South Tamil Nadu

We just arrived in Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India. HOT and humid but they say summer is an oven here. The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet the Indian Ocean here. Our room has a nice view of the ocean which has a nice turquoise color and a very rocky shoreline.

On the way here we stayed at a fishing village and walked the docks. The fishermen were like most other folks here - loved posing for photos and then looking at the result. A lot of fun because everyone starts laughing and the ever present back and forth head bobbing.

We also detoured way back off the main roads to a bird sanctuary. All the locals told us there were no birds because there had been no rain for a couple of years. The place where a large lake should have been had a pond of water and a small stream. Goats were being grazed on the rest of the lake bottom, but we did get some good photos of about five birds we had not seen before. White Ibis below.

Sikkim Happiness Home

> We were in Gangtok in November visiting the Sikkim Happiness Home SHH and the girls who live there. We were there during Diwali and they had made a huge beautiful Mandala for the holiday on the floor. Made from colored flour. The whole time we were there for several nights individual girls continued to add things to the work of art.
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Some Guest Houses

Lalit has selected some exceptional places for us on this trip!  From pretty cottages in an orchard next to the Lion Reserve where we could hear Lions roar early in the morning and in the evening just over there in the reserve. "look around before you start out of your cabin". 

Then there were the Great Heritage properties like the Orchard Palace in Gondal in Gujarat. We stayed in the Royal family's guest house in Gondal. Their personal palace and collection of antique cars was behind our place which is called the Orchard Palace.  Just 6 or 7 rooms but spread out in a beautiful palace of large sitting rooms and expansive porches.  The staff were in starched Kaki uniforms with red beret style hats.  Perfect english.  A knock on our door at 7:15 pm was to inform us that the king had requested an additional vegetable dish be served tonight and that the Queen says it will take her until 8:00 to have dinner ready.  The staff explained that the Queen liked to cook and that the food served to us was also what they were eating in their private residence.

There was also the old palace in town that was centuries old and the only people allowed to tour the place were the hotel guests or with special permission.  So in touring the old palace, we found a big construction project underway at the old palace - a set being built for a Bollywood movie!  Fun! The double door open up into our room.  The porch goes all the way around the building.

We also stayed at The Bungalow at the Beach in Tranquebar with the same high -- really high ceilings, wonderful woodwork, huge tall doors, wood and marble floors, and few spread out rooms.  This is called a non hotel hotel.  The same owner has a chain of these heritage hotels that all look wonderful.

Impossible to capture the huge room.  The door opens on the outside porch that wraps around the building and looks directly onto the ocean and the old Danish town and fort at Tranquebar. 

> Lalit has selected some exceptional places for us on this trip! From pretty cottages in an orchard next to the Lion Reserve where we could hear Lions roar early in the morning and in the evening just over there in the reserve. "look around before you start out of your cabin".
>
> Then there were the Great Heritage properties like the Orchard Palace in Gondal in Gujarat. We stayed in the Royal family's guest house in Gondal. Their personal palace and collection of antique cars was behind our place which is called the Orchard Palace. Just 6 or 7 rooms but spread out in a beautiful palace of large sitting rooms and expansive porches. The staff were in starched Kaki uniforms with red beret style hats. Perfect english. A knock on our door at 7:15 pm was to inform us that the king had requested an additional vegetable dish be served tonight and that the Queen says it will take her until 8:00 to have dinner ready. The staff explained that the Queen liked to cook and that the food served to us was also what they were eating in their private residence.
>
> There was also the old palace in town that was centuries old and the only people allowed to tour the place were the hotel guests or with special permission. So in touring the old palace, we found a big construction project underway at the old palace - a set being built for a Bollywood movie! Fun!
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