Exploring Southern India: A Journey Through Karnataka
This special joint episode of the Travel in 10 Podcast and Winging It Travel Podcast takes you deep into the heart of Southern India, exploring the diverse province of Karnataka. Join hosts David Brodie and James Hammond as they recap their recent 8-day hosted media trip, diving into rich cultural heritage, incredible wildlife, world-class coffee, and luxurious accommodations that remain under-the-radar for many international travelers.
What You’ll Hear About in This Episode:
Arrival in Bengaluru:
- First impressions of Bangalore (Bengaluru), India's tech capital.
- Highlights from attending the Karnataka International Tourism Conference.
Chikmagalur - India’s Coffee Country:
- Visiting the Coffee Museum and learning about India's coffee heritage.
- Staying at Java Rain Resort, a luxury property amidst the coffee plantations (a trip highlight for both hosts).
Cultural Gems:
- Exploring the incredible Belur Temple, with intricate carvings and local pilgrimage traditions.
- Visiting Devaraja Market in Mysore and enjoying the vibrant local spice and flower scene.
- Touring the Namdroling (Golden) Monastery in Coorg, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India.
Hill Stations & Eco Resorts:
- Staying at Tamara Coorg, a luxury eco-resort in the mountains.
- Experiencing a homestay at Bungalow 1934, where Gordon Ramsay once filmed.
Wildlife Safaris:
- Exploring Nagarhole National Park, home to the world’s highest concentration of wild elephants and tigers.
- Spotting elephants, bison (Gaur), deer, monkeys, and more on safari.
Mysore Palace:
- Touring the grand, historic Mysore Palace and learning about its importance in local festivals.
Luxury Train Experience:
- A tour of the Golden Chariot luxury train, complete with private suites and even a full onboard gym.
Insider Tips & Reflections:
- Tips on using Uber and rickshaws for getting around India on a budget.
- Why Karnataka is an ideal destination for travelers seeking lesser-known destinations.
- The importance of flexibility and patience when traveling in India.
Available on:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | voyascape.com | and wherever you get your podcasts.
Disclosure: This episode was recorded during a hosted media trip sponsored by Karnataka Tourism.
Transcript
So today we are doing something a little bit different.
Speaker A:We are going to southern India, to Karnataka province to look at the whole range of things to see and do in southern India.
Speaker A:And I am joined by a very special guest today, James Hammond from the Wing Travel Podcast.
Speaker A:We're doing a bit of a joint podcast today between our two shows.
Speaker A:James, how are you doing?
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm good.
Speaker B:How you doing, David?
Speaker A:Doing very good.
Speaker A:James and I have just got back from.
Speaker A:How long were we there, James?
Speaker A:But a seven day, eight day trip, I guess, altogether.
Speaker B:Yeah, eight, nine days, I think.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Landing.
Speaker A:Landing in, in Bangalore first.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Where we attended the Karnataka International Tourism Conference.
Speaker A:But that gave us a chance to then really go and explore a little bit of southern India and, and really see kind of all that the, the region has to offer.
Speaker B:Yeah, we started in Bangalore and there'll be episodes on each of our podcasts for, for that experience.
Speaker B:But the first initial hit was Busy dusty.
Speaker B:It's got 8 million people Bangalore.
Speaker B:So we had that initiation into southern India first, and then we jumped on to the itinerary that we got given for this trip.
Speaker A:And what do you think?
Speaker A:I mean, you've been to India before.
Speaker A:I've been to India before.
Speaker A:How did this, this experience differ from some of your, some of your previous trips?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Don't forget, my last experience lasted three months.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So the key point here is add time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think we'll come to conclusion at the end, that time is key for your trip in India.
Speaker B:So I was intrigued by this tight, packed schedule, how it's going to work, because we're traveling by bus, and in my experience, buses are.
Speaker B:Can be hit and miss and the roads aren't great.
Speaker B:It's busy all the time.
Speaker B:The thing of India, there's people everywhere.
Speaker B:You think a bus is not going to be full, you need to think again.
Speaker B:Everything is full.
Speaker B:The trains are full, so travel time needs to be considered.
Speaker B:So I thought, yeah, I was kind of going to get a different experience in a short space of time, and I was keen to see how that would compare.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:For me, this is my second trip to India.
Speaker A:I visited for the first time early last year, and on that first trip, I was really fortunate to be.
Speaker A:I happen to stay at an Airbnb with a family who really kind of took me under my wing and showed me around, and that made a huge difference.
