Brittney's visit

So what better way to finish my Indian adventures, than with another trip!

Ben's cousin, Brittney had spent the month of May working at a University fairly close to Delhi and then added a week on to her trip to come and see us. On her list of things to see; tea, wildlife and markets. So we had a lovely little trip fairly similar to one we did with my parents, but some slightly different places.

We started a little slowly as en route to Mysore we stopped off to see the new house that our driver is having built, it turned out to be a bit out of the way. We managed some of the main sights in Mysore though. We went to Tipu's summer palace and Gumbaz (his tomb) and then headed up the Chamundi hills to see the Chamundeshwari temple. We walked from the Nandi statue about half way up the hill so we could stop and admire the lovely view over Mysore you get on the way up. We also took the chance for Brittney to try sugar cane juice and sweet lime juice.

Time was marching on when we arrived in Mysore, so after a late lunch we checked into our hotel and headed to the palace. Needless to say, they still haven't sorted out the sound and light show so it wasn't on again. We managed to see the lit up palace from the gate which is still quite pretty, but not quite the same.

At Mysore Palace

A pre-dinner cocktail

The following morning we were picked up by our driver who we had hired for the next few days. We decided to make a couple of stops in Mysore before heading off on our next adventure. First up, the Government run silk factory. We were expecting a shop with a bit of a demonstration in the back, but we thought it would be worth a visit anyway. We were very pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be the factory proper and was really fascinating. They had hundreds of looms all in big halls and a couple of huge warping machines. No photos I'm afraid as cameras weren't allowed. Next stop was the Sandalwood soap factory, or rather the sandalwood oil factory - the oil was then sent to the Bangalore factory to be made in to soap and various other things. It was not quite as interesting as the silk, mainly because they were not currently operating. They make the oil when an order comes in from Bangalore, so only operate about half the time and generally for a few months each time. Worth a visit nonetheless.

From there we moved drove to Wayanad which is a mountainous region just over the border into Kerala. Although popular with domestic tourists as a weekend destination from Bangalore, it is not on the main tourist trail. We didn't have very much idea of what kind of thing there was to do, apart from take in the lovely views. Our hotel was on a coffee plantation with a tea plantation across the hill so we planned for some relaxation and a bit of exploring.

We arrived at about 4pm, just before the heavens opened and as all the attractions around were closing so had a chilled out evening drinking tea on our balcony which had a fantastic view overlooking the Chembra peak, the highest mountain in the area, followed by a wander through the coffee plantation.

Beautiful view from our balcony

Playing in the coffee plantation

The following day we started early with our free tea plantation walk before breakfast. We were hoping it would be an informative tour of the plantation, but it turned out to be just what they said - a walk, I suspect our guide might have told us quite a lot, if he had been able to speak English, but it was not to be!

Joining the ladies on their way to work in the tea plantation

After breakfast we set off on a sightseeing tour. First up a lake that we can't remember the name of! We had a nice little stroll around it though and then spent quite some time in the shop. Next stop, a view point overlooking the valley. The rain was coming so we made it a quick one, although not quite quick enough! We managed not to get too wet though and moved on to our last stop before lunch: Chembra peak. There were 2 options, climbing the peak and a short walk to a viewpoint. Given that time was ticking on we decided to go for the viewpoint option. That meant we missed the heart-shaped lake at the top, but the views were pretty stunning all the same. We took the car about 1/2 way up the mountain and then had about a 1.5km walk to a small observation tower.

The view from Chembra peak

From there we continued on to see Edakkal caves. These are one of the main sights of Wayanad and apart from the fact that there is some ancient writing in them, we didn't really know much about them!

We arrived at the car park at about 3pm and were pointed in the right direction. The rain was on the way so we walked up the hill at quite a pace. It turned out to be a pretty long way up to the entrance (the booth bit, not the cave entrance), about a km at least. We then got hurried up more steps; 'the rain is coming', 'the rain is coming'! It seemed to be about half way up the mountain when we finally got the cave. Anyway, we made it with about 5 mins to look at the cave and head back down again. It turned out all the hurry was not just because they were wanting to close up but mainly because the day before they had had a 'lightening related incident'!

And then the rain came with vengeance as we ran down the metal staircase down the mountain in the thunderstorm. Suddenly we were a little nervous and went down at an even faster pace than we went up.

So the cave contains Petroglyphs (pictorial writings) from 3 different eras, the oldest may date back about 8000 years. It was an interesting stop, but there wasn't a huge amount more to know about them. It would have been a nice wander up to them and some good views from the caves in better weather.

