Southern India - Part 2

Like birds fleeing the nest for the first time, Maria and I left the protective custody of Amy and John's apartment and got driver Arul to drive us out to the domestic air terminal at Chennai to nervously board a Jet Airways flight to Mumbai (aka Bombay).  Surprisingly, the domestic terminal is very modern compared to the old International terminal with the only similarity being the heavy  handed security provisions just to enter the terminal building let alone to get through to one's departure gate.  Domestic airfares are also very cheap and the 2hr flight to Mumbai only cost A$85 each.

If Chennai is one of India's main manufacturing cities, Mumbai with a much larger population (21 million) is the nation's financial centre. Unlike Chennai, Mumbai has a very westernised CBD  and a much more orderly traffic system governed by many highly visible police armed with no more than a pair of white gloves and a very shrill pea whistle.  Even the buses and truck traffic appear to obey police instructions and the traffic lights.  However, the noise from the construction work  associated with a new city metro system  proved quite a distraction while sight seeing on foot. Our hotel (The Residency - www.residencyhotel.com) in the Central Fort area turned out to be an excellent choice in terms of its location (100m from the Central Railway Station) and its quality. However, its breakfast room was frequently overcrowded and one needed to get in early.

Marvellous Mumbai did not let me down and I was able to identify many of the iconic places of interest mentioned by Salman Rushdie in his novels....Marine Drive, the now snooty suburb of Malabar Hill, Chowpatty Beach, Crawford Market

Quite apart from the vehicular traffic in the CBD, one has to contend  with very congested pedestrian traffic on the footpaths, especially during peak business hours.  On our first night we decided to take a 30min walk to our chosen restaurant  (The Samrat) not realising at first that it was vegetarian.  However it also sold beer (bloody Fosters do you mind).  We had a fine meal of two vegetable curries one based on red capsicum and chick peas the other on Beans and lentils, parathas plus a couple beers....excellent.

What a difference a real ‘english speaker’ car driver makes.  Sreejith Travels (mobile 09821357855)  was fantastic and even had some amusing political attitude – 'all politicians in India were in it for themselves..   as for religion it has caused and is responsible for all the current tensions in the country'.  We paid him A$60 to take us around the must see tourist spots of Mumbai:

Mumbai GPO

·        Marine Drive and Chowpatty Beach

Cricket practice on Chowpatty Beach and later at the Maidan Oval

   He also recommended the Hotel Gokul for lunch  where we were able to enjoy  a popular local dish of chicken tikka marsala.  We had previously tried the famous Leopold Café but found it chock-a-block with young and loud  tourists in their loafers and chinos. We returned on another occasion for a T shirt.

While one can do a tour of the Bollywood film studios we simply could not fit in.

We later walked over to the Mumbai Cricket Club hoping for a cold drink but were told at the gate that it was members only.  It was interesting to observe the amount of backyard cricket games being played in every side street and alley way.  We also did a little more shopping and eventually found ourselves down at the Gateway of India with loads of other families sharing the same idea this Sunday morning.

We visited Mahatma Ghandi's house and Museum which was quite an eerie experience.  I had not realised that he had been friends with the poet Rabindranath Tagore whose writings had made an early impression on me while as a schoolboy; not least because of the length of his beard!

Our  driver also took us down to the historic fish markets at Sassoon Docks  where we saw hundreds of fishing trawlers being re-vitaled with provisions and ice as well as fish being unloaded and women processing prawns and squid - a very busy place indeed but surprisingly was not particularly smelly:

Icing the trawler holds and the mid-air basket of fish

We also visited Mumbai's famous outdoor laundry which must process tonnes of linen and clothes everyday which, unlike the fish markets, was indeed a very smelly place.

We also made a special expedition on our own to the Central Railway Terminus to establish the departure time of our train the next day and to identify the nuances of using this vast complex and check out  the variety of food stuffs available  to purchase for our journey.

We got an early morning phone call at 0545 hrs and a taxi to the Central Railway station.  The massive station’s floors were covered in sleeping commuters but we were able to pick our way through the bodies to Platform 12 where our one km long “express” train was already waiting for us with a departure time of 0615am.

Prior to leaving home I had become a registered foreign user of the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC Ltd) and had booked etickets for all of our journeys.  This involved a great deal of study of their train schedules, an understanding of the various classes of seats on offer on the various classes of trains, as well as a rail map of India and of course the price schedules (which are ridiculously cheap).

85% of this trains' carriages were 3^rd Class used by local commuters with only barred window spaces, the rest of the carriages on this day train were 2^nd Class air-conditioned ones which I had chosen.  The seats here were rather battered vinyl covered airline types but reasonably comfortable.  There were each type of toilet in each carriage which were kept clean by the staff for the entire journey.  One could order hot meals for breakfast and again for lunch from the steward consisting of omelettes and sambals and rice.  Then railway staff cruise up down selling chai or terribly sweat coffee and snacks of various kinds.  However, I had taken precautions and sourced a French bakery and purchased some back-up pastries - just in case.

All aboard the Tapovan Express (7hrs @ A$20 each) - we appeared to be the only westerners on the train

While it was labelled an express train service it appeared to stop at over 50% of the stations passed.  Once clear of outer Mumbai the train passed through essentially rural farmlands and villages growing paddy, corn, cotton and then grapevines appeared this turned out to be the home of that Sula wine we had drunk the night before.  Unfortunately the train's windows were too dirty to enable worthwhile photography to be undertaken.  Nevertheless, a naturally occurring 'yellowy' heat haze  appeared to hang over the  much of the passing countryside.

It was also interesting to note that the train gauge here in India is a massive 5ft 6inches (Australia's National Standard gauge is 4ft 8.5 inches). The 7hr journey was comfortable enough just tiring and we were concerned about the amount of coughing and sneezing that went on.  Arriving in Aurangabad (estimated pop 1.5m) we were quickly picked up in the throng of departing passengers by a taxi driver who got us to our hotel and en route tried to convince us to hire him for the next two days to take us to the two archaeological sites around here.  His price was high and we deferred taking up his offer until we had been able to compare it with what our hotel could offer – the latter quoted a price almost 30% cheaper.

Our 3 star hotel room proved to be typical of what we would experience throughout our trip ie: no fridge, dodgy shower plumbing, no English language TV stations but worst of all is the poor level of English language skills on the front desk – we had stumbled into an Indian businessman’s hotel but it did later prove to have an excellent restaurant serving veg and non-veg items plus alcohol.

As a consequence we were forced to rely on a Tuk tuk driver to get us to a private bus company to arrange for a ticket out of the town in 3 days time. The hotel desk could not direct us to a working ATM – I tried three nearby without success.  This town has a population of over 3 million with a sizeable Muslim minority. The river running through the centre is really an evil smelling sewer.  I thought given the world heritage status of the nearby sites that the town would be a little more tourist orientated – not so – we appear to be on our own.  We have accepted the front desk’s offer of a car and an English speaking driver for two days at a cost of A$65.

Off to the Ajanta Caves situated just over 100km Nth East of Aurangabad. These 27 caves which are set in a horseshoe bend of a steep ravine and date from 200BC to the 6^th Century AD when they were abandoned in favour of the monastic settlements of Ellora.  They were established as a monastic refuge for Buddhist monks but were later adopted by the Hindu orders who later conquered the area.  They are renowned for their frescoes (temperas) depicting  everyday life at the time and are remarkably well preserved.  They were not  re-discovered  until a colonial hunting party stumbled across them in the early 1800s on a tiger  expedition. In addition to the frescos are the elaborate carvings within the cave as well as the architectural merit of the caves themselves.

The varying light conditions made it virtually impossible to photograph the richly adorned temperas on the ceilings and grottoes within the caves - far better to appreciate them in person

This place can be overrun with tourists but today was only inundated by a number of very excited primary school groups from various local regional schools plus a Japanese tour group.  Maria had her climbing legs tested yet again by the entrance steps but managed to do it without the aid of either a porter or one of the decadent sedan chair lifts on offer.

Once again a beautiful archaeological site is compromised by the young and their addiction to their need to take selfies in front of them.

Later that afternoon we discovered that our hotel  boasted an al fresco dining garden and bar in front of their chef’s kitchen with two tandoor charcoal fired ovens.  We watched thrilled as the staff did their thing with these ovens and no more so than when they prepared and cooked our Naan and Roti Breads in them.

The next day we toured the second of the archaeological sites at Ellora…this time without all the steps and only 30kms from town.

This site is quite different in that they were established much later and were inspired by 3 religious systems viz Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism ranging from 500-700AD.  There are 30 odd caves each different but all decorated with images of Buddhist and early Hindu gods.  There remain a few of the temperas which once adorned the walls and ceilings of theses vast caves.  While the Ajanta caves are noted for their paintings, Ellora's caves are remarkable for their elaborate sculptures. 

These two photos have been lifted from the guide book to illustrate the enormity of some of the caves

The size of the caves plus the poor visibility in lots of them make it extremely difficult to take a balanced  photographic  record of the site.  However, we did try.

Our inspection of the caves was again sorely tested by the hundreds of school groups also choosing this day to inspect these heritage sites.  When the students are not taking selfies of themselves in front of classical compositions they were pestering us  to be included in their selfie binge.  Teenage boys would also tear through the caves with loud whistles.  Proved a little intimidating for Maria especially when encountering these boisterous groups in narrow steep passageways.  We encountered only a handful of western tourists at these two archaeological sites.

After lunch and on the way back our driver stopped at the village of Daulatabad to inspect the majestic 12^th Century fortress known as Deogiri.  Its ruins remain impressive despite having been involved in many battles and sieges.  Once again the site was overrun with excited school groups. 

We also visited the much heralded Bibi-qu-Maqbara, a mausoleum built in 1679 for a regional prince’s mother and which was modelled on the much grander Taj Mahal in Agra – hence its belittling title of the 'Poor Man’s Taj'. Rather than marble, much of the building is covered in rendered white plaster.

We were supposed to have caught a bus to Pune,  but the bus we booked from a roadside travel agent (recommended by a Tuk Tuk driver) failed to materialise and instead the Agent arranged for us to be bundled into a non-taxi registered station wagon which was filled with four other punters plus driver and driven recklessly at 100+kph down a three lane highway through villages and passing every other vehicle on the road.

Arriving at Pune in early afternoon we were able to establish that there were no daytime buses to Hampi and that our only option was to upgrade our third class sleeper rail ticket. Rather than do it online I decided foolishly to do it in person at the very crowded station.  By doing this I was forced to go on to a waiting list for the up-grade.  We did not know the result of the up-grade until 2200hrs on the next night when we were scheduled to travel.  The lessons to be learnt here is to make sure you pre-book all night train travel at least one month in advance. And to do so at Class 2AC -  do not think about general sleeper class.

Pune is a big city (est population 5m) with some serious manufacturing going on eg LG ie  no longer the quaint hill station town I had read about. However, the reason for coming here was simply to connect to a train service which would get us to the town of Hampi.  Our pre-booked Samrat Hotel was located just in front of the huge railway station and was designed around an atrium.  We have a nice balcony to offset the usual tiny single beds, bung A/C, chipped tiles and dated plumbing fixtures,  Once again we are the only westerners in residence – they are not set up for tourists.  However the hotel has one redeeming feature - a much valued “Permit Room -Beer Bar” to allow it to sell alcohol.

After a sleep in we had a leisurely breakfast and developed a schedule of activities for the rest of the day.  First a pharmacy to purchase some Imodium (anti-diarrhoea) Tabs for the train trip tonight then some sightseeing.  While reading on our balcony I was pecked by a low flying hawk – just like a Magpie attack back home – gave me a real fright.

Then we contracted another kamikaze style Tuk Tuk driver to take us 10kms north across the river to the Aga Khan Palace.  The fourth Aga Khan donated this palace and 6.5 hectares of gardens to the Indian Government in 1969 to provide a permanent memorial to Mahatma Ghandi and his wife (Kasturba) who were both imprisoned in the palace during the 1940s – his wife also died there.

At 2200 hrs we received advice that our upgrade was now confirmed and so we wheeled our luggage over to the by now teeming station to nervously watch the electronic departure board to see when and from which platform our train would be leaving.  While it was scheduled to leave at 0150hrs it was running late and did not leave until nearly o330hrs.  Boarding a Sleeper Carriage  in the middle of the night would normally cause a little unrest amongst the occupants - not so in India  and we had to struggle in the dark to find our allotted bunks.  It was a very long night.  We found that we had been allocated the skinnier sleeping berths (700mm wide) which run parallel to the carriage isle I took a lower one while Maria battled bravely up to a top bunk.  We are again the only westerners on the train.

Just got to sleep when ticket collector drew my curtain back to check our tickets and then at about 0500hrs the Chai Wallers started their mournful cries up and down our carriage.  These were soon joined by chaps selling all manner of breakfast snacks eg Samosa, Idly, Roti and various Sambals and Chilli..  Nothing for it but to get up and go about finding the western style toilet in our carriage and brush my teeth.

Came back from ablutes to find a middle-aged Indian lady sitting on my bunk (she had been in the top bunk. She showed me how to fold up the bunk to form two quite comfortable chairs.  Maria meanwhile slept until well after 0900hrs but her lower bunk companion, while awake, decided not to get up and similarly convert her bunk so as to give Maria a seat. I noticed this practise was adopted by a lot of Indian women in our carriage who just wanted to rest and, as not interested in the countryside, kept their window blinds shut.

As we passed through villages there were plenty of irrigated crops of rice, sugar cane, vegetables, maize and cotton.  But for the rest of the time we passed through flat dry and dusty bushland.   Lamentably, one sees a lot of rubbish around train lines especially at the stations.  I even saw our carriage cleaners sweeping the rubbish left on the floor straight out the door.  However, I also noticed ladies at the same station walking along the tracks picking up the accumulated rubbish....everyone has a job!

Cotton and Rice Paddies

'Differently Abled' Carriage and Familiar Freight cloth

These signs or similar became a regular feature in and around Indian towns which all seemed universally to be ignored

Our “express” made many stops en route and arrived at our destination Guntakal Junction 100mins late. Fortunately our connecting train was running similarly late so it did not matter. 

 Travelling through India at night on this passenger train with all windows and doors open was a thrilling experience as you got to better appreciate the country. We eventually arrived at 2030hrs – some 3hrs late – we had been travelling close to 24hrs with very little sleep and feeling a little jaded.

