Blogs from Kollam, Kerala, India, Asia - page 2

Spent a week in Varkala, cliffs, light and black sand beaches, dolphins, fishermen, Europeans, Nepalese, Tibetans, Indians, Aussie's, few Americans. Dreamt seveal nights about swimming with the dolphins. Had amazing fish and tiger prawns. Coffee is mostly instant here, yet managed to find a 1/2 decaf 1/2 reg americano w/soy...was found out as an American:) Being on the beach felt like an extension of my rejuvenation process from the panchkarma at the clinic I had come from, was so relaxing and awakening as well. Had a few marriage proposals...the Indian men are enammoured with foreign women, WOW! Met some of my greatest friends shopping, these children, pre-teen, work all day with thier families selling their goods, but how much can one carry on their back. I stayed in 2 places, the second was back a bit ... read more

Grabbed lunch from the supermarket- good old staple of crisp sarnies ;) Walked down to tourist place to get bus that would take us to canoe place. There were 4 other people on our tour; another couple (guy was from Sheffield) and two girls. Sat on bus chatting about where we'd been and where we were going. Just before setting off an Indian girl in her teens started taking pics of the 6 pale English people in a van haha. The canoe was quite big and we sat relaxig on there for a good couple of hours, the guide ferrying us through a series of backwater canals from where we could see the little backwater villages. We got off the canoe a couple of times to see things like canoe boats being made, a fish farm, ... read more

We caught a pretty rough looking bus to Kollam which is the start of the Kerala backwaters. The pace has really slowed down now, although the towns are still dirty, dusty and hectic, with a mix of huge trucks, auto rickshaws and ox and carts. Once it had cooled down we were able to head down to the beach - not a great one for swimming but the sea breeze was cool and we could stroll around picturesque Keralan fishing hamlets. Unfortunately our hotel room was basically on the main highway. The noise, all night long was unbelievable. The backwaters have been described as the emerald jewel in South India’s crown and we would have to agree. Our first canoe-boat trip from Kollam was through the peaceful canals of Munroe Island. We had a local guide ... read more

green, green green... read more

"This blog is dedicated to Amy, Josh, John and my Nana. The first 3 were taken away in their prime the latter was in her prime for 99 years. Rest in Peace.” We hit Chennai at 11.30pm feeling a little tired and very relieved after one of the bumpiest and scariest flights I’d been on in a while. We passed through 3 different thunderstorms that clearly lit the night sky and the plane!!! The next morning we decided not to cycle into Chennai, but headed south towards Mamallapuram a tourist fishing town overlooking the Bay of Bengal. We put on our armor, sun cream and ear plugs as we set off!! We soon realized that Indian roads are best described in one word... “mayhem”. Truthfully the way out of Chennai was not as bad as we ... read more