Palm Grove Lake Resort Kerala

... a boy throwing stones at it. It makes an attempt to jump the curb, fails, and falls. I watch amused, as the rat tries to jump again, struggling to climb the curb. It succeeds and disappears into a drainage pipe. I laugh at this absurd sight and continue on my way.

S. Bathery is not worth mentioning more in detail. Half the town is drunk, as it turns out to be a Muslim holiday (which I get woken up to in ...

Off on a train again. Heading up back into the mountains, this time to Waynard Nature Reserve. Train is much nicer than bus in my book to get around. I begin to notice a lot of stares from people, different than what I have encountered before. While foreigners are somewhat common in Kerala (which you still get stared at), as I leave the busy areas to go into more rural areas, those stares last longer and are more intrusive. As I completely understand the nature of ...

... for the next 17 km, with many hairpin turns on the way. Immediately ...

... being driven around the backwaters watching indian farm life continue oblivious to the rest of the world and any recession thats going on. We had a driver and chef neither of which spoke any english but made us feel welcome and helped us fish off the side of the boat and try to communicate through a lot of sign language! I was ...

... is very close to Trivandrum and it can be clubbed with your trip. It is one place in the whole world where one can witness the 'confluence' of three great seas (The Bay of Bengal ...

... the beautiful dining area set in a candelit courtyard, with tables around a lovely swimming pool, and being true to our new vow to become thrifty backpackers, we immediately booked a table for dinner! The next morning, we were up early to travel to Cochin airport to get our flight back to Mumbai. Once we arrived, we had 12 hours to kill before our flight to Bangkok at midnight. We decided that rather than spend the day in the airport, we may as well find ...

... priority to the Indian police than all the other "offenses" taking place. The police took it upon themselves to harass the lovebirds and they eventually made the girl cry by phoning her overbearing parents. Why? Because this young couples' relationship isn't sanctioned by a society where arranged marriages remain the social norm and the classifieds are overflowing with inquiries for brides. But then again I am ...

... to his home when more money is available to provide better accommodation for the girls. It is a majestic old house of many rooms which, in the Portuguese tradition lead from one to another. We discovered the girls on our tour, sitting cross-legged on the floor doing homework. Considering there were fifteen females between the ages of five and fifteen in the room the only remarkable thing was the silence. It is, after all, not at all remarkable that all fifteen sleep in the ...

Okay dokay.. This morning we were up at 4.45 to get a rickshaw into town (Trivandrum City). We had arranged for a very nice young fellow to meet us at the end of the beach thus garunteeing us safe passage to the train station. Rather tired we stumbled across a pitch black beach to where we believed the road started and the rickshaw awaited... Now I know what you're thinking, no road & no rickshaw but no... a very perky young man beamed at us 'good ...

... amazing, atmospheric and kinda nice. I got an autorickshaw driver to take me to a local hindi food joint that was really good, now that im out of the Vakarla tourist trap and into real life india its all getting much cheaper. while desperately trying to eat 100 rupies worth of food I got to 40 and I was bulging. Now 40 rupees is about a $1.20 nz. I got a Masala Dosa and sauces and veges and A Nan Bread stuffed with potatoe and tomato and a bottle of water for that price and It was aircon ...