coichin is an old Portuguese colony, and appeared wealthier than when we were traveling down the east coast. they call it the venice of india. im not sure why, as there are no canals. i think it may be as its divided into islands. which you can travel across via a 20 minute boat journey which costs about 3p. there are several churches and a synagogue all very nice. i got a man in a tuk tuk to take me and nick around as well as the usual sights he also took us to some unusual places. the first is what [View Full Entry]

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as we headed up the west coast i noticed something that had completely escaped me before. as we had traveled down the east coast the roads were positively packed with streams and streams of chaotic traffic. im so glad they drive on the left as id be dead by know if my first reaction was to look the wrong way as bikes, mopeds, motor bikes, tuk tuks, taxis, vans, lorries and buses all compete on the road. but this is the thing id missed, no or at least very few private cars. as we entered coichin i noticed that there [View Full Entry]

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next we had a 10 hour drive to varkla via cape comerin which the very tip of india, id rerally looked forward to this, the ability to look at a map of the world point to the tip and say ive stood there. as usual these things are a bit of a dissapointment, you imagine being stood on a rock face looking over the horn or being alone on a desterted beach facing the swirling ocean. what you get is lots of tacky shops, as its a tourist destination for the indians. im probably being a little harsh as there is [View Full Entry]

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i have found out why i cant upload my photo's the images are two big so i need to make them smaller, to do this you need either an IT degree or some common sense, unfortunatley i have neither, i have tried face book, this takes ages. im going to either do an IT degree or see if one of the group has some common sense. Next we went on an overnight by local boat through the backwaters. i dont know how to describe this boat it was like a massive floating wiker thing, with three bedrooms and a large, sitting, [View Full Entry]

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madurai was another shock tot he system, this place was really run down, no pavements, open sewers piles of rubbish on every street, which the cows eat. i have not mentioned the cows before, they are not every where but they are common. i heard stories that they are reveared and that they can hold up trafic for hours if one decides to sleep on the road. from what i have seen this is not true, the cows are left preety much to there own devices and wonder the streets eating garbage. anyway there is wa sa temple not for from [View Full Entry]

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Indians: good at, putting up signs saying 'hot water shower available' crap at, providing showers with hot water. [View Full Entry]

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Mahabalipuram is a small costal town an hour or so from chennai, it felt like a million miles away. This is where lots of the hippes came in the 70,s to sit around smoke dope and get spiritual. it is set up for tourists and could be almost any little tourist beach town in the world. there is a park there where some dynasty or other made some carvings. prety cool. and a balancing rock which is a bolder the size of 4 busses perched on the side of a stone slope, it looks like it should roll down but has [View Full Entry]

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I wasnt dure to meet up with the rest of the group until the following day so i decided to explore chennai by my sef. i was a little apprehensive as when ever i have been to a third world counry you get nothing but hjassle from the over friendly money grabbing locals. this was different, i walked around for a bit and then got a tuk tuk to the beach, i walked up to the shore line and walked for a a couple og ks along the beach witht he water laping at my feet. there were many groups of [View Full Entry]

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As the plane was about to land i was asked to complete a landing pass and give the name andf address of my hotel, as i was doing this i noticed that my hotel was in mumbai, not chennai where i was about to land, to give you an idea of distance, if i was landing just outside west london, my hotel was just outside east.....berlin. initialy i felt brave, not a problem, get some cash at the airport as your not supposed to take indain money into the country, you should get it when you arrive, taxi, hotel, all good. [View Full Entry]

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ok, so the day arrives, i checked in on line this morning, and booked a cab to take me to the airport tomorrow, next stop india. the omens are good, as wales won the grand slam yesterday, things are on the up............. [View Full Entry]

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