So it’s started at last, but thanks to the almost inconceivable astronomical rise in the price of a barrel of oil, my flight schedule has altered a little. Fin Air has cancelled its early flight from Munich which makes it impossible for me to catch the connecting flight to Delhi. The deal is that I have accepted a free night in the Cumulus Airport Hotel (Helsinki) and fly out tomorrow. So while here in the land of Nokia Rubber Boot and Mobile Phone Company I have the perfect opportunity to post a blog. Its all a bit odd as here I am in Helsinki enjoying every minute of it and as quick as I arrived here, I’ll be departing just as quickly. Apart from a glitch with the transport that was supposed to be getting me from the airport to the hotel, almost everything is fine.
Went down town this evening and in the bright sunshine it seemed that almost every Helsinkiite was out making the most of it. That’s what happens in the northern regions – they really celebrate these vital, all too few days when the sun hardly disappears.
The movie is of the harbour in Helsinki.
And then I have uploaded a slide show of pix I took during my seach for a good cheap fill. Its very expensive here so I ended up in a place beginning with Mac……. Have a nice day.
I am sure many people, including myself, will get a bit confused as to exactly where I am going. At first glance of the map you might suspect a numerically gifted inebriated spider had staggered over the image of India. However, but there is just a little method in my madness.
The Master Plan
1) 11th July arrival in Delhi. Change money and confirm train reservations. Find some useful medical preparations for rear end problems that have an irritating habit of cropping up at the most inconvenient moments. Apart from all that, not much else to do except a bit of sight seeing - maybe.
2) 14th July Jaisalmer. Fort city in the Thar Desert close to Pakistan.
3) 17th July Jodhpur. The blue city with a massive fort. Those special short baggy horseriding trousers are named after this city.
4) 18th July Agra. The home of Taj Mahal but its Friday and that tourist magnet will be closed. I want to see Agra Fort and catch the view of the Taj across the bend in the River Jamuna.
5) 19th July Allahabad. The site of a 12 yearly Hindu festival called Kumba Mela. The confluence of three rivers is where up to 30million Hindus gather on a particularly auspicious day. It’s no use bathing in one of the rivers as it hasn’t existed for thousands of years – if it ever did?
6) 20th July Kolcatta (Calcutta) Pretty full of old British monuments and colonial history. Speaking as an ever so slightly ancient Briton it should be interesting!
7) 22nd July Bhubaneshwar This is the capital of the state of Orisa, which is infinitely easier to pronounce. Large temples here too.
8) 24th July Araku Valley A scenic hilly resort in the Eastern Ghats (hills) with a pleasant train ride. Should be a bit cooler here.
9) 28th July Mumbai (Bombay). A giant leap across India in order to use the Konkan train south. This is a comparatively new line that snakes down the west coast to Goa.
10) 30th July Belur and Halebad. Very ancient soapstone temples.
11) 31st July Mysore Been here before and liked it very much. More later.
12) 1st Aug Chennai (Madras) A day here.
13) 2nd Aug Tiruchi Another well known temple city in the Hindu heartland.
14) 4th Aug Fort Cochin 3 days relaxation here in one of my favourite places in Kerala.
15) 7th Aug Kovalam Now a destination for package holidays. Used to be extremely laid back so I wonder what is in store for me.
16) 9th Aug Alleppey. Special day as it’s the colourful dragon boat race event. 100 paddlers per boat will make it quite a spectacle in this tropical paradise.
17) 12th Aug A mammoth stride north and a visit to the Ajanta caves near Jalgaon.
1/18) 14th Aug In Delhi again for a day and then on to Shimla. I hope it’s as good as 2 years ago.
For many months the itinerary gradually evolved, taking in a few places I have been to before but also some destinations that are going to be new to me. After 5 days in India a 30 day Indrail train pass kicks in and hence the 19 nights spent on sleeper trains. The pass makes it very simple to make reservations months in advance and also a lot of money can be saved by not staying in hotels. What about showers, clean clothes, and all the other niceties in life? Well, not much of a problem as I’ll only have two sets of clothes and generally most larger railway stations have showers for passengers. What more could anyone want?
Helsinki 11th July 2008. Next post will be from Delhi.
