Hotel Kodai Breeze Kodaikanal

We had a great drive up into the mountains. The drive up was curvy and we stopped a few times to look at rubber trees, spice plants, and waterfalls.

The Dew Drops Home stay is quiet and the temp has cooled down into the 80s. There are occasional rains, but nothing sustained. The result is a misty mountain experience. The guest house is located at above 5000 ft elevation. Barb and I ...

We had breakfast at eight and the fare consisted of corn flakes with hot milk, eggs, pepsi, seven-up, toast, jelly, coffee, and tea.

Our touring began with a visit to the Eravikulam National Park. After paying the entry fee everyone takes a minibus up a narrow one lane mountain road (no shoulder and busses are also coming downhill) to the park entrance. Features of the park are a rare mountain goat (nargili tahr), lemur, elephants and ...

... who said India couldn't be quiet? I was a wee stroll from town so far enough away to hear nothing...just a few chipmunks scurring around perhaps and oh yes the mouse who was in my room the first night (didn't really enjoy that, so moved from the very basic room, so no animals were included). Another grand place to sleep and sit in peace...i never would have imagined to find such peace in India. I ...

... these are available quite cheap, if garish, from the Tibetan vendors found everywhere in Kodai. Bargain hard for taxis, they tend to be monopolistic rip offs as auto rickshaws are not permitted in Kodaikanal. Spent a day at Madurai on the way back. We visited the famous Meenakshiamman temple in the afternoon. It was crowded and disappointing. [I enjoyed my subsequent visits to Srirangam and Tanjore a lot more]. We stayed at the TTDC Hotel Tamil Nadu ...

... blew my mind. I have seen this with well to-do Indians on many occasions. They treat the wait staff like ****. The bark orders, interrupt others, impatiently flag down waiters. Order things in English and when a misunderstanding occurs because the wait staff doesn't speak English very well, uses the opportunity to scold and berate him. This lady must have complained about or sent back 90% of the food that was brought to us, complaining of it being too spicy or hot ...

... several decubitus'. In such a situation there isn't much ou can do, and the doctor put a tube down into his throat and into his stomach so that his family would at least be able to feed him liquids. The philosophy is that one shouldn't die of starvation. Dr. Ravi and 2 other doctors we have met also invited us to a meeting with the Indian Medical Associaton 2 days ago. The meeting is for all the doctors ...

... and the view is fantastic for 300 rupees. We spend the next day sight seeing and share our mini bus with an Indian family from Chennai who made us feel extremely welcome. We had tea with them and talked for a few hours. On our last day we went to the lake, took a bike ride around the road and it was mental as Sri Baba had arrived and there were lots of people dressed in white. Tomorrow we set of to Munnar the land of tea. To be continued. . . . .

... steht schon hinten im Garten. Morgen früh wird er aufgestellt und geschmückt. 24. Dez: So, der Baum steht und ich muss sagen, die beiden haben ihn richtig gut ausgesucht. Nun wird geschmückt - zuerst die guten Kerzen aus Bonn, dann die Glasskugeln aus Minneapolis, die Strohsterne aus Ediths Bastelset von vor zwei Jahren, die Äpfel aus Ecuador, usw. Er sieht schon ganz gut aus. Um sechs ist Gottesdienst und vorher soll noch diese Mail mit den Photos auf den Weg. D.h. die Photos ...

... Norden entlang den Ausläufern der Western Ghats bis wir bei Calicut unsere erste Nacht verbringen. Es ist ein Hotel, das abseits der großen Straße liegt, quasi in einer Sackgasse am Strand von Kappad. Trotzdem ist der Platz geschichtsträchtig denn hier soll Vasco da Gama 1498 zusammen mit 170 Seeleuten erstmals indischen Boden betreten haben. Angeblich ziert ein Denkmal die Stelle, doch das haben wir auch nach längerem Suchen nicht finden können. Dafür gab es auf einer Felsenklippe ...

... Frühjahr 2000: Nachdem Barbara und Tobi nach Deutschland zurückgekehrt waren, hatten wir im Januar gleich noch einmal Besuch aus Deutschland, zwei Handw**ksgesellen, die auf ihr** traditionellen Wand**schaft üb** das ELM nach Indien gekommen waren. Klar, daß die beiden in ihrem Zunftgewand hi** für viel aufsehen sorgten. Tatsächlich haben einige Schül** von uns**** Schule die zwei zunächst für Zaub**** gehalten und mußten **st langsam davon üb**zeugt w**den, daß es sich bei G**o und ...