Speaker A:And I think having someone to guide you through on a first trip to India is probably something to think about because it's, it is a little bit Tougher place to travel around logistically, for sure.
Speaker A:Schedules tend.
Speaker A:Tend to switch around a little bit while you're in travel.
Speaker A:It can be.
Speaker A:It's not for beginners.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It is a little bit higher on the skill level, I think, when it comes to global travel.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I do name India on my podcast as one of only two places for total shock.
Speaker B:Culture shock.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B: gh I was quite experienced in: Speaker B:And I think I had a good grounding because I was straight into it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I feel like that grounding prepared me for this trip because, like you say, I had things canceled.
Speaker B:We had trains that we booked that didn't even exist and different train stations we had to go to.
Speaker B:Like, it was chaos.
Speaker B:So I was kind of intrigued to see how this would go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so this time along, we were on a sort of safari trip, getting out some of the national parks there.
Speaker A:One of the.
Speaker A:One of the really notable things about this region, I think, is it's got more elephants than anywhere else in the world.
Speaker A:More tigers than anywhere else in the world.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So for somebody who wildlife and getting out and doing kind of wildlife exploration, safari tours, this is a great place to do that.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker B:And I was kind of looking forward to seeing some wildlife again because last time I did a trek to see rhinos and hippos, and I saw none.
Speaker B:Got a classic response after that saying, oh, you didn't see any, like, as if they were shocked.
Speaker B:So I wasn't convinced if I was going to see anything this time.
Speaker B:So I was a bit more pessimistic.
Speaker B:Yeah, I was looking forward to the safari.
Speaker B:That's why I chose it.
Speaker B:And yeah, I was looking forward to seeing some tigers and maybe some elephants.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we, we did see a fair bit of wildlife.
Speaker A:And I'm sure we'll.
Speaker A:We'll get into that as.
Speaker A:As we go through kind of the.
Speaker A:The itinerary.
Speaker A:The other thing, I think this region is really well known for coffee.
Speaker A:It's kind of the birthplace of coffee in India.
Speaker A:80% of their.
Speaker A:Their coffee produced in this.
Speaker A:This region is my, my understanding.
Speaker A:And that's really where we, we started off the trip.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: I wasn't into coffee back in: Speaker B:So, yeah, I think coffee was there, the major pool.
Speaker B:And I didn't think we saw as much coffee.
Speaker B:Coffee as we thought we maybe.
Speaker B:See, I was kind of expecting maybe a bit of a tour or a plantation tour and we drank some coffee, but we sort of had what, one and a half, two hours in a, in a museum, which is great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But that was about it, I thought.
Speaker A:In, in Chick Magaru, I guess, was the area where we really focused on the, the coffee aspects of, of the trip.
Speaker A:And we did get to see a little bit of the coffee plantations and stuff where some of the places where we stayed, I think the following night.
Speaker A:And that coffee museum did a good job of taking you through all the stages of production, all that sort of thing, and then did a bit of a tasting at the end of the tour.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Tasted good.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I enjoyed the coffee there and got more of a rustic experience because they go through the old school way of doing coffee and.
Speaker B:Yeah, they showed us around for one.
Speaker B:One hour, hour and a half.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think you had the opportunity to buy coffee there if you wanted to, but I didn't feel like we tasted enough to do that.
Speaker B:But the coffee at the end did taste really good and I enjoyed it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we, we stayed in pretty.
Speaker A:I think of all the places we stayed on the trip, this was actually one of my favorites was, was our first night in a place called Java Rain Resort.
Speaker A:Luxury resort, kind of up in amongst the coffee plantations.
Speaker A:Really.
Speaker A:Quite, quite stunning views, private villas.
Speaker A:You know, they had a great pool area, a bit of wildlife, some monkeys.
Speaker A:In the morning when we woke up, great.
Speaker A:It looked like a great spa and restaurants and stuff as well.
Speaker A:Certainly.
Speaker A:I think if I was back in the region I would stay back there.
Speaker A:I was, I was pretty impressed with that in terms of the, the resorts that we checked out.
Speaker B:I think it was my favorite resort of the trip.
Speaker B:But I'm going to put it out there as an official thing.
Speaker B:I think it's the best luxury resort or hotel I've ever stayed in.
Speaker B:Yeah, I was blown away.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think I don't stay in luxury much.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I don't have much to compare to, but I have that trip to compare that experience.
