The Elephant Court Thekkady

... I guess I just need to network better.

Anyway back to the day, I arrive at the office and apparently it is still closed. The sleepy solitary man there seems surprised to have a foreign visitor at the office. I tell him I want to see the boss, and concoct a story about doing research worldwide on reservations etc. which he totally buys and ends up calling different people in a hurry. Suddenly people are there, telling me how important and well done the park is (which is true ...

... other things. There were four English people (including Dave and Debs an excellent couple from London who had matched my journey almst exactly to date including eating at the same restaurant in Panjim on the same night. I hasten to add this was all a co-incidence and not the start of some Around the world in 80 Hats appreciation society), two Germans and a French couple. Everybody was fantastic company and we got on very well all day. The French couple ...

... what I see Kipling musing over as he began writing The Jungle Book. We even pulled over to see a picturesque waterfall that was next to the road. A few minutes later we paused for a bathroom and refreshment break at a local tourism office (Lalu, our guide, is a district official in the tourism dept.) and we all enjoyed ice creams, though in retrospect, mine tasted a bit off...(foreshadowing anyone? :) We then stopped at ...

... put the film on here as it's on one of Becky's mini dvds, bummer. At the end of the walk we ambled through a tribal village and went for a half an hour elephant ride. We sat in awe on Shanda, our 27year old elephant, it's striking to think she'll be doing the same walk until she's about 110. Despite the sad nature of the ride we still enjoyed it, especially when she let out long, slow grumbles that seemed to echo through her and us. Ate tea and slept. Tuesday we got up ...

... flight out of Kerala. Now it won't happen as planned, so in the morning we may find out we have to leave a day earlier or later. Thanks a lot, commies! Instead of worrying about that, I got a chance to show Manoj and his son some of our pictures from the camel ride, and from home. I think they liked seeing our families and parts of America. I know I liked showing them pictures of cornfields from our drive back from Kansas; I delight in saying "In ...

... of this sort reaches new heights. The towns of Kumily and Thekkady are both situated within a couple of kms of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Buses pull into Kumily, and both Kumily and Thekkady have lots of different types of accommodation on offer. However, I'd decided that I'd quite like to stay at one of the three hotels within the park itself. After checking at the main sanctuary gate that they had rooms available I bought my ticket, and strode through the gate ...

... back there was a massive storm and it was dark. I was crying and scared, but we were okay. Ben rowed at the back and Daddy rowed at the front. We could see Dr Pooppally, but Ben went towards a houseboat. The next place we stayed was really nice. I rode an elephant; it was my first elephant ride I had been on. The surroundings were beautiful. We went up the mountain and back. When we came down and we got back the man got the elephant to sit down. One of us got on the back of the ...

... different country! The main purpose of this entry is to let you know where we are on Christmas Eve and how we are. (T) We're in Kumily, Kerala, on the edge of the Periyar Tiger Reserve. We're both well. (R) ;-) Merry Christmas, and much love to all our friends and family (and to any dedicated followers of this blog who we don't actually know).

... We got up at 4:45 yesterday morning, just before the alarm went off; to the sound of the morning Muslim call to prayers over the town loudspeaker. It's a pretty beautiful sound to hear, intermixed with A LOT of roosters who also notice its morning. The chickens run free in the streets, there are a bunch of new chicks outside our home stay. We heard a couple screaming as we were walking to use the internet today, they must have given their lives for someone's ...

... us back into our seat like an out of control Gravitron ride. It was beautiful, though, when the rain had passed. The air was so cool and the view into the mountains was incredible. There was a damn that seemed seven miles high between two mountain walls, and thick green that obscured any hope at orienting ourselves to roads ahead or behind. We pulled into Kumily at 8 in the evening and walked to the nearest hotel and took the room at 250 rupees (about 5 dollars.) It was ...