Southern India - Jan 2011
| Trip Highlights: Mumbai Mumbai is big. It's full of dreamers and hard-labourers, actors and gangsters, stray dogs and exotic birds, artists and servants and fisherfolk and crorepatis (millionaires) and lots and lots of other people. It has the most prolific film industry, one of Asia's biggest slums and the largest tropical forest in an urban zone. Hyderabad Hyderabad, City of pearls, is like an elderly, impeccably dressed princess whose time has past. Once the seat of the powerful and wealthy Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties, the city has seen centuries of great prosperity and innovation. Today, the 'old city' is full of centuries-old Islamic monuments and even older charms. Mysore The historic headquarters of the Wodeyar maharajas, Mysore is a city that bowls you over with its fascinating regal heritage. That apart, it's one of the most flamboyant places you could visit in South India, known for its bustling markets, magnificent monuments and friendly populace. Ooty Ah, ooty. It might be a bit bustling for some tastes, but most travellers quickly fall in love with this pine-clad retreat, where trekkers congregate in front of roaring fires before setting out into the surrounding green dream. Even the typical chaos of India becomes somehow subdued in the shadow of the hills. Kochi Fort Serene Kochi has been drawing traders and explorers to its shores for over 600 years, and today stands as a living homage to a vibrant past unlike any other. Nowhere in India could you find such a melange: giant fishing nets from China, a 400-year old synagogue, ancient mosques, Portuguese houses built half a millennium ago, all mixed in with the crumbling residuum of the British Raj. Lonely Planet Guide to South India - 5th edition Sept 2009 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |