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Published: December 31st 2009
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Sorry no time for photos - check back and I'll add some later. Quite a lot has happned in the last few days but we’vr been out of touch with the rest of the world, so no chance of Internet connections. So - time for a very quick resume and then I’ll check out the facilities at our final resort.
It’s New Years Eve now and we travelled most of today to reach Kovalam which is right in the south of Kerala, quite near to Trivandurum. But in reverse order....
On Wednesday night we stayed on a houseboat in the backwaters of Kerala. Think Norfolk Broads, ten times bigger, hot, sunny and full of palm trees. It’s a mixture of rivers, canals and lakes, all linked together with housres, palm trees and rice paddies lining the banks. The boats are very luxurious: they call them converted rice boats but most of them seem to be much bigger and are probably custom built. There’s an open deck communal area at the front, with armchairs and loungers plus a dining table, then 3 or 4 bedrooms, and bringing up the rear a kitchen and crew area. Each bedroom sleeps 2
Presentation time
Tony, Sarah, Hannah, Sibel and each has its own bathroom and shower. And they’re all air conditioned and believe me, that’s not a luxury - it’s essential if you want to sleep! We had 3 boats between but in very civilized British style we met at 6 pm for G&T on the deck of the biggest boat. Then at 8 it was back to our own boat for dinner (chicken curry and rice). Soon afterwards I jumped ship and joined the girls (they had music and Honey Bee brandy - a good combination).
After all that, sleeping should have been no problem but aircon needs power, which comes from a generator……. The answer would have been either earplugs or more brandy but we had neither. Never mind - it was a great evening and sleep is for wimps.
On Tuesday night we stayed in a village homestay which was a lot posher than the ones I’ve experienced on recent trips. We had our own rooms with en suite facilities and hot water, so a tad different to Vietnam (dormitories and mossie nets), or Laos (bamboo floor, mossie nets and a resident cockerel). Mind you, I’m not complaining - they’ve all been great
Hmmm
Not sure if this would pass Health & Safety rules..... fun. Here, the food was superb: in my view possibly the best of the trip. It was simple, fresh, not too spicy and of course, huge portions.
Which brings me more or less up to date in Kovalam. We’re told that the entertainment and dinner is all included tonight so we seem to have won that little battle following the Christmas Eve goings on. It remains to be seen how that works out: we were on the beach earlier and could hear the band rehearsing that all time British party classis YMCA. Hmmmmm. Still, on the bvright side, we do have another bottle of Honey Bee to toast the New Year!
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John S...
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Happy New Year
Hope you get on/got on OK with New Year, we are off down the pub for a change. Been pretty quiet at home, think I haver got the motorbike running again. Went out cycling with Dan yesterday and got V muddy! Have a safe trip home...John S...