Hotel Prasanth Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)

... us the remaining 50 yards to where the path ended. Another lion could be seen in the distance, but on the far side of another fence which apparently segregated the preserve into this brief section which tourists could access from the rest of the park.

Which was good enough for me: pushy locals notwithstanding, that was by far the closest I'd been to the greatest number of lions in the best approximatioon to a natural habitat (I hesitate to say THEIR ...

... praise", and the Hare Krishna line comes one verse after Hara Raama). Admittedly the meditation aspect has no exact parallel, though the trance you fall into starting at a big bonfire or looking up at the stars can come close.

Lectures on the Bhagavad Gita are obviously just another incarnation of telling stories around the campfire loaded with Native American folk wisdom. Just substituting one kind of Indian for another.

Finally ...

... off the ground and there was a no shoes policy in all the buildings. I dislike it when people wear their shoes inside bringing in dirt and energy from outside. Next we bought meditation cushions from the boutique and i got to work and drew a woman's face on mine calling it Starry-Eyed Sue after Wicksy. She is Slippery Sam's sister. We also stocked up on biscuits and sesame balls for our late night picnic sessions in the room. Later that first evening we went to ...

... hotel is pleasant but we are staying in the room normally reserved for a guide or driver. We are closest to the sea and get the sea breeze. It is brutally hot, and the back rooms are stifling. When Lisa opened her door, I could feel masses of hot air coming out. We also have a small covered porch where we can put our chairs when it rains. The other buildings are made of brick with tile roofs, and ours is made of wood ...

... man. *blinks* His absolutely disrespect was astounding. The fact that he assuemd they were all dumb. That they didn't speak english..or couldn't understand his body language and tone was astounding. The fact that he thinks he's enlightened and beyond ego and yet giving to a beggar wasn't about the beggar getting money it was about the reaction he got and how much his ego was stroked with the beggars gratitude. RAWR *breath* As if that wasn't enough, the drama was to continue ...

... and, just outside my door, saw THE BIGGEST COCKROACH I'VE EVER SEEN (outside of zoos, of course). It was a good inch and a half. I gave it a wide berth and, on the way back to my room, saw the night watchman and pointed to it. He gave a smile and did that head-swivel thing that Indians do to indicate pretty much whatever. (that nod is kind of like the Indian version of "ok" - it can mean anything) Something about his manner led me to think ...

... to work out. I had faith that my time in Trivandrum happening to coincide with their film festival was not for nothing! I was meant to see those films.. Some of my UK based friends will remember my attempt, years ago, to start a "friends' film club" - I had moved out of London, and missed getting together with my London based friends, also missed movies.. I was averaging something like one film a year for a while there! We met once a month.. after ...

Hello from the holiday destination of Varkala. We arrived here early afternoon today after a 40 minute train journey from Thiruvananthapuram, our shortest ride yet but almost our longest as it was on the Delhi Express and for a panicked moment or two we didn't think it was going to stop at our station, but go right the way through, back 'oop North'. 57 hours later..................... However, all was well and we ...

I feel like peoples' necks here are made from some sort of sweaty cheese. They do this sort of head bobble in every situation. It's as though the entire country is full of Cito Gaston bobblehead dolls - given to the first 10,000 fans at Skydome on August 6th, 2006 -and I just happen to be the 10,001st fan inside. I don't understand what it means. As far as I know, it means yes, no, maybe, I don't know, I'm lieing to your face for no reason ...

... visits to the loo.. (parp) fantastic. The beach here at Kovalam is pretty, a very nice part of the Arabian Sea. The beach is small and completely surrounded by small hotels and stalls. At present it is reasonably quiet but I bet it can quite horrible in high season. Since we have been here. it has started to get busier and busier. There are the same old beach traders trying to scratch a living but it must be difficult, there are loads of them. They can be quite persistent but ...