South Tour

To start, southern India is very beautiful this time of the year, it is very green and lush, not too hot and quite a bit different from the part of India where I live. This is a day by day account of my trip, so I hope you guys have a little bit of time before reading :D

This trip was with two guides (RK and Big B) and 18 RYE students.
There were eleven girls and seven boys.
Girls:
Mariya - USA Florida Staying in Nagpur
Ashley M. - USA Ohio Staying in Nagpur
Emily - USA Oregon Staying in Amravati, Nagpur area
Ceres - Belgium Staying in Amravati, Nagpur area
Lea - Germany Staying in Nagpur
Celmense - France Staying in Nasik
Ashley B (Connie) - USA Wisconsin Staying in Nasik
Margaux - Belgium Staying in Nasik
Corey - USA Oregon Staying in Jalgaon
Tomke - Germany Staying in Nasik
Serene - Canada Staying in Jalgaon

Boys:
Josef - Germany Staying in Nagpur
Martin - Germany Staying in Nagpur
Malik - Belgium Staying in Nagpur
Rowland - USA Vermont Staying in Hininghat near Nagpur
Milan - Germany Staying in Nasik
Yann - France Staying in Jalgaon
Me - USA Arkansas Staying in Nagpur

Nov. 1- We were supposed to be in a train but because of some strange circumstances we left for Hyderabad that evening in a sleeper bus. The bus ride was bumpy to say in the least and at some point in the night a water bottle hit me right in the head leaving me with a small lump for a couple of days. Other than that nothing happened on this day.

Nov. 2- We arrived in Hyderabad this morning at around 8, it was a relief to finally get off the bus and walk around some to stretch out our legs. We went to the hotel, threw everything in our rooms, showered, ate and then started our day. The first thing that we visited was the Birla Temple. It was this huge temple situated high on a hill overlooking Hyderabad. It was made of white marble so the building was stunning. The next stop we made was the Salarjung Museum which is one of the largest museums in the world. We only visited the art portion and it took us three hours to practically run through the Indian and Muslim art areas. Our next stop was the Macca Masjid in Charminar, a famous market area in Hyderabad situated by a famous Mosque. There I watched over the group of girls I was with while they got ripped off shopping for bangles. We then went to Golkunda Fort, a huge fort wrapped around a mountain top. There is a room in there near the front gate where if you clap you can hear it all the way up at the top of the fort, that was pretty cool. We ended the day by heading out to Lumbine Park and we took a boat ride to an island that was home to a huge Buddha statue, the largest one in the country. On the boat there was a "FREE TIBET" sticker which made me smile.

Nov. 3- After waking we checked out of the hotel and went to Romaji Film City which is pretty much the Disneyland of India. That was really fun, but there is not a whole lot to talk about because it was just theme park. At night we left for Chennai/Mahabalipuram

Nov. 4- Arrived and went to our beach side hotel in Mahabalipuram in a Sonic the Hedgehog bus. Mahabalipuram is a tourist town so we just hung out for a day at the beaches, though Rowland and I ran around the town for the whole day finding small temples and parks to explore.

Nov. 5- Before leaving the area, we went to a Shore Temple which was raised out of the sea back in the 70s. It would have cost 250 Rs. to get inside so we sat at the fences and looked inside. The temple was slightly worn from the sea, but it was still intact. We explored this park in the town also where we were followed by hoards of hawkers for about an hour. In the park there is a "Butter Ball" which is a huge rock that has not moved for hundreds of years. It was pretty cool because it looked like you could just push it down the hill but nothing had been able to move the huge rock. We then boarded a train for Bangalore. Somewhere along the line we stopped at a temple where elephants gave up blessings.

Nov. 6- This was pretty much the beginning of my sick days, we were in a part of the train with huge fans and open windows, so I woke up freezing and unable to breathe through my nose. Our first stop of the day was the Bangalore national park which was really beautiful and full of many different animals. We saw lions tigers (white ones and orange ones) as well as bears. Oh my! (Sorry, I had to make the reference to Wizard of Oz) After the park, we went to an art museum that I simply walked through because my cold was already eating away at my awakened state. We then went to the Bangalore Botanical Gardens where I went off on my own and sat near a pond. It was really nice because my headache cleared up a little and it was so peaceful around there. Our journey then lead us to the MG road district for shopping and me nearly falling asleep in a shopping mall Subway.