Speaker B:I thought the whole location.
Speaker B:The guy who earned it is great.
Speaker B:He's quite young.
Speaker B:It's family run and it is on the expensive side, but you do get what you pay for there.
Speaker B:It's got stunning views over the valley there and the little walkway to my own private villa was pretty sensational.
Speaker A:Yeah, I wish.
Speaker A:The only downside, we didn't get a ton of time there.
Speaker A:We arrived pretty late at night, so we had a dinner there.
Speaker A:We got to spend the night overnight and then we're kind of off to the next destination after that.
Speaker A:I definitely would like to have spent more time there.
Speaker A:It looked like they had a great spa.
Speaker A:Looks like they had a lot of.
Speaker A:A lot of different things to.
Speaker A:To experience there, for.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Also, a bit of luck.
Speaker B:Do you remember, like, in the hotel before they announced we had to split because there's enough rooms, and we don't.
Speaker B:We didn't really know what to do.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we just put our names down for Driver Rain.
Speaker B:I had no intel on that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I thought, well, this hotel looks great, but let's see what the other one's like.
Speaker B:It's a bit of a risk winging it almost.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:We put our names down, no idea what to expect, and turned out to be a great decision, I think.
Speaker A:Kind of lucked out, I think.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:On that first night.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:From there, I mean, we got to dig a little bit into culture.
Speaker A:And this was definitely my favorite cultural stop of the trip was Balor Temple, sort of the historic pilgrimage site that we got to go in and look at.
Speaker A:For me, this actually reminded me a fair bit of Siem Reap In Cambodia.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:100%.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The gold Temple, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's getting that vibes as well, actually.
Speaker A:And really, really intricate carvings.
Speaker A:You know, quite a.
Speaker A:Quite a large area that the pilgrimage.
Speaker A:Pilgrimage site covers and multiple different sort of buildings and things that you can go throughout.
Speaker A:We had a tour guide who took us through and, yeah, did a great job sort of giving an orientation, telling you a little bit about the.
Speaker A:The culture and the history.
Speaker A:And I thought one of the great things is, if I'm not mistaken, I think we were there on, like, a Saturday or a Sunday, and there were a ton of local families there and all kind of dressed up and celebrating and really friendly and welcoming.
Speaker A:And I thought that was really one of the.
Speaker A:One of the highlights of the trip for me, for sure.
Speaker B:And I felt like we were many celebrities.
Speaker B:I got the feeling that a lot of families, you find this a lot in India, that a lot of people have never seen foreigners before sometimes.
Speaker B:So when you walk into a place that's not on the tourist trail.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You might get like, oh, wow, you're here.
Speaker B:So a lot of photos were taken with locals, interactions with some of the group, because some of the group are Indian expats, so they could probably speak some of the language.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I felt the vibe is really family friendly.
Speaker B:It was positive.
Speaker B:We got some history on it with our guide.
Speaker B:And overall, a great experience for an hour, I thought.
Speaker A:And I Think that's, that's an important point that I would say throughout our entire trip I didn't see a ton of international tourists like this.
Speaker A:This is definitely a bit of an undiscovered destination at this stage I would say, you know, in places like, like Javerain they were, they were telling me that 90% of their guests are, are from Singular.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Or Bangalore right next door.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it, it's not drawing a huge number of international tourists yet.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But there's definitely, definitely if, if you're looking for a kind of up and coming bit, bit more of a, you know, place that's still developing but has some great, great things to see and do, you know, definitely maybe a destination that people want to check out.
Speaker B:Yeah, I thought that was the first impression on the night before we went to Chigma Galore Hill Station Viewpoint, which is like a 35 minute walk up.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And full of tourists, but local tourists.
Speaker B:I think we're the only international group there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I thought, oh this is amazing.
Speaker B:The sunset was incredible.
Speaker B:And we got to view like 360 degrees and there's like a little hill station on top.
Speaker B:And I thought, oh yeah, we are the only tourists here.
Speaker B:But this is a stunning location for like a sunset.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:That was the first entry into this area.
Speaker B:Like okay, maybe this is not on the tourist trail at all.
Speaker B: gh on my travels Last time in: Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So six hour drive, but probably only a couple hundred kilometers because it does take you a long time to cover.
Speaker B:Distances there quite close in India terms.
Speaker B:So I was kind of surprised not to see more tourists here.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker A:And then from there we sort of continued on through the, the sort of hill stations up into the mountains, into the Western Ghats.
