Kerala Bamboo House Varkala

Lets start with the journey down here - it wasnt pretty....we decided to fly as the train would have been 18 hours and we were, again, too late to book it, and the bus would have been 40 hours......not a chance! So the flight was set to be 3 and a half hours, couldnt understand why as not a huge distance....we stopped twice on the way, the last leg was only 20 minutes in the air, but as we sat on the runway ready for take off we were not too impressed to be heading into the eye of a thunder a...

After a hectic few weeks in Kerela we headed further south to a cliff side beach resort- Varkala. We kicked back in Varkala for 6 days for well earned rest(!!??), staying at Kerela Bamboo house. This was excellent and our cheapest yet at 400 R's a night (only 5GBP). We also experienced our second aruyvedic massage - much to Jim's dissappointment his was done by 2 butch males! We enjoyed the food here so much we took a Kerelan cooking class at a local family restaurant and learnt how to make a...

After the highs of Goa we reluctantly left on the 29th December '05 for one of India's most relaxed and picturesque states, Kerala, said to be India's most advanced society with 100% literacy, the highest life expectancy and cleanest state. It's also known as God's Own Country. We arrived at the historical town of Kochi in central Kerala set on a cluster of islands and narrow peninsulas. Kochi has a strong Dutch, Portuguese and Jewish influence, seen through the impressive colonial churches, ...

Actually got some time to update the blog in a bit more detail, well, as long as I can sit in front of this computer anyway... This blog is brought to you by the letter S. As in sunburn, spiders and save me! From the most southern tip of Kanyakumari, we stuck to our guns of using the bus over the train - you generally have to reserve your train tickets a day in advance and even after 3 months traveling, we're still really not THAT organised... Although there are certain things to remember abo...

Apologies for taking so long to make this log entry. We have busily spent the past 2 1/2 weeks with the 16-member Habitat for Humanity Global Village team from Canada working along side local villagers and masons building a few small brick houses in the tiny village of Nakaneri set amidst Central Asia's largest wind mill farm at the base of the Western Ghats mountain range. Nakaneri is a one hour drive from Nagercoil, an authentic South Indian city with loads of charm and no white folk and wh...

The train from Trichy pulled in to the station at Varkala, Kerala just after midnight on Saturday morning. Of course we arrived without any room booked and the town was sound asleep. It is high season here, and rooms are difficult to come by, especially at that hour, but we woke up the night watchman at a very basic place up near the helipad and figured that we'd take a look around in the morning. Varkala is a laid back little tourist town built up on the cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea, wi...

Well, it's day five in Varkala ... yep we're still here. Having discovered the wonders of ayurveda, it is very difficult to leave. Ayurveda is a very ancient science of Indian herbal medicine and holistic healing. It includes, among other things, herbal treatments and massage. The herbs grow in abundance in Kerala's moist climate and Varkala in particular is a great place to experience authentic ayurvedic massages and other treatments. It is very important that ayurveda be performed by a know...