The Petroglyphs in Edakkal caves

After getting pretty soggy on the way down we heading back to the hotel for a shower and some chilling out before heading out for dinner (unfortunately without Brittney who wasn't feeling well). The following day we drove back to Nagarhole national park and booked into our accommodation. We went for another one of these government places that do a package including food and safaris and a video etc. It borders Bandipur which we went to with my parents but this time the lodge was on the banks of the Kabini river. The evening safari was by jeep again, but the morning one was by boat on the river. 

Sadly, we missed out on tigers again. The groups who stayed longer and did the boat in the evening and saw one but it was around an inaccessible corner from us. Nevermind! We did see lots of elephants and deer (including Samba deer) and a Gaur (too briefly to get a picture), which is an Indian Bison. We also saw lots of birds and a couple of crocodiles on the river and a few other things. 

Nice view over the river as the light faded

Elephant dinner time (although I think that might be all the time!)

A quick coracle ride before breakfast

After a lovely stay at the safari lodge we headed back to Mysore where our driver picked us up. We did a quick trip to the Mysore sand museum, which had some amazing sculptures. Something of an improvement on the one I went to in Weston-super-mare in the UK (and a 10th of the price!).

Mysore sand museum

And then finally, to make the most of our trip we visited the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary which is close to Mysore, but on the way back to Bangalore. It was a nice trip, although I have to say pretty expensive for foreigners! The number of crocodiles we saw up close on the boat trip was a little alarming, although I guess if they were really short of meat they would have filled up on the many boat loads that had gone before us!

On Brittney's last day with us it we had another trip to the ISKON temple so that both Ben and Brittney could see it (see my previous blog on Tim and Adam's visit, called Goan adventures). We then discovered another microbrewery at Orion Mall and finally delivered Brittney to the airport. She fly back to Delhi and then the next morning to the UK for a week before finally heading back to the States. I took a direct flight the next day from Bangalore and met her at Heathrow!

And there ended a fantastic experience of a year in India!

I'm sure we'll be back for the odd holiday. There are certainly some places we didn't get to visit that I will be back for.

Finishing the Bangalore bucket list!

So, last few weeks in Bangalore! We've been thinking about the things that we have been meaning to do for a while and made an effort to tick some of them off!

Cricket, we did just before Malaysia (I'm counting it even if it was only half a match!). In the last couple of weeks we have ticked a few more things off the list.

A performance at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, an impressive building built in the shape of a Violin. We went to see Vir Das, a Bollywood actor and comedian. The basis of his comedy act was a collection of stories about his past, some of which were true, and some which were not, you had to guess which were true. He was very good, although I think we only understood about half of it! Some of the time the punch lines were in Hindi and sometimes the lack of Indian background let us down. Jokes about Indian Prime minsters are a little beyond us! The hall was cool too.

Chowdiah Memorial Hall

The hall from the higher up (courtesy of Wikipedia), hopefully you can sort of see it's shape though!

I have been planning to try making Dosa (a typical South Indian breakfast food, a bit like a pancake) for a while and haven't got around to it. Particularly since I discovered it is not really like a pancake in composition, but is a fermented batter made from rice and a type of lentil. So, we decided to see if the lady who I had had a couple of other Indian cooking classes with would do a Dosa class for us. Ben had had a couple of late meeting with the UK, so was able to join me. It was good fun and nice to do it together this time. We made Dosa, Appam (a Keralan pancake, this time made with rice and coconut milk), Keralan vegetable stew to go with the Appam, Idli (another South Indian breakfast food), chutney and Sambar. The plain breakfast foods are always served with green coconut chutney and Sambar, which is kind of a thin vegetable curry. And then we ate the most massive breakfast! :-)

Us and our feast!

Clockwise from top left - Dosa, veg stew, Sambar, Idli, Appam and Chutney

Indira Gandhi musical fountain -  this is in the park opposite where Ben works and we have been meaning to go for ages. We finally found out the timings and went along for the 30 min show after work one day last week. It was good fun, and surprisingly busy, given that they do 2 shows 6 days a week. But then, or Rs15 per person (about 15p) who's complaining!

The musical fountains

Next up, gold class at the cinema, mainly because we wondered what the deal was with it, and because, even though it's expensive for an Indian cinema, it's still half the price of a UK cinema. Well worth the trip for the experience, you get a welcome drink, a bottle of water, you can order food and drink to your seat, and the chairs a really comfy. The film was quite fun too, we saw Tomorrowland, not a must see, but not bad.

Luxuriating in gold class!

