TRAVEL BLOG
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Boxing Day Test
Boxing Day Test

Australia v India - MCG
Labels: australia, cricket, india, melbourne
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
The new India
If you travel through the outer suburbs of Bangalore and Chennai you will see rows and rows of shiny new office blocks that could be at any business park in the U.S. Outside these buildings though and it is India as usual - half dug up roads and traffic chaos everywhere.
With all the talk of India's emerging economy, I was half expecting more work being done on infrastructure. On this whole trip I have found myself looking at every thing from a civil engineers perspective. Some people come to India to find themselves. I was already "found" before I left, but I think if I had of came here before I got into web development, I would have realised my calling in life is for town planning.
India's great attribute of being the world's largest democracy is also a great obstacle for massive infrastructure overhaul. China doesn't have this problem. If the Chinese government want to build a new freeway that will wipe out a small village in the process, they will build it. In India the villagers will protest, the project stops, then the whole thing becomes an election issue, then nothing gets done.
Former Indian PM V.P. Singh once said that his main priority as prime minister was to manage contradictions. Trying to appeal one billion people is no easy task.
While I was thinking of these things I happened upon a copy of BusinessWeek which had a very interesting article on this topic, The Trouble With India.

Advertisement for call centre work in a garbage strewn street.
Labels: india, infrastructure
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Saturday, March 24, 2007
SS W.C - Chennai

Public Toilet - Chennai
Labels: chennai, india, public toilet, tamil nadu
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Friday, March 23, 2007
Footpath Fish

Catch of the day - Drying Fish Chennai
Labels: chennai, fish, india, tamil nadu
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Chennai Local Bus

Chennai Local Bus
Labels: bus, chennai, india, tamil nadu
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Thursday, March 22, 2007
Stone carvings - Mamallapuram

Stone Carvings For Shipment
Labels: india, mamallapuram, stone carving, tamil nadu
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Mamallapuram Monkey

Mamallapuram Monkey
Labels: india, mamallapuram, monkey, tamil nadu
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Man can't live on Masala Dosa alone

Masala Dosa
Labels: india, masala dosa
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Dealing with room touts
When I get to a new town I find the best thing to do is to tell the rickshaw driver you already have something booked. It's not practical to book guest house type rooms in advance in India so I usually pick something out of my guidebook and tell them I am booked there. That will at least get me to the neighbourhoods where there is other accommodation.
You will usually get told that the place you are going to is very bad and they can take you somewhere better. I tell them that every rickshaw driver in India has used the same line on me so I don't believe you.
Of course this does not always work as the place you choose might be fully booked. This happened to me in Bangalore. The same driver was still outside as well so he flashed me some cards of hotels he could take me to. There were no other hotels in the street so he had my patronage
My man took me to a hotel far from anywhere and it cost nearly twice as what the card quoted. I was so tired by this stage that I didn't care. It was a nice hotel at least with air conditioning and TV, so I kicked back and watched some world cup cricket and took it as a lesson learned not to go with rickshaw touts again.
This is not to say that this happens every time. There are a great number of home stay accommodation in Kerala for example. I stayed in a good place in Alappuzha where a man approached me at the bus station. The room was central, clean and economical.
The most important thing is to be able to say no if don't want to go or are not convinced of the accommodation on offer.

Rooms cost more if a tout takes you (Mamallapuram)
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Pondicherry Mini Minibus

Pondicherry mini minibus
Labels: india, minibus, pondicherry
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Monday, March 19, 2007
The good juice on Bangalore

Sri Ganesha Fruit Juice Centre
The place was the Sri Ganesha Fruit Juice Centre, and sure enough they make a great juice, worthy of a thronging crowd.

Sri Ganesha Fruit Juice Centre Mixers
Labels: bangalore, fruit juice, india
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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Public Tree Phone

Public Tree Phone - Bangalore
Labels: bangalore, india, public phone
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Indian Rubbish Bin

Indian Rubbish Bin - Bangalore
Labels: bangalore, india, rubbish bin
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Saturday, March 17, 2007
Bangalore Welcomes Iron Maiden

Bangalore Welcomes Iron Maiden
Labels: bangalore, india, iron maiden
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Trivandrum to Bangalore
There is a train from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore which takes 17 hours, which effectively would have wiped out two days of my trip. Fine if you are here for six months, but I only have four weeks so the option of an internal flight has saved me a couple of days.
I flew with Air Deccan, India's first low cost airline. I went to book online, but the booking facility wouldn't accept international credit cards, which seems ridiculous for an airline website. I had to call the call centre and I faced the same problem. They gave me a reservation number which would enable to pay for and pick up my ticket at the airport.
After all this I was a wondering if my ticket would be at the airport, but fortunately it was.

Air Deccan Flight Trivandrum to Bangalore
Labels: air deccan, bangalore, india, thiruvananthapuram, trivandrum
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Friday, March 16, 2007
Maveli Cafe - Thiruvananthapuram
In Thiruvananthapuram I found this Indian Coffee House branch (operated by Maveli Cafe) near the main train station.

