For every batch of students we train, we take them for a day trip outside of the city. Instead of Mysore this time, we went on an arranged trek to Savandurga, one of the amazing hills that surround Mysore. The day started off a little bit later than expected, with the first of our buses apparently ending up in an accident resulting in a rather long wait for the second to be dispatched. The result, a group outing breakfast to one of the darshinis (stand up eating places) and a round of masala dosas kicking off the day.

We stopped to pick up our companion guides for the day, one of them including the national rock climbing champion who told us some amazing stories about her early days of training. Apparently the sturdy rock climbing equipment of today wasn’t available in India and the result was either using no equipment or a sturdy rope harness system with an anchor person. We all found her stories pretty amazing.

We picked up our packaged lunch consisting of rice and vadas wrapped in banana leaves and newspapers. We also picked up two litres of water each that ended up being a wise move as the day was completely exhausting for everyone.

Our first stop at the hill was a temple at the base where we anointed ourselves with some coloured powder and picked up two more travelling companions (starting to feel like Dr Who a little bit) in the form of two dogs. Both dogs followed us for the entire trek and really seemed like old hands at the path, with one of them later following us up the mountain as well.

The trek was relatively easy with a well defined path and thin enough brush to push past. A few slippery spots and grassy knolls later found us at a point where our guides set up some equipment for abseiling. Everyone tried it out, even to the small protests of the few and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We continued to trek to the lake (or rather apparently a dam) built to the other side where we ravenously consumed the packed lunch we’d carried down. The final parts of our trip saw us return to the bus to top up on our low water supplies before heading back to scale the mountain and finish the day off with some rock climbing.

A great and exhausting day that, even though we all ended up a bit sweaty and smelly, slept especially well that night. Check out the photos here.

After two training classes we’re heading off to our other Indian office found in Pune. It’s located closer to the west coast and much closer to Mumbai so I’m looking forward to seeing yet another part of India. The plan for the next trip with the students will be Mumbai itself that I think will prove interesting. I feel a little sorry for the students arriving from overseas since no international flight flies directly into Pune. Instead it means another three or four hour bus ride from Mumbai.

Travelling in some countries is easier than others. Travelling around India hasn’t been too bad though there’s a few things that I didn’t realise you would need. Here’s a list to help you if you happen to travel in India.

• Take your residential address with you and a contact number. When checking into hotels, they will need the address of where you are considered as “residential”, even if it’s a hotel.
• Take your passport with you. Like the above need, hotels need a photocopy of the front page and the visa. You may want to take a photocopy of both of these things if you feel uncomfortable leaving your passport behind.
• Print out a map or two of where you are staying, relative to the roads. Not all taxi drivers know all the roads around the city, especially if you’re travelling long distances. Pointing it out where it’s relative to (something like MG road) might help you find it easier.
• Print out your hotel name and address. Language and understanding of some hotel names may be confusing, so it’s easier if you have it written down somewhere.

I know that I’ve only been in India for two weeks, however knowing that we’ll be moving to Pune in mid-November, I thought this weekend would be a good chance to see a little more of Southern India. I really wanted to visit Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India but the flight and a very long train ride both there and back put it out of reach for a weekend trip. The next place recommended to me was Kochi. Trying to book flights and hotel ended up being very confusing as the city used to be called Cochin and though they sound very similar, the last thing I wanted to do was book a hotel in one city, and fly to another.

I arrived pretty late, and after an hour-long pre-paid taxi trip to my hotel I arrived in the middle of Ernakulam, the mainland of what makes up part of Kochi. I grabbed dinner at a local restaurant since it was pouring down with rain. I woke up to even more rain the next day, and since my hotel didn’t have an umbrella I could borrow, I took a rickshaw to first find a store that sold an umbrella and then made my way to the main ferry station. Umbrella in hand at only INR170 (£2.40) I caught the next ferry to the more touristy, Fort Cochin Island. The ferry was really something. I happened to be the only non-local on it, which by its nature meant plenty of staring. The ferry was not a very big boat, and loaded with lots of people, it really didn’t go very fast despite its very noisy and large gasoline engine. Blue tarpaulin hanging off the sides was all that kept the torrential rain (barely) outside. Quite an experience I must say and very glad to say one I survived.