Then our journey took on a further twist. On leaving the train we were accosted by what I thought was a very sly Tuk Tuk driver who explained that on 12 December 2017 UNESCO persuaded the government to close and or pull down a number of guesthouses and restaurants in the old Bazaar area of Hampi as they were infringing on the World Heritage site.  Our chosen accommodation had been closed in this move. He advised that the remaining accommodation places were fully booked and that we should stay put in Hospete (est population 200 000)  and he would take us on a full day tour of all the sites the next day

Well this was news we didn’t need but he soon found us a beaut hotel grandly titled the Hotel Hampi International very close to the station where an air-conditioned double room only cost A$50.  While lacking fridges in the rooms it did boast a great restaurant (Veg & Non-Veg) and a full bar. Not surprisingly we had a quick dinner and early (?2200hrs) night.

Later learned that the hotel was owned by local iron ore mine which helped explain the reason for Hospete having a constant stream of very long ore trains passing thru.

The next day our helpful Tuk Tuk driver from the previous night (coffeeboy1993@yahoo.in) (Mobile +91 9481664743) had arranged for his brother to show us around the sites all day for a very reasonable A$40.  His brother spoke reasonable English which also helped a lot.

As it turned out the sites (over 3000) were a little like the archaeological site in Ankor Wat in Cambodia except the buildings only date from the 12th Century AD.  They are set out over a 36 km2 site. Splendid sculptured columns and frescoes – truly impressed.  However, western travellers need to get to the area early to avoid the incessant humbugging for selfies by locals –it got me mad when trying to take a photograph of some 700 year old antiquity to find it surrounded by locals taking “selfies” in front of it.  Whoever allowed mobile phones to incorporate cameras should be strung-up.  Removing the mobile selfie brigade would reduce the problem by 75%.

The Palace's Elephant stables

Vishnu's Chariot in the Vittala Temple - a very hot 2km shadeless walk from the parking area

(This photo took over 45mins to take while waiting for a break in the local 'selfie brigade')

Our chosen day to tour Hampi was also a local Hindu holiday which exacerbated the crowds of families who used the holiday to view the sites after their required religious observances. This area (Vijayanagar) was chosen as a Hindu palace in the early 1300s and continued to grow and prosper until 1565 when it was sacked by group of Deccan sultanates (Moguls) it never recovered.  Many of the larger temple sites offered cool refuge from the sun and so what does any Indian visitor do but lie down in them and sleep - same as they do in railway stations.

After nearly 8hrs visiting the sites we called it a day and returned to our hotel for showers and then to take possession of the empty Beer Garden for a couple very cold Kingfisher Lager 650ml bottles  and then had a bottle of the local Sula Chenin Banc at the standard expensive Indian price of (A$30) but it was consumed with an excellent Indian dinner.

We had an early morning appointment at the railway station to catch the 0620hr train to Goa.  Like good organised travellers that we are we got their at 0600hrs only to once again wait until 0800hrs for the train to arrive.  Confusingly, our train had been given another number and was now scheduled to deliver us to go to Vasco De Gama Station even though we only have a ticket to the nearer Goa station at Madgoan. The station at Hospete is quite modern and on the platform it has an electronic notice board showing the individual carriage positions for each train arriving – thereby giving passengers time assemble in the right position on the platform – making for quicker turnaround times.  We did see similar facilities later in other stations.

This time we were joined by a dozen or so western tourists (European and British) who all appeared to have been booked into the third last 2AC carriage - which meant competition for use of the highly-prized western toilet.  Certainly there would be none from the locals who prefer to do their travelling on their backs and our carriage was full of sleeping Indians hidden behind the privacy curtains including the one opposite us – this effectively blocks your view of the countryside on the other side of the train.  The train journey proceeded uneventfully albeit slowly across the agricultural lands of Karnataka where endless crops of sugarcane, maize, sorghum and rice paddies could be seen and fields still being tilled by man and beast.

However, the journey for the last two hours proved spectacular as our train wound its way around and through tunnels to get over the Western Ghats (“Steps”) – India’s second largest mountain range after the Himalayas extending 1400kms down the west coast and rising to a height of 6500m. On the border with Goa we got fantastic glimpses of one of India’s highest waterfalls – the Dudhsagar Falls which plummet 600m down the side of the Western Ghats.

Inattentive commuter prefers to read the Hindu Times rather than take in the views from the train window

At last we get over the Western Ghats into a relatively lush climate and leave the dry Deccan Plateau behind us

When we finally reached our Goan station of Madgoan (3 hrs late) all the westerners were told to get off and sort out taxis or buses for the rest of their journey either to Panjim like us or to one of the beach resorts north and south of the capital.  Panjim was 35kms away and a taxi tout quickly picked us up we agreed to a fixed fee of A$20 for him to take us to our hotel….it was 1730hrs by the time he dropped us off – again we had ‘been on the road’ for 12 hours and were not only buggered but Maria’s cold/flu symptoms appeared to be worsening – we had been coughing for most of the way across in the train.