It wasn't really on the list, but we tried out the planetarium on Wednesday. There happened to be an English show at 12.30pm, and it is very close to Ben's office, so he had an extended lunchbreak. He says he's never been to one before and I think he quite enjoyed it. I don't really remember enough about the London planetarium to compare, I must have been about 7 when I went. Probably not as good, but worth an hour and 35p.

Apart from a night trek this coming Saturday night, I'm not sure we have anything left now. I am leaving in just over a week! Just one more trip with Brittney and then it will be time to say goodbye.

Trek to Mullayanagiri and Bababuddangiri

The weather forecast for the weekend was good, so we decided to do another BMC (Bangalore Mountaineering Club) trek. This one was a 2 day trek to Mullayanagiri which is in Chikmagalur. Chikmagalur is a hilly region to the West of Bangalore which is one of the centers of coffee production in India. Mullayanagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka at 1930m.

As with most of the weekend treks, pick up is at about 10pm the night before from Bangalore. Our homestay was about a 5-6 hour drive from Bangalore. It was a really popular one this weekend with 36 people on the trek, so there were 3 minibuses! Which was lucky as we got a puncture (shredded tyre really!) and had to get the spare off one of the other minibuses. The journey was also stretched out a bit by an hour and a half stop at the entrance to the hills as the area doesn't open until 5.30am. Anyway, we arrived at the homestay at about 6.30am. It was very basic, and really too small for the number of us, but we coped OK. Not the best organisation from BMC this time, there were just too many people really. 

So, after a bit of a freshen up, and some breakfast, we left at about 9am and drove to the start of the trek. It was a pretty cloudy day and the tops were shrouded in cloud, which was a blessing in that it wasn't very hot, but equally it was have been good to get a bit of view! 

In the cloud!

 Finally, the cloud breaks a little

They had decided to do the walk backwards as there is a check post between the Mullayanagiri peak and the ridge you walk along to get to Bababuddangiri. Previously they have had some problems with getting permission at the check point to walk along the ridge, so if we did the ridge first, then nobody could stop us! The clouds broke a occasionally as we started along the ridge and it started clearing more the further we got along.

Looking back along the ridge

The ridge then came down to meet the road where our lunch had been delivered, a very tasty veg biriyani and raita in a huge tiffin box. Then the sun came out properly, unfortunately our suncream application came a little late, we had already got quite sunburnt, sillybillys!  From there the temple at the top of Mullayanagiri looked pretty close, but it was one of those where you reach the top of the first hill, only to find that there are 3 more before you reach the actual top! It was a nice 8.5 mile hike.

From the top of Mullayanagiri looking back the way we had come, the ridge just about visible in the clouds.

We got back to the homestay at about 6pm and there was the usual amount of hanging around until dinner. We didn't last a whole lot longer than after dinner and I think we were in bed by 9! An overnight bus ride and a day of hiking will do that to you!

The following day we went to see a waterfall before heading back to Bangalore. I don't know the name of it, but as waterfalls go, it wasn't too bad. To get there they hired jeeps to drop us down to it, it was about a 2km walk down a very rough track, there was no way the minibuses would have made.

At the waterfall

The boys having fun! 

I slightly wish Ben and I hadn't been quite so sensible and had gone for it too, but I'm not sure the trip back in the bus would have been much fun!

On the way back up there was an excellent display of some of the most annoying things about India! One of the jeeps ran out of diesel on the way up, so was blocking the road. Of course, everyone rev'd their engines a lot and hooted, got as close as possible and tried their hardest to go around. It was plainly obvious that the only way to get past was for the jeeps coming up the hill to back down to a junction and then push the broken down one out of the way at the junction. But it took a good half an hour of discussion and hooting to come to this conclusion. As soon as that jeep was out of the way off we went up the hill again. Of course, there was clearly another one on the way down, and nowhere to pass, but we went anyway! When we got to it there was another 10 mins of stand off followed by a lot of reversing and maneuvering to get past each other. It's really no wonder this country has such a traffic problem, the number of cars is only 1/2 the problem! Finally they were all completely scuppered as a large truck slightly further up the road had stopped to unload some kind of building material and wasn't going anywhere. From there we had to walk! Luckily it turned out not to be that far by then, a few of the girls had very sore legs.

So then it was back on the minibus for the 5 hour journey home, urgh!

Malaysia

So, having had another trip home for my brother's wedding at Easter we arrived back in Bangalore at the end of April. I have now made the decision to head back to the UK permanently. I am in need of some more gainful employment now that our list of visitors has dried up a little! But I'm back for a while, applying for jobs and waiting to hear back etc. Oh, and keeping my husband company of course!

