Departure – Thursday 23^rd February 2006.

We all Left our respective home towns arriving at Gatwick at around 16.30 and managed to check in ready for the flight at 20.50. The usual duty free for cigarettes then a beer or two before going to departure for boarding.

The flight was about 10 hours – boring – MyTravel flight MT027 was a typical charter flight where the seats were very narrow and the upholstery thin to say the least, two of the group had the presence of mind to upgrade at the staggeringly low cost of an additional £100, money well spent.

Terry & Gerry enjoy a beer at Gatwick.

Chris, Ryan, Josie, Susie(aka Red Leader) and Jamal

DAY 1 – Friday 24^th February 2006 (Trivandrum/Kollam)

Arriving at Trivandrum Airport at 12.50 on 24^th February 2006 the group assembled for the bus trip to Kollam some 78 km north, whilst assembling several people introduced themselves.

The bus trip was our first experience of India and before leaving the Airport the bus driver became involved in a minor incident where the porters who had helped to load the luggage onto the bus, seemingly without being asked to do so, had a disagreement with the driver over the amount they had been paid, this resulted in one of the porters laying down in the road in front of the bus and the Police being summoned to mediate, following some heated debate and an exchange of more rupees we finally got on the move.

 Once on the road we caught our first glimpses of Indian life, to us as westerners everywhere seemed to be very squalid and poverty stricken, certainly we could smell the open sewers at times and the amount of litter everywhere was to us quite staggering, as was the amount of air pollution from the vehicle exhausts. Peoples’ accommodation also seemed pretty run down and the built up area went on forever with little discernable change between city, town and rural areas.

 Our first hotel was to be the relatively new Sarovaram at Ashtamudi about 15 km outside of Kollam, a beautiful tranquil backwaters resort where we were able to rest after about 20 hours of travel. We met the team who were to look after us for the next 15 days, Susie the leader (who we nicknamed “Red Leader” after we had been for the first run, Jamil the mechanic who was to ride at the rear of the group, Josie the nurse who rode in the backup jeep, Ryan who was to assist Susie at road junctions and Chris the jeep driver.

On arrival at the hotel we were given a traditional Indian lunch allocated rooms and in the evening a traditional Indian dinner both meals being taken in the open air overlooking the backwater lagoon. Some of the group went on a boat trip around the backwaters.

DAY 2 – Saturday 25^th February 2006 (Allepy)

 Following a good nights sleep and breakfast we are ready to be allocated a bike, be given a briefing and go for a short ride to get used to the roads and the bike, its at this point that we find out about Indian road custom – use the horn being one of the most important aspects of a drivers skill. We also experience roads with potholes everywhere.

At around 13.00 we take to the road for the relatively short journey of about 100 km to Allepey where we stay at the Lakeside Resort, another backwater based hotel for one night. After dinner under a thatched restaurant we take a boat trip around the backwaters, the high of the trip being to see many fireflies. Getting from the parking area to reception requires a boat across the backwater as does getting from reception to the rooms.

Choose your steed!

DAY 3 – Sunday 26^th February 2006 (Fort Cochin)

Today sees us setting off on another short (about 110 km) journey to Cochin (Fort Kochi) where we spend two nights at the Vintage Inn (not the hotel described in the brochure because apparently the group is too big for the usual hotel) the vintage Inn is a much inferior hotel to that described in the brochure.

 Driving into the town we travelled along a road that resembled a ploughed field, this, it turned out, was one of the main shopping streets.

DAY 4 – Monday 27th February 2006. (Fort Cochin)

 Today we decided to take the ferry across to the city of Ernakulam where we went to the Royal Enfield showroom, another put-put ride, this time in city traffic – another experience not to be missed. The ferry crossing was excellent in both directions and began to show India as a place of distinct contrasts, the shoreline being on the one hand very scenic and on the other the high-rise buildings of the city. The ferry trip was about 15 minutes each way – the cost about 25p – amazing value.

DAY 5 – Tuesday 28^th February. (Munnar)

 Today we rode around 150 km up into the hills through tropical forests and tea plantations to Munnar where we stayed at the Westwood Riverside a large multi story hotel. During the late afternoon we went into Munnar by put-put to look around the shops, not the most awe inspiring place, however, some of us purchased spices at knock down prices, Terry decided to get himself a pair of sandals and did the bargaining that is mandatory eventually settling on a price of about £1.50. Whilst walking around Munnar city centre we were caught in heavy rain and decided to head back to the hotel and dinner – not the best one of the trip, but good enough to keep us going, beer was also available so we had a few “kingfishers” to keep the spirits up.

DAY 6 - Wednesday 1^st March 2006. (Melluppalaiyam (Ooty) )

Today we set off on a quite punishing 300 km ride up into the mountains, the ride took us through rural areas with tea plantations, rice fields, spice plantations, agriculture of differing kinds, also brick fields and tropical forest areas. Roads were very busy of poor quality and very twisty at times. The route took us into Tamil Nadu, through many small towns and villages, the cities of Coimbatore and Coonoor and Melluppalaiyam (Ooty), just north of which a minor incident occurred when a schoolboy waiting for the bus home decided to throw stones at our group, our leader Susie stopped and nearly launched him into space – obviously this is Indian summary justice!

Lunch was a quite new experience a typical Indian meal served on a coconut leaf, we were given spoons to eat it with and most of it was very palatable.

Our destination for the night was Jungle Hut about 20 km north of Melluppalaiyam (Ooty), again not the location shown in the brochure, however the accommodation was very good, clean and friendly, with excellent food and plenty of beer.

DAY 7 – Thursday 2^nd March 2006. (Melluppalaiyam (Ooty) )

The six pack decided to hire two jeeps and go on a trip to Melluppalaiyam (Ooty) to take a trip on the Melluppalaiyam (Ooty) to Coimbatore railway part of which is a unique steam worked rack system, unfortunately we were only able to make the journey from Melluppalaiyam to Coonoor due to time constraints, but were able to see the steam locos in the sheds at Coonoor.

DAY 8 – Friday 3^rd March 2006 (Kodakanal)

 Today we had another 300 km ride, again the roads were very twisty and in places quite rough. Travelling from Jungle Hut to Ooty  there are about 35 hairpin bends that we had negotiated on our journey to the resort, two of the main group had a minor spill up the hairpins, fortunately without any injury or damage to the bikes.

The journey took us through some wonderful countryside most of it mountainous, we went through Ooty, Coonoor, Dharapuram, Palni and many small villages.  During the afternoon we headed into severe rain and spent about 1½ hours riding in heavy rain and cold conditions arriving at the hotel Taj Villa very wet. On our arrival we found ourselves waiting for around 20 minutes to be allocated rooms and when allocated some of them were unsuitable to our particular circumstances as they had double beds, the problem was sorted out within about ½ hour, however, Terry’s room was of a poor decorative standard and the roof leaked, which made his stay very unpleasant.

After getting settled in we all went to find the dinning room, again a surprise in that it could not seat everyone at the same time, when we were served food is was of very good quality – beer seemed to be a problem, when we ordered it they had to send someone into town to fetch it.

 All in all we felt that the particular hotel chosen was not really suitable for the number of people on the trip, particularly as the next day we found that the hotel next door had plenty of vacancies and could easily have accommodated the group with a large dinning room as well.

DAY 9 – Saturday 4^th March 2006 (Kodakanal)

 Today we discovered that Kodakanal has no put-puts so decided to hire a jeep and do a tour around the Kodakanal area. The ½ day trip took us to Bear Shola Falls an impressive waterfall, La Saleth Christian Church which is about 150 years old, a 500 year old tree which you are not allowed near and can only view from the road, Pambar Falls another fine waterfall, we were able to stop and take pictures and talk to two women who were gathering firewood, also a commercial laundry alongside a river. From these stops we were able to learn that when wood is gathered and split it is tied up with bark that is stripped off the wood, splitting the logs is done by starting to split it with the hooked axe and then using another piece of wood in the manner of a wedge. Laundry is dried either by laying in on the grass or hanging on a line, however no pegs are used to hold it on the line as the line is formed of two strands of thin rope twisted together and the washing held between the two strands.

DAY 10 – Sunday 5^th March 2006 (Vandanmedu)

 Today we make a shorter journey of 175 km to Vandanmedu where we stayed at the Carmlia Have a luxurious hotel surrounded by tea and spice plantations, dinning here was sumptuous. The hotel had a swimming pool, superb gardens and the rooms were luxurious.

The ride to Vandanmedu was mostly down through mountain roads but generally of much better quality, much of the ride being through tea plantations and tropical forest.

DAY 11 – Monday 6^th March 2006 (Thekkaddy)

 Today we had a very short ride of 50 km to Thekkaddy a small town further down the mountains again travelling over back roads where we stayed at the Cardamon County another luxury Hotel. Dinner was taken at the hotel again splendid food and for the first time on the tour – a bar.

DAY 12 – Tuesday 7^th March 2006 (Thekkaddy)

 We spent the morning looking around the town, which is a spice-dealing centre and local town where the rural mountain people shop, it has also become a tourist attraction, whilst some of the group went to the Periyar Tiger sanctuary. In the late afternoon we again hired a jeep and went for a tour up a mountain, unfortunately the particular mountain that we were to have gone up had the access road closed for repair so that our driver took us to another one, not quite as high. On reaching the top of the mountain we had splendid views, there was also up at the top with four children who came to talk to us, really delightful children who have to walk about 2 km to school down a mountain track and back again after school, water for the cottage has to be fetched from a stand pipe about ½ km down the mountain track as well.

DAY 13 – Wednesday 8^th March 2006 (Kollam)

 Today we have ridden about 180 km back down to Kollam and the Sarovaram Resort where we spent our last two nights of the tour, this was our last ride in India and was on a mixture of back roads and highway. On this leg of the tour we stopped in the shade of a rubber plantation.

DAY 14 – Thursday 9^th March 2006 (Kollam)

 Today we went to the beach about 50 km from the hotel by jeep, wonderful golden sands with rolling breakers coming in off the Indian Ocean, the “Six Pack” had lunch on the terrace of a beachfront hotel the food was excellent with a beer served in tea mugs (he bottles hidden beneath the table) to wash it down.

DAY 15 – Friday 10^th March 2006 (Trivandrum - Gatwick)

 Our last glimpses of India as we take the bus back to Trivandrum Airport to catch the plane back home – we now face a 14 hour flight as we are returning via Goa for fuel and more passengers.