Hotel Ambadi Thekkady

... that they are toying with me, so I refuse and get back into the rickshaw. I go to the hotel next door, a run down building with men hanging outside. I talk with reception and he goes to call and discuss it with half a dozen people. Already wary of what is taking place, my attention is distracted by a large group of men stumbling out of the restaurant, completely drunk. They seem to be arguing and pushing ...

... to the pedestrians, In the mornings you sometimes awake to the mosque screeching prayers before dawn. It takes desensitizing here; otherwise you get an overload on stimulus. I realize the sun is gone, and go for dinner at Paragon, which is highly recommended. The owner takes me to the nicest part of the restaurant (AC room) and recommends personally what I should order. I see I am the only foreigner in the place; all the other clients are looking at me in curiosity ...

... of the tigers in the park and an update on how the park is run. After hours at this important meeting, I get invited to have a personal lunch with the ecologist, conservation biologist, and eco development officer. Later I get a 1:1 with the boss himself. I come away from Periyar happy to see the organizational structure and what friendly people work at the park. I hope that they soon face better times.

In the late afternoon I walk into Kumily town to buy some water, and ...

... 2.00pm.

We just thought of dropping to Kadamparai power project although we don’t have the approval just to give a try as heard the architect was really marvelous and the canal is a must visit place, but our car petrol tank was showing down arrow and we don’t have bunks in that route. We gave up again and started towards Aliyur to fill petrol then Topslip. We reached sethumadai check post @ 4pm (the downhill of topslip) The forest officers were not suggesting ...

... we noticed another one come out of the undergrowth. Then another. Then another. Finally there were fourteen of the magnificent beasts stood around for an hour or so as we snapped away. In the whole day we saw another six elephants, some wild boar, a black bear, a python, monkeys, dear and a whole host of other amazing things. I got very red from the sun but it was worth it! And so ends another chapter. Keep happy everyone and I'll see you next time! Dan. x.

... at the tourism office, so much so that I felt feverish and queasy the whole next leg of the car ride to the guesthouse. After resting a few minutes I was able to put down some of the lunch, but the nausea returned. I consulted my compatriots, and had to go purge myself, which gave me a good deal of relief, but not total relief. To be continued. We continued on, and the country soon began to morph before our eyes from ...

... guy sighed and looked on. We didn't expect to see much as it was too late in the morning, we did spot a kingfisher, some Sambar deer, a family of wild boar crossing the lake and a couple of lone bison. In a rather sombre mood we headed back to Coffee Inn for lunch where we bumped into a sunburnt Bill as he'd been bamboo rafting the day before. We met Bill for tea in Chrissie's restaurant where he kindly shared his bottle of red wine with us. Chocolate brownie for ...

... we all are ALL ONE. On family-one heart-One Love. This separation is illusion. But, since we're here on this earthly realm, where suffering is everywhere and quite natural, maybe that's the point of suffering, so we can have compassion for the others who suffer. Amma's says to see God in everything-accept everything as if it were just how it was supposed to be. But, at the same time fill our hearts with love and try see yourself ...

... we got off the aeroplane and it was hot and steamy. We didn't have a nice hotel. The next day we moved to a nicer hotel, The Apollo. We went to Elephanta Island. It was horrible as monkeys patrolled the path and attacked anyone with food. We went to Tendulkar's restaurant and watched the cricket on a big TV and had a lovely dinner. After Mumbai we went to Surya Samudra in Kerala. It was really pretty and had a lovely pool. We had a nice bungalow called Cinnamon Garden. I really ...

Well, we reached our first resort late Tuesday night after an exhausting drive. A truck accident held us up for some time. Then a torrential downpour that reduced visibility to about 10 feet. That lasted at least an hour. Then the road turned into washboards. Total drive time - 7 hours. The saving grace of the drive, if there is any, were the animals we saw along the way. Unfortunately, it was well after dark, and we're not so sure the photos will show anything ...