Trip to South India

Where the South India trip with my family started and ended: Chennai. Formerly known as Madras, it is situated in the state of Tamil Nadu.

In the city train, luckily it was not very crowded. 

Street market as in every town of India. 

My parents in the frightfully crowded old town of Chennai. 

The backwaters in Alappuzha. Boats are leaving the port, including us. The following pictures display impressions during our cruise. 

Luxurious, homely athmosphere on our houseboat, where we spent the day and night, well pampered by five staff members. 

Bathing, laundry, drinking water..the backwaters are a source of life for its inhabitants. 

Kerala, the communist state..somehow it seems to work, lowest iliterate rate, no terorrism, no power cuts, friendly mentality, below average poverty and seemingly cleaner than the rest of India. 

How do you get the truck from on side to the other? Take two boats, a big and potentially strong wooden board, a little patience and a lot of luck. Most of the time it should work. 

Indian water taxi 

Unite all religions. Hindu, Muslim and Catholic women enjoying the sea peacefully together. 

Chinese fishing nets on the sea shore of Kochi in Kerala, it takes many men to lift the heavy net out of the water, over and over again. These ropes are made out of natural material: Coconut. Wonder how it works? Then see the following pictures. 

First, the shell surrounding the coconut (see on the left) is sun-dried and beat into its components. 

After patient beating, coconut fiber is collected on the pile in the background. In the foreground a women is plaiting roofs/walls from the coconut tree leafes. All you need to survive in nature are coconut trees, it seems. 

And then take the coconut fiber and spin it into one rope. Three ropes (see three women are spinning) will finally be twisted together to the big ropes you see on the left. 

A Jack Fruit tree..its full of them, watch closely. 

A cameleon, popular in Kerala. 

From Ooty we continued our journey by train. A funny all-what-you-need-except-meat stall supplies the station. 

Out of the window of the toy train down from Ooty. A mix of religions, as almost everywhere in India, can be observed. Here a colorfull Hindu temple on the left. 

Eukalyptus Trees in the rolling hills surrounding Ooty. Catholic believe shows with the church on the left. 

It is amazing how well these big fellows are able to hide themselves, but we still found them. Wilde elephants, mother with child, in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, near the pretty hill station of Ooty. 

Bathing time in the river nearby. Normally these elephants are used for forest work, festive processions, or tourist trekking, however currently an unknown epidemie was spreading and already 3 elephants died. So no elephant safari for us, but still nice many impressions of their daily life. 

Tamed Elephant in Mudumalai, Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Tamil Nadu. Feeding time. 

Tamed Elephant in Kochi/Kerala, supposedly the biggest camp of trained elephants in the world. 

Mammallapuram, south of Chennai (Madras), renowned stone carving town of India. This is the Shore Temple, which was floaded during the Tsunami, but luckily not destroyed