After yet another overnight train ride, this time returning to Mysore from Hampi, we arrived at our hotel (Parklane) and were able to check-in immediately upon arrival at about 9:30am. What a relief! Our room, an air conditioned refuge, was huge with a balcony that we didn't use because it overlooked the quintessentially noisy, busy, dirty street. Jim and I don't typically like cities so we keep our stops short such as this one for three nights. It was Republi...

Clickety, clickety, click, woooo woooo, chai tea chai - these are the sounds of the train while my body gently jostles to the rhythm of its movement. I was stretched out on the upper berth, that I had unceremoniously mounted with many dark eyes watching while the man in the berth below me shielded his head from my swinging body and Jim tried to assist me and simultaneously protect others. It was the dance of a tired 58 year old on a moving train. Not particularly...

After 36 hairpin turns descending the Niligiri mountains, a drive through a very dry Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary with no elephants or other wildlife in sight, we eventually arrived at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve where the driver told us to transfer from our teensy weensy car to a jeep. No one had mentioned this but we trustingly did as we were told. Good thing. The road into The Wilds (www.serendipityo.com/thewilds/index.ht ml) was the bumpiest road I had ever se...

We headed to Munnar seeking cooler mountain air; it was time to get the rash on my back, which was covered in insanely itchy prickly heat bumps, under control. Sharing facing bus seats with the delightful young women from England that we met at Kashi Arts Cafe a day earlier, our conversations ranged from meditation, yoga and many things spiritual to Japanese Encephalytus. I always imagine our destinations in my mind, conjuring up pictures that undoubtedly are n...

After our comfortable train trip from Varkala to Kochi, navigating the tuktuk ride to the ferry, squished on a barely seaworthy ferry where we missed our stop, and the subsequent tuktuk trip across town with our two large backpacks, two day packs and another bag with odds and ends in it, we felt acclimated to the realities of travel in India. Our Varkala cocoon of Ayurvedic treatments, beach and western tourist centric offerings was over. There is an uncomforta...