Hotel SV International Kodaikanal

... enjoying the place. We are alone here most of the time. We walk the wooded roads along a jungle river here. They grow all sorts of spices here. You can see coffee plants, cardamom, pepper and pineapple. Lots of strange insects, and spiders. On one morning walk I came back with a bloody sock. I noticed it after I showered. I think I may have had an encounter with a leech. It's always ...

... is spectacular and mostly undeveloped, in those parts we could have been anywhere in the world (with mountains, lake, deep forests and the occasional tea plantation).

Then back to town for spice shopping in a small shop jammed with locals. Bought vanilla, lots of assorted Indian spices, and a fruit cake to give to some unsuspecting soul back home for Christmas. I also visited a local state wine store and bought a bottle of Maharashtra ...

Kodaikanal is 2100m above sea level. The 3 1/2 hr bus journey was pretty stunning especially as we got higher, the road got curvier, and the view of the Western Ghats, the mountains, and the plains below became clear.

It's a small hillstation with many villages in the area and has a much cooler climate, 20 degrees maybe (thank you very much) to enjoy. It's surrounded by wooded slopes of ...

... permitted us to walk in the adjacent grounds. He said that tourists routinely vandalise the museum and they do not have the resources to maintain it anymore. The once famous orchidarium is now relocated to their Jesuit headquarters at Trichy . I did not spot any wild orchids except some oberonias near Dolphins Nose, but there are plenty of exotic ferns and tree ferns everywhere. On the road going downhill to Madurai, the higher branches of tall rain ...

... issues like a champ. My fear laid not with my inability to manage myself, but fretting that some poor soul decides to blow chunks on the bus and we are all subject to seven more hours of breathing in puke residue in addition to the carbon monoxide that already is invading our lungs. More bumping, speeding around corners, honking. Nobody hoarked, thankfully, and we stopped for lunch where I was invited by my new back seat buddies to join them for lunch. Now ...

... with a general practitioner in town called Dr. Ravi. He is very interested in teaching - and manages too do so pretty well considering he also examines around 20 patients pr hour. He even invited us home once to teach us how too look at chest X-rays. In the afternoons he visits some tea-plantations around kotarigi. Usually the companies will pay the medical bills of the people working from them. So there is some ...

... breeze seeps through the windows. It's a good two hour drive up the hill but the breath taking views make it all worth while. We check into a hotel opposite the bus stop as we can't be bothered to argue with taxi drivers. This is the only place in India where you will not see a single rikshaw and its heaven. We go for a wonder, have dinner and are ready for bed. Its hard work living out of a rucksack at times. Accommodation prices have gone ...

... wird. Gestern waren wir auf der Hochzeit von Sara Anns Sohn Ean und seiner Frau Raina, die aus Mizoram stammt (Ihr könnt ja mal auf der Karte suchen wo dieses fast unbekannte Land ist), Lars hat die Trauung vollzogen, was wieder sehr schön war. Heute haben wir auch Besuch, d.h. eigentlich waren wir eingeladen, aber ich habe es vorgezogen, die betroffenen Bekannten hierher zu bringen, den die haben das Haus voller Katzen, was für meine Allergie derzeit recht übel wäre. Morgen ...

Liebe Freunde! Es weihnachtet, auch in Kodaikanal. Neben mir ein Stückchen Stollen und ein warmer Becher Tee, draußen eine trübe, graue Suppe. Die Feuchtigkeit hängt richtig in der Luft und es könnt eben so gut auch ein norddeutscher Wintertag sein. Ein richtiges Schmuddelwetter, ganz wie zu Haus! Und doch sind unsere Nasen und Schultern noch leicht gerötet und der Teint unserer Haut verrät, daß es nur zwei Autostunden bergab ist, um sich im tropischen Süden Indiens wiederzufinden ...

... die Türen von innen abschließen, was uns auch ganz recht war, da wir uns sehr unsich** fühlten und die Bewohn** des Dorfes, indem d** Unfall stattgefunden hatte, sich uns gegenüb** eh** feindselig v**halten hatten. Was die Polizei anging, so war man nicht einmal an uns**** Aussage int**essi**t, und nur dank d** Hilfe d** Schule, die für uns V**bindungen zu einem lokalen Anwalt geknüpft hatte, war es schließlich möglich nach zwei endlos **scheinenden Tagen und dem Bezahlen von ...