Contour Backwaters Kottayam

... 8217;t need much to be happy. All of the women and children have come off the streets and have been lucky to find shelter from bad homes. Aidan and I are supporting a little girl called Maloo and she has a problem with her legs so she has to use crutches. I hope that all you people could donate some money to help all these children buy a new home. We are going to send some more money across when we can. We gave all the children a sketch note book & pencil so they could all draw a little picture.

... piece of Eden in this crazy, amazing country. On the way back, we had to get out of the jeep on a couple of occasions so the jeep could make it up the rockstrewn driveways, but on our return, Panaswamy had prepared a breakfast of champions to see us on our way. A swift getaway was required to make it to Kumakarom in time for lunch, and so with the our bags packed and on the bus, we said our final farewells & thank yous to Panaswamy and his team. We headed down ...

... We finally found the real tourist information centre, a lot of businesses here will advertise themselves as 'tourist information centre' but are just fronts for their private tours. We went in and asked for some information about some well known companies that offer boat trips. But, all the boat staff were on strike because their pay was such a tiny fraction of the total price of a boat tour. We finally ...

... tourism branch), which is a beautiful state on the west coast of India, a bit south of Goa. The state is predominantly Christian due to a heavy and pervasive missionary presence very early in it's history, and here you will see American and European-style churches totally alien to the rest of the nation of India. A positive tradeoff of that same missionary presence is that due to all the schools built by missionaries, the ...

... the bus. I looked out at one point and saw a Vodafone logo on a building, which was my landmark for the Pooppally junction/intersection/Nedumuddy bridge, where we should have gotten off the bus. The next thing we knew, we were going over the bridge, driving away from Pooppallys! On the other side of the bridge, the bus stopped and we got off. It was pitched black and there were no lights on the road or the bridge, so I wanted to take a rickshaw or taxi ...

... by canals,coconut and banana trees and what they call African moss (like lily weeds) clogging up the waterways. Found a grand place very close to the main area (only 5euro for the 2 of us!). decided we chill here for a bit (as it as a bit cooler). Sunday was do the dirty deeds (laundry and logging!) On monday morning we rented out a motor boat (just for the 2 of us with driver) to have wee spin around the backwaters. Very easy to find one as there ...

... one of the greatest films I have ever seen is well worth the four hours it takes to watch, regardless of whether you ever plan on coming to India or have any interest in Indian history. In the years since independence India has had a turbulent and at times violent political history. The nation today is quite the diverse patchwork of the stunning and the squalid, the inspiring and the heartbreaking, ancient and modern, fabulously wealthy and incredibly ...

... they light it up with lamps. This festival is big throughout India and it is celebrated with fireworks! We bought a lot and set them off on Saturday night on our small island at the hotel. A family from North India was there for a holiday and they passed around sweets and wished everyone a happy Diwali. Normally, in a city there are fireworks going off a few days before, the day of and all throughout the night. People also celebrate by buying new ...

... I had actually swung my elbow back and knocked three young men back after feeling a particularly bothersome grope. My patience was waning and I felt myself anxiously anticipating the next unwanted touch so I could explode on whoever was unlucky enough to have been the last straw. I didn't like the way it made me feel to be easily resenting every man in the crowd. They all looked like the same dirty drunk ******* to me and I couldn't help but to feel myself hating them ...

... fields of Kerala, and a wonderful journey in an old train up to a beautiful British-style cottage at a hill station surrounded by tea estates. We've also eaten really well - lots of very fresh fish straight from the Arabian sea and some delicious curries. As it's only a few days until we leave this land, here are our thoughts on India: 1 - We're truly glad that we came and managed to brave it out for ten weeks. We have seen, heard and eaten some incredible ...