CYCLING THROUGH SOUTH INDIA, Part 2: Karnataka and the Nilgiri Hills, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Gretchen--ready to ride!, Mysore, India

Leaving Mysore by bicycle meant diving headlong into some of the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen. Actually, I loved the thrill of it. But I didn’t mind reaching quiet roads meandering through villages and farmlands. 

Snack stand

We attracted curious attention whenever we stopped for a (frequent) water or tea break. Our guide said that Indians assume only impecunious eccentric foreigners ride bicycles rather than travel by car or motorbike. 

Goat herd traffic jam

Along the way we stopped at a madrasa, a school where Muslim boys study the Koran. We also visited a few ancient Hindu temples. 

Hindu temple sculptures

The Muslim Mughal Empire which spread over most of India in the 17^th century destroyed many Hindu temples in the north. But the empire never reached the far south of the country, and so the ancient compounds, covered in beautiful elaborate relief sculpture have been preserved. 

Monkeys in the trees

We cycled to Bandipur National Park where an evening van safari met no tigers, just monkeys and birds. But a walk next morning just across from our lodge took us a mere 100 yards away from a mother and baby elephant foraging for food.  We skirted around them, but I got only fuzzy photos.

A 13km bicycle climb (36 hairpin bends) attracted only five of our group. I joined a few others to walk up the steep slope through villages and woods. A break for tea and coconut cake at the top revived us all and we cycled on to Ooty, a former British hill station. 

Serenade by girls on the bus

In the afternoon we were joined on a steam train (from the British era) by a most entertaining group of student nurses who serenaded us with Bollywood and Indian pop songs. 

Tea pickers, Kerala

Next day we descended through the hills of the Western Ghats through lush tropical forest and tea plantations to the state of Kerala and the southwestern coast of India. More on that next week.

Tour route

Cycling distances on this trip varied from 12-55 miles/day, averaging about 30 miles/day. Road conditions were good, most rides were on quiet back roads. Van support was always available for those who chose not to cycle. See www.exodustravels.com for more information on this and other tours.

Selected bibliography:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. This 1997 Booker-prizewinning novel takes place in Kerala.

The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young by Somini Sengupta. A New York Times reporter, born in India and raised in the U.S., spent several years researching this 2016 book about India today.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Story of a street orphan and Tibetan lama in 1890s India: a spy thriller, social commentary, and poignant coming of age story. One of my favorite classics.

CYCLING THROUGH SOUTH INDIA, Part 1: Mysore, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Market, Mysore, India

Another March, another trip to the tropics for a cycling holiday. (See my posts on Cuba (4/13/15,  4/20/15) and Vietnam (4/4/16, 4/11/16, 4/18/16) on this blog for my previous March adventures.) This time I chose South India, again with Exodus Travels Ltd, and brought three friends along. We met up with our Indian guides and fellow cyclists (from England, Germany, and New Zealand) in Mysore.

An afternoon wandering through the locals’ market (no tourist tat in sight), reminded me why I love India. The profusion. Colors, textures, smells, tastes, friendly people. No hustlers here, just locals out shopping. Men polishing brass pots or frying banana strips in sizzling coconut oil. Women in saris and salwar kameez whose sense of color and style put us to shame.

 

 We explored the Mysore Palace, a massive over-the-top Victorian pile built in the early 20^th century. Not my cup of tea, but illuminated at night it’s quite a sight. The estate was nationalized by the Indian government at independence and the current maharajah lives in a flat round the back. Elephants, used for a few parades each year, live in one corner of the grounds. Their keepers welcomed us and boosted us up for an elephant’s eye-view of the territory. 

 Off in a quiet corner of the huge grounds is a small temple where we found the resident Brahmin priest picking mangoes from a nearby tree.  He also performs the daily pujas (offerings) and a woman renews the rice flour mandala drawings on the ground each morning.

