We left Thekkady, heading back towards the coast. The route did bring us through the Cardamom Hills – with more great views … and back into tea country.
Tag Archives: India
Kalari
This evening we had the opportunity to go for a Kalari perfomance.
Kalari is the traditional martial arts of Kerala; the word Kalari translates to battle field.
Morning Walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve
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From the hustle and bustle of Madurai we made it back into the mountains and nature, the small town of Thekkady with the nearby Periyar Tiger Reserve being the destination. In the morning of our second day we enjoyed a … Continue reading
Meenakshi Amman Temple
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This morning saw us heading for the Meenakshi Amman Temple – clearly the highlight of all temples, I have seen in India. To put the perspective right, to me this place felt like the Hindu equivalent to what the Vatican … Continue reading
To Madurai
We left Pondicherry after a good breakfast in French bakery; first an hour by private transport to Villupuram and then continuing by train to cover the 300 km to Madurai – a train journey of a good five hours.
We made it into Madurai in the late afternoon; after a bit of freshening up in the hotel, we had an orientation walk to get glimpse of what was ahead of us tomorrow.
The walk finished at a cinema, where we had the opportunity to see Lingaa and as such get an introduction into Kollywood cinema. The film – of course – was in Tamil with no subtitles provided … one could follow the story, but obviously did not get the details on all the discussion. For my taste the film has been far too long (at nearly three hours), the story could have easily been told in less time …
Pondicherry
From Auroville we continued to Pondicherry, a nice coastal town, which used to be – from the mid 17th century – a French colony and still shows it today. Some streets have the feel of a French town close to the Atlantic ocean, also this is probably one of the few places throughout my India trip with decent croissants readily available 😉
We made it into Pondicherry around mid-day and – after a great thali lunch – had some time for a self-guided / google-maps supported walk around town … a more proper tour was given in the evening … before we made it to a pre-dinner drink and a fairly French influenced dinner.
Auroville
On the way to Pondicherry we had a stop at Auroville – and probably one of the odder places on the whole trip.
The community of Auroville was originally founded by the Mother back in the late 1960s, the community is dedicated to peace, equality, generosity, goodness, courage, progress, receptivity, aspiration, persistence, gratitude, humility and sincerity – plus above all the ‘divine consciousness’.
All is supposedly non-religious and even free of religion – to me however it felt pretty much like a religion in itself – with its own value- and belief system.
Check wikipedia and auroville.org for more information.
Maamallapuram
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After a quick breakfast in Chennai we continued South – following the coast line – for another about two hours – until we made it to Maamallapuram in the late morning. Everyone in the group was exhausted after the long … Continue reading
On the Kaveri Express
We left Mysore in the evening – after dinner with a local family. Chennai, at the East coast was our destination … a mere 500 kilometers (at least when following rail tracks) or an almost twelve hour night train journey away.
The train journey was uneventful, the train not overly comfortable – with the experience being similar to an old-style Chinese hard sleeper.
Kashmiri Chillies anyone?
After our return to town and a quick lunch we headed our for Devaraja market for some good photo opportunities – and (for some) serious shopping – from white lentils, Kashmiri chillies to an idli maker.