Maveli Cafe Central Station Road
This cafe is worth visiting for the building alone. It is cylindrical shaped and there is no floors as such, just a corkscrew ramp that wraps itself around a central shaft where the kitchen is and waiters enter to and from.

Indian Coffee House Run By Maveli Cafe
When you enter you just keep walking up the ramp until you find an empty stall.

Maveli Cafe Stalls
Labels: coffee, india, indian coffee house, kerala, maveli cafe, thiruvananthapuram
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Thursday, March 15, 2007
Backseat Autorickshaw

Backseat Autorickshaw. Kollam - Kerala
Labels: autorickshaw, india, kerala, kollam
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Autorickshaw parking

Autorickshaw parking. Kollam - Kerala
Labels: autorickshaw, india, kerala, kollam
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Cows having breakfast

Cows having breakfast. Kollam - Kerala
Labels: cows, india, kerala, kollam
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Ohhh, I like surprises

Inspector in charge Surprise Squad. Alappuzha - Kerala
Labels: alappuzha, india, kerala, surprise squad
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Monday, March 12, 2007
Freewheeling Tricycle

Tricycle. Ernakulam - Kerala
Labels: ernakulam, india, kerala, tricycle
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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Synagogue and Swastika's

Synagogue and Swastica's
Labels: fort cochi, india, kerala, swastika, synagogue
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Saturday, March 10, 2007
Mangalore Ambulance

Mangalore Ambulance
Labels: ambulance, india, mangalore
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Mangled up Mangalore
Indian urban infrastructure is jerry-built at best, and in Mangalore you can see it in all its shambolic glory. You will be lucky to find 3 contiguous metres of unbroken footpath.

Mangalore Street Paving
I passed a building site, while not typical, that's not out of place in the way things are done in India. On a normal construction site, demolishing and clearing the old structure first is de rigueur. As this photo shows, the construction of the new building is going on the same time as the demolition of the old building on the same block.

Berlin 1945? No, Indian construction site 2007
There is nothing much to see here but I thought I would go walkabout. The combination of dishevelled footpaths and a night without sleep defeated quickly. So I went back to the hotel to have an afternoon snooze to prepare for tonights overnight bus trip.

Southern Railway in Disarray
Labels: india, infrastructure, mangalore
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Friday, March 09, 2007
Coffee and Net Cafes in India

Coffee Day and iway - Benaulim
Labels: coffee day, goa, india, iway
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Thursday, March 08, 2007
Old Goa
All that remains today is a collection of churches and cathedrals. What is striking about Old Goa is all the open space between these historic buildings, which you do not see in other Indian cities. A highlight of Old Goa is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which houses the well preserved remains of St Francis Xavier, who died in 1552 on the Island of Sancian, off the coast of China.
Labels: goa, india, old goa, st francis xavier
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
It's a long way from Manchester

Rovers Return, Calangute Beach
Labels: calangute, goa, india, manchester, rovers return
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Rubbish rubbish everywhere

Garbage Dumping Calangute Goa
Labels: calangute, goa, india, rubbish
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Starbucks Beach Shack

Starbucks Beach Shack - Baga Goa
Labels: baga, goa, india, starbucks
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Calangute and Baga - Goa
This is where most of the package deal holiday makers stay. Mostly Northern Europeans here thawing out from frozen winters in a location more exotic than the usual Spanish resorts. Plenty of St George beach towels reserving sunbeds to be found here.
Labels: baga, calangute, goa, india
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Snake Problem - Anjuna Goa

Labels: anjuna, goa, india, snake
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Anjuna Beach - Goa

Anjuna Beach Flea Market
Labels: anjuna, flea market, goa, india
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Provocative Swastica
The tilt of this swastica and colour scheme though is more Nazi than Eastern Religious.

Provocative Swastica - Seen in Goa
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For all your Safari Suit needs

Safari Suit Tailor, Panaji - Goa
Labels: goa, india, panaji, safari suit
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Monday, March 05, 2007
Cows of Palolem




Labels: cows, goa, india, palolem, palolem beach
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Palolem Beach - Goa

Palolem Beach - Goa
Along the beach are Goan fishing boats as well the requisite (friendly) stray dogs and cows. There are surprisingly few dog turds on the beach given how many dogs there are here. You will find more dog turds on the sidewalks of Nice than on Palolem.

Palolem Beach Dogs
I had an urge to run along this beach. As a gentleman of leisure I'm more prone to get an urge to have a coffee and read the paper at one of the many beach cafes. I found out later that Palolem is the beach that Matt Damon is running on in the start of The Bourne Supremacy, which I had just seen a few weeks ago.
Upon finding this out I had to emulate our man Jason Bourne and run along the beach as well. (If you haven't seen The Bourne Supremacy don't do what Channel 10 in Australia just did, where they aired The Bourne Supremacy first, then The Bourne Identity. Watch the The Bourne Identity first).