Speaker A:Our, our group again kind of split up that night where, where the women traveling our group were assigned to one hotel.
Speaker A:We stayed at another one called Trac Hotel and Resorts which you know, on a, on a coffee plantation as well.
Speaker A:I know a lot of the group.
Speaker A:Unfortunately I did.
Speaker A:I didn't get up early that morning.
Speaker A:Got up early for the plantation hike the next day, did you?
Speaker B:No, because the night we arrived there was a quick 20 minute walk for a sunset view.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Some people had already checked into their rooms.
Speaker B:There's about four or five of us.
Speaker B:And we got there and there's literally 10 minutes and the sun went down.
Speaker B:So I got that sunset view quickly, hiked up there, got the Video and I got the, the time lapse so I didn't bother in the morning because I had that sunset view and this.
Speaker A:You know, talking to the, to the owners of the hotel there.
Speaker A:They get almost no international travelers.
Speaker A:It was, it was very nice.
Speaker A:Like a solid four star, three star resort with a lot to see and do.
Speaker A:They had like a ROP course that you could do, pool, spa, you know, quite, quite a bit to.
Speaker A:Quite, quite a bit to dig into there.
Speaker B:And we had a nice little evening by the pool.
Speaker B:I think we labeled it as like a nice, like drinks get together.
Speaker B:But they took it quite seriously and sat a long table.
Speaker B:They had food brought to us by the pool.
Speaker B:They had like own little bar area.
Speaker B:So they really like.
Speaker B:They did accommodate us quite nicely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And then from there back to a bit of kind of cultural exploration.
Speaker A:Getting to see one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, you know, in the area.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:In corg.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker A:I'm trying to recall their name.
Speaker A:The Nam Drolling Monastery, I believe.
Speaker B:Yes, that's what it's called.
Speaker A:Golden Temple.
Speaker A:Like it's also referred to as.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where we, we got to kind of take in some of the, some of the atmosphere there as well.
Speaker B:Not that old, I think built in the 60s.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think built for Tibetans who feel like they have to leave in China.
Speaker B:So it's like a little sanctuary.
Speaker B:I think the monks live on site.
Speaker B:So when you go, when you walk in, you go through the gates, you've got a huge picture of Dalai Lama.
Speaker B:Quite a striking image.
Speaker A:I think it wasn't the Dalai Lama though.
Speaker A:It was a different.
Speaker A:Because I was talking to somebody there.
Speaker A:The Dalai Lama isn't their spiritual leader.
Speaker A:They've got another.
Speaker A:And I can't remember the name now, but it was not the Dalai Lama, but another Tibetan Buddhist leader.
Speaker B:I'm going to take it back.
Speaker B:On the sign it says.
Speaker B:I'm reading my phone, which is not great.
Speaker B:His Holiness Penal Rinpoche.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'll take that back.
Speaker B:It's not Dalai Lama, but when you go in, you see a picture, this guy and he's on his like temple.
Speaker B:It's huge.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And as you walk in, it's quite striking, I think.
Speaker B:And you can go inside and check out the temples and take your shoes off and stuff and it's really quite impressive.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And that really then was.
Speaker A:Was kind of a gateway to.
Speaker A:Then take us through to tomorrow.
Speaker A:The area where we stayed that night and that, that was really pretty stunning.
Speaker A:I Mean a mountain, mountainous sort of hill station area that we were staying in a lot of eco resorts throughout the area.
Speaker A:We, we stayed at one called.
Speaker A:Or I did, I know, me and you ended up at different places that night.
Speaker A:I stayed at one called Tamara Corg, which were these kind of unique hill cottages on stilts up in the mountains.
Speaker A:You had great views of, of the surrounding mountains, great sunset views, quite a nice spa there.
Speaker A:I think of all the, all the resorts we stayed at, probably the best food at this one.
Speaker A:They, they had a really nice restaurant there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And unfortunately we were there during dry season, so it wasn't qu.
Speaker A:As stunning as I think it would be if you went during the rainy season because they, they actually have a glass floor with a, a waterfall that goes right underneath the main restaurant as well.
Speaker A:That when we were there, it was more of a gravel pit than a waterfall, unfortunately.
Speaker A:Just some bugs and done that the time of year.
Speaker A:But it was still beautiful and a great restaurant and yeah, a lovely resort as well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think some of your group might say that's the most luxurious place I've stayed at and it is stunning.
