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The low cost airline industry in India has boomed in the last few years, which has made getting around the subcontinent much easier. I have been travelling via the usual Indian way of overnight sleeper trains and buses.

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.

Labels: air deccan, bangalore, india, thiruvananthapuram, trivandrum

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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In Kerala there is a cafe and restaurant chain called the Indian Coffee House. The Indian coffee house is completely owned and managed by its employees.

In Thiruvananthapuram I found this Indian Coffee House branch (operated by Maveli Cafe) near the main train station.



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.




When you enter you just keep walking up the ramp until you find an empty stall.

Labels: coffee, india, indian coffee house, kerala, maveli cafe, thiruvananthapuram

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Labels: motorbike, thiruvananthapuram

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Thiruvananthapuram (or Trivandrum if you're not confident enough to twist your tongue around the new name) is the capital of Kerala state and it is quite pleasant for its size. Much of this pleasantness is owed to trees. I have not realised how much I miss urban trees until coming here. This is the first place I have seen in India where new trees are being planted as well.

Labels: thiruvananthapuram, tree, trivandrum

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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