Category Archives: India

The heat; the soft chug of the motor; the sun glinting in the hazy sky and off the water; it was one of those iconic ‘Pinch me!’ moments. I was finally on the backwaters of Kerala in south-western India. The backwaters are a network of more than 900 km (560 mi) of waterways, stretching north-south […]

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The Cardamom Hills of Kerala. The name is as heady as the rich array of exotic spices and fruits that grow there, and the wild animals that hide out in the jungle expanses. The Cardamom Hills form the highest part of Western Ghats, a range of mountains and hills that run north – south through […]

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One of the things I love about India – and which always surprises me – is the extent and beauty of the countryside. As of April 2023, India was estimated to have overtaken China as the most populous country in the world. In spite of that, you can drive great distances through an agrarian landscape, […]

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Like other Indian cities, Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu offers up some magnificent palace and temple architecture. But, it was the life in the streets that I loved best. I was travelling around South India with a small group. We had driven to Madurai from Thanjavur the day before, stopping to visit […]

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Wherever you go in India, you will find colour and crowds, heat and history. This is particularly true of South India where the humidity rolls in from the surrounding waters, and the distinctive Dravidian Hindu temples punctuate the cities. Take, for example, the city of Tiruchirappalli (commonly known as Trichy or Tiruchi) in the middle […]

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