Speaker B:My only concern with that is because you've got your own little patch of land, but your villa is all up in the hills.
Speaker B:You can't, you can't casually walk to anywhere because it was really spread out.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:It was really for people looking for, I would say, kind of a exclusive, exclusive retreat up in the mountains.
Speaker A:You want to be off on your own because, yeah, you were, you were quite separated even from the other cottages.
Speaker A:And to walk from the spa to the, to your cottage might be a 15, 20 minute walk to get across the, the resort.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I didn't get to stay there because we didn't have enough space for our group.
Speaker B:We had 23 people in our group and I think there's one room left.
Speaker B:So me and a guy called Fred, we popped off to a homestay on site which is about a five minute drive.
Speaker B: It's called the Bungalow: Speaker B:If people put it on Google, you're going to have Gordon Ramsay pop up on your Google search because he filmed one of his uncharted episodes for India there.
Speaker B:So I got to meet the mother and son and Amrith is the son and he officially owns it, but his mum, who's a really nice person, helps him run the homestay.
Speaker B:It's got six rooms, maximum of 12 people.
Speaker B:And the idea of a homestay is that you traditionally help out.
Speaker B:I mean, that's what homestays are you going maybe help with the cooking?
Speaker B:So I asked, can we like.
Speaker B:Her names aren't fancy.
Speaker B:Can we like help anything?
Speaker B:She doesn't need to help.
Speaker B:Like, we do get guests who offer help in the kitchen, create breakfast, make her do some gardening.
Speaker B:We don't have to, but that's the idea of homestay.
Speaker B:And me and Fred stayed there for a night and it was unbelievable views for the sunset and then sunrise in the morning.
Speaker B:And I think one of the group, Rosie, she came and took some photos because it's quite a fancy homestay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And very comfortable, big rooms.
Speaker B:And I think I did ask him how much it is per night.
Speaker B:I think he said about $100, which might sound a lot, but compared to tomorrow where you're staying, that's pretty cheap.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And Amrit took us in the morning in his jeep.
Speaker B:He's got a few jeeps onto his plot of land, Went down to the stream, went to his house and he showed us where Gordon actually cooked his meals.
Speaker B:So we got a nice little experience, family friendly experience.
Speaker B:And you need to apply to stay there because they get so many people applying every week.
Speaker B:So he says they're pretty selective on who they accept.
Speaker A:A very cool spot for.
Speaker A:For kind of a impromptu last minute stay for you guys.
Speaker A:Ended up being a pretty unique stay.
Speaker A:Did you get to.
Speaker A:Do you have the breakfast there or did you end up.
Speaker A:I'm trying to remember.
Speaker B:No, we did.
Speaker B:We had the breakfast there.
Speaker B:I think our tour group was okay to tomorrow, but we said, no, we want breakfast at the home.
Speaker B:And that was.
Speaker B:I'm really bad here.
Speaker B:I don't actually remember what we.
Speaker B:We had in terms of the name of the food, but it was traditional cork breakfast.
Speaker B:And what I can remember is like so rice cakes or rice made patties and also like, I guess it's like roti bread and it was like cold what I would say like a.
Speaker B:Almost like a vegetable curry with that.
Speaker B:And they have eggs as well.
Speaker B:They cook me some omelettes, so.
Speaker B:And coffee as well.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:Course.
Speaker B:And that reminds me, the best thing about it is he gave me a packet of coffee which is made on site and they sell it on site.
Speaker B:I'm now drinking it in Vancouver and it's awesome.
Speaker A:And I think at Tamara they had the same thing.
Speaker A:They had their own shop where they had locally grown.
Speaker A:I don't know if it's grown right at the resort itself, but coffee as well.
Speaker A:And they also had a huge sort of garden area where they were growing fresh vegetables, herbs, everything.
Speaker A:That was very much incorporated into all of the meals.
Speaker A:I think in terms of price point it was in the neighborhood of about 250 to $350 a night if I remember correctly for, for sort of the, the cottages there.
Speaker A:And I'm sure that varies depending on the season and how busy it is and things as well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then that was really a jumping off point for us to get to what we were ultimately there for the safari portion of the trip at Narga Hale national park and Tiger Reserve, which was a bit of switch.
Speaker A:We were initially scheduled to go to a different national park and then just, just with as happens sometimes on a trip anywhere.
Speaker A:But you know, as we talked about, sometimes plans shift when you're traveling to India and the other national park that we, we had initially been scheduled to had a large group come in that ended up being closed off and as a result we were redirected over to Nargahole National Park, a huge park reserve.
