamundi Hill, 1062 metres high, to visit the Sri Chamundeswari Temple.

We didn't end up going inside due to the usual confusion of where to pay to get in, the concept of leaving our shoes 20 metres away from the entrance which is traversed by cows, monkeys and hundreds of people, and our general disinterest in religious monuments in general. We wandered around the perimeter for a while before heading back to the car.

On the way back down the hill we stopped at the statue of 'Nandi', Shiva's bull, which is carved out of rock.

We also stopped to look at the view of Mysore's city 1000 metres below.

After this the driver used the typical Indian method of bamboozlement and told us he was taking us to the palace, but then we stopped at a non-descript building which he described as the 'Maharani's palace'. We walked in only to discover it was a shop selling fine silk and carpets which, while very nice, we had no interest in buying and had to embarrass ourselves and the owner by walking in and straight out again.

Once we'd escaped the driver actually took us to Mysore's famous Maharaja's Palace.

We weren't allowed to take cameras inside, but the outside complex itself was far more interesting anyway. The inside, while filled with ridiculously decadent items such as solid silver and cut glass dignitaries' chairs, got kind of boring after a while. The grounds outside the palace were full of grand archways and cool tiger statues:

One unusual observation was the fascination touring Indians had with us. We had a group of young Indian lads insist of having their photos taken with us. We insisted we weren't rock stars or anyone remotely important, but we tolerated it for one shot before realising we could have been there for the long haul, and stormed off like spoiled prima donnas.

Once we were done with the Palace, our driver tried again to convince us to go to the sandalwood factory or the silk emporium, but we managed to convince him that we just wanted to see the markets. So he not only took us to the Devaraja Market, but walked us through what turned out to be the highlight of the day. The whole place was a riot of colour, with whole halls selling single products, such as a wall of bananas, or enormous bowls and strings of flowers.

One of the coolest things was the piles of colours that are used for various purposes such as smearing on the forehead:

We ended at a stall that sold attars, pure essences of flowers and plants. While we hadn't intended to buy anything, the cacophony of smells got the better of us and we ended up buying five different fragrances of Mysore flower, lotus, watermelon, blue moon and night queen. I think we probably ended up paying way more than we needed to because the owner of the stall ushered us inside, brought us cups of masala chai and gave us a bundle of free incense and glass bottles to share out the attars once we get home.

After all this we were pretty much exhausted so we're now back at the hotel and contemplating going out to get some lunch (once again at 3pm). We'll probably just take it easy for the rest of the day and go out to one of the fancier hotels tonight for dinner - and we certainly won't be walking this time after last night's experience!

Addendum - We've just returned from a tasty but rather bizarre eating experience in our hotel - in the mezzanine floor restaurant called 'The Cave' in Hindi. The place was literally devoid of natural light and filled with statues, fake flames and staff in silly Rudyard Kipling safari hats. That aside, the food was pretty good and the few beers we had were up to the task. Going to brave a swim soon.

From heaven to filth pit

It had to happen. Following an almost-perfect four days of sun, sand, jovial conversation and great food, we've had a crappy day of purgatory that's taken us from the paradise that is Palolem through nearly five hours of car travel, two of plane travel and a lot of wasted time to a filthy wasteland. A 5am start got us to a plane flight by 8:15, followed by a crazy long drive from the Bangalore airport to Mysore, with a pointless and undesirable stop at what our driver told us was a beautiful, relaxing river view but was instead a kickback and lunch break for him only 15 minutes from our destination. I was not amused, especially since we only bought water, which appeared to have been pre-opened and was hence ditched.

Our hotel is adequate, which is good since we've spent a lot of time here. After getting in we went for a quick walk attempting to get our bearings and only finding lunch. We had an aloo gobhi and dahl fry with chapattis, which was really good for only 119 rupees, or about $3. We came back to the hotel room - after getting lost - and caught up on some much-needed sleep. We struggled to get ourselves moving again but we eventually got out and about in search of a decent hotel to have a drink and a safe dinner, again we got lost and found a vegetarian place we'd considered going when we were actually hungry, and decided to just snack there regardless. There was no alcohol, but we had a second mega-cheap dinner, this one only costing 57 rupees.

Given it was ridiculously early we decided to have a drink in our hotel bar, a rock club. It sucked. It was loud, dark and dank and full of smokers. We had one drink and we're back, looking at an early night in order to get all the requisite tourist business done.

This place, so far, really seems to epitomise what we'd expected India to be - filth covers the streets, the sky is coated in a hazy film, and people don't hesitate to urinate openly in the street, as we discovered soon after dinner on an ill-advised way back. And far from the delicate scent of sandalwood that we'd been told of, the whole place smells alternately of sewerage and burning rubber. We've since resolved to get motor rickshaws everywhere to minimise our contact with the ground.

Last day in Goa

It's just after four o'clock here and we've already packed a lot into the day. The alarm went off at 7 o'clock and we stumbled out of bed and down to the beach to go dolphin sighting in one of the many boats that ply Palolem's shores. We weren't sure how to go about organising it but we'd been told that it took little more than strolling up the beach, and sure enough, after about 20 metres a man approached us to ask. We quickly negotiated a price and got into the boat - a quite old but very solid wooden vessel - with another three tourists they'd already lined up, and then headed out into the sea. We passed a picturesque island complete with soaring rocks:

We exchanged photo favours with the others on the boat:

We got to the other side of the island and I was beginning to wonder where the bloody dolphins were when one of the others on the boat shouted and pointed and there they were - a pod of around 5 or 6 dolphins lazily loping through the water. There were several other boats of tourists in the area, and as soon as a bunch of dolphins were sighted, all the boats would head over towards them, at which point they would reliably disappear. We spent about half an hour out there watching a few different groups of dolphins, but unfortunately missed out on any decent photos, since once we'd get the camera poised they'd be back under again, only to resurface in another spot altogether. Nevertheless, it was a great experience to see them up so close, and I don't think any photo could really have captured that anyway. And all for around $10 Australian.

After the boat driver had asked us all whether we were 'very happy', we headed back to the beach and settled in a beachside cafe for an Indian breakfast of alu paratha (bread stuffed with mashed potato) and potato masala. Sated (and rather full) from this, we took a dip in the ocean. Even at 9.30 in the morning the water was wonderfully warm, yet refreshing.

After showers and a brief rest back at the hotel, we got in a rickshaw (aka a tuk-tuk) to go to Agoda Beach, around 8 kilometres from Palolem. We went to a very cool beachside bar/cafe called the Turtle Lounge on the recommendation of our hotel owner.

There were a heap of comfy lounges looking out towards the sea:

And a resident dog that chose very unusual places to go to sleep:

The path into the bar was lined with plants, palms and coco huts:

We had a strawberry lassi and a lemon mint lassi, which were both great, followed by a few beers and an awesome, fresh Goan fish curry (which ended up being prawns).

After this we got back in our rickshaw (the driver waited for us) and careered down the narrow roads, with amazing views on either side:

Numerous cows wandering down the road wherever they wanted (the only law seems to be: give way to the cows):

George was very impressed with the rickshaw - so much so that he requested a photo with it, named aptly after its driver, Sudeep:

Back at the hotel, we are currently tucking into a bottle of Indian rose, which tastes remarkably like Rockford Alicante Bouchet, and planning to return to the restaurant we ate at a few nights ago, Dropadi, for dinner for some more delectable curries.

Tomorrow we head off at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to drive the hour to Goa airport, fly to Bangalore and meet a driver who will drive us 2-3 hours to Mysore. We're beginning to feel a bit melancholy about leaving here now, but I think it's the right time to leave. The great thing about Goa is that the main reason we came to India for our honeymoon is so we could get it done before we have kids in the assumption that you couldn't possibly bring kids to such a country. But on the contrary, Goa is full of families with young children, and it really is the kind of place you could come for two weeks (or a month, or two months) and just relax and eat and drink and swim in the ocean.

A few memories of the great place we've been staying... The entrance, with the Portuguese architecture typical of Goa:

The balcony we've had many drinks and conversations with the other people staying here:

And the interesting British dude who lives in Amsterdam and is an avid dope smoker (naturally):

That's probably quite enough for one blog, but there was a lot to say about this place and we'll certainly miss it. No doubt this will be our last blog from Goa, and we're hoping that our subsequent places will have internet access as reliable and quick as it has been here...if not, our blogs to follow may not have as many (if any) photos.