Chandana Annexe Idukki

... turned out to be a bad choice due to insects that crawled in fronm outside. We registered our details on some forms that said we were not allowed to leave the course part way through and we had to agree to the rules that for the period of the course, we were to abstain from: (1)killing (2)stealing (3)sexual activity (4)speaking falsely and (5)intoxicants along with the noble silence. Noble Silence means silence of body, speech, and mind. There was even one rule that ...

... whinge. That's not to say I'm not going to have a little moan now, so please forgive me or just skip this entry. The ride on Thursday was one of the hardest we have done so far. The weather was cold and wet (never good for me) with low cloud most of the way, and the terrain was very up and down, until the last 12 kms, which were all downhill. That kind of cycling really wears me out as the ups were sometimes very steep and you ...

... in the UK. We don't buy papers everyday but whenever we do we have noticed that there is always a positive spin put on things. It never makes front page news (the Mumbai attacks still fresh) but it does appear frequently in the business section, with headlines such as 'recession is good'. Then they will go on to talk about the opportunities that exist and what companies can do to make the best of the situation. We've been quite impressed ...

... were Russians (8 of them) and they had come from Coimbatore and were headed for Ooty. With them was a photographer for The Hindu newspaper, taking photos of them so we joined in. It looks like we could be famous tomorrow! You can imagine what a sight we made, pretty soon we were surrounded by locals all wondering what the hell these cyclists were doing hanging around in Mettapulayam. We ...

... slunk off into the undergrowth. While admiring some wild orchids, we heard the familiar sound of the Nilgiri langurs. Looking up in delight, we were in for a rare treat. A highly endangered Nilgiri Marten with a bright yellow breast and fat black paws took a sneak peek at us from a high branch, retreated up his branch, returned for a better look, repeating this performance several times until finally he decided we were harmless. He then tucked his fat bushy tail around himself and ...

... outside the house to use the squat toilet. Ruairi got food poisioning and the worst stomach cramps ever. We had to stay a couple of extra nights, but with the toilet outside the house... well it was no fun for Ruairi, he had to get up in the middle of the night, go outside in the dark, kind of a jungle garden to reach the stinking squat toilet buzzing full of mosquitos while the neighbours dog was barking at him ...

... tries, Brent was able to bring a bucket all the way up. Manoj was there to help him unharness the bucket, then he (Manoj) threw the water on the ground. Brent and I don't know why he did this - we thought that he'd use Brent's water in the house, as he did the other buckets of water. Anyway, we took some pictures of Brent's efforts, then went inside to rest after all the exciting events. I ...

... the second internet café is a butcher shop with one product, mutton. (That is sheep meat, for those of you in Rio Linda.) The sign out front gets right to the point: Mutton. Retail/Wholesale. I was not sure exactly how a shop with less than ten feet of street frontage could do a substantial wholesale business. The last time I passed I saw a goat tethered out front. I guess he was waiting in case a large order came in ...

... this time, but we will definately go to one of Indias numerous national parks again....can't leave India without pictures of a wild elephant or a big mean tiger! Oh - and of course the car we were driving had to break down on the way home, so we had to wait for 2 hours for another to pick us up. It wasnt so bad though since we spottet a beautifull bird in the trees nearby. It took me 1 hour of birdchasing to get these semidecent ...

... evening, there was a fair share mix of Saris and skirts (though it was mostly the little girls wearing skirts - oh well). The evening portion of the wedding was the shortest. Sort of. All that it involved was the husband and wife standing on a stage (both in new outfits of course) and greeting guests. You would walk on stage. Say hello. Take a picture. And that was it. For them, this lasted the entire evening given that there were several hundred guests (and this was a small wedding ...