Tamil Nadu – Ian Louis Harris

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

We needed a long and complete break after the loss of Phillie, Janie’s twin, in December. But this holiday was a long and ambitious one by any measure.

We were planning it at very short notice, by our standards, of course, but fortune smiled upon us in that planning. The Central Plains of India; Chhattisgarh and Orissa (Odisha) can be quite politically volatile, Foreign Office advice yo-yos between “no problem” and “only go if need be”, due to Naxalite/Maoist activity. But what a fascinating tribal part of India it is.

Anyway, it was a safe time to go at that time and the plan, through Steppes East who were excellent on this one, was to use the family of the Maharajah of Kanker as our guides in that region. This was a great idea; Jolly Deo, the Maharajkumar, was the perfect host and guide. We learnt lots and had fun along the way.

I long ago posted the weirdest story from that trip; the day I was press-ganged into being a live cricket commentator, which was published on King Cricket a few months after the event.

We were also fortunate in the Sri Lanka leg of the trip; an opportunity to have a large villa in Galle Old Town all to ourselves for the price of a hotel room came up, by virtue of the villa only recently coming back onto the holiday market following a long-term family stay. I suppose our experience there was a bit like a cross between AirBnB (except without making life hell for the neighbours) and Lastminute.com.

In short, there were loads of adventures to write up from this holiday – pages and pages and pages of the stuff….

…and they are all up there now – pretty much one posting per day. The posting for the first day of the holiday can be seen by clicking here or below:

Journey From London To Hyderabad, 29 & 30 January 2011

Here are links to the photo albums, which I divided up into six short albums, one for each “leg” of the trip:

If you are really keen to explore my hand-written notes, just to make sure I have written them up properly, here they are in pdf form and good luck to you:

Here is the Steppes East itinerary, also available for download – at least you’ll be able to read this one: Itinerary-Wormleighton.

Finally, there are photo albums on flickr of the pictures that didn’t make the cut for the main albums – there are some gems in there nonetheless for picture lovers:

Touring In And Around Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 12 February 2011

All the album pictures from our Chennai touring are in the following album:

001 12 Feb 2011 Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram P1010792

Rose early with Daisy still fuming about the power incident [last night].
Set off for Kanchipuram with guide Sanjay and driver Muthu, of course. Ring Vikram in Delhi on way to get him to sort out our room/attitude problem.

First stop, Kanchipuram, the Ekambareswarar Temple. Stunning temple, still in use.
Then a quick once around the Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple– a dead or ruined temple but in reasonably good condition.

Leaping locals at Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple

Ged [that’s me] downed a drinking coconut (fleshless). Then on to see jacquard silk saris being made – we bought three cotton shirt/kurta things there.

We arrange extra trip to cricket, so agree to do edited highlights of Mahabalipuram. First stop, Bhagriratha’s Penance and the Mandaras, bas-relief’s in rocks and in some porticoes respectively.

Then on to Pancha Rathas (Five Rathas) very elegant ruined temple site which we explored quickly.

Then we set off for the MA Chithambaram stadium. Sanjay points out highlights of Chennai proper on the way (e.g. Saint Thomas’s Church and the ultra long beach).
Then the stadium. Sanjay helps us find the gates for the best seats (Rs.500 not the 200, 100 or Rs.50 seats for us) and takes his leave of us. Unbelievably putrid smell from the toilets. Mr “No Smoke, No Photo” on security and waiting. Loads of people taking photos so we join in only for Mr No Photo to challenge us. Daisy sorts him out.
We see the end of the Zimbabwean innings – and start of the South African innings. Then leave to find Muhtu.

I have written up the cricket element of this day in more detail – click here or below, where you’ll also find a link to the relevant King Cricket piece on the topi c :

South Africa v Zimbabwe World Cup Warm Up Match, Chennai Stadium, As Reported On King Cricket, 12 February 2011

Lots of traffic and interesting scenes on the way home. Find lots of gifts in our room and rapidly a call from the manager who tells us dinner is on him!
Of course we have been moved to the front table as requested last night. He comes down to meet us, everyone (staff) fawns over us while the guests all gawp at us.
We try bouillabaise, then I tried lobster, Daisy tries Khuta fish and we get mash, fries and lots of veggies, just as we asked for them.
As well as the Wasabi mayonnaise we tried yesterday.

The unlisted pictures from Chennai are in the album below:

From Gateway In Andhra Pradesh To Fisherman’s Cove In Tamil Nadu, 11 February 2011

Rose early at Gateway. Packed grub arrived (chicken sandwiches). So did Jolly & Abhichek on time, as we were for a flight.
We got to the airport right time for check-in to start, in theory. In practice, check-in open half an hour late.
Much haggling over excess baggage with nice check-in man and horrible female enforcer who increases the amount from nine hundred and ninety six to one thousand and sixty rupees. We’ll get by.

After the flight from Visag to Chennai and a drive…

Arrive at Fishermans Cove thanks to driver Muhtu and less so Wing Commander “Chamindavass” (Senuwasen).
Check in and orient ourselves at Fishermans Cove.

Here is a rather weird promo video about the place – worth 18 minutes if you like or are intrigued by this sort of thing:

Following a light pasta lunch – carbonara Daisy & mushroom asparagus Ged – have a stroll around looking at facilities, cottages et cetera. Arrange to eat at seafood restaurant.
Clean up and skeeter up (navigating two power cuts) and then go to lobby to back up photographs etc. Decline invitation to cocktail party.
Ask for our table to be held for half an hour but we are bounced to a rear table – oh well. We start with prawns and Daisy moves onto prawns well I try parrot fish. Minuscule potato and veggies (remedied) but risk the ice cream yummy.
I flake but Daisy endures another power cut and invasion of the power police who blame the toothbrush! Not funny.

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