okay, sorry it has been awhile. you can check this website for updated photos (i apologize, the last website i left would not get you very far, but try these):
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/coffeewithkatie/IndiaMysore#
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/coffeewithkatie/IndiaCoorgRegionMadikeri#
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/coffeewithkatie/IndiaKerala#
i hope you all are great! thanks again for reading and browsing!
Showing posts with label Karnataka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karnataka. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Good Night, Sleep Tight...
it was bound to happen. it was the hotel in mysore that was the lucky winner. after a series of low-cost, budget, basic if dodgy hotels, pests were sure to take their toll. i never understood the rest of this saying to its full potential until now. DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE! unfortunately, i did. i naively convinced myself it was just an abnormal number of mosquito bites (i lost track at 80) covering my arms, hands, feet, neck and face. my second night in the same room, i knew better.
unable to sleep well with visions of tiny insects feasting on me, i rushed to the internet to research "bed bugs" the following morning. sure enough, wikipedia told me what i did not want to hear. the description was perfect. it was bed bugs i had spotted the previous night but denied the reality. it was they who bite and bite and bite a series of bites one next to the other, they that cause itching that makes you want to peel your skin off, they who cause anxiety and insomnia. aaargh!
faced with the reality, meg and i dissected my bag, and i thoroughly washed everything. fortunately the hotel we are currently in has hot water to kill the little bastards. my hotel standards have now slightly increased, and so have my investigative skills when seeking a place to sleep the night away.
then i have to put it in perspective. while i am searching for a little relief from this brief discomfort i am having, it is minimal when people around me are sleeping on the filthy sidewalk, searching for food and survival.
Friday, December 12, 2008
More PHOTOS
alright, so here is the full album from hampi:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/coffeewithkatie/IndiaHampiPart1 and
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/coffeewithkatie/IndiaHampiPart2
and just a few from bangalore. the markets were so colorful and beautiful here. and people were so excited to have their picture taken. and the fragrance of the flowers was so refreshing. it was truly a highlight for me to experience the bustling and crowded space and observe the culture of the people who work and shop there. i certainly cannot capture it with my words or photos, but i gave it a go anyway. here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/coffeewithkatie/IndiaBangalore02?authkey=h8mCrQ6LYFM#
3-2-1 Blast Off!
from hampi, we took an overnight train to bangalore. unfortunately i spotted a roach (that ended up crawling to my 2nd tear bed), and i had a difficult time sleeping. but at least the mosquitoes were not covering me. at goan corner in hampi, my mosquito net had holes all over it, thus making it quite ineffective. for this mosquito-attracting girl, that can be disastrous.
in any case, the train is 100 times nicer than the buses that create involuntary head-banging to the beat of the rattling windows. we rolled into bangalore in the wee hours of the morning and did our usual exploring by foot. bangalore is more modern than other cities we have been to in india with well-known hospitals, shopping malls, but mostly is known as (and its modern feel is probably a result of) the technology/IT mecca of india and maybe even asia. so to see a little for ourselves, we checked out the technological and industrial museum where i learned about motors and carborators. and to stick with the theme, that night we had a kingfisher beer at a bar called NASA, an '80s space theme bar that feels like you are walking into a spaceship and about to blast-off. it was quite surreal, and the urge to do the robot nearly took over. the best part is that the bars close around 12am, but many of the internet joints are open 24 hours.
day 2 was a highlight. in the morning we strolled into the lalbagh botanical gardens, then found an amazing restaurant for lunch called Mavalli Tiffin House, and apparently a famous institution. there are 2 rooms filled with tables and chairs, and they fill them in shifts so that everyone is served a set meal at once. there were multiple courses with curries, salads, raita (yogurt salad), chapati (flat bread), rice, and on and on. it was the food that just kept giving and some of the best i have had in india. perhaps the whole ambiance contributed. and to finish, pan was given to freshen the mouth. pan can either be betel nut that is similar to chew in the states, but this paan was a typical and more artistic form of some sort of edible leaf with anise, lime and various other herbs. delicious!