Nov. 7- We departed to Hassan which was a long bus ride away. Our first stop was Sharavan Balgola which is the world's largest monolithic statue. It is a dedication to the Jain Prince Bahubali. It was incredible, the view from the mountain top and the statue itself. The temple, statue and stairs are all carved directly from the mountain. Though my race against Rowland up the the top was not a smart idea. After that we drove to two temples in Belur and Heldbidu which were beautifully carved structures. The outside of Belur was wonderful while the inside was plain and the opposite was true of Haldbidu.

Nov. 8- We went to Mysore, but before arriving we went to the Tipus Summer Palace which was the summer palace of the Muslim rulers of the area which was quite beautifully made. The black marble is polished so often there that is shines brightly in the sun. When we arrived in Mysore we went to this very European styled Maharaja palace. We then went up the mountain to the monkey infested temple Chamunda Davi. I swear the monkeys there were running a smuggling ring or something because I saw glasses phones and offerings stolen left and right by the little guys.

Nov. 9- We departed to the mountains on this day, for Ooty. Before hitting Ooty we stopped at Bandipur National park for a little interaction with elephants which was pretty cool, but those dang monkeys were back, one decided to stalk me and was trying to bite me because I would not give it my camera. When we arrived in Ooty, we went to the Botanical gardens which were again spectacular to see and then we climbed the second highest peak in Southern India. The view from the top was not very special because the mountain was wrapped in clouds but Margaux, Tomke, Josef, Emily and I all started a meditation/yoga circle in a small clearing on the top which was pretty fun. We went back to the hotel where I spent the night with a high fever trying my best to sweat it out.

Nov. 10- This day we just walked around Ooty seeing small shops and a lake. Not a whole lot to report but my fever was still raging :(

Nov. 11- We left Ooty via train but I just slept on the bus because I spent the whole night hallucinating a bunch of raptors in military outfits walking around my room ordering me to "start the revolution." We went to a small place called Pollachi, on the way stopping at tea plantations to buy some tea and for the view which was again covered by a thick cloud cover. Our second stop was the Black Thunder Amusement Park, which was a water park, but because I was still feeling very much under the weather I stayed on the bus with Ashley M. and Rowland. I slept the whole time.

Nov. 12- I got sick in the night so while the rest of the group went to Indhra Ghandi National Park, I stayed at the hotel to rest. I am glad I stayed back partially because while they got to ride elephants almost everyone was attacked by leeches. When they came back, I couldn't help but laugh. We then went to Munnar where we crashed for the night.

Nov. 13- We awoke to headlines that the local communist party had shut down the town and it was protesting some state law on land something or other. So that day we spent inside away from the apparently very very violent crowd. At one point a few of us walked through the huge tea plantations to a lake, but at the lake entrance we were denied and walked all the way back. During the evening Rowland and I walked through the town looking for signs of the communist party, and they were everywhere. CPI (communist party India) flags and signs were all over and red sickle and hammers were painted on houses all over the town. That evening we played a card game called werewolf where we all sat in a circle, three people were randomly chosen to be werewolves and everyone else were villagers, and it is the villager's job to try and find the werewolves before the werewolves kill everyone.

Nov. 14- We drove 5 hours to Thakkadi where we went to a spice garden. That was interesting seeing everyday spices in their pre-spice form. We then went to the Pariyar Wildlife sanctuary where everyone paid 150 Rs. to sit on the top level of the lake boat while Rowland and I paid 75 rs to sit on the bottom level. We were the smarter ones. There are apparently wild elephants in the sanctuary but we didn't see anything so i spent my time exchanging silly faces with the little Muslim boy in front of me who only knew how to say "Salaam!" That evening we saw the traditional Kerala style of dance, Katakali. It was pretty interesting because there actors are painted up in these wild costumes and makeup patterns so their facial expressions were magnified. The story is told in Sanskrit by three musicians. The play itself nearly drove me insane because I was right near the speaker and one of the musicians was pounding on a cymbal the entire time making my headache painful. But just my luck we went for an hour long full body massage. /laughs When I went into the room where I was going to get the massage the guy told me to remove my clothing down to my boxers, which I did then he tied this little loin cloth around me. I was like "Alright, this is fine I did not want to be fully naked anyways," but before I knew it, he pulled down my boxers leaving me only in the little cloth string I was wearing. He tucked it into the back so again I was like "Alright, I guess he will not see my full naked rear," Wrong again, when i got onto the table he pulled the flap out and and then gave me an amazing massage. I was pretty much unable to walk out of the building I was so relaxed. Though I couldn't help put laugh at the fact that some little Indian man named John had rubbed all over my body while I wore a revealing string loin cloth. It sounds like the start to a bad joke or something.

