River Queen (House Boats) Alappuzha

... early 20's and didn't speak any English or Hindi. Our hotel manager got across that we were headed to Alleppey and want to stop at Varkala beach on the way.

The hour and a half drive to the beach resort of Varkala was pretty much the same as the day before only it was raining and the windows were fogged. The seat belts were small comfort.

Our driver followed the signs to Varkala beach only he didn't realize that there are two ...

... 10 am to 7pm *

Food details; *

Lunch : Kerala Traditional vegetarian Thali ( 10 dishes ) *

Snack : South India special Uru Dale Vada with tea/coffee*

Dinner ...

... was beautiful as are all the canals and lakes as well as the occasional canal boat that floats by. Living in one of those boats must be such luxury, I can understand why we could not afford it. Along side the waterways small farms and villages complete the dreamy life. I enjoyed our few days messing about in boats. But after two nights it was time to head east. We took a series of connecting busses that we realised doubled back to where we had started before heading east to Madurai.

... amazing voice, and the 2 guys in back answered him in a call/response. The whole scene was amazing - the singing, the smooth calm water, the dark, Matthew clapping and the rowers drumming on the boat, the lights ashore and the other boats on the water. I talked to Rachel awhile about her experiences in England (not much - go to work and come home) and I explained about the Somalie piracy (the latest one is ...

... Ik denk dat mn smaakpapillen stilletjesaan aan het afsterven zijn... ik zal in elk geval niet meer rap klagen over te pikant eten thuis! - olifanten geen al te comfortabel vervoermiddel zijn... maar toch een zeer veilig gevoel tov de riksja - schoenverkopers hier echt alles in het werk stellen om te verkopen... ze blijven zelfs volhouden dat sletsen waar mn voeten aan beide kanten duidelijk uitsteken "perfect size" zijn... - ik ga schreeuwen als ik nog 1 keer de ...

... here - if women go into the water at all they do so wearing the full sari, which isn't really the most streamlined of outfits! Oh yeah, by the way for anyone who thinks Jono isn't doing any work on the travel log he's looking after the photos which trust me is much more work than doing the writing with the speed of the computers here! He's been doing a good bit of work in the last few days so check out the entries back along if you're interested.

... prostitute works for a pimp. Not sure what they get out of the deal, but maybe that would account for not accepting food? I was headed to the town of Allepy (a two hr bus ride) and opted for the 8 hr. backwaters ride instead. I would've been happy with 5 hrs of boat, but at least there was a bathroom. Once in Allepy, I was shown to a room for 1.50 that was sketchy, dirty, and the hotel was all male. I ...

... how I longed I could make a second trip...By 10:30 am we left for Kottayam.My trip had come to a finish . I carried with me loads of memories and woved to return to these places again and decided to take a raft the next time,go for a jungle tour,visit the Mattupeti village close to Munnar,visit the tea museum,watch the boat race etc.I knew I had seen only a small fraction of Munnar and Periyar ,but had loved every bit of it and without doubt,this trip would be engraved in my memory for a lifetime!

A variety of transport methods took us the 2000m downhill from Ooty to the coast of Kerala at Cochin, by far the coolest being the miniature steam train which was the first part of the 15hr journey. The hills are too steep for regular trains so the british built a narrow guage track which winds up (or down in our case ) through speactacular mountain scenery. We were very glad we went down not up, only 3 hours down, but 5 ...

Kochi We have finished our stay in the lovely state of Kerala with a few days in Kochi, staying at historic Fort Cochin, and catching up on seafood and the vibrant Keralan arts. We caught two south Indian classical music performances, a performance of their highly distinct Kathakali dance and a display of their unique martial arts dance. All were greatly enjoyed. Kochi is also a major seafood centre and we (Michael) could not resist the chance to buy fish from the markets ...