Our hotel Alfonso Guesthouse in the old Fontainhas Mala district of Panjim was a little quirky.  Its situated in an old Portuguese villa, has sparse and small rooms on both levels but serves breakfast from its idyllic rooftop retreat.

After a restless night with coughing, Maria took herself off to a local doctor who advised her to continue with the Anti-biotic tablet we had brought with us.  As we did not have enough we had to source a pharmacy willing go dispense some more to us. We got em plus some urgently needed cough mixture – got to stop this pox from getting into her chest.

Next we had to find a laundry that was open which we found after 0930hrs So with all the housekeeping taken care of we decided on a small lunch snack of Chicken Pakoras and Iced coffee.  Then we found the Goa Tourism Office buried away in a government office complex and received some excellent tourist maps and information as to how best to use our available time here.  En route to the tourism office I stumbled across a butchers shop which was selling fresh goat and chicken and also  selling beef and pork out the back.  However, the owner he got very excited over the suggestion of me photographing this latter offering.  Obviously its alright to sell such meat here in Goa but not to advertise the fact too prominently.

Then we caught a taxi to the Old Goa township where there are a number of significant historical Portuguese RC churches established after the arrival of Francis Xavier - the 16thC missionary sent out to convert the heathen of India.  (the Apostle of the Indies) The town was finally abandoned on account of an outbreak of Cholera and Malaria during the early 1800s.

Remains of the once grand Monastery of St Augustine which was abandoned in the mid-1800s and left to crumble.

 The  Basilica Bom Jesus which houses the remains of St Francis Xavier  which dates from the early 1600s.

Then we strolled over to the Se’ Cathedral which is the largest church in Asia and which was completed a little later on, While quite plain on the outside, inside its massive vaulted ceiling is magnificent – its golden bell was rung during sessions of the Inquisition to announce the gruesome fate that awaited many a supposed heretic.  The front of this Cathedral bears a remarkable similarity to the façade of St Paul’s Cathedral in Macau.

Se (St Catherine's)  Cathedral

The facade of St Paul's Cathedral in Macau

We soon realised that many of the locals visiting these churches were doing so to pray and not just gawk as we were.  Too much heavy faith swirling in the air so we retired home to our hotel to sit out the compulsory siesta period between 1400-1600hrs.

We have read that much of old Panjim’s houses are painted in such beautiful ochres, pale yellow, green and blues because the Portuguese insisted that every Goan building (except churches which had to be white) should be colour-washed after the monsoons.  These colonial style houses really make the town sing.......clicking on the thumbnail snaps below will give you a better appreciation of the colours.

Then there was the beautiful GPO in Panjim

 Further artistic flair exhibited within the town

Surely the most 'out there' Brewery Advertisement

House names displayed in these beautiful tiles

A bit of  self-promotion and finally a sign I stumbled across around the corner from a quite prominent retail square

We grabbed a Tuk tuk to view the weekly market Anjuna half an hour North of Panjim. Not worth the A$20 Tuk Tuk fare – just like any flea market it was full of touristy and impractical clothing, trinkets and faux artefacts.  What we did noticed soon after arrival at the market was the number of Russians there – we later learned they had arrived overnight in a big cruise ship and Vladimir and the Missus were buying up big.

We found the deservedly famous  restaurant at the Venite Hotel and had an excellent Goan Fish Curry with Rice.  So good we decided on a return visit for dinner on our last night. Its situated on the first floor and the walls are covered in graffiti from past appreciative customers  Mains are around A$10-20 with a great selection of local seafood.

I went for an afternoon stroll during the siesta period while Maria took to her bed for further recuperation.  Collected the laundry after siesta and had to wait for the normal eating time of 2000hrs for our rendezvous with Hotel Venite.

We had arranged to have a whole snapper cooked for us tonight but the Venite could not procure one and instead offered us up a quite small (250g) Pomfret which they initially served  to us on a single plate.  When requested to divide it between our two plates the waiter ceremoniously chopped it in half – we just laughed at the sheer pragmatic response!.

Balcony dining added to the general good vibe of this place

Our guesthouse arranged for a taxi to take us the 70 odd kms down south to the beach  town of Agonda which took just over two hours and cost A$36.  However when requested to turn on the A/C our driver advised that we had only paid for a non-A/C taxi – we had to pay him an extra A$2 to turn it on!.

Simrose Resort (www.simrose-goa.com) turned out to be an excellent choice situated right on the beach with cottages set about a beautiful garden just to the rear of their restaurant and bar which offers great Goan and European food and drinks at very reasonable prices.  However, this place is heavily booked and I booked in June for the following January and had to pay a 40% deposit up front at the time.

I was also able to arrange at reception a special birthday surprise by management for Maria’s birthday the next day.

The cottages come each with a private verandah and cabana lounges very large double 4 poster bed, desk, and large ensuite.  However, once again, no bar fridge.  I have been lugging around a full litre bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the hope drinking it in our cottage Ho hum!

The sea was bright and blue, small surf no dangerous rips and it is even patrolled by a lonely Surf Rescue Unit.  Agonda beach is probably 2km long hemmed in by two heavily wooded headlands at each end.  At night the beach is populate by village cows who I think get fed on the kitchen scraps from the various restaurants that dot the beach.  Our resort also hosts yoga and meditation courses and a group of 16 mixed nationality girls are currently booked into a 4 week course. There are also courses in Ayurveda which is a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing that has its origins in the Vedic culture of India.

Our extended stay here in Agonda was always intended as a rest from our otherwise rapid tramp about Southern India.  A word of caution is needed here to explain that the accommodation here is fairly basic and not for those hardy travellers who like "roughing it" a la Phuket, Port Douglas or Noosa.

Sunset from the Simrose bar rail

19th January - Maria’s 70th birthday - she was at last able to wear her new ruby ring we had purchased in Colombo.  

She celebrated with a morning massage and then a swim and walk along this beautiful beach while I commandeered one of the resort’s cabana lounges and read further chapters of Salman’s: The Golden House under the hot Goan sun..Since we have been here the horizon has never been clear and instead a heat haze blankets the sea and land as it has for the greater part of our Southern Indian odyssey.

Denesh the manager approached me during the day to confirm arrangements for Maria’s birthday dinner – he would reserve a good beach front table for us, arrange for a fine (spicy Goan) snapper to be cooked  and a surprise birthday cake to be presented to her.

All good but first a relaxing day had to be enjoyed in and out of the water whose temperature probably exceeded that of Darwin..

The meal turned out to be excellent.  Not so the Sula Sparkling Brut! However prior to it being served the restaurant was severely disrupted by a swarm of fling ants which descended on early diners plates by the 1000s.  The staff had to turn off all lights for about 10 minutes until they all flew off – quite funny to see the horrified reactions on the Europeans faces who’d never witnessed such a plague at such close quarters before. However, even this pestilence, did not dissuade a lot of the Europeans and Russians in residence from smoking in the restaurant.

John thanking Simrose management

The next day we hired a motor bike – my first inclination was to have a go on one the Indian built 350cc Royal Enfield's but Amy had previously reckoned that they would be too much of a handful with Maria on the back and trying to traverse the rustic coastal roads and tracks.  Instead we hired another 125cc scooter which can still get us around at a comfortable 40kph.

We also explored the Southern end of Agonda Beach and discovered a lot more development than we had first realised.  However, we remain convinced that Simrose is as good if not better than most of the others.  The Northern half of the beach from St Anne’s Church is the least populated while Southern end boasts lots of outrigger boats for charter at A$25 a pop to secluded beaches, fishing trips as well as sunset cruises and dolphin watching.  We explored Palolem Beach the town just south of Agonda and one which was developed earlier and more intensively.  It gave the appearance of being a little squalid but more hip – perhaps more like Sihanoukville in Cambodia. 

Click on snaps for better view

  

Locals will take you out fishing or just sightseeing also

We found out this morning that all resorts down South close for the monsoon months from late May to end of September.  Every year they must resurrect the resorts and repair monsoon damage to buildings and infra-structure.  We tried a light lunch at the much heralded White Sands Resort – but were disappointed.  We did come across a couple of huge multi-wheeled German registered motor homes parked at one end of the beach with very Nordic looking families in residence - they were a very long way from home.

 Our 5 day stay in Agonda was a highlight of our Indian safari - very easy just to relax, read, swim and enjoy the odd drink during the day and then watch the cattle slowly move onto the beach in evenings to eat and eventually sleep...they have disappeared by morning, when farmers come and scavenge the cow pats for their gardens and leave the beach pristine again for the visiting tourists.  Simrose offered good Goan food and reasonably priced drinks and excellent Bloody Marys.  If one was looking for a more cerebral and meditative stay then they catered for it as well.

 Serious early morning activity by some Simrose residents

Another early transfer – this time an early morning taxi back up to Panjim at 0430hr to catch an 0730hr plane to Bangalore and then to catch an afternoon train to Mysore.  Just one of those travel days where one just had to put up with unfriendly connections to bridge two different destinations.  I did try.

On arrival in Bangalore (population 12.5 million) at 0900hrs, we made an on the spot decision to set aside our scheduled 3pm train journey and instead jumped on an intercity A/C bus to Mysore which was leaving the airport carpark at 1030hrs and which would have us at our destination before the train left the station – albeit that the cost was about double at A$30 in lieu of A$14.  It should be noted that I purposely ignored bus travel in India only because it could not be readily identified and pre-booked from Australia.

