The best layed plans...

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I was up, showered and out of the door by 9am today. I was massively conscious of the time it would take to travel from Kochi to Trivandrum and wanted to get to the yoga ashram before it got dark.Tag's owners neighbour was a tuc tuc man and Rafi took me from Tag to the ferry port. He, like many others I had met, had been born, raised and still lived in his hometown. He took me on a small sightseeing tour on the way to the ferry. Fort Kochi was a beautiful, idyllic place and I was sad to leave without having chance to explore. Perhaps I'd go back after some time in the Ashram.

The ferry ride was twenty five minutes and was very serene. Most of the locals on the ferry with me looked as though they were on there way to work as I gazed out on to the gleaming water of Vembanad Lake. When we reached the other end I took a tuc tuc to Ernakulam railway station. So far the roads in Kochi were not dissimilar to the roads in England after a hard snow and frost - littered with potholes!

I hoped onto the 'superfast' express which was waiting at the platform. We waited over an hour in the station before we began to move...not a good sign. I was sat in general class for this journey, very different to the comfort of 3AC sleeper class. The glassless windows were a welcome relief in the heat which was set to hit thirty three degrees today.

At 4pm I had been stuck on the train for five and a half hours. Although there were three electric fans on the room of our compartment it still felt like we were in a sauna. As I looked outside of the carriage the heat was licking up the side of the train in that misty hue and everyone was getting restless. The train had stopped unannounced at many stations along the way for no apparent reason. I was reliably informed by a very well spoken young man, on his way to enroll in the army, that maintenance work was taking place all this week causing huge delays to all the services...very reminiscent of railtrack back home! I had begun to resign myself to the fact that I would have to stay in Trivandrum this evening, rather than rocking up at silly o'clock to the ashram.

I finally arrived in Trivandrum at 8pm, about four and a half hours after I had hoped. It was just as muggy here, if not more so, as it was in Kochi. I walked with a sense of purpose now following the crowds towards the town centre. I hadn't booked a hostel for the night and wanted a good nights sleep after my rather sweaty journey. Ignoring the cries from the tuc tuc and taxi drivers that stepped into my path I kept walking, asking where I could find an internet cafe. I happened upon an English girl who was speaking to a taxi driver. Thankfully, she pointed me in the direction of a guest house and an internet cafe.

I found the guest house and took my chances on them having space for the night as I was drenched from carrying my backpack in the heat. The kindly man behind the reception said he had space and that he would only charge me for single occupancy...result!

I headed from the Prathiba Heritage hotel back into the heat of the night to find a proper meal. I had been recommended to go to the Kyvalya Restaurant. I ordered the chicken fry, which I was told used spices common only to Trivandrum. It was hot. Anyone who knows me well, or has eaten spicy food with me has seen me break out into a cold sweat if the food has got enough kick to it...and it did! A combination of spiced that tasted kike Chinese Five Spice but hot as hell, it was delicious!

I wondered back to the hotel to phone home and check in, as I was going to have to be radio silent whilst at the ashram. I lay down under the ceiling fan and crashed for the night, I was wiped!

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