Thanneermukkom Ayurvedic Lake Resort Ktdc Alappuzha

... told me to do “Put your faith in the priest!” I say this because the only contact we had had was by a third party email followed by a very distorted phone call with a Father Paul. So, we set off for Kottayam not knowing where we were going to stay (the guide book didn’t speak very highly about the city or its hotels), not knowing where to meet up with Father Stephen, what our length of stay was to be, or where the Navajeevan Centre was, our ...

... were quickly pounced upon by the locals guesthouse owners, we managed to get a ok room with cable tv (yay!!) for around 3.50 a night and we spent the next day looking around and sorting out our houseboat. It is sweltering hot in Allapphuzha and it is probably, out of everywhere we have been, most like what you imagine a picture of an indian town to be. Very busy and noisy and with a very limited tourist scene, the people are very friendly and keen to stop ...

... remplire le livre d'or que nous avons fait de bon coeur et nous nous sommes ensuite quitter au pied du ferry qui nous rammener sur Alleppey Pratique : trajet en bus Fort Kochi/Alleppey : un bus gouvernemental part directement FK pour seulement 36Rps/pers hotel Gowri : chambre proposee a 500, eu a 400Rps du fait de la basse saison Bierre de Coco : on en a achete pour 200Rps/L sur proposition de notre guide mais on a pas trouve ca bon du tout

... sorting out our travel arrangements for the rest of our time in india, and in the process came across an arrogant french woman and a kilogram of lemons, with which we're trying to blonden our hairizons...yes hahaha...Brownie also insisted that we buy fake tatoos of naked ladies sitting on rockets, and so we did, and we put them on, and then they fell off immediately...great balance they had. . So we're heading east on the 25th to ...

... or so houseboats ensures a regular stream of gawping tourists, it was wonderful to receive such a genuine welcome, especially when they had nothing to gain from it. Well, unless you count the 'bachelor party' who seemed to have their own scoring system for getting a wave from someone of the female persuasion. The crew were fantastic too, happy to point out where they lived and the local wildlife. They also produced an amazing seven curry lunch - favourites ...

... of hours before we started to long trip back to Bangladore (about 800 Km on their roads) 071230 - Sunday Were driving all night and arrived around 10 in the morning. Took a niiiiiiice shower and relaxed and packed up everything. Jeff came ...

... A nearby temple (not the one by me) had a celebration in honor of Kali, goddess of destruction (wanna rebuild? gotta destroy first). Tons of people were there. THere were amazing drummers, dancing kids, and ornately decorated elephants which bowed before the shrine. THere was also someone dressed up as Shiva and another as Kali. Shiva was a hardcore drag queen. S/he was rather grand. The whole place was just noise-but noise in a ...

... the office. I was pretty nervous, I don't know why but it just had a little intimidating feeling to it. Walking into the courtyard there was a mix of Indians and westerners mostly dressed in all white. They walked around with a purpose and without Amma there it seemed peaceful. Now the ****** part. As I went to check in at the office the guy at the desk was telling me that Indians and Westerners were not allowed to share a room. The accommodation ...

A bit of a roundup for the South of India.... We finished our time in the north with a day trip to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. We saw all sorts - a mini Taj Mahal, some tombs, a red fort (same builder as the one we saw in Delhi). The Taj was really spectacular - absolutely heaving with tourists, 20 Rs for locals and 750 Rs for us! Gutted! That's actually been the most expensive thing we've done. We saw it at sunset and the orange light from the side lit ...

... chocolate cake, all to the background of a somewhat sketchy version of Happy Birthday played by the house band. The following day we moved onto Alleppey (the setting for the book "God of Small Things") and hired a house-boat to cruise the famous Keralan backwaters. This was another great Indian experience. The backwaters are a massive network of lakes and waterways supporting villages on narrow fingers of land. We sat ...