India's Kerala & Tamil Nadu
10-24-24, 06:17 PM
#1
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India's Kerala & Tamil Nadu
Who here has toured India's southern tip states of Kerala & Tamil Nadu? Kochi to Chennai anyone?
10-24-24, 09:08 PM
#2
bicycle tourist
My tour of South India was probably too long ago to be applicable but in 2001 I cycled a loop from Chennai to the southern tip, around via Kochi to Kozhikode and then back to Chennai via Mysore and Bangalore. Described here:
https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/india.htm
I also worked from Bangalore for ~6 weeks at a time in 2013, 2014, 2015. During those visits I had a service apartment and a kept a bicycle in India so I could ride on weekends.
https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/india.htm
I also worked from Bangalore for ~6 weeks at a time in 2013, 2014, 2015. During those visits I had a service apartment and a kept a bicycle in India so I could ride on weekends.
10-24-24, 09:17 PM
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My tour of South India was probably too long ago to be applicable but in 2001 I cycled a loop from Chennai to the southern tip, around via Kochi to Kozhikode and then back to Chennai via Mysore and Bangalore. Described here:
https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/india.htm
I also worked from Bangalore for ~6 weeks at a time in 2013, 2014, 2015. During those visits I had a service apartment and a kept a bicycle in India so I could ride on weekends.
https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/india.htm
I also worked from Bangalore for ~6 weeks at a time in 2013, 2014, 2015. During those visits I had a service apartment and a kept a bicycle in India so I could ride on weekends.
Last edited by Ron Damon; 10-24-24 at 10:19 PM.
10-25-24, 12:16 AM
#4
bicycle tourist
I think your route will be slightly different since I went more roughly along the coast and heading across from Kochi would bring you more up the coastal range towards Coimbature.
As far as my recollections, those same pages have a daily journal linked at same site with most of my details (January 19th to February 27th)
India continues to be a place with huge diversity and difference/contrast. For example life in the larger cities (which I expect to have progressed towards small towns vs countryside and villages). Similarly I found huge contrast between places westerners visited (e.g. Madurai) vs places they didn't (e.g. Guruvayar).
From a cultural aspect things that stuck with me were along those contrasts e.g.
- Tirupati on February 18th https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February18
- Tourist boat in backwaters on February 2nd - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February02
- Kanyukamari on January 30th - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ....htm#January30
and then again sheer contrasts of many different towns and temples. That area has its own history but I don't recall well enough particular sites.
I don't have much in the way of cuisine recommendations. I ended up being cautious and going back to very simple/vegetarian diet and wasn't adventurous.
I expect some areas to be different e.g. internet is now in homes so not so much internet cafes. Similarly presence of ATMs. I expect the amount of no-tourist places to have decreased. There will still be poor roads but also larger collection of larger/newer/smoother roads. Cell phones and communications even amongst the poorest.
I also expect some aspects to still be similar, e.g. life in rural poor areas, huge contrasts/differences.
In 2014 when I was on one of my six-week work trips to India, I went on a cycling weekend with local club from Bangalore. We chartered a bus + a truck to carry bikes and ~30 of us went overnight Friday from Bangalore to Kerala. We cycled Saturday and had shared hotel rooms Saturday night, cycled Sunday and took out bus back Sunday night.
I was the only non-Indian on the trip. However what struck me most was the contrast in lives between the Bangalore (mostly tech, from many different states so knew Hindi but English was largest common language) and the places/lives we visited. Kerala was also "foreign" to many of them. For some they might visit their native places on holidays but there was also a subtle status they could choose to ride nice bicycles rather than it being an economic place in life.
I expect that to also have changed but the sense of contrast in India to remain.
As far as my recollections, those same pages have a daily journal linked at same site with most of my details (January 19th to February 27th)
India continues to be a place with huge diversity and difference/contrast. For example life in the larger cities (which I expect to have progressed towards small towns vs countryside and villages). Similarly I found huge contrast between places westerners visited (e.g. Madurai) vs places they didn't (e.g. Guruvayar).
From a cultural aspect things that stuck with me were along those contrasts e.g.
- Tirupati on February 18th https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February18
- Tourist boat in backwaters on February 2nd - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February02
- Kanyukamari on January 30th - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ....htm#January30
and then again sheer contrasts of many different towns and temples. That area has its own history but I don't recall well enough particular sites.
I don't have much in the way of cuisine recommendations. I ended up being cautious and going back to very simple/vegetarian diet and wasn't adventurous.
I expect some areas to be different e.g. internet is now in homes so not so much internet cafes. Similarly presence of ATMs. I expect the amount of no-tourist places to have decreased. There will still be poor roads but also larger collection of larger/newer/smoother roads. Cell phones and communications even amongst the poorest.
I also expect some aspects to still be similar, e.g. life in rural poor areas, huge contrasts/differences.
In 2014 when I was on one of my six-week work trips to India, I went on a cycling weekend with local club from Bangalore. We chartered a bus + a truck to carry bikes and ~30 of us went overnight Friday from Bangalore to Kerala. We cycled Saturday and had shared hotel rooms Saturday night, cycled Sunday and took out bus back Sunday night.
I was the only non-Indian on the trip. However what struck me most was the contrast in lives between the Bangalore (mostly tech, from many different states so knew Hindi but English was largest common language) and the places/lives we visited. Kerala was also "foreign" to many of them. For some they might visit their native places on holidays but there was also a subtle status they could choose to ride nice bicycles rather than it being an economic place in life.
I expect that to also have changed but the sense of contrast in India to remain.
10-25-24, 04:08 PM
#5
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I think your route will be slightly different since I went more roughly along the coast and heading across from Kochi would bring you more up the coastal range towards Coimbature.
As far as my recollections, those same pages have a daily journal linked at same site with most of my details (January 19th to February 27th)
India continues to be a place with huge diversity and difference/contrast. For example life in the larger cities (which I expect to have progressed towards small towns vs countryside and villages). Similarly I found huge contrast between places westerners visited (e.g. Madurai) vs places they didn't (e.g. Guruvayar).
From a cultural aspect things that stuck with me were along those contrasts e.g.
- Tirupati on February 18th https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February18
- Tourist boat in backwaters on February 2nd - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February02
- Kanyukamari on January 30th - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ....htm#January30
and then again sheer contrasts of many different towns and temples. That area has its own history but I don't recall well enough particular sites.
I don't have much in the way of cuisine recommendations. I ended up being cautious and going back to very simple/vegetarian diet and wasn't adventurous.
I expect some areas to be different e.g. internet is now in homes so not so much internet cafes. Similarly presence of ATMs. I expect the amount of no-tourist places to have decreased. There will still be poor roads but also larger collection of larger/newer/smoother roads. Cell phones and communications even amongst the poorest.
I also expect some aspects to still be similar, e.g. life in rural poor areas, huge contrasts/differences.
In 2014 when I was on one of my six-week work trips to India, I went on a cycling weekend with local club from Bangalore. We chartered a bus + a truck to carry bikes and ~30 of us went overnight Friday from Bangalore to Kerala. We cycled Saturday and had shared hotel rooms Saturday night, cycled Sunday and took out bus back Sunday night.
I was the only non-Indian on the trip. However what struck me most was the contrast in lives between the Bangalore (mostly tech, from many different states so knew Hindi but English was largest common language) and the places/lives we visited. Kerala was also "foreign" to many of them. For some they might visit their native places on holidays but there was also a subtle status they could choose to ride nice bicycles rather than it being an economic place in life.
I expect that to also have changed but the sense of contrast in India to remain.
As far as my recollections, those same pages have a daily journal linked at same site with most of my details (January 19th to February 27th)
India continues to be a place with huge diversity and difference/contrast. For example life in the larger cities (which I expect to have progressed towards small towns vs countryside and villages). Similarly I found huge contrast between places westerners visited (e.g. Madurai) vs places they didn't (e.g. Guruvayar).
From a cultural aspect things that stuck with me were along those contrasts e.g.
- Tirupati on February 18th https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February18
- Tourist boat in backwaters on February 2nd - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ...htm#February02
- Kanyukamari on January 30th - https://mvermeulen.org/oneyear/Journ....htm#January30
and then again sheer contrasts of many different towns and temples. That area has its own history but I don't recall well enough particular sites.
I don't have much in the way of cuisine recommendations. I ended up being cautious and going back to very simple/vegetarian diet and wasn't adventurous.
I expect some areas to be different e.g. internet is now in homes so not so much internet cafes. Similarly presence of ATMs. I expect the amount of no-tourist places to have decreased. There will still be poor roads but also larger collection of larger/newer/smoother roads. Cell phones and communications even amongst the poorest.
I also expect some aspects to still be similar, e.g. life in rural poor areas, huge contrasts/differences.
In 2014 when I was on one of my six-week work trips to India, I went on a cycling weekend with local club from Bangalore. We chartered a bus + a truck to carry bikes and ~30 of us went overnight Friday from Bangalore to Kerala. We cycled Saturday and had shared hotel rooms Saturday night, cycled Sunday and took out bus back Sunday night.
I was the only non-Indian on the trip. However what struck me most was the contrast in lives between the Bangalore (mostly tech, from many different states so knew Hindi but English was largest common language) and the places/lives we visited. Kerala was also "foreign" to many of them. For some they might visit their native places on holidays but there was also a subtle status they could choose to ride nice bicycles rather than it being an economic place in life.
I expect that to also have changed but the sense of contrast in India to remain.
10-25-24, 08:45 PM
#6
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Here is my route from Chennai to Kochi last year which was very good and after it headed inland from Pondicherry was pretty quiet. I did miss out Madurai as I had been there before but it is worth a visit if you have not and Auroville is a better and more interesting place to stay than Pondicherry, I can also recommend Broadlands Hotel in Chennai as a good place to meet other travellers and close proximity to the east coast highway or ECH as it is sometimes labelled.
The route from Trivandrum to Kochi is not nice as it is basically one town grown into another the whole way and I don't think the ferry from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka is running.
The route from Trivandrum to Kochi is not nice as it is basically one town grown into another the whole way and I don't think the ferry from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka is running.
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10-25-24, 10:16 PM
#7
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Here is my route from Chennai to Kochi last year which was very good and after it headed inland from Pondicherry was pretty quiet. I did miss out Madurai as I had been there before but it is worth a visit if you have not and Auroville is a better and more interesting place to stay than Pondicherry, I can also recommend Broadlands Hotel in Chennai as a good place to meet other travellers and close proximity to the east coast highway or ECH as it is sometimes labelled.
The route from Trivandrum to Kochi is not nice as it is basically one town grown into another the whole way and I don't think the ferry from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka is running.
The route from Trivandrum to Kochi is not nice as it is basically one town grown into another the whole way and I don't think the ferry from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka is running.
Did you do the Munnar gap road?
