India Revisited - Spring 2009
 

We returned from India in late June 2009. Because of the length of our stay and the wealth of experiences we enjoyed, we have many, many, stories we could tell.

A number are offered below and we hope to add more, so check back every now and then. We will include links to the newer ones on our opening page and in the listing below.
 

Since our first visit, back in 2006, we had planned a return to India. The Indian Subcontinent is a very large place, geographically, and a complex land of great contrasts and diversity, a place that we had found richly rewarding to explore. We wished to continue to explore this astounding, intriguing, highly populous, culturally rich, deeply historic, evolving to modernity, colorful country.

So, we spent about a month back at our home base in Albuquerque, seeing friends, taking care of business including tax filing, addressing several health issues, and, most essentially, trip research and planning. Then, after a few days in Phoenix, we were ready to depart again. We flew from Phoenix to Atlanta and on to Mumbai, leaving one morning and arriving the next evening - a very long trip!

Arriving about 9 PM at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, we cleared customs, ordered a prepaid taxi and rode through the narrow, dimly lit streets, passing apartment buildings, restaurants, mostly closed shops, parked yellow and black taxis and 3-wheelers, and sleeping dogs and people - more familiar and not at all ominous, unlike three years earlier. We sped over the flyovers, past a new one under construction and into the heart of this great, sprawling city of 20+ million people. The folks at the Oasis Hotel, our home for the next few days, welcomed us and guided us to our room. A night's sleep was very welcome - we had been traveling for about 26 hours.

The next morning, we pursued three missions: to find an ATM for cash, a cafe for breakfast, and a travel agent for plane tickets to Kerala in South India, our next destination. By early afternoon, we had completed all three and spent the rest of the day and the next few adjusting to 12 hours of time change, resting and reacquainting ourselves with this vibrant place.
Our second India Journey was off to an auspicious beginning!

After a few days readjusting to life in India, we were ready to start our next Indian adventure. Our travels took us to:

• Kerala, with trips on the Backwaters, and visits to Munnar, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kottayam, Quilon, Varkala Beach and its capitol, Trivandrum.
• Bangalore, the IT capitol of India
• Mysore, with its dazzling Maharajas Palace
• Bhubaneswahr, with its wonderful temples and trips to Konark, Puri and the Indian Ocean coast.
• Delhi for over a month - our opportunity to experience urban life in India.
• Aurangabad and nearby Ellora and Ajanta caves

Finally in late June, after more than 3 months, we returned to Mumbai for a few days to rest and gather our thoughts. We had ridden in most any kind of vehicle, from plane to train, metro, taxi, bus, car, autorickshaw, ferry boat, canoe and even bicycle rickshaw. We had stayed in many hotels, eaten in dozens of restaurants and walked uncountable kilometers.

We had seen and experienced more than we can begin to write about, but offer the following stories of some of the most memorable.

Mumbai - City of Maximum Urban Vitality
Click here to read the story about Mumbai we wrote back in 2006.

Indian Cities are Difficult to Love!

India's Elections - The Greatest Exercise of Democracy on the Planet!