Speaker A:And I think only about 10% of it that you can even, you know, go on.
Speaker A:Go on experience on safari trips.
Speaker A:Quite quite a large population of.
Speaker A:Of tigers, of elephants there.
Speaker A:We, we saw a ton of elephants as we were coming through.
Speaker A:We saw a Gaur, I believe it was called.
Speaker A:We have a large bison, like a.
Speaker B:Bison type thing, type of thing that.
Speaker A:Was quite cool to see a lot of deer, wild boars, monkeys.
Speaker A:We missed the leopards and the tigers, unfortunately.
Speaker B:Unfortunately, yeah.
Speaker B:Wrong time of day.
Speaker A:Wrong time of day.
Speaker A:You know, we were, we were there late in the day.
Speaker A:So I think that would be the tip if you are going to go to Nagahole to make sure that you're.
Speaker A:You'll get at least two safari drives if you can.
Speaker B:Dusk and dawn, I think and dusk and dawn.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:We're unfortunately just the way our travel schedule netted out.
Speaker A:We ended up being there kind of midday.
Speaker A:So we still saw a bunch of wildlife.
Speaker A:Just not some of the big cats that, that are the big draw that get a lot of people to, to go to that part of the world for sure.
Speaker B:But it was a highlight that difference that would just.
Speaker B:These are wild difference.
Speaker B:They're not like cage or anything there.
Speaker B:They're chilling out by the water drinking I think seven or eight of them.
Speaker B:Like a little family.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was pretty majestic.
Speaker B:I've never seen wild elephants before.
Speaker B:So that was a big bucket list item ticked off and I was just in awe that they just.
Speaker B:They slowly glide along the water and pick their spot.
Speaker B:And there was a.
Speaker B:There's a point where I don't if you remember, there was a deer hanging out in the water, there's turtle on a log and then there's a couple.
Speaker A:And there was a herd of elephants.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was pretty incredible.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was a, a thing that was sticking my mind for sure.
Speaker A:Have you ever seen tigers?
Speaker A:Have you, have you done tigers for ease before?
Speaker B:Yeah, but not in, in the wild setting.
Speaker B:This would be in Thailand where they do the dodgy walking with the tigers next to you.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I do not recommend it because they're probably drugged or whatever.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've touched a tiger and I fed a tiger a chicken.
Speaker B:But it's not a, it's not legit, that's for sure.
Speaker A:Well, I've probably done two or three tigers furries now in, in Sri Lanka I believe we did one and in Nepal and in India and I'm.
Speaker A:I'm zero for three terms.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't have a great record with wild wildlife.
Speaker B:Wild wildlife.
Speaker A:But if you are looking to see them, this is like where we were is, is really the heart of the, the best place, the largest population of tigers you're going to find anywhere in the world.
Speaker A:And I know, you know, talking to our guide who we went out with that day, I mean, he was showing us stunning pictures from earlier that day, from the previous day.
Speaker A:I think we, we just happened to catch it at a, at a bad window there that we, that we were a little unlucky.
Speaker B:I do remember that was the only activity because we mentioned earlier India, you know, things can take time or get canceled.
Speaker B:It was the only thing that was on time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Train on time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:2:30, we're going.
Speaker B:We got there for 1:30 for lunch or 1:45.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And as soon as it came to 2:30, it's like, we're off, we're gotta go.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it was the only time I thought it was like strict timings.
Speaker B:So it was nice because we got to see elephants.
Speaker B:So quite nice to, to have that for sure.
Speaker A:And then from there traveled to Mysore.
Speaker B:Yeah, I knew nothing about the place.
Speaker B:I knew a lot of the group wanted to see Mysore, Mysore palace and stuff like that.
Speaker B:So for me it was purely brand new.
Speaker B:Don't know much about the place.
Speaker B:And we arrived and we had 45 minutes, I think before the tour started.
Speaker B:And you kind of walk around the grounds.
Speaker B:I think it's a time of day where locals go and they don't want photos or videos, even though locals are doing that.
Speaker B:This is the time for locals, not for tourists.
Speaker B:So we decided to Hail down a couple of rickshaws and go to a local market.
Speaker A:And that market I thought was.
Speaker A:Was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
Speaker A:It was what, maybe a five minute rickshaw ride away from, from Mysore Palace.
