Kodaikanal and Madurai trip

After four days of fighting with diarrhoea, vomitting and fever (ah yeah, they were three and quite tough but I kicked their asses!!!) I'm back to tell you about my first big trip to Kodaikanal and Madurai that took place between April 10 and 15. It was a long weekend since it was a Good Friday on Friday (surprisingly ;o)) and Tamil New Year on Tuesday. Moreover, Kodaikanal is a very favourite destination of many Indians living in this Chennai hell. That's why this trip was planned well in advance to make sure that we (Melanie and me) get train tickets and some cheap hostel to stay at as well. First I spent more than one weak trying to find out how to get train tickets when all trains are already hopelessly booked out and there are waiting lists of 300 people. Thanks god there is this Foreign Tourist Quota that reserves few places for foreign tourists. Although the guy at railway station wasn't very happy about our business and entry visa (this quota is only for tourists with tourist visa!!!), with confused faces and sad eyes we were able to persuade him to make an exception ;o) Then I spent another week trying to find some cheap but clean accomodation. Finally I took a risk and booked a hotel that had surprisingly nice website and was not that expensive but about which I didn't know anything more since I wasn't able to find any on-line references. So everything was ready and we could go!

The train was leaving Chennai at 21:40 and we were supposed to spend 8h on it. We were travelling by cheap non A/C sleeper class that most of middle-class Indians usually take for longer distances. Well, since it was my first train travel, I was quite curious and a bit scared. From ouside the train looked like a rabbit hutch but it was not that bad inside (in fact, given the price of ticket, it was very good!!!) Just the smell of toilet was quite strong ;o) People around us looked quite nice as well (one Indian guy was so amazed by my talkativeness ;o)) so I was not scared anymore: these nice people are definitely not going to rob or hurt us!!! Hmm, when a lady sitting on the opposite seat started to wind her and her daughters' backpacks with a long chain with a lock, the first part of my belief was a bit shaken. However, using my backpack as a pillow and hiding my purse under the blanket appeared to be safe enough ;o)

Doesn't the train look just comfortable?

OK, I'll try to make this story a bit shorter again ;o) So, we arrived to our station unrobbed and unharmed and continued by bus to the final destination Kodaikanal.

Kodaikanal - April 11-13

It is a Tamil Nadu favourite hill station situated 520km from Chennai. Since its altitude is more than 2 000 meters, the climate here is much friendlier than in Chennai and basically almost the whole Tamil Nadu. When we arrived on Saturday the morning, it was about 18 degrees (FREEZING!!!) and raining...WHOW, what a difference!!! We checked-in at our hotel which was quite a nice surprise (big clean room with a nice western-type bathroom!), I just had to explain to the receptionist that double room means a room for TWO persons and two persons need TWO towels (if I had known how bad those towels were, I wouldn't have made any effort though) . Then we met Vimarshan (I've already told you about this guy before) and his colleague Partha who arrived to Kodai a day before. In fact, we were really lucky that Vim and Partha were there with us because without them the trip would be quite stressful and we wouldn't definitely see that much.

The town was crowded like a hell. There were traffic jams and crowds of Indians in caps, scarfs and gloves (they looked so funny ;o)) all around. Obviously, we were not the only people who wanted to spend few peaceful days in this nice cool place. Luckily, Vim and Partha met a guy who knew some nice not crowded places in Kodai and was willing to take us there at quite a reasonable place. And so he did! In two and half days, we saw many nice places and had a lot of fun. From touristic point of view, the weather wasn't ideal (quite foggy and sometimes raining) but from Chennai residents' point of view, it was just AWESOME!!! I have almost forgotten what it is like not to be sweating whole the day round. I guess there is no need for long descriptions, just take a look at these pictures and if you want to see some more, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/petra.pistkova/KodaikanalApril1113#.

One of our first breathtaking views.















Lady Conqueror!!! ;o)

Three "don't speak, don't hear, don't speak" monkeys sitting on the edge of a rock. It was quite scary to get down there but it was definitely worth it!

Famous Pillar Rocks trying to hide in fog.

Aren't they just cute? Monkeys were everywhere and they didn't seem to be very scared of people ;o)

Lovely blue village with step fields.














We did a bit of trekking in the valley behind me.















View from famous Coaker's walk. On a clear day you can see very far from here. Unfortunatelly, our day was not clear at all. But still the view was great.















