19-20/feb on the way to madikeri
I woke just in time for the check out, good breakfast / lunch, in the same place of the last 3 meals, a place with only Indian people, a little bit dirty, enough, dark but with light colors, decadent, like many of the places in India, but with big and good meals, especially thaly costing only 12 RS. Asslam, the owner, was treating me like the most habitual costumer, after eating there a couple of times. Hello Barcelona!! He told me all the time.
That day, a was on my way first to ernakulam, twin city, and then to mangalore, a city in Karnataka, the state next to kerala, in the northern part. And like most of the times, they told me that the train was full, but that I could make a reservation, paying, of course, and we would see. And like most of the times, there was no problem on finding a free place. They always keep a few seats for foreigners, because they say that we always make decisions at the very last moments… and I guess that’s true. But is not very nice for the Indians that can not travel on that train just for that reason.
I spent a few hours updating my blogs, and went to the platform one to wait for my train after having dinner. The train I was taking, was an overnight train. And there I found inga, the german yoga teacher. Just by case it happened that we had the same compartment.
Once in mangalore, 8:30 am, I took a local bus to madikeri, a hill station that george, the Portuguese guy, told me it was very nice. 160 km, 4,5 hours. Lodge, late lunch and sunset. The road wasn’t that good, and as it’s quite high, 1200m, was full of ‘road curves’. But it was nice to go up slow, seeing the landscape changing, from the sea shore to a hill station. Everything very peaceful, small towns every now and then, trees instead of palm trees, and very dense forests. Everything green, even if the rainy seasons will arrive in a couple of months. There were shadows everywhere, and the temperature was lower, pleasant. And again, when you are 1 cm further from the touristic paths, there are no foreigners at all. I was the only one on the bus, and I only saw 5 more in town.
Madikeri is a very good place to walk around, since the mountains are very green, full of plants, flowers, big trees, and what makes the place different, full of rice, coffee, tea and cardamom plantations. You can also find waterfalls, rivers…
I saw the sunset from the raja’s seat. It’s a high mountain on the western side of the time, easy to reach walking, and where the best sunsets of India can be seen. (that’s what I was told!!) But this day, Sunday, was very busy, and full of noise. There was also fog and clouds, so the sunset wasn’t that spectacular. But, instead of admiring the nature of the place, I spent a few hours admiring the stories from an old Indian man, 87 years old. It was a little bit disappointing to see that at the end, he was asking me 50 RS, for the chat… It was also interesting to chat with another man, 50, and for free. He was hindu, and couldn’t understand a life without an ‘official’ religion…
After dinner, I started thinking about the time that I would like to spend in the north of India, in the himalaya… hard decisions!!!
9/3/04
That day, a was on my way first to ernakulam, twin city, and then to mangalore, a city in Karnataka, the state next to kerala, in the northern part. And like most of the times, they told me that the train was full, but that I could make a reservation, paying, of course, and we would see. And like most of the times, there was no problem on finding a free place. They always keep a few seats for foreigners, because they say that we always make decisions at the very last moments… and I guess that’s true. But is not very nice for the Indians that can not travel on that train just for that reason.
I spent a few hours updating my blogs, and went to the platform one to wait for my train after having dinner. The train I was taking, was an overnight train. And there I found inga, the german yoga teacher. Just by case it happened that we had the same compartment.
Once in mangalore, 8:30 am, I took a local bus to madikeri, a hill station that george, the Portuguese guy, told me it was very nice. 160 km, 4,5 hours. Lodge, late lunch and sunset. The road wasn’t that good, and as it’s quite high, 1200m, was full of ‘road curves’. But it was nice to go up slow, seeing the landscape changing, from the sea shore to a hill station. Everything very peaceful, small towns every now and then, trees instead of palm trees, and very dense forests. Everything green, even if the rainy seasons will arrive in a couple of months. There were shadows everywhere, and the temperature was lower, pleasant. And again, when you are 1 cm further from the touristic paths, there are no foreigners at all. I was the only one on the bus, and I only saw 5 more in town.
Madikeri is a very good place to walk around, since the mountains are very green, full of plants, flowers, big trees, and what makes the place different, full of rice, coffee, tea and cardamom plantations. You can also find waterfalls, rivers…
I saw the sunset from the raja’s seat. It’s a high mountain on the western side of the time, easy to reach walking, and where the best sunsets of India can be seen. (that’s what I was told!!) But this day, Sunday, was very busy, and full of noise. There was also fog and clouds, so the sunset wasn’t that spectacular. But, instead of admiring the nature of the place, I spent a few hours admiring the stories from an old Indian man, 87 years old. It was a little bit disappointing to see that at the end, he was asking me 50 RS, for the chat… It was also interesting to chat with another man, 50, and for free. He was hindu, and couldn’t understand a life without an ‘official’ religion…
After dinner, I started thinking about the time that I would like to spend in the north of India, in the himalaya… hard decisions!!!
9/3/04
posted by Unknown at 16:30
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