Hotel Kumily Gate Thekkady

... a boy throwing stones at it. It makes an attempt to jump the curb, fails, and falls. I watch amused, as the rat tries to jump again, struggling to climb the curb. It succeeds and disappears into a drainage pipe. I laugh at this absurd sight and continue on my way.

S. Bathery is not worth mentioning more in detail. Half the town is drunk, as it turns out to be a Muslim holiday (which I get woken up to in ...

... at 9pm, I wonder what is happening here. I get cat calls, and decide to not wait around for the answer and go back to the room. The party lasts until 1 or 2am, and I occasionally glance outside on the beach boulevard to see if it has ended. The next morning I get room service (masala dosa, damn good!) and label Calicut as a culinary city. While you may not see much here, you most definitely eat well here. I catch the bus to go to S. Bathery, back in the Western Ghats.

... takes my hand to guide me to have tea with her. She invites me into her home and we chat over tea. The entire time she refers to me as her "daughter" and holds my hand, telling me if there is anything I need, she will help me. She turns out to be a wonderful and beautiful woman and while I tell her that tomorrow I will leave Thekkady for Munnar, but that I will always remember her grace and kindness. Keralans are indeed some of the most beautiful and friendly people I have ever met.

... rain. To correct the sentence there was no road at all throughout the uphill (you will find some hairpin bends to).

The giant bamboos and trees will give you a horror atmosphere. We were not so scared because of our earlier trip gave us more courage. The only concern is about the car tyre. We went and couldn’t spot anything as the forest officer said… but still we gave a try till Kerala border and came back. Almost the thrill was retained and the search was ...

... The goats were not at all hard to find. They're quite used to people and I think they find walking on the asphalt path easier than trekking cross country, as they were plentiful along the path. We ran into plenty of groups who all wanted to shake our hands and have their picture taken with us. This accelerated as we go to the bus stop where everyone was waiting. Leaving Munnar we ran into a road block -- the ...

... while it was cool being in India, it did remove a bit of the luster from the occasion, much like being a vegetarian at Thanksgiving J. But we still had a cake and some fun, so it was grand. I also grabbed a new book at local store: The Algebra of Infinite Justice by Arundhati Roy. If you have any interest in how India (and Afghanistan and Pakistan) really functions, especially in relation to the US, this is required reading.

(Jim) Trying to answer e-mails while sitting in the back seat of an Indian minivan on the road between Cochin and Periyar is like one long airplane-turbulence-bathroom-fat-woman- lipstick joke. (You figure it out.) If I left that last sentence as originally typed and uncorrected, you'd get it. When we saw the time frame and distance for today's drive, we thought at first it must be a misprint: Cochin to Periyar: 185 km, 5 ...

... spent years of my life chasing drugs and other pains of the world. I've worried myself to death. I have felt guilt and anguish. There are so many who live in this pain now and too a much more extreme extent. The best message I've got from Amma, friends, and saints is "Be were you are because that's exactly where the universe wants you, but yearn to love that which is love-the eternal-God-Jesus-Buddha-Whatever you want to call it ...

... pancakes. Mummy, Imi and I bought beautiful sandals and ankle bracelets. We had a mad drive to Varkala, our hotel was quite nice. Every day we would go to Cliff Beach to sunbathe and play in the sea. The sea was lovely and warm, but quite rough. Each day when we walked back to the hotel we'd look at the fish in the restaurants. On the second night we ate a massive fish, which was called a Blue Marlin, it was lovely. We ate fish and Tandoori Nan every night, we loved it. One ...

The drive from Casa Deep Woods Resort took us into the Nilgiri Hills. Tea plantations, wild elephants, monkeys, hair pin curves up the side of the mountain, waterfalls. The views were spectacular as the mountain tops peaked through the clouds. The valleys were green and terraced. Plantings of carrots, potatoes, and tea were nearing harvest time. The air became more chilled the higher went. The local ...