Yeah, that's what I was talking about ;o)














One need to relax and meditate a bit in these stressful days ;o)














Dolphin's Nose

So, that was Kodaikanal. Really nice place with really nice climate. On Monday afternoon, Mel and me said goodbay to Vim and Partha, who were already going back to Chennai, and continued to Madurai.

Madurai - April 13-14

After quite a scary bus ride down the mountains (this driver must have been F1 racer in his previous life or he has a suicidal inclinations!!!) we arrived to our next destination. Madurai is one of the oldest continually inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. With its Meenakshi-Sundareswar Temple, Madurai is one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites of India. Although we arrived in the evening, the difference in temperature was still quite perceptible: welcome back in hell!!! We were really lucky to find a cheap and nice lodge, had a dinner on a rooftop of one hotel with a wonderful view, went for a short walk and then to bed to be fresh enough for next hot day.

We got up early in the morning to avoid merciless sun and heat as well as crowds in temple. However, it was already hot and temple was quite crowded. But still it was very nice. Although I've already seen many temples, this was a bit different. It is one of the gratest Shiva temples. It's a huge labyrinth with 9 gopurams, temple tank, art museum, sanctuary and places for praying and meditation. It's more colourful than temples that I've seen so far and the atmosphere is more relaxed, without people pushing each other (although there were lines of pilgrims waiting to get to the sanctuary where we as non-Hindus were not allowed). We got lost few times and we were even not sure if we saw everything that was worth seeing, but we had a great time just relaxing and watching people praying and meditating.

One of 9 huge gopurams.















Golden Lotus Tank with holy water, of course.




















Colourful ceilings, colourful people...nice.















I was wondering if these kids are really so religious or if they are just forced to be. They seemed to be quite bored and very scared of their teacher.

We spent about 2 hours in the temple and decided to leave its friendly shade and go to the flower market. But first we had to find our shoes. Since we came quite early and thus before the main crowds, our shoes must have experienced many adventures. And obviously they have forgotten to come back from their trip around temple because when we came to the place where we left them before, they were not there. It was quite easy to find my sandals, since they are blue and very different from most of Indian sandals. However, it was not that easy with Mel's shoes. We found one pretty fast but the second one took us many minutes and we were already quite desperate. Luckily, we finally found it and decided to put our shoes into a plastic bag or something and take them in next time.

Unfortunatelly we didn't find the flower market so we went at least to vegetable one.














After the lunch and afternoon nap we went to Gandhi Museum which is supposed to be pretty good. To our big disappointment, since it was a holiday (Tamil New Year), it was closed although the receptionist of our lodge assured us that everything would be open. Grrr!!!

Gandhi Museum















Hmm, I just wonder what is the link between tyrannosaurus and hindu gods...

When we were desperately sitting in front of the museum, a rickshaw puller came with this story about wonderful flower market 2 km from the museum. We wanted to see the market but we didn't want him to take us there. This guy was so skinny, he couldn't have more than 40kg! And he wanted to drive two of us (more than 100kg). It was such an internal fight for me. On one hand you want to help this guy by giving him business and making him earn some money, on the other hand you feel so guilty when you sit inside and see the skinny guy peddaling and sweating. AAAHHH!!! But he was so persistent that finally we took him. And it was terrible! I felt so bad! It was my first and definitely last time travelling by this means of transport.

Thank you, boss, for surviving this 2 km distance!!!

Flower market sucked. But after the museum disappointment we were already kind of resistent to any other. We decided to make the rest of afternoon relaxing. We took an auto to Thirumalai Naykar Palace or better said: its remainings. It didn't look very special from outside but it was very nice inside - especially because it's being renovated and they're just painting it and so far they only used two colours (yellow and red) so it's very sober, completely uncolourful and non-Indian ;o)

Our last destination was St. Mary's Cathedral where we wanted to hide from the hot sun. But since it was closed, we just spent an hour chatting in a shade of a school courtyard before we got back to our lodge, took a dinner and went to the railway station.

So, this was my first big trip. Despite some stress while preparing it and some little disappointments (and the diarrhoea that followed ;o)), I really enjoyed it and I'm so much looking forward to all incoming trips!

Into the Wild!!!

