Travel Journal

Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Trips | India & Bangladesh 2014

Friday, November 28, 2014 10:04:00
INDIA & BANGLADESH 2014: 19 From Madurai, India home to Costa Rica Saturday, November 22, 2014 During the night the train travelled to Nagercoil Junction, where at 5 AM the hardy departed by bus for a point of land near the southern tip of India to watch the sunrise. As the forecast was 80% for rain, we chose to stay in bed. The forecast turned out to be correct - it was a dreary, drizzly day throughout. The bus left before 10 AM for the Padmanabhapuram Palace, near lands end in the South India town of Kanya Kumari. We drove for about 45 minutes through beautiful mountainous country with a number of lakes. Padmanabhapuram is a sprawling palace, constructed by the Travancor dynasty largely from teak wood in 1590, and due to be added to the World Heritage list within 6 months. It was was the capital of their empire from the 1500s until 1790. The palace and its rooms were much smaller than most we have seen. The stairways are steep and narrow to prevent more than one person at a time using them, so no large group of enemy could ascend together. There were two large rooms, one above the other, where the king would feed up to 2,000 hungry people at a time – he was known for generous treatment of his subjects. There are beautiful examples of carved wood in the ceilings Once we boarded the train for lunch it travelled 3 hours to Kocchuveli railway station before we were bussed to the beautiful Taj Green Cove Resort. I was kicking myself for leaving my bathing suit in Bangalore - there is a golden sand beach with warm water on the Arabian Sea. Instead, we had drinks in the comfortable shore side lounge before walking to the main building for a traditional dancing display and buffet dinner. . We are now in the state of Kerela, having crossed the subcontinent for the final time this trip. The area was originally named Malabar by the Arabs, a name that stuck for many years. It is noted for having a very high literacy rate, and large Christian and Muslim populations. Sunday, November 23, 2014 The train started rolling at 5 AM, arriving at the Alleppey Railway Station to catch our bus to a 3 bedroom houseboat on what they call the backwater, an area with hundreds of miles of rivers, lakes and canals. Marilynn and I slept on a one bedroom houseboat years ago when exploring the canals, one of our fondest memories of India travel. There are large numbers of boats now, averaging 3 bedrooms and going up to 10.. The waterways are separated by dykes from the much lower adjoining farm land. Lunch was served on board. We had our boating time cut a bit, as the train was late getting in and the bus driver got lost again finding the place. The next destination was the city of Kochi, population 650,000, where thousands of festively dressed Christians were parading along the road with floats, bands, balloons and flags as they celebrated the second Catholic priest in history from Kochi being made a saint. The city has a lot of wildly designed churches. Apparently Christians and Hindus in the city get along very well. Kochi (Cochin) has been a principal spice port since ancient times, trading with the Jews, Syrians, Arabs, Chinese, Greeks and Romans. The first European settlement was Portuguese in 1500, followed by the Dutch until it was conquered by the King of Mysore in 1773. It became British in 1814. We visited St. Francis, the first Christian church in India, originally built in 1516. When the Portuguese were conquered by the Dutch, and the Dutch by the British, the church changed from Catholic to Lutheran to Anglican. There are many well kept colonial mansions in the area. At the nearby beach are "Chinese fishing nets", named after the inventors. These big nets are suspended in a frame that dips into the quick flowing current to capture fish. The final stop was Jews Town, which was once a thriving Jewish community under the protection of the maharajah. There are now four men and three women living there, all in their 90s. This was the oldest Jewish community in India, dating from 70 BC, but most people went to Israel when that country was formed. It is now an area of small shops along a twisting road. The 1568 synagog is still there, but with no rabbi. We got back to the train in time for a few drinks in the bar with fellow passengers. Two of the ladies left the train to meet friends yesterday, so now 9 of us have a staff of 44 looking after us in 18 train carriages, with a 45 seat bus for transport! We started rolling toward Bengaluru before finishing our drinks, - the train kept going all night. Monday, November 24, 2014 After a final on board breakfast we pulled into the Bengaluru station at 11 AM. Rahul Dhar, the agency manager, was on the platform waiting for us, so we were soon on our way to the tailor shop to pick up clothes Marilynn had ordered. One was not the right size, so it was corrected and sent to the hotel in the evening. It was a bright, sunny day, so while in deathly slow traffic it was nice to see the beautiful flowering trees in Cubbon Park. The day was passed resting in the Pride Hotel, where we stayed before, reorganizing, packing and catching up. Tuesday, November 25, 2014 We were picked up for the airport at 12:30 AM to catch our 3:40 AM flight, once again accompanied by Rahul. I tried to talk him out of coming at such a horrible hour, but he insisted on seeing us off personally. I was OK through security, but Marilynn had her bag taken apart. We have checked an unheard of 4 suitcases for the return trip, 2 bought around Bengaluru to hold Marilynn's shopping. The Lufthansa flight on a completely remodeled Boeing 747-800 was very comfortable, arriving in Frankfurt half an hour early. Marilynn got about 7 hours sleep while I dozed on and off. In Frankfurt we had to clear security again – a first for me in Europe as there are usually transit lounges. We spent 5 hours in the good Lufthansa lounge sampling their stock of German beers and wine. Another Lufthansa flight on a much inferior Boeing 747-400 was no where near as comfortable, with beds that only went to a 45 degree angle. It was late getting to Newark, but Lufthansa staff were on hand to direct us through baggage & customs. We made it to the gate on time, but the plane we were to board had a mechanical problem, so they changed gates. Eventually a smaller plane was found, but it was necessary to downgrade 4 passengers from first to economy class, me among them. After I caused enough of a ruckus they downgraded someone else, then screwed up the seat assignments so in two cases there were duplicate boarding passes for the same seat in business class. By they time they got sorted out the flight was over 3 hours behind schedule - we really needed that after some 30 hours of travel. We eventually reached Costa Rica at 12:30 AM, so had to get our caretaker out of bed as we had no controls to open the gate or keys to the house. The faithful Carlos had been at the airport looking for us at the scheduled arrival time! Once home, we gratefully fell into bed.

