jonyb

h3 -webkit-auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 50% 100%; margin: 0px March22 Hey everybody! So the 4 of us booked to go on Mr Wilson’s tour. Our driver Ganesh picked us up at 6.30 am, our bags went on the roof & the 4 of us, including one bad tummy got settled on the big comfy AC car. First stop, about an hour away we got to watch an adult male & 3 baby elephants get washed in the river. Due to the high quantity of tourists that visit you are no longer allowed to interact with the elephants, but it was amazing to watch the elephants looking all laid back in the water letting their mahouts scrub them with coconut shells. The larger ... read more

So we arrived in Varkala (north cliff) with the hope of a well deserved beach break (after not working for 3 months, yeah right). On arrival the place looked like everything we wanted, the sea, restaurants that sort of looked clean and shops. We decided to take a gamble and book into the mother palace guesthouse, which had ok reviews on hostelworld, but none on our favourite resource, trip advisor. When we got there all we wanted was a cold shower as it was absolutely boiling that day, and with around 8 hours of travel under our belts we could no longer blame the smell on nearby people. Our room was nice and had a good view from the balcony to the sea. We only paid around £5 between us too. We were happy, until night ... read more

So we arrived in Varkala with the hope of a well deserved beach break (after not working for 3 months, yeah right). On arrival the place looked like everything we wanted, the sea, restaurants that sort of looked clean and shops. We decided to take a gamble and book into the mother palace guesthouse, which had ok reviews on hostelworld, but none on our favourite resource, trip advisor. When we got there all we wanted was a cold shower as it was absolutely boiling that day, and with around 8 hours of travel under our belts we could no longer blame the smell on nearby locals. Our room was nice and had a good view from the balcony to the sea. We only paid around £5 between us too. We were happy, until night time. After ... read more

March20 Hey everybody!! Although very humid, being in Fort Cochin felt a big relief. South India is slightly less crazy! The driving is still pretty exciting, the electrical cables still hang low in the street, the assumption that you need a tuk tuk is still pretty persistent & the cockeral that wakes you up here in the morning, I can only assume is getting paid on the hour, almost every hour. We decided to wander after our lie in, first stop, food! We had a taster, we know this village has good food & we want more! Kashi Art Cafe! Amazing! Homemade bread, a sign saying they’re water is good to drink & their fruit is washed in good water too! Iced tea & iced coffee hit the spot & my tuna sandwich & Jonny’s chicken ... read more

h3 -webkit-auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 50% 100%; margin: 0pxHow to avoid Delhi Belly! March20 Hey everyone! Big catch up time again! & even longer by the time we get some WiFi & manage to upload it! So leaving the Tourist Rest House we’re slightly unsure who was being truthful, the tuk tuk man that worked there saying the bus station was 3km away or the other man saying 15km away for a “good” bus (basically a tourist one instead of a local one where they put your stuff on the roof) but apparently, no, the 3km one will be fine. After paying to get there & just see the local buses then paying more to go to the other station. Long! 11 ... read more

We decided we needed to move on from Jaipur sad that we missed the number one thing to see on trip advisor but very happy we saw holi and the elephant fest which were probably once in a lifetime experiences. We tried to get the train out of Jaipur but were unable to due to them being full, so far we have a 0% success rate with the trains as everytime they are full. The system is pretty useless unless booked way in advance, so we had to get the bus. The bus left at the awful time of 6.30am so we forced ourselves out of bed and got to the station. On arrival we had to avoid the local scam of trying to take your bags for you, ended up Litterally having to grab onto ... read more

March11 Hey everybody! We’ve been abit naughty & haven’t written for awhile so there’s quite abit to catch up on! As Jonny mentioned, we made some friends in Mumbai (its amazing how well people bond over upset tummies!) & although we knew they would be in Jaipur for Holi is was a nice surprise to see them walk past at the Elephant Festival. So the Holi Festival adventure began with Ellie & Thomas, I would like to mention if I hadn’t put my arm around the tuk tuk driver, I would have fallen off into the road & possibly the excrement of one of the following, cow, dog, pig, goat, monkey, human, camel or horse. And secondly, I don’t think I need to point this out but the male member of the group to wear the ... read more

So we left Mumbai and headed to the next stop which was Jaipur. This was to see our main reason for coming to India the Holi festival. Holi festival is basically a huge party to welcome in spring where everyone chucks coloured paint, drinks bhang lassi and gets drunk. For a lot of indian men who seem to love a good grope of any western girl, I can only imagine this is like Xmas new years and their birthday rolled into one. The day before holi fest is the elephant festival, where loads of elephants, camels and horses are all decorated, possibly against their will and paraded in front of India’s media, a good helping of tourists and a load of Indians keen to party. We got a tuk tuk from our hotel to the event ... read more