sounds as though you have had a fab time... thanks for sharing....

Hi
love hearing about other peoples adventures
thanks for sharing
Pat

what an experience!

I also love hearing about others travels, also gives me new ideas!

If we didn't have my wife's elderly parents to look after - we would do something similar.

Mind you - we would probably miss the grandkids.

Hi Sian, lovely to have you back in the forum again. Sounds like you had a brilliant time travelling round India.
Hope to catch up wtih you at one of the meets

Hi Sian,

What a journey!!!

We are hoping to go to Chennai (Madras) and then onto Mahabalipuram for a few days have you been there?
If you have your views and advise about the area would be appreciated

Thanks tush

Hi tush

We didn't spend any time at all in CVhennai itself but we actually spent over a month in Mahabalipuram. Partly because my mum came and met us for 2 weeks and partly because we knew some people there and we were helping out painting a tuition centre in a nearby village. It is worth a few days of your time and is very chilled out.

We stayed at the Vinodhara guesthouse for 250 rupees a night for a fan room with attached bathroom. Very clean and better than anything in the Lonely Planet. It is right opposite The New Cafe which is in Lonely Planet so look on the map. It is a small town so don't worry if you don't have LP just ask someone for New Cafe, everyone knows where that is They wanted 400 a night but we haggled them down. We also stayed at Starry Sky a few doors along for our first few nights for 300 which was also OK. If you have a bigger budget check out Sea Breeze which has nice pool. It is down the end of the same road that Vinodhara is on. They also have an annexe (before Vinodhara but still on same road) which is cheaper but you still get use of the pool. My mum is staying at the annexe just after Xmas and it is 880 a night including tax for an a/c room (I think... might be plus tax). The main complex costs over 1250 plus tax for a/c room.

For food we ate in Dreamland a lot which is a small restaurant run by Tom (go up the stairs at the side) it is on the road that leads to the beach near (a few doors closer to the beach from Rose Corner which you can't miss). His cook is a guy called Logan and they are both lovely and excellent cooks. You wait a while for your food if they have a few orders(they only have two gas ring burners) but it is well worth it. Please tell them Sian and Doug say hello. You may also meet a mad Danish guy in there called Lars, he is a good fun but don't start talking politics! Yogi's, Moonrakers and Blue Elephant do good food too.

If you don't mind eating with your hands and want a real locals experience find Hotel Guru. It does the best chicken biryani, served on a banana leaf, ever! Delicious and only 40 rupees for a huge plate! It is away from the tourist strip set back from the main road near the crossroads and near the water tower. Head for the main road and ask a local. Also try the fish fry, prawn fry and boneless chicken fry, all yummy! We really miss Guru's! There is a sink/soap to wash your hands before and after you eat. The place is packed at lunchtime - get there before 1.15pm. We never went in the evening but gather was also busy then.

If you need anymore info just ask.

Hi Gemma33 - thanks for the welcome back. When will you be in Goa this time?

Cheers
Sian

Sian, Doug!!!! great to see you both back on!! didnt recognise it was you from your HT name well havent seen you since Amritsar that was so mad bumping into each other there!!! We are going back to Nepal for a wedding so tell ganesh we are coming too in May pls...and want same room hehe cant wait to see you both have been following your travels eagerly awaiting emails and having a good laugh over em!!! see you both soon
chilly x

Hi chilly

Of course will let Ganesh know you are coming back in May.

We just did 2 days rafting on the Seti - was great fun - next update email in a few days so look out for it.

Yes - still can't believe the randomness of how we bumped into you in Amritsar - had such a laugh too at the border closing ceremony - that is still one of the hilights of our trip.

See you in 2 or 3 weeks!

Sian
x

Dogfish, your trip looks amazing!
We're thinking of a trip to Gujurat in December as we've got 5 weeks in India. I see you visited Diu and Ahemabad. The head waiter at our favourite UK curry house has invited us to Daman Island where his relatives still live and I'm in the process of planning the logistics.

Tush, we spent a while in Tamil Nadu a couple of years back.
Although Chennai isn't the most visually spectauclar city we found it very friendly and welcoming. We booked a day's city tour with the local tourist office, visiting St George's Fort, several museums, temples and the snake park plus a very beautiful memorial to Tagore. Everyone else on the trip was a holidaying Indian and it does get a bit frustrating with the two-tiered admission prices to public monuments. In the end we gave up going in and basked in the novelty of us being regarding as celebrities as Westerners are quite rare.
I'd certainly recommend dressing conservatively, no shorts for men or vests for ladies. Although I did cover up it was very disconcerting with the crowds that gathered around us, families moving their chairs in restaurants to stare at us and waiters lying across the tables claiming undying love to me and presenting me with garlands of marigolds. We stayed at Greenlands, a good central location if you don't mind basic accomodation.
Mahabalipuram is lovely, like an unspoilt Goa. We spent our time at Starry Skies, like Dogfish, ate some great food and generally chilled with very little hassle. The stone carvings are spectacular as is the Shore Temple. Several times we got up to watch the sunrise on the beach. There's a small temple where the local fisherman chant and pray before taking their boats out and it was so atmospheric to smell the incence and hear the singing as the sun rose over the ocean.
We also spent time in Pondicherry, a place I've had a lifelong yearning to visit. It's well worth it for the French cuisine, baguettes and red wine. It's so cheap for alcohol and the place is full of drunken Tamils. We loved the policemen in their Gallic uniforms, the French street signs and wandering around the Botanical Gardens (the fictional location for the Life of Pi).

