Blue Marine Guest House Varkala

... in India and also most progressive for women with much opportunity for jobs and education. On the train, i could notice the difference with homes being bigger, stronger, prettier, as well as it being a lot cleaner (still rubbish but not as much) and the landscape was more tropical, typical Asia as i would call it with palm trees everywhere, very green and lush...beautiful.

Varkala Cliffs (the town is 2km away ...

... book time. Within about 1 hour we were both well on our way to getting roasted. Although we put sunscreen on, the umbrella appeared to be little more than a loosely woven, painfully thin table cloth on a pole, which allowed 79% of the sun through. So we ended up looking like british tourists on Bondi beach by the end of our first day (Apoligies to British friends/family...but hey, it's true). Wiz decided about 3 days in to get a haircut, and, with Jeremy's ...

Hej Alle Saa er vi naaet til Varkala Beach. Et sted man skal passe paa ikke at lade sig fortrylle af, saa tiden ikke flyver af sted og man inden man for set sig om, har vaeret her i flere uger. Her moeder vi igen de to svenskere som ender med at bruge rigtig meget tid sammen med. De har foer rejst i baade Indien, og hele Sydoestasien, saa de kan nogle tricks og giver os nogle gode raad. Som I kan se paa billederne er vi ogsaa en tur ude at ...

... nd rode it like * w*rrior. There *re rip currents *ll *long the stretch of be*ch here *nd lifegu*rds p*trol it. The other thing they do is blow whistles to stop the Indi*n loc*ls from entering the w*ter in the foreigners section of the be*ch. It is *n *bsolute outr*ge. It's like * bl*ck / white segreg*tion *nd m*de me feel very emb*r*ssed to be on their be*ch.Yes, i underst*nd th*t some of the loc*ls st*re *t the bikini cl*d westerner l*dies bec*use Indi*n women don ...

... the subcontinent to the knuckle sandwich! At this point I'd like to reassure all the people that suggested I dress conservatively to avoid the staring, that my current wardrobe would make Mother Theresa look like Britney Spears. I do intend to get a more Indian looking wardrobe together in time so hopefully that will help! Back to the story- I pulled myself together and searched out a travel agent with the idea ...

... we befriended) since we all wanted to explore the famous backwaters of Kerala. We took a train on Wed. morning (which thankfully wasn't crowded) and arrived in Kollam 2 hrs later. Although many tourist use Kollam as a starting point to catch a ferry through the backwaters, there aren't many accommodations for budget travelers. The hotel we ended up in was reminiscent of the Bates Motel-the dingiest, grittiest place I've ever seen (and ever hope to sleep in again). Helen ...

... a lovely evening was had by all. we then planned to meet them the next morning as they were looking to book flights to the andaman islands in search of beach sun. the next morning we found them in deep discussion at the beach cafe. they had looked at the weather in the andaman islands and saw a poor forecast so decided they would not take the tickets. there had however during the earlier evenings drinks, been a miscommunication between bar owner ...

... they do get to you so it's not fun every minute of every day, and that's probably true of this kind of travel generally - it's very different from a 2-week holiday where everything is about relaxation and fun. We've seen so much though, and really experienced a country that's so different from our own, and that's been really amazing. We feel like every day we're storing up memories for the future and that's brilliant. (R)

... agenda was a fruit and vegetable market that is allegedly one of the best in India. It took us some time to find it but as soon as we did it fit every description that I had been given. Aside from the long rows of fruits and vegetables there are also flowers and tikki powder for sale. The flowers were beautiful and the entire row smelled lovely. I am not sure what the tikki powder is used for. Vibrant powders that when mixed with water can be used as paint. They are ...