Estuary Island Resort Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)

... We step outside the airport immediately bombarded by Indian men trying to get us into their cabs. The air is hot and sticky as the sun sets over vast fields of palm trees. My first impression is how green and lush the countryside is. Klaus ends up bargaining a good deal in an antique white car that has tiny push out windows. We get in the car and begin our drive to the mysterious lake Klaus has been raving about. Along the way we stop on the busy roadside ...

... at home and a worthy stop in the travels around India. Each day we would attend a lecture where the teachers spoke about things like yoga, mantras, Ayurveda, quantum physics, reincarnation and the astral plane and their was time to ask the swami questions. A couple of times we were invited to attend special prayer events once to honour Ganesha and the other one was for shakti (feminine energy). We were seated on the floor in long rows in front of a Hindu priest ...

... us. I ordered coconut rice instead of chips, and was glad I did as it wasn't over-spiced or greasy . Anyway, we won't go back, but we enjoyed the setting. 2008.11.26 Varkala My massage with the herb bundles was wonderful. The massage is so relaxing I think it puts me in a different state of mind. I've started having conversations with my fat cells while on the table. I've told them they don't have to kill themselves ...

... on a tour our host's rice fields and vegetable gardens, which were busy with people labouring the harvest. We rented bikes and plodded around the pathways of the riverbank for a few hours, stopping at little shacks to buy glass bottles of warm soda when the humidity got too much. The ease and tranquility of the backwaters had a very beautiful, calming effect; from the labyrinth of leafy trees and hedges heavy with green, to the friendliness of the villages we met on ...

... huge man got out if the sea, we spoke with him and hung out for the rest of the afternoon he had done everything!!! I hope we see him again. We are setting of on Friday, both of us a re feeling better even doing a bit of Yoga in the morning. We are heading north to the backwaters of Kerala, a must see we hear. Goto get a move on we have to be back in Delhi in a month and I feel bout a million miles away. Hope all is well dealing with the cold, I will update when I can. Branwen

... surreptitious beer in teapots has come to nowt; our guidebook is a couple of years out of date, perhaps the elected Communist government down here is taking a soft line on alcohol, for which we applaud them. Or perhaps salute them, not sure of the form. Our hotel room has a seaview, and a romantic mosquito-net canopy above the bed, and if you squint you can't make out the dettol antiseptic plasters holding it ...

... an open heart and mind as he does, or basically to hate everyone and scowl at them as i do. Certainly i have been the one less disappointed by various turns of events, but it would be nicer to approach life with the joyful innocence he has sometimes. A quick pint and kebab (we're all class) in the Nasa pub, done out like a spaceship with waiters in captains uniforms (we're all class) and it was onto the sleeper train. We were in sleeper class, which is what ...

... felt like drawing again, to the sound of the ocean we eat fresh mango and at night a huge, fresh white snapper to share for just under three pounds. Bliss. We took a boat ride with a fisherman in his canoe, lounged on the beach again, and lounged some more, all this was fantastic except I got more sun burnt than I ever had before and I hardly exposed my skin to the sun. Ive worked out tis the Doxyclone malaria tables that can make your skin far more susceptable to the sun ...

... three year old (today) and full of cold (she prefers to call it Asian flu)..so off she trots on this huge animal trying not to hit any palm branches on the way round.. So far, all quite tame.... After a brief demonstration of log shifting from Meng (not for the sake of us I may add) both us and he set off on the two mile trip to the river. We went by taxi, Meng walked.. On arrival at the river there were steps, almost like ...

The boat trip was long and boring and I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are desperate to stop of and stay at the ashram for a night or two hoping for a glimpse or hug from Amma a some what strange lady guru from what I have read. A few board the boat and inform us that Amma is here till tomorrow and we have seconds to decided if we should stay on the boat or disembark for a night at the ashram. We stay on board not sure I would survive the suffocating ...