Jo Herrings Adventures

Kolkata (Calcutta) is a city which has always intrigued me. Not so often seen in the global news now with the two other major cities of India taking the headlines Mumbai, capital of Bollywood and Delhi, the political capital, Kolkata was once the capital during the Raj years. And the home town of my good friend Partho Bhattacharya from London. I arrived in Kolkata on a delayed train from Hyderabad in central India – a mere 28 hours in the making, with a family of 5 adults doting over a 9month old who knew exactly how to play to her audience. I had taken refuge in the upper berth and taken to reading, sleeping and dreaming up some fantastical business ideas to kill time. Sudipto, my fellow 3AC mate, helped me find a government taxi to town to what seemed like the last room on a Saturday night in the LP. As we stood in the orderly queue for taxi’s a little girl asked my name. When I shook her hand “hello” she turned my hand over and kissed it…seriously what a sweeter way to be wel...

Hampi – home of Temples After an overnight bus and a half an hour local bus I arrived in the temple town of Hampi. After collecting my thoughts (at 6am a tough ask – those who have bused with me know!) I found a room beside the river in the simple lodgings of Kiran Guest house. Any night spent on a night bus results in me lazing around with little more than a sunset excursion to take in my new environment. As I sat along the Ghats of the Tungabhadra River washing people bathe, and wash their clothes, I met Jo – a Liverpudlian (favourite word EVER!). She literally picked me up and took me to dinner in the beautiful surrounds of the Mango Tree, a terraced restaurant in the groves at the edge of town, overlooking the river and offering sweeping views of the valley. Lakshmi the temple elephant after his morning bath Hampi Township ruins I enjoyed Hampi on foot starting at the river Ghat to see the famed elephant Lakshmi from the Virupaksha temple being bathed by his ke...

Karnataka and Bangaluru is in central southern India. Home to India’s silk capital Mysore, burgeoning Silicon Valley’esque city, Bangalore, and whiling away in the rocky alcoves north the temple filled town of Hampi.  I have broken the post into two so you can see what I got up to over a couple of cups of tea.  Mysore – MySilk I took a taxi with 3 savvy young professionals on Sunday of Easter all heading back to work at HP and Samsung in the countries Tech cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore respectively. I tried to bargain for a room at the Park Royal (simply because I fancied saying I had stayed there!) not a chance! Settling down the road I made a home for myself in Mysore for a couple of days enjoying the cooler climate (I guess about 28C).  Mysore Palace Gate.... I was a bit slow for the Palace shot! I  started at the cities Palace lit with 10,000 lights and as I entered the Palace grounds, large rain drops started to cascade down and as ...

I arrived in Cochin, Kerala after a restless night delayed in Singapore sleeping beside the masses of AirIndia’s finest subjects. They had kindly put me on the next available flight with another carrier to get me to Kerala so I was happy to have arrived safely before a national strike took place by the airline. I headed directly for Fort Kochi with my cab driver on a foot ferry, his services stretched to ensure I found a bed for the night. I'd had delayed flight from Singapore but to me this seemed very unlike the India I had experienced 4 years before in the north. Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi Admiring the Chinese Fishing nets and their crafty, if off season fishermen was a real highlight of my Kochi experience. The huge foreign fishing dredges that sailed past seemed to ruin all of my sunset pictures. Alas the fisherman wearing longys tucked into short skirt like ensembles were incredibly friendly and allowed me onto the their elaborate contraptions to share in t...

Hampi is the site of many Hindu temples and is a beautiful spot set amongst hot rocks in a valley that makes you sigh with perspiration. It is here and now that the government has issued a 7 day notice to the residents of Hampi Bizaar closest to the famed Virupaksha Temple to vacate their premises. They have offered land some 6km from the township to the villagers on a rock with no running water or fertile land, away from the river that runs alongside Hampi and its famed temples. Its biblical to build on a rock but the proposal to relocate these folks away from the river they currently frolic in doing their daily chores and enjoy relaxing beside seems baffling. If you are going to displace people (rehousing is not an option they are literally told they can move to the rock or make their own arrangements), shouldn’t you offer an equal alternative. Somewhere sewage systems can be made, electricity implemented to all homes, oh and how about some of that precious resource WATER. (I ...

It’s nice to be back in India, but my gosh what a difference the south is! Because of the long period of time I plan to be in India I’ve decided to break down my blog into provinces as this is a country of many countries. Of course I will give you some more detailed updates on some provinces as the experience I have are sometimes blog worthy – but I’m sure you’ll all agree this blog is more interesting now with less “today I did this” style writing! The plan now I am here and due to the high temperatures experienced in the south is going along the lines of April – Southern – Central – North East India (Kerala, Karnataka, Andrah Pradesh, West Bengal) May – North East India and Nepal (Darjeeling, East of Bangladesh (wish I had a multi entry then would have gone to Bangalesh!), Nepal June – Nepal, Yoga Ashram, trekking in Northern India, Shimla, Ladakh July – continue trekking in the North and tea plantations…avoiding the plains and the heat as long as possible! Final...

In honesty I was kind of over South East Asia when it came time to go to Vietnam. Alas I had committed to meeting my school friend Amy on the 24 th of March for a couple of days to see Halong Bay which I had heard was stunning. After a short flight from Luang Prabang (learning buying flights in country is cheaper than outside so long term travellers be heartened some things are cheaper left to the last minute) avoiding the 27 hour bus journey which was the only other option to Hanoi. I was then to make my way to Hoi An. The information centre was the cheapest option by far for the overnight sleeper bus so anyone taking time in Hanoi I would suggest this as your best option for buses – but not the Halong Bay tour. The bus journey was interesting starting with a motorbike ride across town, then a mini van before reaching a bus with actual beds….so novel. As a rookie I sat on the side of the driver meaning I had head lights coming at me all night. We stopped for a long ti...