Bangalore looked a little overwhelming from our bus window – it took over an hour to clear the spider web of tangled ring roads and new sanitised industrial suburbs – its one of the fastest growing cities in India and is a centre for IT and international call centres....not a very inviting place. 

The bus trip was characterised by numerous toll booths and the less than edifying passage through numerous scruffy towns.  We also had a Buddhist monk on board who was suffering from a nasty chest condition which he tried to clear by very loudly hacking and snorting into the on-board toilet for the entire journey....nasty!

We pulled into the central bus station at Mysore at about 1430hrs and found it to be only a 10min walk from our pre-booked hotel where we went through the now usual laborious registration process into yet another essentially businessman's hotel.  What is apparent is that  budget tourist accommodation costs a lot more in India than the rest of SE Asia ie A$50 does not guarantee working plumbing, tourist friendly front desk, reasonably sized queen sized bed, a desk with two or more chairs, places to rest suit cases off the floor, a bar fridge, reading lights, working ceiling fan and or A/C.  Any 3 star holiday hotel in SE Asia would give you this but not here in India – you obviously need to seriously consider 4 star at a cost in excess of A$90….best of luck.

Mysore is quite a beautiful and easy going city of 1 million souls with more parks, spacious squares and gardens than any other Indian city we have visited.  The drivers do not seem to honk their horns as much also.  There is a large racecourse and golf club in the middle of town which befits such a magisterial place.  Through an informative Tuk Tuk driver we found an ideal nearby rooftop restaurant – the New Shilpashri Restaurant and Rooftop Bar just off Ghandi Square where we were able to dine well on several occasions.

The major reason for coming to Mysore is to visit the majestic maharaja’s palace. It was indeed impressive but the crowds made the visit a little tiring...its over the top opulence hard to take in. Successive Maharajahs had very close ties to the British Raj to their obvious mutual benefit.

                

While the palace was excellent not so the overpriced restaurant and bar associated with the local Radisson hotel nor the scheming sandalwood oil shop our driver took us to and which led Maria to purchasing A$120 worth of the unctuous oils.  We also visited the  government’s silk factory where we were allowed to inspect first hand (but without camera nor mobile phone), all the steps involved in weaving a pure silk and gold thread sari from beginning to end – these finished garments fetch upwards of A$1500 each!

Our Driver also insisted on a visit to an important Hindu temple where a special ritual was occurring and where all the wandering cows appeared to have been dusted with turmeric to further enhance their revered status

  

 

 

After two nights we took a 2 hour drive back up into the Western Ghats to the Mudumalai Wildlife National Park where we hope to sight an elusive tiger.  It was during this road trip that our driver  told us to be prepared to pay an extra  Karnataka/Tamil Nadu border crossing fee (supposedly to cover the interstate vehicle and its passengers with accident insurance).  However, on stopping at the border police station all he had to do was fill out some paper work and no fee was sought.

We stayed at a  resort called the Casa Woods Resort.  What really surprises us was that this national park was bisected by a busy national road route complete with heavy trucks and buses jostling for position alongside many privately charted vehicles and taxis loaded with tourists hoping to get a glimpse of wildlife and with heavy speed restrictions along its entire route.  The park is administered jointly by the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.  En route we did sight numerous deer, Langur (black-faced) monkeys and even a few elephants.

We eventually found our hidden mountain resort in amidst the towering Western Ghats at about lunchtime just in time to clean up for an afternoon jeep safari – which has to be paid for separately. The Casa Woods Resort ticked most of the boxes for a wildlife resort except its front desk which possessed few English language skills and instead relied on ambiguously worded suggestion sheets of how to secure an appropriate  safari whether it be via government authorised mini bus, jeep into the jungle proper or to take one’s chances with the hundreds of privateer jeep operators who line the park’s road.  Then you had a choice of starting points 45mins or 25 mins away…..confusion reigned and so we chose a govt jeep tour 30mins away.  Cost  A$60 for an hour and a half and our taxi driver cadged a free ride also. We saw a couple of elephants, Indian Gaur (Bison), Deer and some more monkeys; but no tigers, leopards or panthers – not helped by the prattle maintained between our driver and the safari guide throughout the journey.

  

On safari - sans Tiger

 

The whole experience here was less than memorable and nothing like we expected and we would advise other visitors to choose more carefully before booking into Indian Wildlife Parks.  The accommodation was not cheap at A$85/night plus meals.  We did try their special evening Bar B cue of chicken cooked in a segment of bamboo - not bad.

 

Our driver did not hit it off with the management of our resort and is highly critical both of the management and of the poor condition of the road access – The resort did offer ‘a free 1.5hr guided trek; in the morning’ but on learning that it was only to a temple we  passed it up in favour of an early get away to the famous former colonial hill station of the unpronounceable town of Udhagamandalam (more commonly referred to today as Ooty) tomorrow morning.

