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Published: November 16th 2010
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I have fallen slightly behind with the blog due to the fact that we are out having fun rather than sitting in internet cafes! I am writing this from Bangkok, after a few cocktails but will try my best to summarise the last few weeks in India and bring it up to date.
After Munnar we moved on to Allepey which is famous for its backwaters and houseboats. Other than that, there is very little to do and Allepey itself is pretty grim. We arrived quite late and found a dingy little café for dinner. We order two vegetarian meals but mine definitely had some unidentified meat and bones in it. I pointed this out to the waiter but he tried to convince me it was potato. Weirdest potato I have ever seen! I’m not a vegetarian but if I was I would have been pretty mad! I think this was the only bad meal we had in the whole of India.
The next day we found ourselves a houseboat and stocked up on alcohol for our 24 hours on board. The boats all come with a crew. We had a driver, a chef and a third guy who
just seemed to come along for the ride. At 11.30 we set sail along the canals and lakes. There isn’t really a great deal to do other than take in the scenery, read, chat and drink. We loved it! Before lunch, Dima went for a swim in the lake, he would swim in a puddle if it was deep enough! Lunch was served on banana leaves and was delicious. Although it could easily have fed a family of 4!
In the evening the boat was moored next to the family home of one of our crew. They had 4 children who seemed quite fascinated with us. We gave a packed of coloured pencils to one of the little girls and she immediately snatched them and started to eat them…oh dear! We quickly stopped her and got her family to explain what they were. We had meant for her to share them with the others but she clearly had no intention of doing so! We had another packet so we divided them out equally along with some paper. They seemed genuinely pleased, but didn’t quite know what to do with them.
We slept on the boat, which sounds fun,
but in reality it was the hottest night of my life! We opted for a cheap boat with no air con (bad mistake). We finally managed to get some sleep and then made our way back to Allepey the next morning. I would highly recommend the houseboat experience, it is so relaxing compared with the rest of India.
Next stop was Varkala which is Kerala’s answer to Goa. We instantly loved it. The accommodation, bars and restaurants run along a cliff face which gives amazing views down to the sea. There is a small beach which we were told gets much bigger when the tide changes. The waves on the beach were in Dima’s words “awesome” and he attempted surfing, which only resulted in some rather nasty looking surfers rash! Everything is so much cleaner and more organised than in Goa. Dima tells me this is because Kerala is a communist state and they know how to be organised. We spent a lovely 5 days there and really didn’t want to leave. The food was amazing, we had fresh fish most nights which we selected ourselves from the daily catch. We also had the best curry I have ever
tasted in my life. After eating so much, I decided I needed some exercise so went along to an early morning yoga class. Now, I haven’t done yoga for about 5 years so the class nearly killed me (especially the head stand) and then next day I could barely move. It was worth it though, and it would have been wrong to visit India without doing some yoga. I tried to get Dima to come along but he decided a few extra hours in bed was more appealing!
Reluctantly we left Varkala and headed to the most southern point of India, a place called Kanyakumari. We had been told that this was a magical place and well worth a visit. There was nothing even vaguely magical about it and we decided that it reminded us of somewhere like Blackpool or Skegness. Tacky, overpriced and full of tourists! I am aware that this makes me sound like a snob, but it really was bad and the accommodation was hideous. The rest of India was surprisingly ok when it came to rooms but here the beds were filthy and one room which they showed us had a random guy just hanging
out on the bed watching TV! The only thing worth seeing in Kanyakumari are the Indian tourists attempting to swim, or rather standing on the edge of the ocean fully clothed laughing their heads off as the waves splash around them! This sight in itself is probably the only good thing about this town! Obviously, Dima managed a swim in the Indian ocean so he was happy!
We had one last sleeper train journey to Chennai which was pretty uneventful. We became experts at the public transport in India and got used to the dirt, the volume of people and the strong smell of wee! We had a day to kill in Chennai before our flight to Bangkok. Like most of the big cities we went to Chennai was busy, dirty and hard work.
India was an amazing experience and I am very glad that we decided to go. Our 6 weeks flew by, and surprisingly we were very sad to leave. India can be challenging, there were many frustrating moments, but overall we loved our time there and feel lucky to have seen so many amazing sights and met so many brilliant people. I will miss the
stunning views, the food, the Indian head wobble, the cows, the monkeys, the sweet sweet chai, the beaches and the weird and wonderful things you see everywhere you look. I will not miss the dirt, the dogs, the mosquitos, the sadness of the poverty, the serious lack of toilet paper and the dreaded dehli belly.
Next instalment, Bangkok and beyond……
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Luke
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Great blog
As Dima is now a pro-surfer we look forward to getting some lessons! You want waves, we'll show you waves :-)