Speaker A:It was really kind of the local flower market, spice market, vegetable market on a Saturday morning.
Speaker A:I think that we were there.
Speaker A:And lots of local handicrafts and stuff as well.
Speaker A:A lot of locals there.
Speaker A:It was super vibrant and really nice market.
Speaker A:I was quite impressed.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's called Devaraja Market, I think it's called.
Speaker B:It's by a clock tower in Mysore.
Speaker B:You put that in Google and it has like a range of things, fruit and spices and just local people talking about their daily lives.
Speaker B:I think we're the only tourists there.
Speaker B:I don't see many other ones.
Speaker B:I can't remember.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's nice, just nice to get in amongst local culture for 20, 25 minutes where it's not planned.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Exploring, getting our photos, maybe speaking to some locals.
Speaker B:I think they're surprised to see us.
Speaker A:So very on brand for you.
Speaker A:Kind of winging it.
Speaker A:That added up being both there and in Bangalore where we did some of the same.
Speaker A:Some of the best parts of the trip where the, the unplanned really catching.
Speaker A:Digging into the local culture a little bit.
Speaker A:And some of those unplanned moments for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Don't be afraid to hail down a rickshaw and just say, want to go here?
Speaker B:If you don't want a barter, just offer a price.
Speaker B:I think we paid 100 rupees one way.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And sometimes you can say to driver, can you wait 20 minutes and pay them extra?
Speaker B:So yeah, just get out on the road, hail one down and it's pretty easy.
Speaker A:That's one of the things I have to say coming back that I was stunned by is like how inexpensive transportation was when we were there.
Speaker A:I had a bunch of, you know, we did a bunch of Uber rides back and forth, you know, in the capital when we first arrived and around various places and you know, sometimes because of traffic, we would be in an hour long or longer.
Speaker A:Uber.
Speaker A:I don't think any of those cost more than $4, $5.
Speaker A:They were, they were really, really inexpensive.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:My first one was on Uber.
Speaker B:Yeah, the app.
Speaker B:But you can actually order a rickshaw.
Speaker B:An Uber.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think it's 67 rupees.
Speaker B:So we're talking less than a dollar here.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And was to go from where we were staying.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think to a park.
Speaker B:I think that was like 20, 25 minute ride.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Less than a dollar.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you can upgrade for another 50 cents to get an actual car.
Speaker B:So real cheap to get around.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then our.
Speaker A:Well and I guess the, the palace itself too.
Speaker A:Just really kind of spectacular interiors, ornate hall.
Speaker A:One of the things that was clear, you know, just looking at some of the illustrations and stuff surrounding the periphery of the palace is that it plays a central part in a lot of local festivals.
Speaker A:And I think if you could time your visit to be there during one of those local festivals would be pretty dynamic.
Speaker A:And also my understanding is that when they light it up at night is really stunning as well.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Again, just timing wise didn't work out that we didn't get to see it during the night.
Speaker A:But definitely I would say if you're planning a trip there, you're going to want to make sure that you plan to be able to see that for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just one of those places where you can't take photos or videos.
Speaker B:Maybe photos.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Definitely not videos.
Speaker B:And we got a lot of information from our guide.
Speaker B:I don't remember too much, but the architecture inside is stunning.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So yeah, again if I was going back, it'd be nighttime viewing for that, I think.
Speaker A:And then our final stop of, of the, of the journey as we got back to Bengaluru was the Golden Chariot train, which is kind of an iconic luxury tourist train, heritage train that takes people on trips throughout southern India to places like Chikmagalu to Hampi, to other destinations.
Speaker A:Really pretty luxurious on board.
Speaker A:I was able to live aboard train where you've got private accommodations with your own, your own bathroom, your own quite large suites throughout the train.
Speaker A:One of the unique things that I hadn't seen on a luxury train.
Speaker A:I've been on a few luxury trains around the world.
Speaker A:The first one I've seen that had a full gym on the train.
Speaker A:That was kind of cool.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And too he's gonsage as you run the train.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So what were your thoughts on the Golden Chariot?
Speaker B:Well, based on my train experience last time in India it was a very different experience.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was on the sleeper trains like $2 ago and you get three beds either side.
Speaker B:So nice to go in a bit of luxury.
Speaker B:I, I would say that if you wanna, it's a luxury thing to do, but if you want to have a similar experience but not paid that price, you can get like a premium first class on a normal train.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:That normally comes the top class.
