Blue Star Hotel Coimbatore

... across in my life.

The next day, the driver Aravindan from Kannan Tours & Travels Pvt Ltd took us for a local trip of coimbatore. He took us to Isha Yoga centre where they had a dhyanalingam installed and also to a waterfall nearby Kovai Kutrallam. From there we visited Perur temple and Marudhamalai Murugan temple. Came back to Jenny's for a wonderful dinner and rest in the comfy room.

Will be starting off to ooty tomorrow

... About two and a half hours in, while passing through a narrow cutting, we ground to a halt, and all the people in the carriage became very excited, shouting "hathi, hathi", which, as anyone who has seen The Jungle Book will know, means "elephant". Sure enough, we looked out of the window and there was a huge elephant just standing on the line looking at the train. The train staff and the guards went up to him ...

... asked me if I was with anyone else and I was honest and said no I was alone, to which they replied that I had guts and looked quite surprised. They said in Keralan culture women are never alone like I am now. I acknowledged this, comparing it to my culture saying that we are often alone and women do not have to be accompanied by men. Then this other older guy came over and something he said sent shivers down my spine: "Do you know anything about Hinduism?" he said. I said yes ...

... jetty. On the way a rickshaw stopped and asked if we needed a lift. No thanks we said. "Do you want to see a baby elephant?" "Thanks, done that already." "Do you want to see a plantation?" "No thanks, done that too." "One more question, when are you leaving town?" "Tomorrow" "ok, bye have a nice day" and he drives off with a smile. By the time we get back to the boat jetty, it's nearing four o'clock and that's when the tour boats go out for the afternoon boat rides, so there's a huge line ...

... envigorating, educational and quite enjoyable. We have about 3 weeks left in this country and I can already feel myself not being ready to leave. We joke that of those who visit India, there are some who love it and will surely return and others who couldn't be paid to step off the plane; I am sure I am the first person, and when the time comes to leave, I will do so with a peaceful smile, knowing that India will be India and I will be back...for now, time for Chai!

We informed the manager about the cockroaches in our room but he didn't even apologize. Even when we told him that under the bed we found crisps from previous guests (many hotelrooms in India are not regularly cleaned - we stayed in many places two nights and never saw a cleaning lady or even traces of something being touched) he didn't budge. The complaint register showed an entry somewhere last year as the last negative feedback, so we imagine that ...

... England. Then he walked off in front of us, pointed proudly to a pipe sticking out of the beautifully decorated wall and announced "English fire hydrant" I just cracked up. And the poor guy just didn't get why. Guess you have to be British. We ...

... as it was frightening. You could hide dinosaurs in those forests and no-one would find them for years. The mosquitos in Coimbatore are the most aggressive I have come across so far. Attacking me in the middle of the afternoon. Huge great things that looked like they could carry off mice. After treating my bites and then covering myself in DEET and lighting a precautionary coil in my room I set off to explore the town. I was ...

... interesting; the worms are gorged on mulberry leaves for a few days and then put into large, bullseye like structures made from plantain leaves grown on the farm. Overnight the silkworms create pale yellow cocoons that look like cotton candy but are surprisingly hard and not at all smooth, as I expected silk to be. You can hear the husk of the worm rattling around inside the cocoon afterwards. The next night was even better, depending upon your perspective. We stayed in a ...

... from a High Priest of Shiva, in front of a sizeable crowd of people with my left hand. He just sighed. "Dumb westerner" I'm sure he thought to himself and he wouldn't have been far wrong. Feeling like I'd shrunk to the size of a peanut, we left the temple, amidst a crowd of beggar's eager to take our money from us, and drove to the Isha yoga centre. After the experience of the temple, I had a feeling that we weren't just going to admire the scenery at the yoga ...