Advertisement
Published: August 1st 2008
Edit Blog Post
Chinese fishing nets
Exactly what it says on the tin - These were in Kerala I haven't updated this in a while but this will be the last post that i do before we head out to Malaysia.
First things first (as Katie just pointed out). I should probably apologise for my typing so far.. alot of it is written in a hurry as i resent having to pay for the internet out here (i'm sure they charge us more) so things get typed as fast as i can manage it and as it comes out of my head.
Anyway...
We hit Goa... and we hit the monsoon. There really isn't a whole lot to say on the matter.. it is abit of a shame as it's meant to be one of those tropical paradises with cool blue sea's and sunshine all day long. Not the case i'm afraid, it rained and rained and rained and rained. Big heavy rain.. none of that english drizzle rubbish you guys get back home.. these droplets were huge, proper tropical storms. Our first night was spent in some 150 rupee shack.. which was somewhat of a bad idea. The mattresses were covered in mouse/rat droppings and although locked up, it seemed that the faintest gust of wind
Water Hyacinth
The aquatic geek shines through... could have broken in and stolen all of our stuff. Also to top it off.. the electric died at about .. 11:30pm so we had no fan and no form of air movement.. so we were left stifling in a tin shack. Not Fun!
On the evening we bumped into an english couple (teachers..everyone above 28 so far that we have met is a damn teacher!.. no offence its a fine job.. but really) who had found a place down the road. Now.. it may sound like we were being a lil picky.. but this place had 4 sturdy walls (concrete!) and a bathroom that was clean(ish) for 250 a night. Oh i didn't mention.. or rather forgot to bring up, the guy we rented the shack from didn't give us any change and we didn't find him for the rest of our time in Goa..so that place actually cost us 200rs a night.. so really Palmira's (the new place) was a god send.
Unfortunatly, given the fact that it was off season most of Goa was shut.. we had a choice of 2 places to eat. Pedro's which was kind of like a caribbean beach front place .. it
Boat trip
The dense jungle overhang in the backwaters of Kerala was a little out of place in india, and The Sea Rose - a nice little restaurant with a good selection of food for both me and kate. I have to say, there really hasn't been any problem finding vegetarian meals for kate in India.. in some cases we have been to all vegetarian restaurants so it has been the other way around. Malaysia may not be so forgiving but we shall see. Katie has actually taken to trying to learn some Malay so that she can say that she doesn't need fish/Chicken/Prawns of any kind.. it's proved interesting hearing her practice it.
So.. in a nutshell, alot of Goa was spent in our room/on the veranda (i like to say spending alot of time reflecting on one self but that would be a lie) reading, relaxing and sleeping.
We have been alot more forunate with the weather in Kerala, although the train ride took closer to 17 hours when it was supposed to take 12 - 15 that has been the only real downside. We have had a few bouts of rain, but nothing major. We even managed to book ourselves a boat trip through the backwaters (HWG
Boat trip 2
A straight on shot of the river to come people - you would love to start and export business on the mature water hyacinths.. the flowers on them are really nice), this was basically going through the rivers created by the monsoon on nothing more than a giant kyak.. we all got abit snap happy so hopefully when we remember we will get some photo's uploaded.. it was like being in a little jungle. Kind of what i imagine Malaysia to be like, but with less palm trees.
Apart from this we have managed to go on little wanders around town and catch a ferry over to fort cochin for the day where they have the chinese fishing nets and Kathkali art forms (unfornatly we didn't get to see this due to not enough time).
We move onto Chennai in about 5 hours time.. there we spend 1 night and fly to singapore the following morning (sunday) to start another chapter in this mini adventure!
All in all, i am glad that we came to India. It has been a hell of an eye opener to different parts of the world. But, it's not my kind of country. I do not regret coming here. Kerala + Goa are both places i would consider coming in their summer so that i could see more of the area's. Especially inland kerala.. i read there is a brilliant rare purple flower there that blooms every 12 years (next one is in 2018).. which could be worth coming back for.
The best part of the journey for me personally was probably at the beginning when we did the himalayan trek.. looking back i don't feel the blog i did really justifies how much fun it was and how exhilarating the whole experience was. It would be interesting to do a trek from the other side of the mountains. I.e. Nepal / Tibet.. something for the future maybe.. though with abit of preperation in terms of fitness..
I guess thats it from me for India, we are both well and eagerly looking forward to Malaysia where i have already found somewhere to go diving and we are looking to go to an Urang-u-tan centre as well as a probiscus monkey sanctuary amongst other things.
Hope you are all ok back home and we'll speak to you all soon no doubt, all the best
Pete + Kate
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0366s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb