Casino Kochi

... of the movements, which all have meanings. There is no talking, but there are drums and singing (in Malayalam), and it was quite easy to follow, as a lot of the movements of hands and face were very expressive of emotion and universal. We also attended the classical concert afterwards, which was flute and tabla, and then went to Mita for dinner of white snapper fillets.

On Tuesday we got up early again to make the 7.30 yoga class, after which all three students ...

... Wildlife Sanctuary for some tiger spotting. The closest we got to anything of excitement was 100 meters from a wild elephant before boarding a bamboo raft for a trip across the lake to see the remains of a dead buffalo. Ah well, you can't win them all. The highlight of Periyar for Tom was Liverpool's 4-1 annihilation of Man U. As we were in Kerala, it was only right that we spent a night on the backwaters in a houseboat so we did just that. We had a nice big boat all to ...

... by the Indian Philharmonic Orchestra. Poor old Luke had been waiting for about a week in Kochi to see it after finding out about it in Hampi. Extremely excited by the opportunity to see such a display of Indian musical culture we waited patiently whilst every single official that was vaugely related to the sponsorship of the event made a speech. And we waited...........and waited.........and ate some masala peanuts............and an ...

Hi friends and family! I know, I know, I'm a total slacker and haven't had much time to write a blog. I recently went on a twenty day trip to Southern India. Meagan (my sister- for those of you know don't know) came and visited me from September 26- October 19, almost a month. We had a really great time traveling together. AGRA Agra- home of the Taj Mahal. I've already been once, but the Taj is so breathtaking that I was ...

... tire turned into a bit of a mission. We spent a bit of time just wandering around, looking at the Chinese fishing nets and chatting to the fishermen. I found it funny when I accidentally made a man destroy a necklace he was trying to sell me. He told me it was coral, but I didn't believe him, so asked him to put it in a flame to prove it wasn't plastic. He quickly waved it through a flame, but I told him he needed to hold ...

... and got a smile from each of the girls. When we arrived at the school proper, we received our customary red bindi. It looks like bright red clay in a brass dish - the bestower dips her finger in oil, then the red powder, then marks our forehead in blessing and welcome. The next child puts a fragrant lei over our head. And that was only the beginning of the hospitality. Our afternoon was spent on a city tour and boat ride. Cochin is India in ...

... boys bothering me and I get to be in centimeters of a young, hormonal one. Okay, sorry, this may not be nice, but I am being very honest. Our first stop I switched seats with Ridwan just to avoid ANY confusion. In brief, after an hour driving, the dance was closed, as was a second option so our silly, teen on a mission to find a party mode was crushed and we ended up with the standard "special tea pots" at spot back in town. Oh well, we tried and wasted money in meantime ...

... of Kathakali; essentially, shown the makeup process, given and introduction to the various moves and their interpretations and then a small performance. The actual shows can run literally all night, from mid-evening to early morning. We were provided a small excerpt from one larger story --> Evil dude covets maiden girl and attempts to molest her, maiden girl runs to hero, hero kills evil dude. It was very interesting, a little hard to follow at times (yes, despite the ...

... they shared their snacks with us. It was a more rewarding journey and half the price of our previous ride from Mumbai to Goa because we were in a much more communal situation than our forward facing airplane-ish seats in the chair car. Women would ask us to change seats with them so they could lay down, and they moved so we could also rest. They kept luggage on the floor and slept in the luggage platform, which was basically the same as our bench seats but suspended up high. Kids ran ...

... steps: 1. Crush the biscuits thin by hitting the biscuit pack with some hard object. Don't open the pack yet! You should crush it while the pack is still sealed. 2. Cut the fruits into small slices. 3. Put the chocolate into the pot and add the cream. 4. Boil the chocolate and stir until it becomes soft and hot enough. 5. Serve the ice cream into each of the plates. 6. Open the biscuit pack and spread the biscuit crumbs on each of the ...