TBK Travels in India- part one

My Indian Tourist Visa back in 2013

"Do you know of a good travel agent to arrange a tour for me in Kerala, India?" I asked an Indian colleague at work in Bahrain back in 2013. "Yes, and its easy to remember! Remember the word Nicker as in underwear ", he smiled, "so its called Chennai PanNICKER travel!"

I Googled them that night and found he was right, and I contacted them . I suggested a long list of all the places my Keralite friends had told me I must visit and asked them to give me an Itinerary. They told me it was too much for one 14 day trip and I should arrange two trips, one to the North and one to the south. They booked all the hotels, the houseboat and had a driver collect me at the airport. The Travel agency owners even came to meet me in Alleppey to check everything was OK on my trip. So its a Travel agency I will never forgot and will use again, one day, for part two!

When I booked the flights I asked Tony, our Travel agent at Bapco, if I needed a Visa. He gave me a website address and I completed a lengthy form on line with questions such as my Mother's Maiden name and my current and previous nationality! I then took the form to an office in Bahrain and after a long wait they checked it and told me it was wrong and to go home and fill it in again. Many other people were complaining having been told to do this several times so I said I would not leave until I had the visa. They then corrected the form, and charged me for an express visa. They asked for my passport and told me I would be sent the visa. I reminded them of my imminent departure and after a week of unanswered calls and emails to the agency and the Indian Embassy, the passport and Visa arrived by Taxi as I was sat in my car waiting to go to the airport. A few months later it was in the press that after thousands of complaints the agency had lost the contract to provide visa's for India. Lesson learnt, apply for Visas well before the vacation. Finally I arrived in India at 3 am and my driver took me by car on a 3 hour drive up to the tea plantations in Munnar. Due to the high altitude it was very cold and a big shock after Bahrain , even in October.

The tea factory in Muneer

We went to the tea plantation and had a lecture on how tea was made and how you should follow the time honored traditions when making tea at home . Then we were given a free cup of tea with milk and sugar from a vending machine before being encouraged to buy lots of tea in the shop to take home!

Kids playing in the park

The next day we visited a park and the first hydroelectric damn in Kerala built in 1944. In the evening we saw a show which combined some very old Indian Traditions and Characters with some very energetic young boys with fire and swords performing traditional dances. It was spectacular and a great end to the day.

Traditional drummers, song and costumes with the elaborate face painting

The fire dance

The boys fighting

The next day we moved on after a curry breakfast with milky coffee ( a shock to the system as I only drink Black coffee!). I had a walk down the lane behind the hotel and by the river and then we drove to a mountainous National Park where a wild rare goat lives. After a long walk I found the goat and a group of curious excited Indian boys on a school trip . They all wanted a picture with the white man. I was of course happy to oblige as they all pulled out their smart phones to photograph me!

Rare goat and spectacular scenery above the clouds

More gardens followed and another tea plantation where my driver took a great shot of me and we asked the ladies picking the tea why some of them where picking by hand and some with electronic scissors.

Of course no trip to India would be complete without a ride on an elephant and having ridden many in Thailand over the years I coughed up the appropriate number of rupees for the ride, the bananas, a tip for the guy leading the elephant, a photo and so on.