I finally arrived at Fort Cochin Island, if not slightly damp, that although is slightly touristy also holds Kochi’s most appealing sights. A richshaw driver suckered me into a local tour, and although it started off very pleasant with visits to all the churches, museums and many sights of the island, also meant I was forcibly stopped at ten different stores around town. I feel like I spent much more time being herded from store to store without actually enjoying myself. One exception was a store found on Bazar Road found in the Mantanchery district (that is also known as the Spice Market) called “Castle”, and fortunately the only thing I bought something in. It ends up being one of the tallest buildings in that area, with a great sitting area up top looking out over the island. I sat there with one of the shop-keepers having tea for quite some time chatting about the local area and was probably one of the best bits to the day. One thing I learned, for example, is that people in Kochi actually eat quite a lot of beef which counters both the idea that Southern India centres around vegetarians and the sacred cow.

I’d probably avoid the Portugese Museum that, although shows some of the history of the Island, is really not that big or impressive. Instead, I’d spend some more time at the Jain temple, found in the Mantanchery district and if you manage to co-ordinate your timing to arrive at around noon, you’ll get to see them feed the pigeons. Like clockwork, a quick call out rounds up hundred of pigeons that do a quick loop of the temple before landing around the priests that man the temple. A few prayers are held before a bag of seed is poured out everywhere. They even let visitors feed them directly by taking scoops of the feed and holding them out. Other things that are worth seeing include the Chinese fishing nets down by the harbour, the several churches on the Island and one of the only beaches in the area.

Compared to both Mysore and Bangalore, Kochi offers quite a different experience. It’s obviously much more coastal with plenty more bodies of water (though probably still not very drinkable). It’s home to the shipping yards and we even saw some very impressive ships docking at one of the other islands. The recent rains also meant that the water was filled with plenty of uprooted water vegetation and didn’t seem to bother any of the tourist boats. They have some lovely restaurants, both by the water and not, with the focus more on the seafood and coconut-infused curries obviously very popular. Coffee didn’t seem to get any better here (still very watery) and although locals stared plenty at me, many of them still were very friendly about it. It’s a great destination to chill out as a tourist and I would definitely return to do several other things had I much more time in India.

Check out the pictures from the trip here.

Every immersion class we run, we take the students sightseeing to an area outside of Bangalore called Mysore. Since it was my first class, I went along with all the students from this class that, although ending in a very long day, was very fun.

Mysore is famous for many different reasons and is considered the cultural capital of the state of Karnataka. Our trip happened to be in the midst of one of the many festivals, this one celebrating the goddess Chamundi slaying the demon Mahishasura. During this festival that lasts for ten days, the Mysore Palace and its 100 000+ light bulbs are turned on all night and many other celebratory activities take place in its grounds.

There are plenty of places to visit in Mysore, and we managed to hit quite a lot of them despite all the traffic between each of them. After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at St. Philomenas Church, a fairly newly built church constructed by the Portuguese and is apparently one of the largest churches in the country. It even has a small catacomb that you are allowed to walk through.

We then met our local tour guide, who also happened to be born and raised in Mysore, at the famous Mysore Palace. It’s a very large palace, surrounded by an imposing four gated wall, and filled with lush gardens including a beautifully kept rose garden. You’re allowed to take pictures inside the palace grounds but you’re not allowed to bring your camera or your shoes inside the actual palace building. There’s a convenient booth for you to leave your camera near the entrance, and a very busy shoe counter just outside the palace entrance. The palace is amazingly decorative inside and is influenced heavily by Hindu beliefs, with many of the gods and goddesses intricately carved in all of the doors, ornaments and hangings. There are some very interesting paintings, plenty of artefacts and the large and heavy gold throne of the King.

We eventually made our way to Chamundi Hills that gave us a great view over the entire city. It’s also home to a statue of the demon Mahishasura that the goddess Chamundi slayed and a Hindu temple for the goddess. We didn’t enter the temple up there, choosing to walk around watching the way that cows would roam free, monkeys indulge in many of the scraps and just take in the general atmosphere.

After a quick visit to some local markets, we headed for our final destination, the Brindavan Gardens. Cantered around a major lake, the Brindavan Gardens house a musical fountain very much like the show that you might see in front of the Bellagio though set to some Indian music. A lot of the locals enjoyed the show and even though it lasted for half an hour, I found it slightly disappointing.

It was an exhausting day, starting at 7am and ending at around midnight by the time that we came back. The three hour trip back to Bangalore went by really quickly with a really great game of charades.