Reached Udaipur after a long bumpy busride through the Rajasthani countryside, great to catch glimpses of rural life. Udaipur is beautiful and very touristy, lots of palaces and mansions, temples. Grand views of the lake and the lake palace where part of Octop**** was filmed. Saw part of a Krishna festival last night where they made human pyramids, just like in Catalunya. I leave for Mumbai this afternoon and from there my flight home, so off to last-minute s...

Periyar Tigar Preserve didn't reveal any of its 46 tigers, but it was beautiful and green. It was interesting how excited the Indian tourists got about birds, monkeys, deer, experiencing wildlife is maybe not so common here. After visiting Periyar, lots of traveling, beginning with a bus to Kottayam (where the ticketman tried with one exception to keep staring men at bay), then a train to the beach town of Varkala. Varkala is a touristy hippie haven, set on th...

Left Kochi on Thursday morning, after one last meal at the Kashi Art Cafe. My very proper hotelkeepers at the Delight were somewhat at a loss when my motorcycle guide/driver Sunil arrived to pick me up on his 30-year old classic, turquoise Royal Enfield motorcycle with his long hair in a ponytail. After surviving the crossing through urban Kochi, we drove up past rubber-tapping plantations, and eventually spice gardens and cardamom fields in particular. Sunil ...

Escaped from the hellhole of Hyderabad where Noah's Ark type rain and floods threatened to sweep us all away. My friend and host Tim had a palatial flat and was an excellent cultural interpreter, explaining just how subtle, multi-layered and complicated India is. My first day in Hyderabad I visited its main attraction the Char Minar, a muslim monument built in the 1500s by the local royalty or nizzam. It was beautiful but what with beggars, imminent death by ...

Endless rain...lots of moldy atmospheric art deco buildings being overtaken by banyan trees. Moved hotels to Bandra where Mumbai's yuppies/hipsters hang out, via a epic taxi ride in the midst of a full-on monsoon storm. Saw my first official Bollywood film last night called Ugli Aur Pagli, but didn't have the stamina for all 3 hours of it, so I couldn't tell you how it ended. The rain was motivation to visit the Prince of Wales museum, the principal museum...