Join the pilgrims on their way up the 1,000-plus steps to the top of Chamundi Hill, or visit the Devaraja Market, where merchants sell the electrically colored tikka powder Indian women use to dot their foreheads.
Bangalore
A short ride north is the cosmopolitan, commercial center of Bangalore, home to the Indian headquarters of Yahoo! and Google.
Spend a day, and lots of rupees, shopping at the
Bombay Store (99 EGK Prestige, M.G. Road) for high-end Indian crafts and clothing, lunching at the rustic Queen's Restaurant (Church Street), just one of the trendy eateries here, or sipping a decadent mocha freeze at
Café Coffee Day or
Barista, the two Starbucks-inspired chains springing up all over this increasingly Western city.
Hampi
For those more interested in history than shopping, Bangalore is also a popular jumping-off point to visit Hampi. The crumbling capital of the Vijayanagara kings, Hampi is a fantastical place where monkeys romp inside cavernous stone ruins.
Some are merely a few worn steps leading to a handful of broken columns; others are giant temples where you can almost hear long-dead priests chanting in the dusty, cobwebbed dark.
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A woman relaxes in the shade of one
of Hampi's intricately carved ruins.
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Photo: Jack Karp |
The most sacred of these is the still-used Virupaksha Temple, where pilgrims gather each morning for
puja (prayers) and to be blessed by Lakshmi, the temple elephant.
Rent a bicycle to tour the ruins, take a coracle (a tiny round boat made of reeds) across the river to the Monkey Temple or sip a banana lassi on the terraced hillside at the laid-back Mango Tree café (94487-65213).
Cochin
Although only a night's travel from Bangalore, Cochin, in the swampy backwaters of India's Western Ghats, is a journey several hundred years into the past. Its narrow streets zigzag past spice shops where merchants still sell pepper, cardamom and turmeric, centuries after the Dutch established the trade here.
The beautifully ornate synagogue in Jew Town, the center of a once-thriving Jewish community, still conducts Shabbat services for the few families that remain. Along the water, fisherman earn their livelihood the way their great-grandfathers did, wading into the surf with hand-sewn nets.
And dancers still spend hours preparing their intricate make-up for the Kathakali performances -- an elaborate mix of dance, mime and storytelling that dates back to a time before Shakespeare. The best places to see a show are See India Foundation (Kalathiparambil Lane, Ernakulam) and Kerala Kathakali Center (River Road, Fort Cochin). Both offer nightly performances for around $3.
Take a lazy cruise along Kerala's backwaters ($8-$16), green and lush and beautiful, where coconuts are still collected by spindly men in makeshift turbans. Try a traditional Keralan meal served on plantain leaves before heading on.
Varkala
Four hours south along the coast is Varkala. Lodged precariously on a cliff overlooking the ocean on the very western edge of the subcontinent, Varkala is the perfect place to end any journey.
A tiny, laid-back beach town, its row of guesthouses, open-air restaurants and shops caters mainly to Western tourists. There's nothing much to do here except lay out on the beach, take a yoga class or treat yourself to a strangely slippery
Ayurvedic massage ($12 to $25) at spas like
Eden Garden.
Or you can simply indulge in one last chai as you watch a glowing sunset over the Arabian Sea -- a well-earned respite after a memorable adventure.
Jack Karp
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