I DO love India xx

Hi Dogfish.
Can you let us know how you got on in Diu. My wife comes from Gujarat and when we next visit her family in Surat fancy spending a few days in Diu so any tips on where to stay and were to eat would be most helpful. Whilst in Gujarat did you have chance to visit the Gir forest as thats another one we plan to do.

Hi PhildUK

So sorry for delayed response - this is about the fourth different time I have tried to reply in the last few days but have been having a nightmare trying to find an internet cafe that doesn't chuck me out every few minutes. Anyway.....

Yes we loved Diu, we stayed at a place called Super Silver guesthouse which is just behind the town square - it was really nice there and only 250 per night back in April when we were there. Don't remember any particular places that were great to eat. No rickshaw driver hassle there either and no one at all asked us to look there shop while we there which was really rather nice.

Rather than me try and remember what we did and what we thought I figured it would be easier to copy and paste below the relevant extract from one of our email updates that we regularly send home which I hope is useful. If you have any further questions though please let me know.

Extract from update of 25/4/08 follows

That night we got on the overnight train to Ahmedabad in Gujurat. It was a narrow gauge train and for once was not full of people, unfortunately it was full of HUGE cockroaches. Everytime Doug killed one another would appear almost instantly and start eating the one he had just killed...nice! After squashing about 12 and still more were coming he gave up and we settled down for a fairly uneasy nights sleep. We survived the cockroach express uncrawled upon and arrived in Ahmedabad at the delightful time of 4.20am. We hung around the station until it got light at about 6am then got a rickshaw to where we wanted to stay but it was full. We found somewhere else and grabbed a few hours sleep before heading out into the heat (it is sweltering out here, about 42 degrees most days and only dropping to 27 or so at night) in search of bus tickets.

We didn't even stay the night in Ahmedabad as we managed to get booked on an overnight sleeper bus to Diu on the southern Gujurat coast which is where we are now. Sadly we got almost no sleep as our beds were at the back of the bus and so every bump (there were at least 5000 in 10 hours) sent us airborne. We are ever so pleased to report that we have booked return beds for Sunday night and were thrilled to see on our ticket that we have the same beds on the way back!

However it is brilliant here, Diu is a little island and there is hardly any traffic at all and best of all it has really really cheap alcohol, a large Kingfisher is only 35 rupees (less than 50p) whereas normally we pay around 100 rupees. We have found a really nice, friendly guesthouse for only 250 rupees per night too. Today we hired a 75cc moped and went for an explore around the island,it is only 3km by 11km so we didn't get lost, we did however get a puncture and had no idea where we were other than approx 4km from the hotel. We called the hotel and with the help of some local builders who explained where we were, we were found by the hotel staff who came with a new bike for us and took the first one off to be repaired.

We set off on our new bike and headed for the fort which fortunately is fairly close to the hotel, as we then had a second flat tyre. As we were close Doug pushed the bike back and Sian went ahead to let them know bike number also had a puncture. "Yes" said the guy who came out to rescue us the first time, "I noticed as you drove off that the tyre looked a bit low".... well cheers we thought! Soooo we got a third bike and set off again. We finally made it to the fort only for Doug to stop suddenly and clutch his stomach, "I need to go back to the room now" he said, then "Oh god I am not going to make it", so a quick run and squat behind one of the fort walls it was for him, all witnessed by some kids peering over the top of the fort wall!

We decided that we would go back to the hotel and come back to the fort tomorrow. We then grabbed our towels and went for another drive and hit the beach for an hour or so. We found one with not too many locals to perv at us and had a swim and a sunbathe which made a nice change.

We are here for another two days and then we heading back to Ahmedabad on 5000 bump road, from there we are getting on a train back to Rajasthan and to Jodhpur for a couple of days, and then on to Jaislemer in western Rajasthan.

Cheers
dogfish

Hi Dogfish,

Thanks for the reply.
Must admit the overnight coach trip sounds a bit uncomfortable to say the least!!!!!
With all your time travelling I am sure you are both used to doing the Indian thing and squatting where ever when the need arises .
Must say like the sound of the cost of a Kingfisher will certainly make those in Goa envious!!!
Hopefully will be visiting our relatives in the early part on next year so will definately give Diu a try for a few days before we head of to the Gir Forest.

