Blogs from Kollam, Kerala, India, Asia - page 6

Can you imagine a place so quiet that it screams at you? Taking a cruise on the Kerala backwaters is such an experience. The boatsman propels the boat with a long pole and only very few fisherboats use engines. There are palm trees as far as the eye can see. After all Kerala means country of the palm trees. Coconuts are used for a lot of different things: you can drink the milk while they are still green and when they are ripe (brown and hairy) coconut powder for a lot of delicious dishes is produced. The fibre of the coconut is used for making ropes. ... read more

From Hampi we headed south through Bangalore (India's silicon valley), Mysore (famous for silks and sandlewood), the Vytheri rainforest (with its amazing tea, coffee and cardaman plantations - I will try and upload some photos if I get the chance) and into Kerela. Our first stop was a place called Kannur where we found the most idyllic beach in the whole of India so far and enjoyed it pretty much all to ourselves. We spent our time is what's called a homestay, where we were living and eating with an Indian family. We also got invited to a local ritual called a 'Theyyam' which is a religious festival which takes place for a variety of celebrations and involves some rather eccentric dressing up, dancing and worshipping. Ours was for a housewarming, aiming to ward off any ... read more

Hello Folkes. Yay! I'm nearly up to date with my blogs. It would be great to hear fRom you all so I know how you are. Grandad - How are you? Chris - hope your recovering well. Phil - you smell. Uni people - where are you? Hope you are all well anyway. Something that you can't miss in Keralla is the backwaters. Basically they are a strip of inland water very close to the coast, infact you can see the sea form them in some places. We got on a boat in Kollam and had a lovley three hour boat ride to the Amritanandmayi Ashram . This is the ashram set up by the wolrd famous huggy mother who people call Amma (mother). She started out pretty young by feeding the poor and generally comforting ... read more

My last few days in Sri Lanka ended with and ‘up-and-down’ five day tour. The high point was (literally) climbing Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak), a major pilgrim destination for Sri Lankans of all beliefs. It was at the top while watching the sunrise that I finally used the jacket that I packed for this trip! I have had an insight into Buddhism during my time in Sri Lanka and found it very interesting. The Hill Country was disappointing because the famous colourful tea-pluckers were on strike, but the cave temple at Dambulla, rock settlement at Sygiria and Buddhist ruins at Anuradhapura were all very impressive. Only my feet suffered on the hot stones around all the stupas. Unfortunately a month of good health came to an end with stomach problems as I left Sri Lanka and ... read more

Today has been an incredibly lazy day. But it felt nice. We had a buffet breakfast of mostly Indian food and then got picked up right on time. The drive here was just about an hour and a half. We are staying at a resort called Water Scapes, and it is beautiful. We're in a big hut on stilts with 2 hammocks below us...situated in trees and by canals. We booked a backwater package in America for 3 nights (Cochin, Kumarakom, Houseboat) and picked the Deluxe...we can't imagine what the Superior would have been like! It was very warm today. We checked in and then went and got some lunch at the restaurant (which overlooks a lake). We had some manchurian chicken (delicious) and a chicken curry made with some coconut milk. Then we hung out ... read more