Coconut Island Trichur

... Hotel men go and take them outside at 4PM in the afternoon and while watching this scene unfold the receptionist asks for my attention and shows me to the room.

The room is small and unclean. It is definitely not worth what I am paying for and I decide to try my luck elsewhere. S.Bathery is small and dingy, with rat holes everywhere. As I walk I see a morbidly obese rat trying to outrun (more like ...

... who I must be in order to receive such special service. He orders the 5 waiters around my table for things, and soon I dine on a three course meal delightfully scrumptious. The fish mole was by far the best fish dish I have had in Kerala. On the way back to the hotel, the streets have suddenly gotten full of men and boys, loitering and hanging out. I am talking like hundreds, if not thousands of guys, from 8 years old to 80 years old. It's not the weekend ...

... the day I signed on the ship. The romance, the affair, the human side of me should be hidden under a heavy blanket and away from sun rays. La passion, the fountain of joy and trouble all together. What a dilemma! Stop thinking romantically can be such a easy tool to alienate one from another. What a handy tool to be left out the drama, the commotion, the madding crowd. Locked up. Emptied ...

... as the Hugging Mother. She has millions of followers all who believe that she can heal whatever is ailing them with the power of her hugs. She has hugged over 25 million people. She tours the world and people stand in line for hours just to get her 5 second magical hug. The main rule at this Ashram was no photos! I took a couple from my ...

... that Kerala is proud to boast a 98% literacy rate, the highest in India. I'm ignorant as to the extent of the communist government here, but there is definitely a noticable difference in.....well, just about everything. It seems to be a wealthy state, with a much lesser gap between rich and poor. The drive took four hours and we wound our way through villages and towns, up and up and up in to the hills. Fortunately, we had many, many packets of Bourbon ...

... park. His long experience has taught him a thing or two, including how to steal guavas from a tree. It's not too difficult when you stand around eleven feet tall and your trunk extends your reach by another eight feet. He also knows how to get away with it with a most appealing trick where he wrapped his trunk around a tusk. We chatted a while longer and I'll swear he remembered Alison from earlier; she was the one feeding him whole hands of bananas. The usual tourist ...

We were told we could get special passes for the festival to see up close. However tourist office closed - it was a holiday - similar to Paddys day i suppose. Decided to go to the local zoo as the festival wasnt properly on till 4 (or was it 2.30, 5 or 3pm as we had been randomly told - again no one seem to realy know). Zoo was ok - some places were a bit tight for the animals - but some ok. Thay had bears, lizards,deer, warthogs, crocs, tigers, one lion ...

... unfortunately has the curse of litter and therefore is no-where near as nice as the beaches in Goa), Willingdon Island (which has a 5 star hotel and some posh government buildings) and the town of Ernakulum. This is the modern bit of Cochin and also was where we found some proper Indian food - Masala Dosa at long last. Swarna has sadly turned us into Indian food snobs!!! The big tourist thing in Kerala is the backwaters. These are tidal creeks, lagoons ...

... gently along at about 8KM an hour. The boats in Kerela are all made by hand and is apparently a pretty skilled job. By the looks of things they are made in back gardens next the river through small family businesses. We stop for lunch and a tea break, had another power nap and destroyed a few more chapters of my book. The rivers and lakes are lined with Chinese fishing nets. Each structure is at least 10m high and comprises a cantilever with an ...

... to a developing country (Is it still considered that?). I have been to Europe and the Caribbean Islands, but other than that-my travels have remained within the borders of the U.S. This trip has been such a learning experience for me, and has sparked a desire in me to see even more of the world. I have had this desire before, but being in India has really heightened my eagerness to travel. This fall I am looking forward to going to South Africa to volunteer at an orphanage with ...