Just finished the rest of my sightseeing in Kanchipuram, so here are some more temple pictures.



Off to grab some lunch before I catch the bus to Vellore.

I managed to get one of my two waitlisted train tickets sorted out in Chennai. I'll have to deal with the other one in Siliguri on the way up to Darjeeling. That only took about 15 minutes, but with all the time I spent on busses I didn't get to Kanchipuram until late this afternoon so I didn't have a chance to see much. I'm not too happy with the most of the pictures I took today but, as usual, here are a couple anyway.



Tomorrow morning I'm going to do some more sightseeing in Kanchipuram then head to Vellore sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm starting to wish I'd given myself another day in Tamil Nadu before heading north. I'm enjoying all the moving around I've been doing so I'm not sure if I really need 3 nights each in Gopalpur-on-Sea and Darjeeling.

I'm back in Mamalapuram for one night. I'm glad I decided to stop here on this trip - this is such a great little town. The touts even seem to have calmed down quite a bit since last year. I wish I could spend a couple days but I'd rather fit in more new places.

I didn't see too much new stuff, however I did manage to get a much better shot of the shore temple this time. You can actually tell it's by the shore! Here are a couple new pictures from today and you can see more from last spring here.



Tomorrow morning I'm going to go to Chennai (Madras) to try to get my waitlisted train tickets upgraded to confirmed reservations and then I'll head to Kanchipuram in the afternoon. Chennai is a little bit out of the way but they have a reservation office there that can handle foreign tourist quota tickets so I think it's worth the extra time.

Here are a few pictures from Pondicherry. Not a whole lot to see here so I think I'm going to move on tomorrow. I think I can hit both Vellore and Kanchipuram and even fit in a night in Mamalapuram before my train out of Chennai (Madras) on Thursday night.

Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple days. By the time I discovered the internet cafe in Rameswaram yesterday it was pretty much too late for me to upload any pictures before I had to catch my train.

Rameswaram is a great little town on an island that juts out towards Sri Lanka. The town life completely revolves around the Ramanathaswamy temple, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in India.

I would have liked to have spent more time exploring the town but it was really too hot to do much more than sit around under the fan in my room. On Friday I did manage to take a bus down towards the end of the island then walked the last 4 km out to the ruined town of Danushkodi at the eastern tip. Luckily there was a nice sea breeze the whole way otherwise I don't think I would have made it.



This morning I made it to Pondicherry after an (unusually miserable) overnight train ride to Villupuram followed by a short bus ride from there. I plan to stay here for a night or two before moving north to my next stop. I'd planned to head to Mamalapuram for a couple nights after Pondicherry but I may go to Vellore instead since I haven't been there before.

This morning I went to the train station and booked tickets for the rest of my trip. Except for a couple trains where I am currently waitlisted the rest of my trip is pretty much set in stone now. Kind of strange for me to be planning things that far in advance but it's the only way I can guarantee that I can fit in everything else I want to accomplish before I leave.

After that I wandered around the old city some more then finally went to see the huge Sri Meenakshi temple. Good thing I didn't get here a day later. Tomorrow there are a bunch of weddings in the temple and it will be closed to all non-Hindus.



Tomorrow morning I have to get up very early to catch a 4:30 AM train to Rameswaram. I'm only spending one night there before heading north to Pondicherry.

I made it to Madurai early this morning. I miss Varkala already, but it is nice to be on the road again after a week of doing little to nothing.

I haven't yet gone to see the big Meenakshi temple yet (the main attraction in Madurai). I'm saving that for tomorrow so today I spent the afternoon wandering around the old city and then went over to see the Gandhi museum. Didn't manage to get too many good pictures but here are a couple anyway.



I should be back to regular updates now that I'm actually doing something again.

As I suggested, I haven't really done much in Varkala except lounge around reading during the day and eating fish tikka in the evenings. Today I did manage to drag myself down to a travel office to book a train ticket out of here though. I'm heading to Madurai on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the big fish in the picture below will be my dinner in an hour or so.

Made it to Varkala last night. The fish tikka is as good as I'd remembered it :). For some reason it only costs half what they were charging last year too! Last night was giant blue marlin and I'm eagerly awaiting tonight's catch.

Here are a few pictures from the backwater trip. I enjoyed it quite a bit again. In fact it may make sense for me to go back through Ernakulam on my way to Madurai (my next goal after I tire of Varkala) in which case I'll probably take the trip in reverse on the way.



