Heading North

As I start heading North, Mysore is the painful-sounding next town. Moving from goat country to cow country...

I happen to be there during a general strike related to a water dispute between this state and the next one over.. What you see below is a unique picture: there's hardly anyone in the streets! In India there are people everywhere...  

Or maybe everyone is at the demonstration around Gandhi Square:

My own hotel which has a nice British raj vibe to it.

But the #1 attraction in Mysore is the Maharajah's exceptional palace:

As well as the eagles that are constantly circling around the city's skies...

 Ye olde temple:

 Truth...

On The Tiger Trail

OK, so maybe not exactly hunting down tigers... but at least in the Periyar natural park where tigers live :-). Also living there are leeches, so I get to wear this super-stylish protective socks.

Wood...

First wildlife encounter:

 Tiger victim:

Tiger Evidence #1: A massive tiger hairball. Did not know they cough up hair balls like cats...

Monkey!

Evidence #2: Massive paw prints

 Evidence #3: Claw marks... Yikes...

Nasty leeches. Thank god for the protective socks...

No tigers after all, but a (potentially less dangerous) elephant ride instead:

 

Blogger Is Misbehaving

Either Blogger (my blogging software) is freaking out... or it's freaking out on Indian computers... or something... In any case, Blogger is not working properly and I can't post   :-(  I hope to figure out what's wrong soon...

Tea Party

Moving on to Munnar, pretty much the tea capital of India. All the surrounding hills are covered in tighly planted tea fields.



A trek through the tea plantations

With my new buddy, Albert from Barcelona

It's nearly like a zen garden...

Must Love Goats

...to enjoy India because they're absolutely everywhere...

Well, at least they're everywhere in Kochi, in the South of India - the next leg of my trip.

This place's history is linked to spices and tea trading...

which brought in the usual suspects, as evidenced from the places of worship. Church:

Synagogue:

Mosque:

And China... These are Chinese fishing nets: