Kerela and Dave the Traveller

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Well. lets just say after 11 days in Palolem we were definatley not prepared for the 17hour train Journey that lay ahead to get us to Fort cochin, Kerela. The carriage we were in had no airconditioning and the temperatures reached into the 40's - I think we probably lost half our body weight in sweat....nice!

When we finally arrived in fort cochin it was so nice to meet up with my friend from london, Lauren (the artist formerley known as 'Dave'). Afew days were spent here eating from fishmonger stalls, watching an extremely drawn-out Kathakali performance and taking long, hot walks through the dutch-settled town.

From here we ventured south to explore the kerelan backwaters in a place called Alleppey. Rather than spending big-bucks on an overnight houseboat we took the cheaper option and just took the local ferry. This was amazing, a definate highlight of our trip. On the 4 hour round-trip, we watched the lives of the people of allepey unfold along the banks of the backwaters. People got on and off at different points along the trip, we watched school kids return home, mothers with babies heading into town, young teenage girls flirting with the ticket attendent...and as we watched them, all of them stared at us curiously. I dont think that many tourists catch the local ferry - what amazing experience.

We spent Easter in Allepey, and had a nice curry lunch on the water (not the typical easter sunday lunch!) before heading south again, to a clifftop town called Varkala. Here we spent a relaxing 6 days on the beach constantly getting caught in rips, and watching monsoonal weather approach every evening. Had many a beer, curries galore and dedicated mornings to what became known as 'prime tanning'.

Finished India off at a beach called Kovalum before flying out of trivandrum and heading to Sri Lanka.

We cant believe that our 11 weeks in India is over. What an absolutely amazing experience. We have seen so many faces to such an unbelievable diverse country. We have covered thousands of miles, experienced some pretty awful train/bus journeys, compared big cities with small towns, swum at beautiful beaches, put up with the constant nagging/attention of indian men (more specifically tuktuk drivers!) and come out of the whole experience smiling ready for our next adventure.....Sri Lanka!

Log back in in a week or so and i'll let you know how Sri Lanka is going!

Go the Aussies - cantbelieve we are actually in Sri Lanka for the world cup cricket final!!!!!!

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