Meanwhile, Ben is now into his new holiday year! And since he is unlikely to use much of it on his own we are putting it to good use while I'm here.

So, after a bit of research I found a destination that met all my criteria; direct flight from Bangalore, we didn't need a visa, not rainy season, not ridiculously hot. Malaysia. Yes, I agree, hot and potentially wet, but no more than any other time of the year, and not up to the 40C + of Northern India at the moment. May day is a public holiday in India, so Ben took the Monday, Tuesday and half of Wed off too to make a reasonable length trip.

We flew on the Thursday night at 12.45am, a little delayed as one would expect, and with the time difference we arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8.30am. It is a 4 hour flight, so we were pretty exhausted, but better that than wasting a day arriving in the evening. Having figured out the trains, we checked into our hotel in downtown KL, pretty close to the Petronas towers. We were a bit surprised how close actually as a few days later when we were back in KL we were staying at the Renaissance which had been recommended to us by some friends as having a great view of the towers. We had gone a little more downmarket (we thought) for the first 2 nights. Turned out it was just across the road!

So we headed out for a bit of exploring, first up, the tourist information for a map. It was about the fanciest tourist information centres I've ever seen!

The tourist information centre

Next we walked through Bukit Nanas to see KL tower and on to the old part of town. Bukit Nanas is a forest reserve on a hill in the middle of the city, in the middle, at the top of the hill is the KL tower.

Menara Kuala Lumpar (Or KL tower)

It was a lovely walk, hot and sweaty and we got bitten a lot, but it was nice. We decided not to go up the tower at the moment, but to find out about the restaurant at the top and aim to go there one night. From there we headed to the old part of town, but couldn't reach any of the sights because of a protest that was about to start against government goods and services tax that has just been brought in. So, we had some lunch and a little wander through china town and then worked our way back to the hotel. We chilled out for a bit (well, fell asleep for 2 hours which had not been the intention!), and then went to an excellent restaurant for some Malay curries. 

China Town

The next day we started at the Petronas towers, but since we had a lie in we didn't get there in time to take a tour that day (only a certain number of tickets are available each day), we settled for some pictures and a coffee at the mall at the bottom and then had a little wander around the city park. From there we headed back to the old city and actually managed to see the sights this time. 

At the Petronas Towers

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The National Mosque

Just in time to avoid the rain we arrived at the Islamic Arts Museum which was extensive, but good. From there we headed back to our hotel via a quick peak at the old railway station. After a quick swim we tried to go to a Chinese restaurant that got really good reviews, but were very rudely told there was no space. So we ended up at a not particularly good Lebanese around the corner. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

The following day we set out on our trip to the jungle! Various things I read said that the most convenient way of doing the trip was to do an organised tour. It was probably quite an expensive way of doing it, but it did mean we managed to pack quite a lot in to 2 days.

First up, Batu caves. About 45 mins drive from KL, the main cave contains a Hindu temple to Lord Murugan. The cave is up 272 steps past a huge statue of Murugan. It is certainly an impressive sight. The cave at the top of the steps is just as massive. See the right hand picture below, this is looking in from near the entrance, the temple proper is on the left and the steps go up another temple in an area where the top is open to the sky.

Batu caves - Left, from the bottom of the steps, right from the inside

Next stop, the Kuala Gandah Elephant sanctuary. It is hoe to orphaned and injured elephants which will, when ready be released into the wild. They also relocate elephants from who's original habitat has been encroached by farming etc. Anyway, we spent a while feeding them sugar cane and generally admiring them. Unfortunately we didn't have time to watch the film that was showing a bit later on or join in with elephant bathtime (well, in truth, we would have had time, but we were hurried along!). 

Hungry baby!

The bigger elephants had come out for feeding as it was a public holiday

Then a spot of lunch and about 3 hours drive and we arrived at Taman Negara (literally 'National Park' in Malay) is an area of tropical rainforest, said to some of the world's oldest and the edges of it are fairly easily accessible from KL.

Kuala Tahan, the headquarters of the park, which includes quite a fancy resort is on the edge of a kind of gorge, with the river at the bottom and accessible only by boat from the village on the other side. The river marks the National Park boundary so everything away from the river past the resort was forest. So here is where we could have stayed with the elephants for longer, as we had about 3 hours free before we were to meet our driver for dinner. So, we went for a wander around the resort. We found the way into the forest and followed one of their very well marked boardwalk type trails and had a lovely, if incredibly hot and sticky, walk for about an hour.