I imagine I'll be in Varkala for a week or so. Probably won't have much of anything to report but I'll post now and then.

I managed to make it all the way to Kottayam last night after another long travel day. The train to Ernakulam was almost on time and I only had to wait a couple hours for the connection to Kottayam. I would have even had time to go eat at that restaurant I mentioned but I'd already had lunch on the train.

Kottayam seemed like an interesting little town and I wish I'd had time to explore some. Unfortunately it was dark by the time I got in last night and then I had to catch the ferry to Alleppey this morning. Here are a few pictures from the today's boat trip.



Tomorrow I'm heading on a longer backwater cruise to Kollam and from there to Varkala. I did the same trip last year and loved it. Hopefully I will get more and better pictures than I did last year. Last year's pics from the Alleppey to Kollam cruise are here (scroll down).

I decided to buy a ticket only as far as Ernakulam. Hopefully I can catch a local train to Kottayam from there tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise I won't mind a night in Ernakulam. I'd rather spend an extra night there than in Alleppey and there's a restaurant from last year that I wouldn't mind trying again.

Off now. My train doesn't leave until just past midnight but I have to catch a bus to the trainstation shortly.

I haven't taken too many pictures of Gokarna yet but here are a couple.



I'm still not sure when I'm leaving or quite where I'm going next. Hopefully the train booking office will be operational today so I can nail something down.

Made it to Gokarna yesterday morning after a long 1 1/2 days of traveling. I'm staying at Kudli beach, just south of town. I'm going to stay for a couple days at least. I'm trying to head to Kottayam in Kerala next but I may have to settle for Alleppey depending on train schedules.

I'll be at Kudli for a couple days at least. No pictures yet but this place seems to have a decent connection so maybe I'll lug my camera back over here (i.e. back to Gokarna town) tomorrow. There is an internet place in Kudli as well but so far it hasn't been working whenever I've tried.

This afternoon I catch the first of two trains on my way down to Gokarna where I will begin the vegetative portion of my trip. Not sure how often I'll be updating from Gokarna and Varkala since I don't plan to have much of interest to say. Maybe I'll post a picture of the fish-of-the-day from Varkala or something.

I wanted to post a couple more pictures of Bundi before I left but the internet connection is really lousy right now so I'm giving up.

Made it to Bundi early this morning. My train from Delhi was almost exactly on time and arrived in Kota at 4:00 AM. After messing with the rickshaw drivers' heads for a while I got myself to the bus station and caught a bus that got me here a little before 6.

The town is still as amazing as I remember although you can tell that it's gearing up for more tourists. Since last April a couple new guesthouses have sprung up and there are now at least 5 internet places instead of the 2 that were here last year. Still basically hassle free and absolutely stunning.

My pictures from last year are available here and below are some new ones from today.



Tomorrow I may hire a rickshaw for a half day to see some of the sights outside of town that I missed last time.

I made it up to the top of the minaret at Jama Masjid this time. The view was spectacular - well worth the time to walk back over there. Here are a couple more pictures from today.



I've got some time before my train so I'm going to go wander some more. Maybe try to catch sunset from one of the terrace restaurants around here if I can find one in a good location.

Here are a couple of pictures from Delhi.




I leave for Bundi tomorrow evening. I'll have some time for sightseeing first so I should have some more pictures of Delhi before I leave. In particular I want to go back to the Jama Masjid to climb the minaret which was closed by the time I got there this afternoon.

Made it to Delhi this morning. I'd planned to try to catch a train out tonight but it turns out some friends from Laos also arrived in Delhi today so I'm going to spend a day or two here to catch up with them.

Here are a couple pictures. This first one is from the rooftop restaurant where I ate dinner before leaving Kolkata (i.e. Calcutta - might as well start using the correct name). I hope this one comes out OK - it's really dark on this monitor but looks great on the camera's LCD.



Lucknow was pretty nice and I'm glad I finally got a chance to stop there. Here are a couple pics I took while wandering around town yesterday. Even better than the scenery was the mutton shami kebabs. I normally avoid the mutton here but these wrapped (as opposed to skewered) kebabs are a local specialty that I've been wanting to try.



I'll be in Delhi for a day or two then I'm going to start heading south. I think I'm going to stop in Bundi in Rajesthan for a day or two. I was there last spring and decided I didn't stay long enough. Plus it'll make a good place to break the long trip between Delhi and Mumbai.