Rory Delamere

Last Days in paradise It´s funny how you become accustomed to seeing amazing sights, beatiful beaches, approachable animals (ok some of them were worried about their pensions and jobs so were a little skittish). So we went to James bay to red sand beaches, flamingoes and some other yokes, but I can´t remember the other yoket. It was probably more iguanas, yep that must be it. Prior to that we´d seen penguins (who started to get it on just after we passed - it must be a theme or something), seals, sharks and big frigate birds, who remined me of the vultures in the jungle book (you know the ones pretending to be the beatles). Oh yeah and I´d also been goaded in to jumping off the roof of the top deck of the boat ... read more

Trip of a lifetime Early on Thursday morning we headed out to JFK to get our flight down to Ecuador. The first hurdle was to figure out what terminal to go to - not as easy as you think when you´re on an airline neither you or the cab driver have ever heard of and it´s 3 am. Anyway we managed to find it and off we went, firstly to Costa Rica for a quick stop then to Quito. We got to Quito at about 3 in the afternoon so went in to look at the old town, which was lovely. Then back to the hotel to meet the GAP tour rep to get our brifing about the Galapagos. At that stage the excitement wa definintely mounting. The next day we flew first to Guayaquil in ... read more

The train to Chennai was not an unpleasant experience. It was not exactly luxury either but it was grand and we arrived in one piece. The best bit is not wasting your day travelling and if you can get any sleep then you're ready to hit the day at a run. Anyway when we got to the station we had to book our next train journey for the following Monday. In India, you haveto book long jounreys well in advance because they tend to be very busy. So, we had to wait until the reservation office opened and by the time we got it sorted we were kind of tired and did not really want a rickety bus journey to our next stop - Mamalapuram. We were about to get an auto rickshaw to the bus ... read more

On our way to the dogs We left Munnar on Wednesday morning thinking it would not be as bad a journey down as it was up. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case, as the driver went in to every small town on the way. It reminded me a little of the 6:30 bus from Dublin during college which used to go in to Coill Dubh and Straffan. Anyway nearly 5 hours later we reached Cochin and headed back to the hotel which at this stage only had its presidential suite available (it had its own bar ! which was empty :( We quickly set up base camp, got fodder and headed out to the one trendy (ish) bar in the place. The bar was really trying hard and had cocktails and its ... read more

Firstly let me explain the awful spelling in the last post (thanks Sean for pointing it out). It is down to three things 1. Bad proof reading (not blaming anyone) 2 Crappy pc 3. Lack of drink Anyway enough excuses Munnar and the mountains I think I mentioned the Indian driving earler, well as it happens I hadn't seen anything yet. We got a bus from Cochin to Munnar which involved a lot of winding moutain roads. Our driver was going as fast as the bus could go at all times and on all sides of the road. More than once we came around a bend facing another lunatic in a different bus doing exactly the same thing. After a while you get used to the thoughts of imminent death and sit back and relax. After ... read more

Off to Alleppey And so after a few days in Kollam we took the train up to Alleppey which is about 90 minutes away. We were headed for our one bit of luxury on the trip a stay in Bibi Baskin's guest house. This costs about 150 euro a night as opposed to the fifteen euro we were used to paying every where else. As you can imagine this caused great curiosity amongst the rickshaw drivers. The place though was absolutely worth it - a great pool, lovely rooms and nice food. No bar though....hmmm. It was also just across the road from the beach which was almost empty until nearly sundown when all the locals gathered for a swim. Interestingly enough this consisted of Mammy, Daddy and kids wading in to the sea fully clothed. ... read more

Off to Alleppey And so after a few days in Kollam we took the train up to Alleppey which is about 90 minutes away. We were headed for our one bit of luxury on the trip a stay in Bibi Baskin's guest house. This costs about 150 euro a night as opposed to the fifteen euro we were used to paying every where else. As you can imagine this caused great curiosity amongst the rickshaw drivers. The place though was absolutely worth it - a great pool, lovely rooms and nice food. No bar though....hmmm. It was also just across the road from the beach which was almost empty until nearly sundown when all the locals gathered for a swim. Interestingly enough this consisted of Mammy, Daddy and kids wading in to the sea fully clothed. ... read more