A cool
quote about
our group
and why it
is so great
Kolam Charitable
Foundation, Inc.
Charitable Tourism
Travel to India for Fun and Charity - Everyone Wins

Recent Trip: January 5th - January 30th - Trip to Tamil Nadu, India from
Hawaii, U.S.A. Vi & Charlie Herbert took 16 people to India. It was a very
nice trip. The group saw ancient Hindu and Jain temples, Pondicherry (old
French colony), Mahabalipuram, Tranquebar (old Danish colony), took a
boat ride in the mangrove forests, celebrated Pongal in a Tamil home, went
to the rainforest areas, and spent a couple of days at our charity school.

Here's where we went:
Chennai (Capital City of Tamil Nadu, British Buildings, St. Thomas Church)
Mahabalipuram (Archaeological structures all over town)
Pondicherry (Old French Colony)
Arikkamedu (Ancient site where Tamils traded with Romans & Greeks)
Pitchavaram (Mangrove Forests)
Chidambaram (Famous Siva Temple)
Tranquebar (Old Danish Trading Colony)
Poompuhar (Ancient Tamil destroyed by a tsunami)
Thanjavur (See Raja Raja Cholan's Temple built in the 10th Century)
Madurai (See Meenakshi Temple and Palace)
Imayam High School (Our Charity School)
Tiruchendur: (Active temple from 200 A.D.)
Manappadu: (Fishing Village where St. Francis Xavier lived)
Cape Comirin (Tip of India)
Tirunelveli (Old Temple)
Kalakaddu Wildlife Sanctuary (Tigers & Elephants)
Mundanthurai Wildlife Sanctuary (Tigers & Elephants)
Ambasamudram (Waterfalls)
Papanasam (Bathe in a waterfall)
Courtallam (Waterfall town)
Tiruchy (Kallani Dam, Sri Rangam Island Temple)
Kancheepuram (Silk Weaving town, old Jain temples)
Chennai

Next trip: Vi will take 18 to 20 people to Tamil Nadu in January 2009. This
trip is almost fully booked.
Vi will put together a trip in November 2008 if there are enough folks.
Contact Vi at vi@kolam.info for information.


Future Trips to India:

Vi will lead future trips to Tamil Nadu and other parts of India.  

January 2009: Three week trip to Tamil Nadu, India (almost full)

November 2009 : Three week trip to Tamil Nadu, India - Not yet full - please call Vi

There will be future trips to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Delhi & Agra

Please contact Vi Herbert for details. Email to vi@kolam.info, or call her at 808-828-0540
Pictures of our Air conditioned luxury coach that took us around Tamil Nadu.
Shopping:  Tamil Nadu is a great place to shop for silk saris and silk material, bronze statues, wood
carvings, hand-loomed cotton fabric, hand-loomed bedsheets, batik art, 22 carat gold jewelry, silver
jewelry, brass articles, semi-precious stones, carved wood furniture and more....
Food:  The food in Tamil Nadu is very tasty. The Tamils eat idli (steamed rice dumpling), dhosai (rice and
lentil pancake), masala dhosai (stuffed dhosai),  vadai (lentil fritter), idiappam (fresh rice noodles), aappam
(yeasted rice and coconut bread), poori (deep fried puffed wheat bread),  and spicy curries like sambar
(lentil and mixed vegetables) and coconut chutney for breakfast.
Lunch is usually a big meal that is served on a clean banana leaf.  Lunch consists of steamed rice, sambar,
rasam (thin lentil soup), a few vegetable curries, yogurt, lemon pickle and appalam (thin lentil wafer).
Dinners are pretty much like lunches. You can opt for the full meal or eat wheat chapathis (tortillas), kuruma
(coconut based mixed vegetable curry or any of the breakfast items that most places serve.