in the evening, we met up with friends of friends (and now our friends), VJ and Ragu and their little one, Harsheetha. they are living in bangalore, and graciously showed us around the city, sharing some of their recommended spots and places off of the beaten tourist track. it was refreshing to experience the city from a local's perspective. we kicked it off at an extensive bakery with tempting sweets (and were introduced to a healthy variety of them), and were shown some of the highlights of the city including elaborate Hindu temples with informative explanations and some of the IT campuses. VJ and Ragu patiently answered our stream of questions regarding indian culture, Hinduism, and infrastructure, and filled in some of the blanks that we have previously tried to fill with speculation. the hosts with the mosts, we visited over more delicious food and drink at one of the nicest restaurants we have eaten in. they truly made our experience in bangalore a wonderful and memorable one and hope that we can some day return the favor.
in any case, the train is 100 times nicer than the buses that create involuntary head-banging to the beat of the rattling windows. we rolled into bangalore in the wee hours of the morning and did our usual exploring by foot. bangalore is more modern than other cities we have been to in india with well-known hospitals, shopping malls, but mostly is known as (and its modern feel is probably a result of) the technology/IT mecca of india and maybe even asia. so to see a little for ourselves, we checked out the technological and industrial museum where i learned about motors and carborators. and to stick with the theme, that night we had a kingfisher beer at a bar called NASA, an '80s space theme bar that feels like you are walking into a spaceship and about to blast-off. it was quite surreal, and the urge to do the robot nearly took over. the best part is that the bars close around 12am, but many of the internet joints are open 24 hours.
day 2 was a highlight. in the morning we strolled into the lalbagh botanical gardens, then found an amazing restaurant for lunch called Mavalli Tiffin House, and apparently a famous institution. there are 2 rooms filled with tables and chairs, and they fill them in shifts so that everyone is served a set meal at once. there were multiple courses with curries, salads, raita (yogurt salad), chapati (flat bread), rice, and on and on. it was the food that just kept giving and some of the best i have had in india. perhaps the whole ambiance contributed. and to finish, pan was given to freshen the mouth. pan can either be betel nut that is similar to chew in the states, but this paan was a typical and more artistic form of some sort of edible leaf with anise, lime and various other herbs. delicious!
in the evening, we met up with friends of friends (and now our friends), VJ and Ragu and their little one, Harsheetha. they are living in bangalore, and graciously showed us around the city, sharing some of their recommended spots and places off of the beaten tourist track. it was refreshing to experience the city from a local's perspective. we kicked it off at an extensive bakery with tempting sweets (and were introduced to a healthy variety of them), and were shown some of the highlights of the city including elaborate Hindu temples with informative explanations and some of the IT campuses. VJ and Ragu patiently answered our stream of questions regarding indian culture, Hinduism, and infrastructure, and filled in some of the blanks that we have previously tried to fill with speculation. the hosts with the mosts, we visited over more delicious food and drink at one of the nicest restaurants we have eaten in. they truly made our experience in bangalore a wonderful and memorable one and hope that we can some day return the favor.
Is Humpy the same place as Hampi?
this was our concern when we bought our bus tickets, considering the possibility that we actually bought our tickets for a similar (but different) location. apparently it goes by both names, and i believe hampi and humpy have made my favorite places list. meg, tim, and i spent a week there, but i could have easily spent much more time. and many people do spend weeks to months there. it is difficult to fully capture its charm but it certainly involves the sense of community between both the locals and visitors. at sunny guesthouse, the place we initially crashed, was extremely friendly. by the first evening, we knew the names of the staff and they knew ours.
their kindness made it difficult to move on, but i was itching to check out the rocks. besides the vast ruins that are clustered in the main bazaar area and the temples taht pepper the surrounding areas, it is very well-known among the climbing community for its boulders. while i am certainly no pro, i was anxious to see what the talk was all about. so i headed to goan corner, a further removed guesthouse of huts and good food surrounded by rice fields and coconut trees and close to banana fields and the hot spots for bouldering. it is sort of the "camp 4" of hampi. charmilla, the owner, is a very savy, strong, confident woman with a great sense of humor, a good business sense. she makes the place what it is and draws in groups of climbers and other visitors who seem to grow roots there. this is where i met nick, a seasoned climber and outdoor educator from england, who introduced me to many others in the area. nick served as a great motivator and guide especially to us novices.
groups met every morning at 6:30 and every evening at 4p to avoid the heat of mid-day. this also meant catching some incredible sunrises and sunsets. and the middle of the day was filled with lazily reading in a hammock, strolling, visiting with other travellers or whatever. it felt fantastic to be out working the muscles i haven't used in several months. the first morning, meg and i went out on the rocks with nick. after a couple of hours, nick randomly asked if we had brought any money and if we wanted to buy a cake. it seemed an odd question considering our surroundings and the time of day. but just then, the "cake man" appeared around the corner of the rock we were working on and presented delicious cake options. his wife bakes them every morning and he walks miles each day delivering them to a welcoming audience. they have creatively found their niche in the climbers. we ate our banana chocolate cake with smiles on our faces. after a couple of days, my muscles and a beat-up hand ended that venture for a bit. but man, i think i fell in love with hampi! hahaha! and after a week, the group decision was to head back into india as hampi is a world of its own.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Between a Rock...
from the beaches of goa, we caught an eventful overnight bus to hampi. apparently in need of sleep, i had little problem curling into the shape of my seat and falling fast asleep. i awoke to a nearly empty bus to find that we happened upon a head-on collision b/w another tour bus and a goods carrier (dump truck). i felt guilty that i had slept through the first hour after stopping - assisting injured passengers, first aid. not that i could have been much help, but i guiltily felt some sense of responsibility.
anyway, the driver of the tour bus remained trapped by the crushed front end. with no cell reception, traffic not moving and in the middle of nowhere, the passersby were forced to take matters into their own hands. they tied a rope to the crushed metal at the front of the bus and a truck and after a couple of attempts succussfully freed the driver. so with no resources available (ambulance, emt's, police jaws of life, etc) at this location in the middle of the night, the man was carried to our bus to be taken to the nearest hospital (2.5 hrs away). 5 hrs after crushing his leg and merely 400mg ibuprofen later (he wanted no more), the man reached the modest hospital for professional care. thankfully, no one was critically injured. i sort of made an excuse to peek inside of the 5 room hospital (including icu) and was oh so thankful for the systems we have in place. i have been known to criticize our healthcare system, but i was immediately humbled...for our facilities, level of care, and availability. ours are not flawless, but our tax dollars do more than a decent job providing such necessary services.
and we made it to hampi (sort of middle south in the state of karnataka). our first day was slow after a long night, and our second day stifled by illness. but the past 2 days have treated us quite well. it is an incredible place of vast boulder fields larger than i have ever seen, and many of which are perched atop another mysteriously defying gravity. interspersed throughout these massive boulders are many many hindu temples and ruins dating back to the 1500s. and beyond that are banana fields, rice patties and small villages. the sunsets and sunrises (we did actually get up early enough to catch one) are out of this world. it is a beautiful landscape and is keeping us here longer than anywhere else we have been thus far.
the monkeys are showing themselves a bit more, and the mosquitoes are horrendous but the friendly locals and the views trump it all...and it is exceptionally cheap!
anyway, the driver of the tour bus remained trapped by the crushed front end. with no cell reception, traffic not moving and in the middle of nowhere, the passersby were forced to take matters into their own hands. they tied a rope to the crushed metal at the front of the bus and a truck and after a couple of attempts succussfully freed the driver. so with no resources available (ambulance, emt's, police jaws of life, etc) at this location in the middle of the night, the man was carried to our bus to be taken to the nearest hospital (2.5 hrs away). 5 hrs after crushing his leg and merely 400mg ibuprofen later (he wanted no more), the man reached the modest hospital for professional care. thankfully, no one was critically injured. i sort of made an excuse to peek inside of the 5 room hospital (including icu) and was oh so thankful for the systems we have in place. i have been known to criticize our healthcare system, but i was immediately humbled...for our facilities, level of care, and availability. ours are not flawless, but our tax dollars do more than a decent job providing such necessary services.
and we made it to hampi (sort of middle south in the state of karnataka). our first day was slow after a long night, and our second day stifled by illness. but the past 2 days have treated us quite well. it is an incredible place of vast boulder fields larger than i have ever seen, and many of which are perched atop another mysteriously defying gravity. interspersed throughout these massive boulders are many many hindu temples and ruins dating back to the 1500s. and beyond that are banana fields, rice patties and small villages. the sunsets and sunrises (we did actually get up early enough to catch one) are out of this world. it is a beautiful landscape and is keeping us here longer than anywhere else we have been thus far.
the monkeys are showing themselves a bit more, and the mosquitoes are horrendous but the friendly locals and the views trump it all...and it is exceptionally cheap!
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