I joined Chennai Trekking Club already one month ago. This club was founded by a Belgian guy Peter who has been living in India for 11 years!!! He was travelling a lot in Tamil Nadu and other states in south of India and know this part of India much better than most of local people. Since Peter hates staying in Chennai during weekends and he loves trekking in pure nature a lot, he has founded this club. Today the club has more than 2000 members and organizes one or even more treks almost every weekend. And last weekend April 4-5 I finally joined one! Normally there are 60-80 participants at every trek but since this was a special trek organized only for expats, we were just a little group of 20 people. We met on Saturday early morning and set out for our destination: Nagala hills situated 2 hours to the north from Chennai.

After these two hours of driving through small Indian villages, we reached the startpoint of our adventure. We prepared our backpacks (fastened sleeping mats and sleeping bags), divided the food provisions bought by Peter, put on sunscreen (it was only 9 am but the sun was already merciless) and full of enthusiasm we started to walk. Since the beginning I was feeling like Alice in wonderland...No cars, no honking, no people, just pristine nature.

the first view

















the first group picture - everybody still smiling at that time ;o)

We spent first 30 minutes of walking under open sun and it was REALLY hot so we were happy like kids when we reached the first pool with little waterfall. Everybody jumped in and enjoyed the cool water. Since I was ill before going for the trek and I still didn't feel 100% fit, I didn't want to swim and I just washed my face and hands. I was watching others swimming and jumping from the rock when Peter said: "Alright, everybody into water, we climb up the rock and then we'll make a human chain to get our backpacks up as well." Ah, how naive I was again when I thought I would avoid getting into cold water during this trek!!! So we started climbing up the rock. Hm, I would lie if I said if was easy. The rock was very slippery (we were climbing barefoot and wet feet don't make the best combination together with rock) and there were not many nice grips. However, everybody made it and it filled us with a new energy and desire for adventure.

the first pool we swam in and rock we climbed up

We continued our walking either through the forest or by the streem jumping on huge boulders. However, if you imagine a nice forest path you're even more naive than I am! There was almost never any path! We were just struggling through bushes and climbing up and down rocky hills. But we were still surrounded by pure nature which I really enjoyed.

climbing up and down, jumping on boulders

After some more climbing and a even one accident (a French lady fell down and cut here leg...she was OK but bleeding a lot!!!) we were rewarded by nice pool again. And this time there was a tobogan as well!!! I couldn't help myself, I forgot about my cold and cought and merrily slided down.

Anthony on natural tobogan...it was just great!!!

But since time was going fast and we had a long way ahead of us, Peter stopped our childish frolic by "Move, people, move, move!!!" which we heard so many times after ;o) Until lunch (Indian sweet pancake) we were still just walking in more or less flat forest. However, then the real trekking strarted. Since our destination was a 800m high peak where we were supposed to spend a night, it was quite obvious that at one moment we will have to start climbing up. And the moment was here. We were scrambling up the hill, falling down (dry soil with rocks is quite slippery) but getting up again and still moving along. At least the forest protected us from the sun. Yet, these favourable conditions were about to finish soon as well. We left a friendly shade of forest and put ourselves to the sun's mercy. Walking in dry alley with the peak (our destination) above us was really motivating ;o)

Finally we got to the first peak and the view was so nice (although we still weren't that high) that it just filled us with new energy and enthusiasm.

on the first peak

After 1-2 (it might have been only one, but we definitely felt tired like after two ;o)) more hours of quite a hard climbing, we finally reached our destination - 800m peak. The view was just breathtaking!!! All the hills were lying deep under us and sun was slowly getting ready for going to bed.

Whow, this was crazy!!! Maybe it doesn't look so but it was really high and I wasn't 100% sure about the rock we were sitting on ;o)




time to go to sleep ;o)

And that was the end of the first day. Tired like kittens we went to our campsite - a little bit less rocky and flatter place where we were able to spend night. After a delicious dinner (instant soup and noodles ;o)) cooked on campfire we muffled into sleeping bags, found the least painful position (it was bit less rocky and flatter but still not that comfortable ;o)) and felt asleep already at 8 pm.

Early in the morning, we set out for our way again. Peter convinced us that it was better to walk a bit before having breakfast (it will taste better) and we foolishly trusted him when he assured us that we'll be under the peak in 1 hour. However, when we saw the lovely view we forgot about being hungry.

morning view from the peak



















the peak on which we spent night

We were walking down to the valley. There were no paths at all and sometimes the terrain was quite scary. Once we were climbing up a big rock and then walking along it with a depth of many meters under us (I was so grateful for all hours of climbing on artificial walls and trekking in Dolomites in Italy!!!). And climbing down usually wasn't big reliefe..it was hard and dangerous as well. Moreover, it was getting really hot again. But fortunately, there were always some nice pools on the way in which we could cool down our aching bodies.

A little waterfall when we were relaxing, swimming, jumping from the rock...

It was getting late and we already knew that we wouldn't be able to get back to our cars before the sunset. So the rest of the trek was in a bit faster pace, just with a quick lunch break and cooling down in pools that we had to cross. At the end of the trek it become quite complicated because one German guy felt sick. He was dehydrated and too weak to walk on his own so two Indian guys had to support and sometimes even bear him.

Night in India comes very fast so we weren't that surprised when we were suddenly walking in the dark. It was already a complete night when we finally got out of the forest. We had few more kilometers to the closest village from which we wanted to get a taxi to get to our cars and go back to Chennai. Everybody was tired so we even didn't talk, just walked as fast as possible to get to the village at a reasonable time. When we got to the village we found out that the only means of transport in the whole village is one old bicycle (how naive we were when we thought we would find there a car!!!). So Peter sat on the bike and pedaled more than 5 km to his car, then he got back for other drivers, they went together for the rest of cars and motorbikes and finally picked all of us up.

I got to my bed at 3 am, I was exhausted, whole my body was hurting but I was so happy!!! It was for the first time I was outside the civilization, in a pristine nature, doing some physical activities. And it was such an amazing adventure! Climbing rocks without any backing up, drinking from streams without use of any purifying chemicals (fortunately my mum doesn't speak English and thus can't read this blog ;o)), sleeping on rocky ground under open sky, swimming in pools and jumping from the waterfalls...

Few hours in Kanchipuram

Well, I'm already quite delayed with describing my trips (and other are just ahead of me!!!) so this post will be very brief (which will be really challenging, given my volubility ;o)) Here we go!

On Sunday March 28, I finally realized my dream and went to Kanchipuram with Abdul. It's quite a small city situated 65 km south-west from Chennai and it's supposed to be a main temple city in Tamil Nadu. It's also well-known for its silk sarees fabrication which is the main profession of the people living in and around. We arrived at about 9:30 and it was already quite hot so we decided to make it fast. We took an autorickshaw and went directly to the first temple. Since it was Sunday and some hindu festival, we met a little parade on our way.

Our first temple was the biggest and most important one (at least I think so ;o)): Ekambareswarar Temple. It is one of the five major Shiva temples or Pancha Bootha Sthalams (each representing a natural element) representing the element - Earth. As usually, there is a story behind this temple but I'm not going to share it with you because firstly I want to make this post short and secondly I don't remember it anymore (this religion is just too complicated for my little head ;o)) However, for a European atheist it's quite hard to understand the importance of this holy place (and of all others) so you just admire the architecture. Temples are really nice, peaceful places but still after having seen few of them you realize that they are all pretty much the same ;o)

One of temple's gopurams (towers)















A must of every temple: temple tank with sacred water is thought to cure disease and maladies.

A 3500 years old mango tree. Name of the deity is derived from the Mango tree from the words Eka-Amra-Natha, meaning the Lord of the Mango tree.

Then we went to another temple, this time a very old one: Kailasanadhar Temple. But on our way we met a little one which must be even older!!!

We spent almost 30 minutes walking and frying under open sun when we finally got there. This temple was built by the Pallavas in the early 8th century and only thanks to Archaeological Survey of India that is maintaining the temple, most of the carvings (especially of Lord Shiva) are still recognizable.

Kailasanadhar Temple

Lord Shiva

Holy cow...the left one ;o)















Abdul and elephant...holy as well for sure ;o)

We visited two more temples, but as I've already mentioned, they look pretty much the same. So no need for detailed verbal description, just some pictures.

Snake-stones in Kacchabesvara temple. Snake worship is an ancient and widespread religious practice in Indian customs. The cobra is associated with the lingam the emblem of lord Shiva.


































Kanchipuram public transport ;o)

So when we saw four temples and were already kind of overwhelmed by all these holiness, the last item on our must-see-list was a silk factory. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, the big factory was closed (I can't believe that Indians don't work on Sunday!!! ;o)) and we only visited a shop with its own weaving loom. It's just amazing how complicated it is to make this golden pattern!!!




















So, that was my trip to Kanchipuram. We only spent there few hours but it was nice.