Need advice; going to India for holidays

I did'nt have a lot of toys when I was a kid. So my interest in Toys did not wane with age. I am now into 3+ toys. Soon I wish to graduate to 7+ toys, but I think these are too demanding for my brain.

Mandi and edifis, thanks for making me feel really outdated! LOL

I am a bachelor.

Thomas the Tank engine! Star of his own movie. Nope, I don't have kids either, must have seen a commercial.

Mandi

Oh, I guess it's clear I don't have kids ;)

Thanks for the info.

Thomas the talking engine. You can see it on TV. Thomas along with Bob the builder are the most popular among kids. But I like Dora the explorer. you can buy Thomas Engine Toys too. But Bob the Builder series has the bes toys.

Forgive my ignorance but who is Thomas?

tcom thank you!! Will look into this. As I said, we havn't made bookings yet but want to do it soon so we are open to ideas.

Again, thank you

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But I am afraid both Gujarat and Rajasthan(Palace on wheels) are far away from the place you are going to.

If your son is a fan of Thomas then Palace on wheels is the best option. You can see most of Rajasthan state on it.

Dont miss Palace on Wheels... but its on North

http://www.palaceonwheels.net/

http://www.palaceonwheels.net/

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edifis..thank you!! My son is a huge fan of Thomas so its 2 birds with one stone! Will check it out

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You can see Lions in the wild in India. It's in Gir forest(Gujrat). I heard there is a railway track passing through this reserve forest. So it can often be seen from the train.

visit MUNNAR [my home town] 130km from Cochin, 104km from Thekady. Very nice,cooool place in India.

I've never spotted a lion either! I mean, I've seen tons of lions at Lion Park in Johannesburg but never one in the wild despite having been loads of times to the Kruger :(

You know, unlike lions tigers are very difficult to spot. They generally spot you before you see them and since they are shy and not good hosts, they run away. So its very rare to get lucky//

snowy, I just checked and the place where we went to see wildlife was Periyar Lake. I must say, we didn't see anything closer than 5 km alway. But we were told we were simply unlucky.

edifis, we are looking at http://www.periyartigerreserve.org/html/jungleinn.htm

Not worth it? We are trying to nuture a love for nature in our kids

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Yes, I forgot about the elephants. I went on an elephant ride (I think it was in Thekkady). I wasn't very keen as I believe in animal rights. I only went after I felt comfortable they were treating the elephants nicely. The elephant was named Maria. I'm sure this is something your son would enjoy, snowy.

I don't think there are any good tiger reserves in Kerala. Elephants Yes.

Enjoy the trip :)

Thanks fatcat. Your help was great! Am getting excited at options! It is better to ask those in the know :)

And thanks to others too...will make sure I am packed!

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Sorry, I have no idea if you can fish there or not. I'd assume you can fish at Coconut Lagoon as it is right at the backwaters. In fact, you need to catch a boat to get there.

I did go to Thekkady. I heard there are tiger reserves there but I did not go to one. I remember going to a tea factory (boring!). I remember going on a water safari (can't remember in which town it was though...) and it was so boring it's not funny. South African National Parks are a million times better.

In Thekkady we stayed at a Taj hotel as well (can't remember the name) but there was nothing too great about it. It was ok but not awesome.

I'd suggest you write emails to travel agents there requesting quotes and itineraries. Then you mix and match, email them all again and go for the best quote ;)

One thing...hubby suggested the other place as we (namely me) can go fishing, something I haven't done in years. Can I fish at what you are suggesting?

Also hubby has been on Goggle earth during this. Have you been to Thekkady? Heard there might be tigers there?

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Both links are for the same resort, Coconut Lagoon. I don't know for sure if they're child friend but I'd assume so because they have an accomodation called "family cottages". I went on low season, it was pretty empty so we didn't see any children.

Do you want to know how I found out about this resort? I saw it in a cooking show (Reza Mahamed - or something like that). He did this show on Keralan cuisine and one of the shows was at Coconut Lagoon. I thought the place looked nice so I decided to stay there :)

I also stayed at the Taj Garden Retreat. It is also gorgeous. If you stay there, just make sure you do not stay at one of their heritage rooms: they smell a bit funny (like most old things, lol) and they don't have a balcony - which the other rooms do have, with a gorgeous view to the man made lake.

http://www.karmakerala.com/Details/Taj-Garden-Retreat-Kumarakom.html

Thanks supernurse

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Fatcat..love the look of that first place Karmakera!! Is it kid friendly

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I didn't need one to go there from the UK...think we took malaria tabs though.......shame they didn't have a squits vaccine lol;)

I don't know if you need one. My yellow fever certificate was up to date when I went.

realto...do you think a 3 year old would enjoy the bamboo boat trip? I would but as this is a family trip, must consider his needs! Whats Wayanad?

