we really enjoyed pondicherry. it's going to go down as one of my fave places definately. very indian, very tamil, but also, quite a lot french! our room had the best air con we have had so far... we had to wrap up in several blankets at night. it was fab, although it did make it even harder when we had to leave the hotel..... we visited Auroville. what / where is auroville you ask. well, please see auroville.org if you would like to hear about it without a massive dose of cynicism (as usual). this is what the website says.... "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville ... read more

just a few photos.... with captions! aren't you lucky!... read more

well, we are doing a somewhat whirlwind tour of Tamil Nadu, been to several places since last updated blog so plenty to tell! we left Kumily on Monday, on a four hour bus journey to Madurai in Tamil Nadu. seems like all bus journeys round here last four hours. or maybe we are just making decisions based on four hours being about the maximum time it is possible to spend on an indian bus without going mad. so, we initially picked Madurai a bit randomly, as it seemed well connected to the rest of tamil nadu, then we checked the Bible (lonely planet) and also asked some local people and found out Madurai has one of the biggest, oldest, most important hindu temples in india! handy. Tamil Nadu is, so i have been told and understand, ... read more

i'm not saying Kumily is my favourite place in india, i don't have a fave, it's impossible, but recently, we have had a lots of "the is the best ____ in india!!!" moments. first the tea that i assisted in making in allepey, was declared by monica and others as the best in india! i can't take credit, it was Sumesh who made it, i just put in the tea powder, according to his instructions... here in Kumily, there is a "french bakery" run by local people, no-one french in sight, but they do have the BEST bread in india! home made brown bread, in fact possibly the best bread i have ever had! it's very hard to get good bread in india (not counting indian bread type products such as naan, porotha etc obviously), but ... read more

ooooh gosh, how is the election going?! it must be sooo exciting. what a shame i am missing it. *end sarcasm mode* anyway, much more importantly, the journey here to Kumily was fine. the ferry was effectively a local bus ferry, it kept just popping between different sides of the waters doing quite short drop off and pick ups. the whole backwater area is much more water than land. it's was a very nice journey and as it was a govt ferry not a tourist ferry it only cost about 10p. then the bus i was dreading... well, imagine a not that exciting, but still boneshaking and terrifying, roller coaster... that lasts for four hours. i wasn't sick :-) but it swang around the bends so enthusiastically i had to hold on the whole time to ... read more

rather than move about too much, we decided to visit For Cochin on a day trip from here. the city of Kochi is spaced out over several penninsulas and the main land Ernakulam is not much to write home (or in a blog) about, but one of the areas, Fort Cochin, is really nice. it also has a section called Jew Town home to a really old synagogue. it is quite amazing as apparantly there are only around 30 jews in Kerala and only a couple of thousand i beleive in the whole of india. the area is full of antique shops. this is not normally my thing but the stuff in there was amazing, ancient pillars and huge wooden doors, iron elephants and gods etc. i will go back when i have won the lottery. ... read more

we left Varkala on Sunday morning, and were waiting at the station for the train to Allepey. we were approached by a lady who asked if we were on our way to an ashram. There is an ashram in between Varkala and Allepey, I forge the full proper name, but it is known as Amma's Ashram. Amma means mother in Malayalam and Amma is one of the worlds only female guru's. She is literally considered a saint by many devoutees. She is very famous in this area and a bit all over India i think. We were planning on maybe visiting the ashram on a day trip from Allepey. However, this lady told us that Amma heself was there that day, but then would be leaving to go on tour the day after. Amma's 'thing' is ... read more

well, we finally arrived in kerala to find it closed. hmmm. well, there was a state wide strike on. we arrived early in Kollam (aka Quilon) around 7:00am and all the shops were closed so we thought it was just cos it was early. there was one restaurant open so we went there for breakfast, it was a proper authentic indian fast food place, i love these places, there is no menu, they basically tell you what to have. which is good, because it will be the thing they are best at and have just made really fresh. thing is, i do love indian food, but haven't yet managed to go for the proper indian breakfast.... but i had no choice, so it was parothas, chana masala (spicy chick peas) and sambha (runny spicy veg). delicious ... read more

hi sorry still no photos, damn internet so slow i cannot upload. so just a quick update as i do get very annoyed with clunky internet.... we spent one night in madikeri and the next day went to a town called Kushalangar, which has two main features nearby the first is an elephant camp for "retired forestry commission" elephants. i am not sure what they do for the forestry commission but i beleve they do work actually. it was a bit sad, as some of the elephants were chained. not seriously, it didn't look like they were in pain or anything, just so they couldn't charge at annoying children i suppose. however, me and monica wandered off the beaten track a bit, and came across a big, old elephant and his mahoot and he wasn't chained, ... read more