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Mysore Palace (sounds painful)

Getting to Mysore I tried feeding myself a bit more during breakfast in case the journey to Mysore took longer than expected and there wasn’t decent grub along the way. Trouble was I had been feeling bloated for the last day or two so I didn’t end up eating too much. A search on the […]

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Tiger organ but not as you know it

Tipu Sultan’s Palace The day started off drizzly and remained so until late afternoon. Not the best for the sightseeing which I had planned. I took a tuktuk to the Tipu Sultan’s Palace, modest building from the 1700s which look more like a pavilion with a mezzanine floor. On the outside, it hardly had any […]

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White and whiter

Check-out from my Port Blair hotel, Andaman Residency, is rather early at 0800.  This is typical for this town as incoming flights are in the morning. Flying back to Chennai 1245 on Kingfisher, they have an inflight magazine like no other.  It is purely about the glitz and glamour of Indian filmstars.  Flicking through the […]

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Angkor and Alcatraz of the Andamans

Today I explored Port Blair’s sights … it was set up as a penal colony by the British to incarcerate political prisoners, ie. freedom fighters for the independence movement. Ross Island:  Angkor of the Andamans I took a boat across the harbour to Ross Island which was the headquarters for the British in the area.  […]

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Leaving paradise with the nicest high-brows

Leaving my island paradise Check-out was at 0930 today but my ferry from Havelock Island back to Port Blair isn’t till 1630.  Despite previous information, there was no earlier ferry.  I easily killed the day with a long breakfast, a long lunch and an Ayurvedic massage in between. I’m not a big fan of Ayurvedic […]

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Ticketing frustrations

Naughty Ticketing Tricks After a leisurely breakfast I teamed up with Merja from Finland who was my dive buddy yesterday.  We thought we’d go to Radha Nagar beach near Village No 7, which is supposedly the best beach around. I opted for a detour into town to buy my ferry ticket back to Port Blair one […]

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Havelock Island

Above:  It is possible to scuba dive with an elephant. In the Andaman they have one of the last swimming elephants.  You can snorkel or dive with the elephant … if you pay … it is about INR10,000 (NZD300) for one snorkel or dive.  That’s like 3x the going rate for two normal dives.  I couldn’t […]

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Diving Havelock Island

Above:  It is possible to scuba dive with an elephant. In the Andaman they have one of the last swimming elephants.  You can snorkel or dive with the elephant … if you pay … it is about INR10,000 (NZD300) for one snorkel or dive.  That’s like 3x the going rate for two normal dives.  I couldn’t […]

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Flying into uncharted territory

Above:  Flying into the Andaman Islands. Uncharted Territory I’m flying off into uncharted territory today … uncharted by me, anyway.  Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is 2 hours from Chennai.  It’s also accessible from Kolkata … but really, it is closer to Banda Aceh (Indonesia) and Phuket (Thailand)! For some […]

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Oh! The humanity!

Above: Dinner near my hotel and railway station. I said goodbye to Ammi, Salome and Jackson Pollock in the morning. I was bound for Chennai at 1235 flying Oman Air. With the time difference flying eastwards, it was surprisingly and pleasantly cool when I landed at Chennai at 1730. It was neither hot nor humid. […]

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