Friday, November 28, 2014 10:04:00

INDIA & BANGLADESH 2014: 19 From Madurai, India home to Costa Rica

Saturday, November 22, 2014

During the night the train travelled to Nagercoil Junction, where at 5 AM the hardy departed by bus for a point of land near the southern tip of India to watch the sunrise. As the forecast was 80% for rain, we chose to stay in bed. The forecast turned out to be correct - it was a dreary, drizzly day throughout.

The bus left before 10 AM for the Padmanabhapuram Palace, near lands end in the South India town of Kanya Kumari. We drove for about 45 minutes through beautiful mountainous country with a number of lakes. Padmanabhapuram is a sprawling palace, constructed by the Travancor dynasty largely from teak wood in 1590, and due to be added to the World Heritage list within 6 months. It was was the capital of their empire from the 1500s until 1790.

The palace and its rooms were much smaller than most we have seen. The stairways are steep and narrow to prevent more than one person at a time using them, so no large group of enemy could ascend together. There were two large rooms, one above the other, where the king would feed up to 2,000 hungry people at a time – he was known for generous treatment of his subjects. There are beautiful examples of carved wood in the ceilings

Once we boarded the train for lunch it travelled 3 hours to Kocchuveli railway station before we were bussed to the beautiful Taj Green Cove Resort. I was kicking myself for leaving my bathing suit in Bangalore - there is a golden sand beach with warm water on the Arabian Sea. Instead, we had drinks in the comfortable shore side lounge before walking to the main building for a traditional dancing display and buffet dinner.

We are now in the state of Kerela, having crossed the subcontinent for the final time this trip. The area was originally named Malabar by the Arabs, a name that stuck for many years. It is noted for having a very high literacy rate, and large Christian and Muslim populations.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

The train started rolling at 5 AM, arriving at the Alleppey Railway Station to catch our bus to a 3 bedroom houseboat on what they call the backwater, an area with hundreds of miles of rivers, lakes and canals. Marilynn and I slept on a one bedroom houseboat years ago when exploring the canals, one of our fondest memories of India travel. There are large numbers of boats now, averaging 3 bedrooms and going up to 10.. The waterways are separated by dykes from the much lower adjoining farm land. Lunch was served on board. We had our boating time cut a bit, as the train was late getting in and the bus driver got lost again finding the place.