Philduk

Hi there...your trip sounds amazing!

just wondered if you could help me out with a few things about kerala....were looking at going to goa in april and staying on a house boat for a few nights before flying to the lakshadweeps via cochin...

I cant get my head around the scale of kerala....which is the best area to head for, for 1-2 nights...nice beach, good food etc...and from there how far is it to pick upthe houseboat?? is it a long cab journey or train??

were you there in april at all?? What was the temp like? thats my main concern...ive read that kerala is just hot in april and to maybe avoid at this time??

Hi

Kerala is pretty easy to travel around on local buses and locals are generally pretty helpful in pointing you in the right direction of where you should wait (if there is not a bus stand in town, which in many cases there is). We were there in March and is was fairly humid but we also experienced lots of unseasonal rain in March 08 too which kept it a bit cooler. In April it will be very sticky day and night but as long as you are by the coast the sea breeze should provide some relief not sure about on the backwaters though. I seem to recall we were pretty hot at night as we did not pay for aircon on our boat. It will be just as hot as Goa will be.

I would suggest Varkala for 1 or 2 nights. The restaurants and places to stay are on the cliff top and then you climb down stairs to get to the beach, it is a pretty little place and fine for a couple of days. From Varkala it is 2 or maybe 3 hours on the bus to Alleppey. Or you can go to Kollam from Varkala and get a boat to Alleppey. The other popular beach is Kovalam but we didn;t go there so cannot comment. Have a look on http://www.indiamike.com in the Kerala forum for general info on the state and getting around, temperature etc, although bear in mind when reading it that is more a backpackers/travellers forum and not a holiday forum and so information is tailored to more long term types of traveller who are usually on a tight budget (budget accommodation recommendations on there are generally proper budget accommodation). It is a brilliant site though for info on India.

Alleppey (in my opinion) is the best place to book the backwater cruise from as there is a better choice of operators. Ignore anyone who approaches you on the street and go into the shops that have boards outside them. We did two nights which was very relaxing and the food was unbelievable. If you have time and budget permits you won't regret doing two nights. We used a company called Dreamboats but there are plenty so shop around. We turned up at 3pm one afternoon went into about 10 shops who quoted vastly different prices, the cheapest we were quoted for 2 nights I think was around 5500 and the most expensive 10000 and settled for one in the middle of the range. We set off at midday the following day and it was fabulous and worth every rupee! By the way don't be put off by Alleppey itself which is an ugly, noisy, horrible town, as soon as you get to your boat and set sail you are in immediate peace and tranquility.

Hope this helps but just shout if you have any other queries.

Cheers
Sian

Hi dogfish...
how did you find Varanasi....we are going for a couple of days in November as part of our India tour...
any advice...places to eat..places to visit whilst there (other than the Ghats)...
Any advice would be great...
Hope to hear from you soon....Neil

Hi Neil

Personally we hated Varanasi BUT don't let that put you off as everyone else we met both whilst there and during the rest of our trip thought it was amazing, I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. Plus we had the most horrendous journey from the Nepal border to get there which didn't help the mood and it was in June so it was outrageously hot and we hadn't slept for several nights (45 degrees in day and cooled to just 38 degrees at night!). We arrived at about 8pm one night ate at the guesthouse, went to bed, couldn't sleep due to the heat, got up, did the ghats and had a look round the town, did a boat trip (see below) and then got a train late that night. We had already booked the train but we wouldn't have cancelled it to stay there longer.

I am really sorry to be negative about the place but we just didn't like it. The ghats are interesting but the town itself was horrible. Be warned too we would never in a million years have found our g/house as it was a 20 minute walk weaving down very narrow (filthy, even by Indian standards) lanes with our backpacks on following our rickshaw driver. We normally never used rickshaws but as we were arriving after dark we had booked ahead (something else we didn't normally do) and they sent a driver to meet us at the bus stand. When he parked we assumed we were outside the place but then we realised he couldn't get his tuk tuk any nearer. He said "follow me" and 20 minutes later after stepping over countless cows, dogs and rubbish piles

The best thing about it for us was the guesthouse we stayed at (Shanti Guesthouse) which had a 24 hr roof top restaurant overlooking the burning ghat and offered a free boat trip up the Ganges at either dawn or dusk which we did and it was good to see the ghats from there. Can't remember where we ate as we weren't there long.

Again I would suggest having a look at indiamike.com as this has loads of info on Varanasi and will give you a better idea than I can.

I cannot emphasise enough that you should not be put off by what I have said.... go and decide for yourself as virtually everyone else thought it was fantastic place.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Cheers
Sian

we loved Varanasi sian as you know, but its great that we all like diffreent things and places... an i know what you mean about arriving places hot and shattered it does have an impact sometimes!! hope you guys both ok x I have got my arm in plaster fell over by the ferry ..felt a right prat!!
chilly