Speaker B:I think it's like dining class that comes with A butler maybe who would maybe bring you some drinks and food.
Speaker B:But we're talking like 20, $30 a ride.
Speaker B:I mean it's like a really luxury thing to do for cheap price.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But obviously if you want to slum it and do a backpacker thing, that's a $2 ride and a steeper carriage, you can do that as well.
Speaker B:So I know Golden Chariot is much more expensive than that.
Speaker B:And when you go on it, you kind of realize that this is like proper.
Speaker B:The, the decor inside is.
Speaker B:This spells luxury.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So yeah, it's a different experience.
Speaker B:But I would have loved to just gone up just a two hour ride from Bangalore to Mars or whatever it would be.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just experience it going along.
Speaker B:That'd be quite cool.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I thought, I thought the, the decor was quite, quite stunning.
Speaker A:The, the facilities on the train.
Speaker A:I was quite impressed with the food.
Speaker A:I thought a little disappointing.
Speaker A:It could have been a little better maybe than it was.
Speaker A:I don't know if that was, you know, I don't think because we were really just given a chance to tour the train in station, it wasn't, it wasn't part of their normal journey.
Speaker A:And I'm not sure if the menu that we received that day was part of what you would get as, as part of the, the normal trip as well, but that was the only part that I thought was a little lacking on that one.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:In a weird way the generic train is better for food because you get the vendors come on and give you some vegetable pakora for 10 cents and that's out of a bag.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's really tasty.
Speaker B:So yeah, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So any, any final thoughts on.
Speaker A:On Southern India?
Speaker B:It's a place I definitely want to go back to and I thought the group did really well.
Speaker B:There's 23 of us to adapt to the changes.
Speaker B:So I want to give a shout out to the group.
Speaker B:A lot of people that we have now connected with and I think it's been a good four or five days on that tour and then the three days at the event to really connect with some new people and got some new friends out of that.
Speaker B:And as a place to travel to, I think as a, an area where maybe people should look into because it's new.
Speaker B:If you like maybe a bit more rustic travel, it's probably quite cool for that.
Speaker B:And until they catch up with other places like Rajasthan or Darjeeling in the north, I think the prices will be fairly handy for the time being and just give them a bit of slack.
Speaker B:So I think they're working out as a.
Speaker B:As a tourism place to go to.
Speaker A:It's clearly a place that they are investing a lot in tourism.
Speaker A:They're looking to draw in international tourists.
Speaker A:I thought the event itself that, that we attended the tourism Expo, the organizers did quite well.
Speaker A:I mean, they did a really good job.
Speaker A:I thought, of showcasing some of the culture of the area that we had some amazing folk dancing there.
Speaker A:The first night that we arrived, they were talking about kind of 150 different forms of folk dance in the province and showcased probably eight to 10 of them and, and, and really, really stunning performances.
Speaker A:We had a chance to stay at the, you know, have dinner at the.
Speaker A:The Shangri La there in Bengaluru, which, you know, great property and, you know, definitely, definitely a place that you.
Speaker A:You can see that they are.
Speaker A:They are working to.
Speaker A:To bring in international tourists and that there's a lot.
Speaker A:A lot to.
Speaker A:A lot to see and do.
Speaker B:And Bangalore as a city to be based in, there's a cool city.
Speaker B:Sorry, a cool city to check out for two or three days.
Speaker B:There's a lot of nice parks and various activities to do.
Speaker B:So I think that's your base point.
Speaker B:And then you can go out into the hills, into the.
Speaker B:Into the seaside as well.
Speaker B:So I think there's lots of different types of activities to check out.
Speaker A:And both of us are going to be doing separate episodes on that, on our takes on the city itself.
Speaker A:We both had a chance to kind of get out and explore that independently a little bit outside of the.
Speaker A:The trip that we were on and, and really get into a little bit more of the.
Speaker A:The culture of the city.
Speaker A:So would encourage people, if you are going to be traveling to.
Speaker A:To the region, to, to check out on travel in 10 and on the Winging at Travel podcast, we're going to have a couple more episodes.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've got.
Speaker B:I've got an audio Merced episode for Bangalore because as you can imagine, a lot of sounds.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I've collected a few sounds and I think it's going to be a cool episode to give you the idea of what Bangalore and southern India could be like in terms of a destination to travel to.
Speaker B:Fantastic.
Speaker A:Well, thanks, James.
Speaker B:No, thanks so much.
Speaker B:Apprec.
Speaker C:Sa.
