Water Scapes Ktdc Kumarakom

... with some local people and see how happy they were to see us enjoying their food. The second night we were given another dish. They didn't speak any English, so we didn't know what it was, but I think it was more mollusc than vegetable, so probably freshwater mussels or snails. Whatever it was, it was delicious, fried with onions and coconut.

The full day that we were there we woke up bright and early, excited at the ...

... night, then rent a houseboat for Friday morning and cruise the backwaters until Sunday. Drive back to Cochin and sightsee there on Sunday morning before departing back for Hyderabad Sunday evening. Kate actually had a friend flying down from the UK, and we had a couple guys back out...so the final group ended up being me and 4 girls (Kate, Laju, Kate's friend Caire and my friend Tanya)....lucky me. :) As it was currently "off season ...

... where the absence of even the most basic necessities made me further refine my definition, but even there we were staying in a luxury hotel and really only glimpsed how ordinary folks live. Then we got to India. The economic progress that the country has made over the past decade is admirable, and I think I arrived focused mostly on the "country with the largest middle class in the world" statistic ...

F-u-l-b-r-i-g-h-t----S-c-h-o-l-a-r-s... ...p-l-e-a-s-e....a-l-i-g-h -t....f-r-o-m...t-h-e....b-u-s... I miss our wonderful Chennai tour guide! He loved us, too, but said the Elderhostelers could imitate him better than we could. On Sunday, after the best meal of our trip at the Taj in Chennai, we moved from the southern east coast to the southern west coast - and it only took a two hour flight with one stop and a two and a half hour delay! We ...

... pink of course) and a new dress. Brad got a carved head made out of coconut. Pete got some fireworks which we will let off tonight. After breakfast we attended a Christmas service in the St Francis Church where Vasco de Garma was buried. A relaxing day so far, although Brad has been hit with something, probably the sweet and sour prawns from last night. Once again, we wish you all a happy Christmas.

... exceedingly sticky - so it was from there to the fresh air of the beach. The beach was good and bad. First the bad: after hardly seeing a cloud throughout our time in India, our final 4 days "topping up the tan" were actually spent diving for cover from the residual monsoon. But now the good: first, the one day we did spend in the sun turned us both a quite awesome shade of lobster so it was just as ...

"No holidays in this profession ", my professors words kept ringing in my head time and again .My kerala trip would go for a full toss, I surmised and resigned myself to the daily drag. It was on the 14th of Oct that the news broke out...we were getting a vacation after all.. Though it was impossible to get the bookings done at any of the major hotels,we three(mom ,dad and I )decided to make the trip. We left on the 21st and Ernakulam was decided to be our first major halt. Unfortunately ...

After we didn't get on the train we were waitlisted for, I pleaded with the lady at the window to tell me how we could get on a train the next day. She then resigned to tell me that we could ride the general class car by buying a ticket an hour before. Since its assumed we both desire and can afford the plush cabins, we are always told how to buy THOSE seats. Now we understand that if we are willing to get in a potentially crammed car with wooden seats, we can go anywhere we want for ...

... to seduce a good man. He was having none of it and chased her off with a sword. I don't think I would have understood this simple plot without a narrator but it was great to see such an unusual artform. We would have had some great photos of this but we had a few technical difficulties with the camera, sorry! Our next stop is Goa where we will spend Christmas. After all the travelling we are looking forward to relaxing on the beach for a while.