Michael"s Inn Thekkady

... territory of Tamil Nadu. The particular place goes by a few different names that all refer to roughly the same place - Periyar, Kumily, and Thekkady. We checked into our hotel, were given jasmine flower necklaces and cardamom tea, and got our own little hut to stay in for the night. Being in the Western Ghats, Periyar is at a slight higher elevation that most of the other places we had been, and the temperature up here was noticeably cooler - we ...

... although i would have let one rip if i could have. There were many silent ones happening and i had a sneaking suspician that the food was designed to limit ******* and stomach problems. Something on the menu was missing though because Nadine didn't **** for the entire ten days. The teacher sat like a blissful, stoned Buddha and meditated while he monitored us but there wasn't much guidance from him. A couple of times i raised questions with him but he just answered ...

... dinner. Have to mention our hotel, can't remember the name, but it looked really nice from the outside. However, the first night we slept there it was horrible! There was a big cockroach in the room, a trail of ants coming from who knows where, and geckos running around. SO funny, slept with the light on because I didn't want them to come near me. LOL. A few drinks the second night and I slept good though, haha.

... our next homestay. We ended up taking 5 different buses to get there. Amy is an amazingly great planner, and she had figured out exactly what stations to go to, and overall it worked out great. (Amy: Joseph, the kind grandfather/owner/giver of food/manager at Pooppallys, had told me which places to change buses) There were only minor difficulties because the buses were labeled all in Malayalam (the language of Kerala, i.e., no English), and our ...

Since we didn't see any Tigers at the Sunderban Tiger Preserve we thought we would try again at the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, however my hopes were not too high to see a tiger since this was written up as more of a place to view elephants, bison, wild boar, and sambar. Tigers were mentioned but on that there were 46 here- but you never know! The hotel was nice although it didn't have a hot shower. It did have a ...

... herons, egrets, darters, kingfishers and the great Malabar grey hornbill. A cruise through the waters of Periyar lake around which the wild -life sanctuary is situated, offers a soul - stirring pleasant experience. for complete article, go to http://www.dazzlingindia.com/aboutthekk ady.html

... Then, you realize you can't do that, because you'd be covered in leeches. Great! Sunday, we did the usual shopping and eating some good ol' fashioned Western food. After being here for two weeks, I've been having severe cravings of a salad. They don't seem to grow or import lettuce or any green leafed veggies. I think I will end up on a salad diet when I return home. Yes, a salad diet, followed by a bacon/sausage diet. And since it's so ****ing hot in general, I've also been ...

... and a bit sour. They showed us vanilla pods and I particularly liked a flower called "Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday", this is because one day the petals are purple, the next purple and white and the last day completely white. We smelt the cinnamon leaf it was delicious, I couldn't stop smelling it. We went to a tea factory, it was amazing. We saw it from new fresh leaf until it was sorted into different types of tea. We walked through the plantation, which was beautiful and amazing.

... i'm prepared to deal with right now), but i think you'll get the picture if you mix and match some combination of the following words: cliff beach sand frisbee beer fish markets tchatchkas bikinis yoga meditation hippies indian ocean sunset body surfing waves. varkala is one of those places that is touristy without being Touristy, where edgy travellers can come to feel the Authenticity safe from the scrounge of Package Tourists, but can spend their days eating wood ...

Today was a day of rest. Mainly due to the pricks down the corridor but also because we are to set off for Cochin in the morning. We need to be up for 4.30am which if our friends from GB are to be trusted, will be a long night. Today we set off up the beach exploring after breakfast. A short walk around the coast where upon we happened across the locals hauling in the nets they had earlier cast. Now ...