Vacation Report...continued

Happy New Year, wonderful readers!

DH and I had a nice, enjoyable time at a friend's home in Philadelphia. Call me a wuss for not daring to venture out into the freezing cold! The fact is, I was all up for ushering in the New Year in sub-zero temperatures, but the consensus was to watch the ball drop on TV, over glasses of champagne...so that's what we did.

Now, back to our Vacation Report...

After 8 hours of driving with only one stop, my parents, younger brother, DH and I reached Coimbatore. It is a city in mid-west Tamil Nadu, with milder weather than Tuticorin. We have some family and friends there. It is also 2 hours from Ooty, one of the most popular hill stations in Tamil Nadu. I attended college at Coimbatore, so it was great to see the city again. There were new stores, more traffic and congestion...but no other changes I could notice.

My parents have a vacation home in Coimbatore. Here's one of the houses in the community...gotta love the pretty colors!

The community had a club house and a pool...so I was able to squeeze in some swimming (the pool was highly chlorinated and I had forgotten my goggles, so my eyes were burning and bloodshot by the time I was done!). I had decided to lay off running for a couple more weeks and let my leg heal.

Local vegetable vendor, selling fresh vegetables and greens right at your doorstep every morning...what could be more convenient?

We had a hectic time at Coimbatore, visiting relatives and friends.

Here's my nephew posing for the camera...

We celebrated DH's birthday with lunch at Velu's Biryani Restaurant. The place was packed. Food is served on a banana leaf, in keeping with tradition...the banana leaf is supposed to impart fresh flavor to the food. We had mutton biryani, fish fry, mutton chops, chicken gravy...
and brain fry...how about that?

My older brother, sister-in-law and 5-year old niece joined us a day later. It was quite an exciting family reunion.
We drove to Mudhumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, a 4-hour drive from Coimbatore.

The road to Mudhumalai was filled with lovely scenery...

wild animals...


and some domestic animals.

We didn't see any wildlife at Mudhumalai except a very frightened porcupine. But the stay was relaxing...
and fun...

We went on a lovely hike...

...where again, we came across no wildlife...
...but we did see the skeleton of a bison...

a bear cave (or so we were told)


and few enormous anthills.On the elephant ride...

We were also entertained by monkeys.

Here's a sociable fella...

...and a shy and retiring one.

We stayed to watch the elephants being bathed...

...and fed.

We were sorry to leave Mudhumalai.

Back to Tuticorin and mom's delicious curries...

...and juicy West Indian cherries.

In spite of my brothers' protests, I shamelessly clicked pics, like a tourist.

A busy road...

an auto stand (autos are popular means of local transportation)

A fireworks store

A public telephone booth, offering...

We stayed at my parents' farm house in a nearby village for a couple of days, where we enjoyed swimming in the huge well.

Luckily, this snake was spotted and stopped before he could slither down the well and join us! Look carefully at this pic...can you spot the hidden image?

No? It's a peacock on a palmyra tree (Indian equivalent of the partridge in a pear tree)

On to Santhapuram, a picturesque little village where my maternal grandmother lives. We call it our holiday home. My brothers, cousins and I have spent several summers there.

The rare, out-of-season jackfruit...

And before we knew it, our vacation was over.

After a 4-hour delay at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris...
...we're back!!!

Back to the USA

Hello, hello...we're back!

After a 4-hour delay at Paris which seemed like forever, we finally reached NJ. I am still a bit on Indian Standard Time, but the travel weariness has finally left.

It was an amazing trip. Not exactly a vacation, though. When you visit your hometown for just a little over a week after a period of 3 years, there is a lot on the agenda...family and friends to visit, places and things that stir your memory, changes to adapt to. We tried to cram as much as possible into our schedule, while spending sleepless nights, getting acclimated to the sounds of a neighborhood driveway construction (the roaring noise usually started about midnight and did not stop till the wee hours of the morning), the sounds of geese, cows and dogs which began their cackling, mooing and barking at ungodly hours, not to mention mosquitoes singing into our ears at all hours of the day. Oh, and melodious loudspeaker music from distant churches, temples and mosques that woke us up, if we did manage to find a few minutes of sleep amid this cacophony.

But this was my home through my school days and I would have been disappointed had it been any different.

We landed at Bangalore. I was impressed by the newly constucted airport, a huge improvement from the last time I visited.

Our first meal in India...crisp idli, vada, sambhar and coconut chutney.

Hot weather and spicy food can make even the most diligent of security guards doze off from time to time.

We had a connecting flight to Trivandrum. Baggage claim took no time at all at this tiny airport and we were out earlier than expected. While waiting for my parents and the SUV, we had yummy masala tea from the tea stall right outside the airport.

It felt so good to see my parents.

In the spirit of making the most of our short vacation, we drove down to Padmanabhapuram Palace in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, right from the airport, luggage tied to the top of the SUV. Constructed in 1601 AD by the Rajah of Travancore, the palace looked small and dark from the outside, but as we wandered through its various rooms, we realized that it was in fact, a sprawling complex. It was amazing to see the wooden, granite and stone structures so well-preserved.

The Entrance

Musuem

Ornate wood carving on doors, stairway, ceiling and furniture

Hanging lamp in the King's council chamber

17th century grinding-stone

And what's this?

Well, what do you know...it's a toilet, Eastern-style.

After visiting my grandmother and devouring the wonderful lunch she had made, we finally reached my parents' house at night, totally exhausted.
My parents live in a little port town, Tuticorin that was recently named a city...very urban and upcoming. But their garden, geese, pigeons and 2 dogs, as well as their neighbor's cows, make you feel like you have landed in the middle of the countryside.

2 days later, we were again on the road again, on an 8-hour drive to Coimbatore, to meet my brother, sister-in-law and niece.

On the way...

We stopped at a roadside restaurant for breakfast. We didn't need to ask where the rest rooms were, as you can see.

Whew...this is like a novel. Time to take a breather.

To be continued...