Palolem beach

Arriving at 5am onto the dark beach we were thrilled to find a beacon of light coming from an open bar. As soon as we neared, the waiters offered us a room right on the beach and next to the bar. It was a perfect position from which to view the enitre beach and at 7pound a night for the room a bargain as well. Known as the paradise of India it definately lived up to its name. It was also a great place to spend my birthday (23 now!) and we spent the day dolphin watching with manicures, pedicaures, massages and plenty of cocktails. After a couple of days we were on the move again this time to North Goa, Baga beach.

Kerela - Goa

From Varkala it was on to Trivandrum. From here we had planned to make a day visit to the tip of India where the three seas met. After a quick phonecall to our Bangalore host we were informed that our tickets were booked earlier than expected and that we were leaving for Goa in the morning. After another overnight train we arrived in beautiful Goa.

Varkala

Spending only one night in Varkala was a little disappointing as it was such a lovely place. Along the top of the cliff were lovely little shops and restaurents which came alive at sunset, selling the catch of the day on display panels including Kingfish and huge Swordfish (complete with sword haha). From the cliff top it was a short walk down the face to the little beach. Lovely place but little time there.

Alappuzha

Next we were off to Alappuzha or Alleppey, same place but different names (a very Indian thing). After a very uncomfortable bus ride which felt like we were being slowly cooled over hot plates, (the seats were like iron rods) we arrived in Alappuzha. There wasn't anything to see in Alappuzha but this was the best place from which to hire a houseboat. This deep into the Kerelan backwaters the mosquitos were triple the size of their murderous northern cousins. Julie and I spent a good hour killing them all, sweet revenge and also giving the walls a new coat of paint.

The next day we had hired a houseboat for a full day and night tour of the backwaters. It came complete with three staff members (or minions as Jo liked to call them) and food/drink. After a lovely day crusing the waters on the sundeck we were to settle in for the night moored off an island. Having the slowest boat on the water, with literally every other boat passing us (brings back memories of Lake Havusu) meant it was night before the oarmen tried to manoever the boat between the reeds to the shore. By this time it was pitch black and the bugs were out in force. While waiting for our tea (a difficult task when again the staff don't understand anything your asking them) we sat and watched the fork lightening overhead lighting up the sky. All in all a great time minus the millions of bugs. Our next stop was a short bus ride down to the coastal town of Varkala, our first beach stop.

Kumily

Next was Kumily a short step from Periyar National Park. Arriving again during the middle of the night after a very long, bumpy and cold bus ride we decided toe spend the next day for R and R. Apart from the proximity to the national park, Kumily was also a great place to explore the Spice gardens and nearby tea plantations. We decided to do a tour of the gardens and plantation, which turned out to be in a took-took, which ended up breaking down. The tour was rather interesting and we were shown a whole manner of plants and herbs including the coco plant, black pepper, aloe vera and even viagra. After climbing up the steep hill to the rubber trees and seeing huge spiders (and getting attacked by ants) we decided to move swiftly on to the tea plantation.

Here we watched the women at work in the fields picking the tea leaves and then moved into the factory to watch the tea making process. Later that evening we decided to watch another Kerelan dance (strangely enough the last one hadn't dettered us) except this dance was to involve knifes, swords and fire. Performed in a swimming pool/ampitheatre the dance was rather enjoyable especially when the sparks flew from the clashing metal and when they jumped through fire hoops, a much improved view of the Kerelan dance after the disaster of the last.

Early next morning (6am yawn) we took another boat to sightsee in the national park, we saw an eagle and an otter in the hour and half we spent on the freezing water!!

Kochin

Arriving again at 5 in the morning we had to negogiate our way to our hotel in Ernakulam. Though we were spending a few days in Kochin so we could make it a leisurely tour, once we were settled.
After browsing the streets in the day we decided to go and see a traditional Kerelan dance in the evening. Being highly recommended by many of the guide books we expected it to be quite spectacular. However what we saw was rather different. We arrived early to watch the dancers make-up, as they plied thick rather scary face paint. The introductory act was an old man making rather absurd facial expressions and movements to signify the simpliest of things like 'butterfly'. The narrator/drummer told us how the man got up every morning at 5am to practise and that he'd being doing it for years. This was then followed by the dance in which the prince and princess fell in love, this involved two men making a rather lot of arm shakes and foot stamping. Needless to say we were less than impressed with the dance.

The next day we decided to take a backwater tour on a traditional Kerelan houseboat followed by a much smaller canoe. The boat was filled with Eastern Europeans, and Irish couple and ourselves. The boat trip was very calming and enjoyable until we arrived at a Sodium factory, the trip then went from enjoyable to tediously boring. Making a quick getaway Jo and I legged it back to the boat (I'm sure the stuff wasn't entirely good for you to inhale either) while the others explored the herb garden, fascinating stuff. From there it was onto the canoes as the Indian guides drove us along with sticks. We got to explore deeper into the backwater life and watched men making boats and women rope-making. Later we stopped to drink from coconuts that one of the guides had shimmied up the tree to get. Standing in the field amongst the coconut palms and marijuna plants we sipped the coconut which was disgusting (some liked it!!!). It was no suprise that some of the tourists were trying to secretly throw them when the guides weren't looking. However, the highlight of the day had ot be Jo's entrance into the canoe, just as another tourist was getting into the front. This left her spreadeagled between the boat moving one way and the land the other, rather amusing to all around again, haha.

The next few days we spent browsing the old fishing village and shops of the Fort Kochin area. We were rather alarmed to find, when trying to get across to the Fort area that the boat next to the one we were on had sunk and even more concerned when after starting our journey we were made to move boats. Thankfully we made it there and back safely.

We'd also arranged to go visit an elephant training centre and wash the elephants. It was an amazing experience washing the family of elephants including the baby. However, all tourists present (except 1 american woman) were rather shocked and annoyed by the treatment the elephants recieved. The handlers were discipling the elephants with metal prods with hooks on the end. Things didn't fair much better for the elephants at the training camp either and after giving the trainers a few harsh words we decided to leave along with the other tourists (except the American who opted to ride the poor animal).

Bangalore revisited

After a rough night in Hampi and an even more uncomfortable bus ride to Bangalore, I was sent to hospital with a bad stomach. I didn't think it was anything worse than a few pills could solve but clearly the docter had other ideas and pretty soon I was horrified to learn I was to be hooked up to two drips. Ignoring my gasps of disbelieve and horror I spent most of the afternoon in a hospital bed and left later in the day with a full carrier bag of pills and sachets. After two nights in Bangalore to re-cooperate we were off again this time on another overnight train further south to Kerala.