philliinindia

Well where do I start?.......... The place is beautiful, but very quiet. I was struggling with this until a lovely group arrived from the Uk, exploring alternaltive therapies. They are an amazingly diverse and interesting bunch of GPs, alternative medicine practitoners and students. As for the treatments, these are based on your health and your doshas with the added intention of making you relax, hence the quientness! The massages are not like any I have ever had before. they are all performed by 2 girls, covering the 4 sides of your body. They involve a lot of oil! Rest assured, no photos will be appearing! There are other treatments and yoga as well. I am undecided how long I will be staying here, but it is probable that I will be back to the UK before ... read more

Phase 2 is a little shorter than expected as the season has ended, so things are packing up. The rains also arrived with me! The monsoon not s'posed to arrive 'til June, but it has rained heavily everyday, and is thereore very hot and humid. Not beach weather My camera card has picked up a virus this morning, and I have no safe facilities to sort it. The photos are still there (mostly) but I wont risk posting anymore until I find somewhere safer. Probably not India!!! I'll therefore give you a brief summary Varkala The beach was beautiful, if too hot, and it would be a lovely place to come back to in season. It is only a little commercialised, and no high-rises yet. Allepey Cruising the backwaters on a houseboat Kochin - The capital ... read more

the reason for the visit here is to see the Ghats. I don't think that there is anything else quite like it anywhere! All the activities taking place before dawn on and in the same river. I wasn't able to take photos of it all, and I didn't want to, as it all felt very intrusive . From the river we saw a deceased lady already wrappped in white cloth being tied to a boat for her burial in the Ganges. Apparently as she was a Seikh she couldn't be cremated. Along the edges of the river people bathe, wash their clothes and clean their teeth. All in the same water. Truly unbelievable, especially as 2 sewage plants empty into it. Although we felt intrusive, we were not seen that way as the locals carried on ... read more

4000 km travelled by road, so I thought I'd write this to add some colour to the blogs. Delhi and Rajastan are mad in many ways, but generally, The first has to be traffic. In the cities cars, buses, camels, donkeys, rickshaws, carts, tut tuts, push bikes, motor bikes, scooters all fight for the road constantly beeping their horn. This is not in anger though, but to let others know they are there. They all use both sides of the road , and constantly have to avoid the Holy cows roaming around. Strangely it work and traffic jams clear quickly. Outside the cities there is the addition of beautifully,brightly painted lorries and the occassional elephant. The lorries are always overloaded, and their cargo not secured. This was a little worrying when the load was marble! There ... read more