The LiveJournal Guide to Southern India
Sep. 12th, 2009 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerSo, I don't think I've gotten around to mentioning that next month, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kniedzw and I are skipping off to India -- specifically, Bangalore. His company is sending him there for two weeks of work, so we've bought me a ticket and extended his trip an extra week and a half, and will be running around sightseeing for a while.
Our timing coincides very fortuitously with Diwali, so we'll be hanging around Bangalore for the festival. After that and a bit of local sightseeing, though, we're interested in spending roughly five days Somewhere Else. Ergo I throw this open to you, O Internets: if you know southern India at all, where do you recommend we go? Mumbai? Goa? We like places of historical interest, temples, that kind of thing, but we're skipping the big-name things in the north like the Taj Mahal because we'd rather see a tiny fraction of one region than an even tinier fraction of the whole country.
This is the first trip to India for both of us, so any and all advice is appreciated.
kniedzw and I are skipping off to India -- specifically, Bangalore. His company is sending him there for two weeks of work, so we've bought me a ticket and extended his trip an extra week and a half, and will be running around sightseeing for a while.Our timing coincides very fortuitously with Diwali, so we'll be hanging around Bangalore for the festival. After that and a bit of local sightseeing, though, we're interested in spending roughly five days Somewhere Else. Ergo I throw this open to you, O Internets: if you know southern India at all, where do you recommend we go? Mumbai? Goa? We like places of historical interest, temples, that kind of thing, but we're skipping the big-name things in the north like the Taj Mahal because we'd rather see a tiny fraction of one region than an even tinier fraction of the whole country.
This is the first trip to India for both of us, so any and all advice is appreciated.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 11:27 pm (UTC)Mumbai is a big Indian city but has a lot of nice stuff--very good Museum, some nice Victorian architecture, and an impressive temple to Shiva (the Elephanta caves, which are a short boat ride away).
North of Mumbai are Ellora and Ajanta, two sets of Buddhist caves that are tremendous (I can't remember precisely, but I think it's 3 hours by train from Mumbai).
Hampi is a wonderful city in the jungle with lots of old temples.
Kochin is a nice place with some good historical stuff (it's got the oldest synagogue in India). Just don't go wandering at night; apparently it gets quite rough...
When I went there five years ago, we did a boat trip in the Kerala Backwaters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_backwaters), which is lovely. We went from Kollam to Alapuzzha (or vice versa): it's an eight-hour boat ride, very relaxing and going through scenic areas.
Mysore has a fun (if slightly tacky) palace that looks like a cross between Disney and a Maharajah's palace. And you can go into the Nilgiri montains for more beautiful scenery (we went to Udagamandalam-Ooty, which is a holiday station, and went on a lovely and quaint train ride on the way back--can't remember, but I think it goes south).
(I haven't been to the rest of Tamil Nadu; I'm told Mahabalipuram is awesome, lots of nice temples, and Pondichery is worth seeing, though very much colonial French)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 11:31 pm (UTC)How exciting!
Date: 2009-09-13 04:00 am (UTC)I second the recommendation about Ajanta Ellora. Some amazing carvings there.
One day, you'll definitely have to see the Taj Mahal. Amazing. :)
Re: How exciting!
Date: 2009-09-15 10:37 pm (UTC)Given that my husband's company has a permanent office in Bangalore, there are decent odds he'll be sent back there at some point in the next few years, so yeah -- we may make a second trip for the north, to see the Taj Mahal, etc.
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Date: 2009-09-15 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-15 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-13 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-15 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-13 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-15 10:36 pm (UTC)