Have you tried diving? No? Yes? Well, if you haven't then you should. Before this week I have only been once and I remembered it as amazing. Not anywhere near as amazing as today though. Not even close. We got on the boat at 7:30 am, all of us looking a bit rough, and set out for the first dive spot. We were all feeling the nerves but once I hit the water and started down, all nerves were forgotten. The quiet, the bubbles, the cool water, and the fish, oh my gosh the fish! They were amazing and so many [View Full Entry]

---

---

I love Thailand! Asia » Thailand » Koh Tao By Sarah and Carlie April 18th 2007 Untitled Sarah and Carlie Ok, so by the title you know know that everything you ever hear about how wonderful Thailand is, it's all true. I flew to Surat Thani last night, met a lovely Thai gi [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, so just a quick note to say hi and sorry for not writing in ages. I know you are all chomping at the bit to hear, but really we haven't done much. We stayed in a couple of vary nice hotels (on my birthday too and that was lush!) and left India last night, with a big sigh (mostly of relief but a little of saddness too). We didn't sleep much all night and got into Bangkok this morning about 9:30, only to be suprised by Billy at the airport! Carlie just about fainted from confussion and excitement, and after [View Full Entry]

---

---

It is now the end of our time in India and as such many things have been going around in my head. I have been asked by loving parents and friends, “so what have you learnt?” “did you find what you were looking for there?” many times over the last week. My answer to them is, truly, I don’t know. Not just because I never really had a clear idea of what I was looking for, or if I was looking for anything, but also because I feel as if I haven’t digested any of that learning yet. Much like [View Full Entry]

---

---

Want India from another perspective? Check out the dynamic website of our good friend, PJ Polo at www.pjpolo.com We miss you PJ! My mum has already set a place for you at the Canadian Thanksgiving table. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Baffling? Yes. Convoluted? Definately. Frustrating, biased, opinionated and entirely unprofessional? Mostly. Just for fun, here is my attempt at a typical newspaper article. For those of you who have travelled to India, you'll immediately understand the following but for those who have not, I wish you luck! Welcome to India. Indish Bearing from English By Carlie Tomlin Some of timing India is making little little sense. I go Mumbai and little little sense. I go Goa and little little sense. I go Kerala and little bit more sense but same same. People in the big nat [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ode to a Tent By Carlie Tomlin Oh ye of impermeable contentment and sound sleep, of such free-standing elegance and glorious mystique! How doth now we sing the praises you so wholly deserve? Through offering of cow? No! But, by the ode of our words. Enshrined in terror by the roar of ferocious spiders, pinched, poked, plighted and pillaged by night's antennaed gliders, We turn to the hollows of your poled and protective womb finding unencumbered slumber, delicate and so unfestooned. For here, in a land mourning an insectual [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi Everyone, After a short hiatus, I still have not got myself together enough to write another blog. I've been preparing, collecting notes and writing a whole lot in my personal journal. Unfortunately, I've left said journal in our hotel room and to post without the aid of my notes is impossible. We're disappearing into the jungle for a few days and an internet connection is doubtful but when I emerge, I promise to indulge you in my longest blog yet. Sarah seems to have kept you up to date on our travels so I won't repeat the details but she [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, so when the Lonely Planet call's a place "beautiful", one generally tends to assume that one won't be stepping off the bus into mayhem and dirt. Ah, but then one would be assuming wrong. After a five hour, bone jarring, terrifying, wish-I-could-teleport-myself bus ride to Kottayam, twelve hours on a train (the only humane way to travel) to Managalore, overnight, where we had to beg our way into the AC compartment for a bed, and then another five hour body-rattling and bruising bus ride up to Madikkeri, we stepped off the bus glad to be on solid ground, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

After Varkala, anything we did was bound to be somewhat of a disappointment. Unfortunately, we decided to do the most expensive activity scheduled on the whole trip: House Boating. In all the guide books and on all the websites, house boating in Kerala’s backwaters are toted as the “chose a fair” while in Kerala. It is the one must see in the whole state, and floating peacefully along on a barge, through meandering canals sounded like an excellent way to spend a day and an evening. So, we headed from Varkala (sadly) on Thursday, on route to Kollam which was the [View Full Entry]

---

---