Southern India

The following blog is for the information of friends and family, however you are free to read it if you are bored.

Its off to India again but this time to the south. In Rajasthan we were templed out and spent many hours being herded into tailor and carpet shops, never mind the jewellers. "But sir it is my duty to allow these people to relieve you of that bulge in your wallet"

Anyway we fly B.A. short for bloody awful to Bangalore on Saturday the 28th flight 119, where we recuperate for a day or so in the Royal Orchid Central www.royalorchidhotels.com. Bangalore means The city of Beans so lets hope its not too windy. We then travel 150 kms to the south east and the town of Mysore. There are 17 palaces in Mysore so at a guess we will be driven to every one before visiting a couple of tailor and carpet shops. All together now "but Sir I would be failing in my duty etc etc" At Mysore we stay at the Reegalis, www,ushalexushotels.com.

Then its off for a 2 hour drive to Bandipur (depending on road condition!!) to visit a wildlife park where we may see:

Mammals:They include the tiger, leopard, elephant, gaur, sloth bear, Asiatic wild dog, striped hyena, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, mongoose, and the slender loris.

Reptiles:The common rat snake, Russell’s viper, common krait, Indian python, flying snake and the cobra can be seen.

Birds:Over 230 species of birds have been identified. Some of the most notable ones are the heron, stork, egret, kite, eagle, falcon, peafowl, lapwing, sandpiper, woodpecker, drongo and the warbler. Much like home then. We overnight with Tuskar trails in a mudhut or similar hovel!

After two days we travel to Ooty an old colonial hill station to pick up the toy train see the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN-_agT8_Cg&feature=related this is the 6th February and we stay at the Taj Savoy www.tajhotels.com

Then its off again to Vythiri an exotic destination in the Sylvan Northern High ranges about 4500 feet above sea level and location for rubber,tea, coffee, and spice plantations.

We stay at the Vyrithi resort www.vyrithiresort.com On the 9th we then have a long 6.5 hours drive to Cochin, about 200 miles so we are averaging around 30 miles an hour if we are lucky! We are stay at the Grand Residensia, www.abadhotels.com

We are then off on a loop to the east of Cochin and stop at Munnar to visit the Elephant training station at Koanadu.
We then spend a couple of days in a national parks looking for tigers and touring spice plantations. We then move onto Peryar to go on Safari and do a bit of trekking and boating.

We move next to a bird sanctuary near Kumarakom and have a day of bird watching and relaxation. The next day we board a houseboat and cruise through the back waters of Kerela we stay onboard overnight before disembarking at Allepy and then drive back to Cochin.

The next day we start our long journey home with an Internal flight on Kingfisher airlines on flight 2454 to arrive back in Bangalore staying at the same hotel as before. With an early start on the 20th when we board our return flight to Heathrow terminal 5 arriving on flight 118 at 13.25

In case of emergency our travel agent is Mr Rajiv Wahie Tailormade journeys Ltd 01753577330