A friend who visited Chennai (formerly Madras) a couple of years ago described it to me as a very 'liveable' city. Unfortunately, arriving there from the chaos of Bangalore, it didn't feel that...
Bangalore – a city of hijra, crazy drivers and family history
Bangalore is the largest city we visited on our journey around southern India and the fourth most populous on the sub-continent behind New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. All I can say is that it...
A crazy Indian day out
Before arriving in Mysore we had read that the local government ran a day tour around the city for a very reasonable price, so we decided it was something we should do. We located the office and...
Mysore – a city of contrasts
Mysore was the first city of any size that we visited on our trip around southern India. It was here that we first experienced the all-pervading stench of urine on the streets, not...
Family connections in the Nilgiris
As I explained in a previous post, one of the main reasons for going to India was to discover more about Mark’s family history.
Mark’s paternal grandfather,...
Coonoor, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India
We decided to base ourselves in Coonoor while we researched Mark’s family history (more of that in my next post) and it proved to be a good choice. It’s smaller than its neighbouring hill...
If it’s not in Lonely Planet, don’t go!
I’m sure all frequent travellers have a guidebook of choice. Ours is the Lonely Planet series. When we’re planning a new trip, one of the first things I do is go and buy the Lonely Planet...
Ooty – the Queen of Hill Stations
Ooty, more properly Udhagamandalam, is the capital of the Nilgiri Hills district of Tamil Nadu. At an elevation of 2,240 metres, it was a favoured hill station of the East India Company in the...
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway – a step back in time
Intro
After the hassles of actually getting valid tickets to board the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (see previous post), we gratefully found our seats by the windows on the left side...
A night in Mettupalayam
Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu, India, is one of those nondescript towns that would never feature on any tourist itinerary, except for the fact that it is the starting point for the Unesco World...