From the resort looking down over the river & the floating restaurants

A snake we found on our wander

For dinner we went to one of the floating restaurants, moored on the village side of the river where we met our guide for our night time nature walk. The idea is that you wander around in the forest in the resort and see what you can see. Mainly insects and spiders etc. although we did see a couple of snakes and a glimpse of a mouse deer. Then you end up at a hide which overlooks a salt lick, an area rich in salt where animals go to top on minerals. At that point we had meet up with another large (and rather noisy) group and one of the other guides told us that there were no animals and the hide, so we decided to skip it and go somewhere a bit quieter. 

A flower that only blooms at night

The following morning we eventually decided to get up quite early and go and explore the hide we had missed the night before. It was lovely and peaceful and pretty with the mist hanging in the trees, but we didn't see any animals. If we hadn't been so reluctant to actually get out of bed, who knows, but nevermind!

After breakfast we met our guide again and headed off by boat a little way up river for our trek into the forest. It was a really nice walk, and made better by the fact that we were about the first people to leave for that activity that morning, so managed to see a few animals before the crowds scared them away! We walked up to a peak called Bukit Teresak with a couple of look view points.

The first view point on the morning trek

It was a circular route with a forest canopy walk on the way back down. It somehow wasn't quite what we were expecting, but good fun all the same. GoApe eat your heart out! 

On the canopy walk

Then we hopped back in the boat and headed a bit further up stream to a Orang Asli village. Orang Asli people are indigenous to the Peninsular Malaysia and there are a couple of tribes who live in Teman Negara. One of the tribes which lives by the river allow visitors (for money of course) and show you how they make blow pipe arrows and start fires etc. It was slightly uncomfortable and felt a little like you were at a zoo, but they seemed happy enough to show us the blow pipes etc. 

Off up river to the Orang Asli village

Having a go with a blow pipe

And then for the long drive back to KL, which was not so much fun!

We had originally thought we would do a day trip to Melaka on the last day, but we were fairly tired and had both been suffering with a cold. We are still not immune to Indian germs and a lot of Ben's colleagues had been suffering! It is a 2 hour bus ride each way from a bus station a little out of the city centre, so we decided to give it a miss. Instead we went up the Petronas towers in the morning, Ben popped out to get the tickets first thing.

Amazing views from the top of the Petronas towers

In the afternoon we finished off the main sights that we hadn't seen before the jungle. The national war memorial, the botanical gardens (a bit of it anyway) and the bird park.

The war memorial

At the bird park

The bird park was nice. It is the largest free flying walk in aviary in the world apparently! It certainly is very large. It's situated on the side of a hill going down into a sort of dip, so they have been able to put netting over large areas. There are separate areas of netting, they are still really big areas, almost 21 acres according to their website! All sorts of birds from parrots to peacocks and flamingos and a whole load of others I don't know the names of. We probably didn't make the most of it, but we were starting to flag a bit from the heat, so we headed for a well earned ice cream in the central market. That revived us just enough to have a look around the shops (and buy Ben a T-shirt) and then head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. Then we headed out for dinner to a place that was not too far away and got good reviews, the only thing the reviews didn't mention was that type of cuisine. Turned out it was British! Ah well, we were hungry and it was good, we had been intending something a little more adventurous, but never mind!

Cricket!

OK, so this post is more for me than for you! Just making a record of what we have been up to so I don't forget.

Given that the IPL is on at the moment, we decided we really needed to join in with the national obsession. So, we went with a few of Ben's colleagues to see the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. the Rajasthan Royals.

Ready for the match!

We were pretty far back, and I kept missing what was going on cos I wasn't concentrating! But it was great fun. And would probably been a great result for RCB, if it hadn't started raining during the break! RCB were 200/7 at the end of their innings.

And the crowd goes wild!

Me, Rajeev and his wife and Ritesh

While the weather was holding

They tried to restart several times, but every time they got the covers off and had nearly removed most of the water it started raining again! So, the match was abandoned and they split the points.

And then it all went pear-shaped!

Probably quite different to a cricket match in the UK, no beer for a start! But they certainly manage to bring more enthusiasm than you see at most cricket on the TV. All the cheerleaders was a bit strange too, the majority of them are white, and if not white, they certainly don't look Indian. Apparently most of them are from places lie Croatia because if they had Indian girls they would be mobbed for inappropriate behavior. But for other people it's fine, how is that fair!

If you find yourself in India during the IPL, get a ticket, it was great fun!

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