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Try to get into the KTDC palace in the Thekady and try to arrange a bamboo boat trip through jungle(donno if its available now). If possible Visit Wayanad too.

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Something that we did that was pretty cool was an overnight at a houseboat. But if the kids are coming with you, they might get bored (hell, even I got bored after a few hours, lol). It's a different experience, though.

At Coconut Lagoon we stayed at a Bangalow, facing the backwaters. Funny enough the pictures in these two websites don't do much justice to the place. At Coconut Lagoon we arranged for full board with breakfast, lunch and dinner. And they had Ayuverdic treatments as well, though we didn't try them.

http://www.karmakerala.com/kumarakom/coconut-lagoon.htm

http://www.nivalink.com/coconutlagoon/index.html

And do we need a 'yellow fever' vacc?

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'Fatcat, our plans aren't concrete just yet. Hubby was on line and going from the commercial hype, what I had posted was his idea but if anyone who has actually been there can advise, greatly appreciate all ideas. Including not eating from road side food shops and packing 'shyte pills' :0

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You people just don't know how to choose the right restaurants. Stick to vegetarian and eat rice not the greasy (but delicious) breads they have.

Fatcat, been there done that nanaboooo :P

------------Virgos dont like chaos, gerrit? ----------

Oh, something cool we did in Thekkadi was go to a spice plantation. It was interesting to see all the different spices in their natural form.

An advice I have for you is to make sure you get a driver to drive you around there. It doesn't cost much. Just make sure you tell them upfront the hours you expect them to drive you around.

Yep, I also had "Trivandrum belly" in that neighborhood. But the seacoast in Trivandrum is beautiful and the "backwaters of Kerala" are also amazing. I'd also recommend an ayurvedic resort/spa treatment and maybe some yoga on the beach!

Mandi

LOL, Supernurse. I'm sure you learned your lesson ;)

Labda, you're just jealous 'cause you're not going to India :)

Godsgrace, maybe you didn't read her post but she's not going to the North of India, she's going to Kerala. So advising her to go to the Taj Mahal doesn't really make sense.

I have heard stories of the 'delhi belly' from friends though....

Errmmm....i do have a confession to make.....I ate a chicken korma that was grey in colour from the side of the road at 4am.......maybe just maybe thats what did it! Never eaten one since.....

being an indian can suggest u a few places.

1) Agra - Tagmahal is located here

2) Jaipur - also called the pink city.

3) NewDelhi- the capital of india

A lot of places where u can travel, being an indian havent seen much myself since i have been in doha through out.

but can suggest more places if u wish....

I concur with Supernurse, forget the passport, pack the Imodium fewst!! :P

------------Virgos dont like chaos, gerrit? ----------

SN, I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience in Goa. I get sick quite easily but I have always been ok in India.

Supernurse, funny you say that. I've been to India twice and never fell sick. When you went there (I assume you've been there and had a bad experience), did you stick to eating at hotels or did you eat by the side of the road?

Snowyowl, I think this is quite close to Kumarakom. Kumarakom is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I stayed at two different places, The Taj Garden Retreat and Coconut Lagoon. Personally, I found the Coconut Lagoon to be heaven on Earth. Can't wait to go back there :)

Immodium is a pill that you take to stop diarrhoea. I did not have any bad experiences there. In Kerala there are a lot of non-vegetarians, so I made a call that eating meat was probably safe. I only ate at hotels, though (not necessarily the 5 star ones, we ate at some cheap hotels as well). When I went to Delhi, though, I decided to eat vegetarian only (not hard in India as there are so many yummy vegetarian dishes) and, once more, had no problems whatsoever.

Oh lol, Imodium is Gods gift for diarrhoea...2 tabs and thats it for the rest of the day....normally! UNLESS......you are in India then its as many as one can shovel in......lol

i'm just bitter about my honeymoon in Goa....lol

SN, csi its a family holiday so have already kissed goodbye to romance!

Whats Immodium?

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Yes, please kiss goodbye to any romance and stock up for daily doses of Immodium!