India XX - Mangalore, Coorg and Chennai

Hello All !!

I've been busy, and not travelling internationally as much, so it's been a while since I've posted.  These are from my 20th ( !! ) to Incredible India.  I always enjoy the many things I see when I travel there, and especially enjoy the hospitality shown me by my partners, who have become great friends.

This is the least-used roadway that I've been on in India...because it's new and just opened up the week before.  It bridges across the Mumbai Port area and hasn't been "found" yet by Mumbai traffic.

Of all the gods and goddesses of Hinduism, I think Ganesha is my favorite.  Even though this talisman is small, Ganesh is said to have the body of a man and the head of an elephant.  He's known as the God of New Beginnings, and, because of his great strength, the Remover of Obstacles.

After business meetings in Mangalore, we drove up into the mountains to stay the weekend at a hotel that is part of a coffee plantation.  A pretty small place, with only 40 or so rooms, the bungalows are on the hillside, among the jungle trees, the coffee plants, the birds and the flowers.  A very lush, green place.

Coffee bushes are pruned to keep them from getting so tall that coffee can't be picked while standing on the ground.  The bushes are planted, but it's a bit difficult to tell where the coffee stops and the jungle begins.  It all looks very natural, as local folks harvest many items, coconuts, the fruits of several kinds of palm trees, bananas, mangoes and other fruit, rubber trees, etc.

This location was about the size of "a dozen parking spaces", with coffee spread out, drying in the sun.  Many local homes had a tarp out front (maybe only the size of one parking space) with coffee drying.  

This is a favorite, a banana flower, in the soft light reaching down through the forest canopy.

Panoramic view from my hotel balcony.

This is an Indian version of "Buckey's", an open air facility with many vendors of coffee, snacks, etc., a road-side stop between Mumbai and the city of Pune

...a bit of an "ooops" on the mountain road leaving Coorg.

... coconuts !!

One thing that is pretty consistent all across India...Traffic !!

We decided not to take the camel ride on the beach in Chennai, though it looked like fun.

The little lady in red is selling "Ice Apples",  It's a fruit with a thick hull, that grows in large bunches like coconuts,  It's purple, eggplant-colored.  When she hacks open the hull, inside are fruits, sort of flattened, round, and "clear-ish" inside, with a consistency like the insides of a large green grape.  Delicious !

In Chennai, these very cool sculptures are carved right out of the living rock and still stand right where they were carved, the elephant, temple buildings and all !

So, I hope, that as retirement looms, I'll have a chance for an "India XXI" !!

-Mark

Notice that the convoluted route that an aircraft takes to fly from the US to India, avoiding the skies over Ukraine, and now also over Russia, navigating carefully over Pakistan, avoiding disputed areas, isn't getting any less convoluted.