Nov. 15- After waking up from one of the better night's rests in a while, we drove 5 hours to Allappy where we boarded a houseboat. the day was full of relaxation on the water, in the evening we played another hilarious round of werewolf then we went to sleep content with life though my digestive track was not content with me.

Nov. 16- This day we went to Kanyakumari which took most of the day to reach so when we arrived we saw a small temple and then went back to the hotel for rest.

Nov. 17- This day was interesting to say in the least. Kanyakumari is a tourist area because three oceans meet in one area, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea all meet at this point which is the most southern tip of India. Just outside of the tip there is a small island temple where a famous religious icon meditated for three days and made the temple and a huge statue to a local poet. But what made it interesting was that because it was a tourist spot, there were a lot of Indian tourists, many of which who had never seen white people before. Let me explain why this did not go down well. The whole tour, people have been coming up to us and taking photos with us or of us, usually without our permission. It is cute for a while, but it really is intrusive and sometimes inappropriate (I caught a man taking photos of some of the girls sleeping for example) It is a celebrity status that is forced upon us, and for me is totally unwanted so when a man shoved his cell phone camera in front of me as I was getting onto the ferry to leave the island I took his phone, deleted that and four more photos he took of me and gave it back to him telling him to at least ask first. After that wonderful encounter we drove to Kovalam beach, a very nice but tourist packed beach town. That night we went shopping and a found a string of Tibet stores where I got some prayer flags, a Tibetan style shirt and a shirt that is the Tibetan flag. I got praise from the Tibetan store owners for knowing my share of Tibetan history and being a part of Students for a Free Tibet, but no discounts. That evening Ashley M., Emily and I went to this little place called "Beatles" where we ate dessert and listened to Beetles music.

Nov. 18- We spent the day at the beach/stores again then we left for Cochin. Nothing really happened today.

Nov. 19- In Cochin I drank some bad water after eating some bad food the night before so I stayed in the hotel close to a toilet while the double kick of food and water poisoning kicked my ass for a day. I was so sick and miserable but luckily it passed after a few hours of rest. Everyone came back to the hotel at 4 and while we waited to pack up and leave the communist party put on a street play. It was weird seeing Karl Marx, Lenin and some Indian guy run around the streets below out hotel room. We then took a train to Goa.

Nov. 20- Goa was pretty much just chilling at the beach so that's what we did. Chilled at some beaches.

Nov. 21- We saw all over Old Goa looking at both Hindu temples and some very beautiful churches. We then did the Goa thing and chilled at more beaches. At night we went into a city which is famous for cashews and I bought 600 Rs. worth of cashews and it has been totally worth it.

Nov. 22- Beaches. And fish and chips! Woo!

Nov. 23- Packed up and had a free morning, some went to the beach, I stayed in the hotel room with Josef, Martin and Rowland. They slept, I read Stephen King's The Stand Mom, that book is really good, I hope you liked it as much as I do, but I am only on page 350 so no talking about it yet! We got on the train and then started our 40 hour journey home.

Nov. 24- Half the day on the train. Kicked the kids from Jalgaon and Nasik off at 10:30 and 12 respectively. Us Nagpur kids had to wait 10 hours in the train station in Bhusawal. It was bad. We were so bored.

Nov. 25- Arrived in Nagpur at 6 A.M. to random fireworks being shot off near the train station.

And there you have it, my crazy south tour.

EDIT:
I have now updated my photobucket with all of my photos that I have taken so far in India. There are 1221 in the "India" album and I think close to 500 in "Akbar's Wedding" album. Feel free to stop by and look at them.

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a185/Hammer_Head/India/