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...