 As for the food….South Indian cuisine is quite different from that usually found in western Indian restaurants. Coconuts are omnipresent: oil, sauces, or shredded in chutneys. Morning buffets featured idlis (a fermented rice dumpling, delicious with coconut chutney). Masala dosas – large crispy rice pancakes filled with spiced vegetables and coconut. Coconut cakes and cookies. Those tasty sliced bananas (spiced or plain) deep-fried in coconut oil.

And tropical fruit, picked ripe – words fail me. Fresh pineapple juice unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Papayas, tiny bananas, mangoes – so sweet. As a vegetarian I’m sometimes deprived of regional specialties.  Not in South India.

Next: On the road to the Nilgiri hills – frenzied traffic and quiet rural lanes.

See www.exodustravels.com for more information on this and other tours.

Selected bibliography:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. This 1997 Booker-prizewinning novel takes place in Kerala.

The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young by Somini Sengupta. A New York Times reporter, born in India and raised in the U.S., spent several years researching this 2016 book about India today.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Story of a street orphan and Tibetan lama in 1890s India: a spy thriller, social commentary, and poignant coming of age story. One of my favorite classics.

LAKE LOUISE, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

View from Lake Louise Hotel, Banff National Park

One of our most memorable trips ever was to Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Canada, during Easter week in 1996.

Lake Louise Hotel and Ski Slopes

In the lobby of the hotel there was a display with spring flowers and live bunnies and chicks in honor to the season, but outside it was still ice and snow, with all the pleasures of winter sports–skiing, skating, bobsledding, snowshoeing and more, in one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth.

Sleigh Ride around the lake

We had brought with us our cross-country skis, which we used on the miles of trails across the lake and through the woods, and our ice skates, which we used on the cleared frozen lake ice right in front of the hotel. In the evening, hot cocoa was served at the skating rink. One afternoon we went on a dogsled ride through the forest.

Athabascan Glacier

 Another day, I took a tour bus through the park, stopping at the giant Athabascan Glacier.

Icefall

Nearby we saw an enormous frozen waterfall where we could see tiny figures of ice climbers ascending the ice. Along the way we saw elk, moose, and mountain sheep near the road.

Lake Louise landscape

Every morning as we woke up and looked out our window at the surrounding peaks, it felt like another day in paradise.

Birdwatching at NATURAL BRIDGES STATE BEACH, Santa Cruz, CA

Snowy egrets and dunlins, Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, CA

The city of Santa Cruz sits at the north end of the wide half circle of Monterey Bay on the California coast. At Natural Bridges State Beach, named for the large arched rock just offshore, one can get down on the beach for a close-look at wildlife and, on a warm day, splash in the waves.

Natural Bridge rock formation, Santa Cruz, CA

A week ago I was visiting a friend who lives near the park and we took a morning walk along the beach. Overhead, gulls and ravens circled in the air and pelicans glided by like fleets of  tiny fighter jets. On shore, groups of tiny dunlins skittered in unison along the water’s edge searching for tidbits in the wet sand.

Snowy egrets

The tide was going out and a group of egrets was foraging in the shallow water at the edge of the waves and along the creek that empties into the bay. We were able to get surprisingly close to the birds as they stalked their prey.

View of the beach and outlet of Moore Creek

We then climbed up from the beach for a walk along the bike path that runs along the top of the cliff next to the water. Our goal was an overlook onto a rock shelf that is a rookery of Brandt’s cormorants.

Brandt's cormorants

Pairs of birds were building nests and we watched as they jostled one another and males extended their necks in courtship displays.It was, in fact, the first day of spring. Soon the birds will be laying eggs and another cycle of life will begin.

A variety of wildlife can be seen in the different tidal zones

In addition to bird watching at Natural Bridges State Beach, one can explore the tidepools at low tide, and, in winter, see monarch butterflies in the Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve within the park. One can also picnic and hike along the trails through the park.

For information about visiting Natural Bridges State Beach and about the various activities available, click HERE.