Picked up at 0830hrs by driver and commenced our exhilarating drive over the Western Ghats yet again – our third journey over this impressive mountain range.  This time we pass over them from the relatively arid Eastern side to the tropical rainforests on the Western side.  The road up from Masinagudi to the eastern summit is a mass of very tight switchbacks and is supposedly one way for those ascending – with buses and trucks excluded.  However, to add some spice to an already scary road we encountered numerous vehicles illegally coming down the mountain early before the traffic police in Tamil Nadu start enforcing the one way rule at about 0900hrs.

Eastern side of the Western Ghats summit

 On reaching Ooty we searched out our hotel for the following night and successfully arranged for them to  hold our luggage until we returned on the Nilgiri Train at midday the next day.

Once the summit is reached you join a two way national highway on which normal buses and trucks are permitted.. It took a little over an hour to drive the 35kms to Ooty but then 90mins to drive down the 50kms to Mettupalayam.  During the downward drive the surrounding hills were just covered in a steaming mist as the tropical jungle oozed its humidity down the green hills.  Monkeys were the only persons unconcerned about the virulent downward spiral of angry traffic.

Down the western side of the Ghats

  

There was an extra-ordinary amount of traffic due to India’s National Day holiday being celebrated tomorrow – making it a long weekend for a lot of people.

Once we identified our hotel in Mettupalayam we made a bee line to the local railway station to verify our status for the train tomorrow morning.  Here we ran into a ghastly problem.  I had booked our tickets in October 2017 (4 months prior) but had failed to read the fine print indicating that we were only “Wait Listed” and that we would be contacted one month before our scheduled journey to confirm our booking - of course we were already wondering in India at the time and never received the email.  Taking pity on us, the Station Master suggested we return at 0400hrs tomorrow morning to secure one of the 80 unallocated/unreserved seats on tomorrow’s train which left at 0710 hrs.. 

Mettupalayam itself is just another scruffy town which just happens to be strategically placed at the southern end of the Nilgiri Mountain Train service. It supports few hotels which cater for western tourists….just hot, dusty and with particularly smelly drains.  A place to avoid staying overnight; if at all possible.  While walking about the town in the afternoon, Maria was temporarily overcome with the heat and had to pause to recoup her senses – all well after a pause in the shade.

Nilgiri Mountain Train Trip 

We returned to the station at 0345hrs only to find about 60 locals already queued to get one of the 80 available 2^nd class seats on the train (I reckon some of them had slept at the station).  As luck would have it we managed to be 67 & 68 in the queue and therefore scored seats but at a cost of A$10 a little more than I originally paid for my wait-listed Reserve First Class seat.  As it turned out there were only two western tourists in the first class carriage and the rest were locals.  We were all allocated seats in our carriage and it was obvious at once that had we not stored our large luggage up at Ooty the day before we would not simply have been allowed onto this tiny train.

The Nilgiri steam loco

   

Our Second Class Carriage gradually filled up with many happy holiday makers

As soon as we left a group of about 10 young men began leading the entire carriage in a series of non-stop Bollywood songs much to our own bewilderment.  The conductress even tried to get Maria and I to sing a couple of songs 'from your country'.  Then every time the train passed through a tunnel the entire train erupts with ghoulish howls and whistles much to the amusement of all the children on board.

The train certainly passed through some spectacular mountain scenery, across scary high bridges and waterfalls..

     

   

Note the winding road below on which we had to travel down the next day

During the first three quarters of the journey the train is pushed up by a small steam locomotive which uses a rack and pinion centre rail to assist its climb up to over 2000m. We made frequent stops so the locomotive could refill its boiler and at these stops all passengers get out and take selfies of each other or snaps of the train or the plentiful monkeys which inhabit these places.  But they also use the occasion to drop dreadful amounts of litter – despite government notices threatening fines for littering.

   

The pleasure of the train journey ends at Coonoor where the steam locomotive is exchanged for a far less romantic diesel loco and all three second class carriages are filled to overcapacity (like Indian 3^rd Class) with standing passengers so as to prevent much movement for anyone.  At Coonoor you also meet the train headed down and it was full of western tourists – it’s the more popular way to go as at the bottom at Mettupalayam one can link up to other trains headed to either Chennai and Kochi.  This is the smarter way to experience the not to be missed: Nilgiri Mountain Railway.

The last section of the journey between Coonoor and Ooty is not anywhere near as interesting as you have already scaled the Western Ghats and instead you are transported through endless manicured tea plantations and market gardening.

   

As soon as we got into Ooty we grabbed a Tuk tuk and went straight to our pre-booked accommodation at the Meadows Residency (www.meadowsresidency.com) which offers all mod cons for a reasonable A$63…..a far cry from that on offer the previous night at the Hotel Soorrya in Mettupalayam with its torn mattress cover, unmade beds, cold showers and tissue thin curtains and a noisy fan.  However, we had overlooked a strategically important fact that 26 January is not only Australia Day but also Republic Day in India where  all licensed premises must remain closed.  We searched hard and long for an exception on a very hot day without success.