The next destination was the city of Kochi, population 650,000, where thousands of festively dressed Christians were parading along the road with floats, bands, balloons and flags as they celebrated the second Catholic priest in history from Kochi being made a saint. The city has a lot of wildly designed churches. Apparently Christians and Hindus in the city get along very well.

Kochi (Cochin) has been a principal spice port since ancient times, trading with the Jews, Syrians, Arabs, Chinese, Greeks and Romans. The first European settlement was Portuguese in 1500, followed by the Dutch until it was conquered by the King of Mysore in 1773. It became British in 1814.

We visited St. Francis, the first Christian church in India, originally built in 1516. When the Portuguese were conquered by the Dutch, and the Dutch by the British, the church changed from Catholic to Lutheran to Anglican. There are many well kept colonial mansions in the area. At the nearby beach are "Chinese fishing nets", named after the inventors. These big nets are suspended in a frame that dips into the quick flowing current to capture fish.

The final stop was Jews Town, which was once a thriving Jewish community under the protection of the maharajah. There are now four men and three women living there, all in their 90s. This was the oldest Jewish community in India, dating from 70 BC, but most people went to Israel when that country was formed. It is now an area of small shops along a twisting road. The 1568 synagog is still there, but with no rabbi.

We got back to the train in time for a few drinks in the bar with fellow passengers. Two of the ladies left the train to meet friends yesterday, so now 9 of us have a staff of 44 looking after us in 18 train carriages, with a 45 seat bus for transport! We started rolling toward Bengaluru before finishing our drinks, - the train kept going all night.

Monday, November 24, 2014

After a final on board breakfast we pulled into the Bengaluru station at 11 AM. Rahul Dhar, the agency manager, was on the platform waiting for us, so we were soon on our way to the tailor shop to pick up clothes Marilynn had ordered. One was not the right size, so it was corrected and sent to the hotel in the evening. It was a bright, sunny day, so while in deathly slow traffic it was nice to see the beautiful flowering trees in Cubbon Park.

The day was passed resting in the Pride Hotel, where we stayed before, reorganizing, packing and catching up.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

We were picked up for the airport at 12:30 AM to catch our 3:40 AM flight, once again accompanied by Rahul. I tried to talk him out of coming at such a horrible hour, but he insisted on seeing us off personally. I was OK through security, but Marilynn had her bag taken apart. We have checked an unheard of 4 suitcases for the return trip, 2 bought around Bengaluru to hold Marilynn's shopping.

The Lufthansa flight on a completely remodeled Boeing 747-800 was very comfortable, arriving in Frankfurt half an hour early. Marilynn got about 7 hours sleep while I dozed on and off. In Frankfurt we had to clear security again – a first for me in Europe as there are usually transit lounges. We spent 5 hours in the good Lufthansa lounge sampling their stock of German beers and wine.

Another Lufthansa flight on a much inferior Boeing 747-400 was no where near as comfortable, with beds that only went to a 45 degree angle. It was late getting to Newark, but Lufthansa staff were on hand to direct us through baggage & customs. We made it to the gate on time, but the plane we were to board had a mechanical problem, so they changed gates. Eventually a smaller plane was found, but it was necessary to downgrade 4 passengers from first to economy class, me among them. After I caused enough of a ruckus they downgraded someone else, then screwed up the seat assignments so in two cases there were duplicate boarding passes for the same seat in business class. By they time they got sorted out the flight was over 3 hours behind schedule - we really needed that after some 30 hours of travel.

We eventually reached Costa Rica at 12:30 AM, so had to get our caretaker out of bed as we had no controls to open the gate or keys to the house. The faithful Carlos had been at the airport looking for us at the scheduled arrival time! Once home, we gratefully fell into bed.