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Photo S. Gopakumar

Guiding travellers Tim Richards strikes a pose on the grounds of Kaudiar Palace

These are some of the sights and sounds on Tim Richards’ internet audio podcast portal for travellers and holiday-goers to sample before packing their bags for adventure.

www.heartbeatguides.com is all about the new-age Internet. “Feel the pulse and hear the people,” says Tim whose rich mp3 audio guides to cities, restaurants, beaches, mountains, cruising, culture and cuisine are makin g an impact in cyberspace.

Started in 2006, heartbeatguides was nominated by Yahoo as one of the best search finds of 2006. “The Internet has gigantic potential in my kind of business. A normal text and picture- based website or book will not be able to capture the ambience and atmosphere of a city or tourist spot.” Broadband and mp3 do the trick.

A freelance presenter with BBC Wales who has done national programmes such as ‘Goodmorning Wales’ and ‘Wales Today,’ Tim is now on a spree of international tours, to build and update his audio library. Besides Kerala, he has been to other places in India such as Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Goa.

India and Malaysia are by far his favourite destinations. The co-existence of Malay, Hindu and Chinese culture, religion and cuisine in Malaysia, he says, would impress anyone. India is more a ‘people’s place’ and is being increasingly noticed the world over. Europe, the United States of America and the Caribbean have been the focus of his work till now. As demand and popularity rises in cyberspace, Tim runs behind a hectic schedule. His works are being used by a horde of other websites like England’s official tourism website, enjoyengland.com., for example.

Tim is making a 30-minute clip about Kerala featuring the backwaters of Allepey, Fort Cochin and the beaches in and around Kovalam. He regrets that he couldn’t go further north towards Wayanad due to “lack of time.” But he says he will be back “for the mountains” soon.

The Leela, Kovalam, will be featured in his Hotels Guide audio podcast shortly. Tim’s rich media files come at about £3.00 a piece payable through a paypal account. So the next time you plan to travel, or go for a holiday, log on to heartbeatguides.

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