Windsor Castle Hotel Kottayam

... a lady with another enormous heart, set up a couple of years ago. She with other volunteers, house feed & counsel these women & children. They all squealed with delight as we arrived & saw Issy & Ady. We sat in Annie’s basic office while she explained the charity, Issy excused herself & went back into the main orphanage & started sketching all the children, giving them a signed copy of their portrait. We then spent an up lifting hour ...

... up with Lewis in Madurai, and then getting another train to Chennai, where we'll stay for a couple of nights, again with Lewis, and then we had to work out how to get up to Varanasi, WAY further up north, and we came to the conclusion that because we have to leave on the 6th Feb, and that because there are only 2 trains each week from Chennai to Varanassi, that we're going to fly there on the 29th. We'll then spend a couple of ...

... The wateways are used by locals to get around, transport goods and the usual washing and laundry. The houseboat itself was an amazing experience. We had two punters moving us along a gentle pace and a chef to serve up some excellent Keralan food. A really peaceful day and night. Also got to see water snakes, kingfishers galore and loads of fireflies which were like our own fairy lights in the evening.

Monday July 14th, 2008 A day of trepidation indeed. We were scheduled to appear in front of a local group of undergraduate students and chat with them for a bit, an activity that we were all very nervous for. The class we visited was a class in Communicative English at CMS College, a University in Kottayam associated with Mahatma Ghandi University. The college itself is a British installation, and is nearly 200 ...

... as 'captain' steering us, while the other guy rested. The chef was quite a jolly guy, eager to please and reassured Beckythat her meals wouldn't be spicy even though they were meant to be authentic Keralan. Meals it turned out... were spicy....hey ho. We spent the afternoon lolling about reading and playing cards. We moored up for the night at the Captain's house in a little village about 2km from Alleppey. Here the chef took us for a walk, on which ...

... Mine were more down to limitations of time and storage capacity, resulting in me getting only so far through my alphabetised CD collection. So, two Phil Collins albums but no Paul Weller. No Yes but Definitely Maybe.) Alexander, being an electrician, had been even more shocked than I had by the Indian approach to domestic wiring, and Susannah had been alarmed by the size of the local wildlife of the eight-legged variety. Fortunately I've ...

... their faces. Master drummers each took their turn as the energy progresses. Facing the drummers were musicians with kompu trumpets. They increased the energy further with two golden tonic notes and one dominant, playing back and forth with the drummers, backed by the fifteen elephants. On the elephants, temple brahmins carried umbrellas and peacock regalia, raising them up to the trumpeters' calls to Shiva and Shakti. The climax of the festival ...

... chinese style wicker boats. I'm hoping to get another boat trip around here to see the backwaters. Basically now I'm in Kochi which is really nice. I spoke to a guy called Gary who's from London on the cruise and we travelled here together, so it's nice not to be alone again and the locals are much more accepting of women if they are with a man (and I'm wearing a fake engagement ring too which everyone likes). Last night we had dinner and 'special tea' - this is lager served ...

... at 7am. The fresh, cool weather was ideal for the two-and-a-half hour trek. As a solitary animal commanding a huge territory, the chances of seeing a tiger are near impossible (our guide had once had one walk out across the path in front of him!). However, there are plenty of other sights which can be found, and we were able to see sambar deer, shy black monkeys, the Malabar ...

... the deck for us to sit on. Which is exactly what we did! Out came the book and we just lounged and watched the world slowly float by. You can get a really interesting insight into the lives of the local population when you're only moving at 2mph! there were people in the canals at all times of the day, having a wash, washing clothes and vegetables. People in conoes were selling fish to those on the ...