Blogs from Kochi, Kerala, India, Asia - page 4

Kochi We arrived in Kochi with around a week to chill before the wedding, and fully intended to stay there. Little did we know that there's actually ball all to do in Kochi, except drink and eat, not so bad for a holiday but not enough for an adventure. Having checked the guide book for things to do, the most touristy thing was Mattancherry Palace. Quite how this is a Palace I’m not too sure. Built by by the Portuguese in the 1500s as a gift to the Raja of Cochin, but more reminiscent of a community centre built in the 70s. I don't know what the Raja did or said to the Portuguese, but he must've upset them. (Mum, you have no idea how much I had to resist the temptation to swear then!). The ... read more

Goa and Kerala I’ve now arrived in Bangalore after a really relaxing trip to Goa and Kerala for one week. My journey further down South India started with an overnight train from Mumbai CST, the station where they filmed the final scene in Slumdog Millionaire, to Karmali Station in Goa, where I took a tuktuk to Anjuna beach the place where I’d chosen to stay for the following four nights. Anjuna is a touristy beach but a lot quieter than the more popular Candolim or Baga beaches. I arrived at Roadside Hostel and was shown to my room, a shared female dorm, to be greeted by three really friendly girls who straight away invited me to the beach that afternoon. I spent my first afternoon in Goa exploring the Anjuna flea market which occurs every Wednesday ... read more

On Sunday afternoon we were not allowed into the base as new volunteers had arrived to start their adventure. We counted ourselves lucky to have been at the base with so many others as there were only 2 new starts bringing the total of volunteers for the next 2 weeks to only 6. To kill time we went out for lunch with everyone to a snazzy art cafe and then Marc braved an Indian barber. When considering the language barrier, you could say the final outcome was a relative success. And only for 60p! Now that our work in Kerala is finished, we wish Dave all the best with improvements at Dil Se and St Louis and good luck to future construction volunteers. Although the work was tough, we feel like only a small improvement has ... read more

As our trip in India draws to a close, we begin to become more relaxed in our approach to a new place. We're practically winding down and preparing ourselves for our next journey (in a way). After enjoying some beach time in the beautiful Alleypey, Kochi is our next and last destination in India (althoug technically its Chennai as we fly from there). More of a city with a fishing port, many people have fell in love with Kochi and it's relaxed pace. Us falling in love with it would be going too far, but we've definitely had enough of India's big cities at this point. Thankfully most of the places we've visited in the south of India are a world away from areas such as Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Cows are few and far between, ... read more

On Saturday we started our volunteering project with GVI. This is a charity which operates all over the world through different specialised projects in certain areas of deprivation. After arriving at the project base, we met the rest of the volunteers and GVI staff. There is a good mix of Cockney's, Northerner's, Aussie's and Yanks in the group however we are the only people volunteering on the construction project. The last two days have been filled with risk assessments, trying local cuisine and getting to know people. The dorms we are staying in consist of small bunk beds and old dusty fans. The first night there was a 3 hour long thunder storm which caused a power cut. I almost melted to death without the fan on but of course Marc slept through the whole thing. ... read more