James & Suzanne F.

Dear Tarika,

Our driver, Mani, was an excellent driver.  We appreciated his sense of humor and his English skills.  That made a positive difference.  His suggestions for places where to eat and places to visit outside the traditional tourist traps/attractions were much appreciated.  Also, we appreciated his suggestions for stores, activities, etc., that allowed us to have better visits.

The hotels: I was surprised to find that many hotels do not have hot water at the bathroom sink.  If ever you need to make a list of pro and con attributes for hotels, it is a positive attribute to have hot water at the sink.

I forgot to request NON-smoking hotels.  For the most part, that did not pose a problem.  Even if you can’t smell it, a person with allergies will have reactions.  Several mornings, my eyes were very puffy.  I am very pleased in to walk around in the city in India because people are not smoking as the do here in Europe.

100% of the cooks in the hotels over cook the eggs.  Eggs should not have brown edges or patches, when scrambled.  “Masala omelet” is not good because the cooks do not take the time to cook the vegetables a few minutes before adding the egg.  The vegetables are raw and the egg over cooked.  If you can pass this advice to the hotels, the clients will be pleased with the eggs.

Shortly before leaving to start this trip, we received the overview with descriptions of places.  This document was too vague.  This is to say, it did not indicate all the planned or possible visits and activities.  A check list would have been nice so that we could have coordinated better with our driver.  For example, we did not want to visit any attractions that use wild animals.

We appreciated the time you took to meet us in Pondicherry.  We will certainly recommend your agency to our friends.

Best regards,

Jours Date Destination Hotel Comments
1 9-Jan-18 Chennai Crescent Park Ok, breakfast too limited
2 10-Jan-18 Chennai Crescent Park We agree, best to skip Chennai.
3 11-Jan-18 Mahabalipuram Ideal Beach Resort Excellent all around!
4 12-Jan-18 Mahabalipuram Ideal Beach Resort Dakshinashitra Eco Museum great to see.
5 13-Jan-18 Mahabalipuram Ideal Beach Resort
6 14-Jan-18 Pondichery Dumas Guest House Très sympathique; très déçu par Dis-Dis; très bon menu au Atithi. Mani’s bana leaf resto very good.
7 15-Jan-18 Pondichery Dumas Guest House
8 16-Jan-18 Tanjore Gnanam Hotel bien ; restos de l’hotel moyens
9 17-Jan-18 Tanjore Gnanam
10 18-Jan-18 Karaikudi Chettinad Court Très très bien.
11 19-Jan-18 Madurai Poppys Excellent
12 20-Jan-18 Munnar Deshadan Mountain Resort Last kilometer to hotel very bad road, too remote.  Great bed, very disappointing food.
13 21-Jan-18 Munnar Deshadan Mountain Resort
14 22-Jan-18 Thekkady El Paradiso Bamboo resto to be avoided. Guest house bedroom NOT clean, food incrusted table cloths in room, mattress too hard and holes in bath towels. We asked for new ones. The hotel building and location are good. Very nice people.  Breakfast too limited and too simple.
15 23-Jan-18 Thekkady El Paradiso
16 24-Jan-18 Alleppey Houseboat Very Good.
17 25-Jan-18 Alleppey Deshadan Backwater Reosrt Excellent !
18 26-Jan-18 Alleppey Deshadan Backwater Resort
19 27-Jan-18 Cochin Abad Pepper Route Very nice new hotel, bed too hard, slow simple hotel personnel, next to une moquée, great location, except for the early morning religious celebrations by the Christians and Muslims.
20 28-Jan-18 Cochin Abad Pepper Route
21 29-Jan-18 Cochin Abad Pepper Route
22 30-Jan-18 Mettupalayam Black Thunder Resort Excellent, à part les fourmis dans les chambres et le restaurant. Elles ne mordent pas, donc – ça va.
23 31-Jan-18 Coonoor Wallwood Garden
24 1-Feb-18 Coonoor Wallwood Garden Good in general, good and very expensive food; not a good place for winter, too cold in room, bathroom has no heat.  I would like it in warmer seasons.
25 2-Feb-18 Mysore Hotel Jade Garden
26 3-Feb-18 Mysore Hotel Jade Garden Very clean city ! Excellent hotel, poor restaurant.
27 4-Feb-18 Bangalore Magaji Orchid Hotel Average, personnel not welcoming
28 5-Feb-18 Bangalore Ample Inn To AVOID, full of cigarette smoke and nicotine stink in rooms.Suggestion for alternate, in same price range, Orange Resorts, near airport. We chose to stay in Signature Club Resort, because we were both not feeling well – a stomach virus. For the price, it is excellent value in European standards.
29 6-Feb-18 Departure