Palolem Beach Gentleman of Leisure
Labels: bourne supremacy, goa, india, matt damon, palolem beach
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Sunday, March 04, 2007
Going to Goa
The previous week in Mumbai every one I had met who has been there was giving me their differing opinions on why this beach is better than that beach. In the end I did not decide which beach to go to until I got to Goa.
I got the overnight train from Mumbai to Margao in central Goa. The booking office at the train station in Mumbai looked like half of Mumbai was in there trying to book a ticket. Fortunately there is a foreigners booking office and there was only one person in the queue.
On the train I was in a compartment with a couple of hippies. They were on their way to a beach so quintessentially Goan that it wasn't even in Goa, but just south of the border in the state of Karnataka. The place they were going to was Gokarna, a popular place for Hindu pilgrims where few tourists go to, so I was told. "Is that the place there?" I point out to them in my Lonely Planet.
There was a young Canadian in the train as well and he said he was going to Palolem.
"Ahh yes, Palolem", the hippies said, "It was pretty good a few years ago, but it has gotten a bit busy since". The Canadian was a fellow Goa virgin and we both agreed that any beach in Goa was still going to be more exotic than the beaches offered in our home towns, so Palolem it was for us.
Labels: goa, hippy, india, margao, overnight train, palolem
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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Slums of Mumbai
I was looking for information about the slums of Mumbai after reading this book and I happened upon a link to Reality Tours, which run tours to the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.
Reality tours was set up by an Indian and Englishman. The tour office is in Colaba, just around the corner from Leopolds Cafe, which features so prominently in Shantaram.
I met the owner Chris Way, from Worcester England, at his office. Chris left the everyday life in Worcestershire to live in Mumbai, where he now runs this tour.
We started the tour at 1.45, meeting our guide for the day, Krishna, at Churchgate station. From there we got a local train to Mahim train station. The short tour they offer starts at 2.30 and goes until 5pm. I was wondering how we were going to fill in two and a half hours in a slum. It turns out that the time passes quite easily.
Dharavi is the biggest slum in Asia. It occupies an area of 430 acres and is home to over one million people. The slum is a working city in its own right, with an annual turnover of over US $660 Million Dollars.
My concept of a slum was of huts made of plastic sheeting, bamboo and roofing iron with people sitting around begging. Upon arrival at the train station exit we come to a high street of brick and concrete buildings with shops and even an elaborate Hindu temple.
From the main street we went down a narrow side street and visited various factories. First up was a plastic recycling plant, where plastic is collected from all over the city, crushed, dyed, then melted into pellets for re-use. Pretty much any thing that can be recycled is recycled here, from paper, fabric, to 44 gallon fuel drums. There are numerous other industries going on as well. Shoes, clothing and suitcase factories, and leather tanneries to name but a few.
The guide is a local and he has a good rapport with the people we meet on the way, stopping regularly to chat.
I thought I would be hassled the whole time like you are in the rest of the city, but no one in there was begging. You will get kids following you everywhere, saying hi cheerily and asking where you are from, as they do in India. The kids are inquisitive, a few asked for our autograph on their hand, and if you say you are from a Commonwealth nation you may get dragged into a game of cricket.
Within Dharavi there are industrial, retail and residential areas. Within the residential areas there are Muslim, Hindu, and a Christian area. In the muslim area we stopped for a drink at one of those shops that sells just about everything. We met three schools teachers covered in head to toe by the veil. My mind imagined three little Mother Theresa-esque looking ladies sent to do good in the slums of Mumbai.
We went to the school where they taught and once inside the classroom they unveiled to reveal three beautiful young women who would not be out of place in a Bollywood dance scene. It was a pre-school, and the kids put on a dance show for us.
Many of the buildings are permanent structures with running water and plumbing. The laneways become quite narrow, at many points only a metre wide, with a drain running down the middle. The doorways are usually curtains, and sometimes you see a shop deep within these alleys. I saw a couple of video arcades with classic 1980's games in here as well.
Some people criticize the tour as voyeuristic. The tour though runs at cost and 80% of the proceeds go to a local NGO (charity). Photography is prohibited on the tour. For me tour dispells the assumption that slum dwellers are just sitting around doing nothing, and adds a human face to the statistics that are so easily quoted.
realitytoursandtravel.com

Chris - Reality Tours
Labels: bombay, gregory david roberts, india, mumbai, reality tours, shantaram, slum tour, slums
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Mumbai Chicken Delivery

Mumbai Chicken Delivery
Labels: chicken, india, mumbai
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Friday, March 02, 2007
Mumbai Taxi Meter Box

Mumbai Taxi Meter Box
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Coffee, or lack thereof
I found one place which got my hopes up called "Coffee House". It even has a slogan, "approved by coffee board". Someone needs to sack the coffee board as it was more instant crap. They do make a good lunch though.
I have since found some places that make a proper coffee.

Coffee House

Coffee House Coffee

Coffee House Lunch
Labels: coffee, coffee house, india, mumbai
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Holy cow - Mumbai

Holy Cow - Mumbai
Labels: holy cow, india, mumbai
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Thursday, March 01, 2007
Do you know Ricky Ponting?
I have had a stream of Indian men approach me to talk cricket. I don't know if it is always like this or if it is because the Cricket World Cup starts this month.

Cricket World Cup Advertisement
Before I came to India I had planned to read up on who's who in the Indian cricket team, which I forgot to do. I need not have bothered as everyone wants to talk to me about the Australian team. So the

