Blogs from Kovalam, Kerala, India, Asia - page 5

As I've been travelling around, it's quickly occured to me that many of my experiences have been the first time I've seen or done something. I've been making a list as I've been going, and it's quickly grown into a monster; a veritable testament to the huge number of things I haven't done in my life before, and that I can now cross off my ever expanding 'to do' list. Some have been fantastic, some have been pedestrian, some have been observations, and some are never to be repeated. Absolutely never. I thought I'd list them out here in no particular order, and expand on some that warrant a bit more of an explanation. * Delhi belly. This is something I think every traveller I have met in India has some experience of, and it is ... read more

Arrived in Kovalam on Sunday via taxi - as we were driving we passed through a number of villages and towns. In one there was a celebration at a Hindu temple with 2 small baby elephants and lots of flowers, drumming and vivid colours (oranges and yellows). We didn't stop but it was nice to see in passing - next time I will insist on having a few minutes... We passed queues for the Toddy shops and government beverage shops. The queues were lengthy as the latter only open for a couple of hours a day with Indian men leaving them with their newpaper wrapped bottles and smiling faces... Most women we saw seemed to be queuing for fresh fruit, vegetables and firsh, haggling with much enthusiasm to ensure the best prices and freshest produce. Individuals ... read more

We decided to leave Trivandrum on a Sunday expecting the traffic to be a little lighter - wrong. Although it was only 10 miles to Kovalam it felt like 50. It is incredibly hot and humid here which has the effect of draining the life out of you. That said we really enjoyed getting back on the bikes and it was a great experience riding on the Indian roads. It is still out of season and it will get a bit cooler we hope in a few weeks. To help with acclimatisation we are not taking rooms with aircon but I think it's going to take at least a week before we can do any serious distance again. Yesterday we sorted the bikes out. The only damage I found was the rear lights on my bike ... read more

After another 24 hour train journey traveling from Mysore to Kanniyakumari via Bangalore I was yet again climbing the walls of the train. Complete boredom is the only words I can use to describe the long train journeys we endure... and for what? to see yet more mayhem in another part of India! Is it worth the effort .. Probably not, but we keep pushing on to try and find the real India advertised in those glossy magazines. We left Mysore (eye sore!) very disappointed. Apparently it is supposed to be the next big IT centre following Bangalore. I still can't imagine it to be true. The place is a shit hole and the fastest internet connection I could find ran at 128kbps. Again everyone tries to rip you off and you have to suffer constant ... read more

Feeling very sad, and a touch hungover, we left Richard's amazing cottage after giving it a good tidy and a clean and headed back to the bus stand to get a bus to Trivandrum. In trivandrum we hiked to a restaurant near the train station and had a massive meal in preparation for the journey. The restaurant was a spiral shape with all the tables arranged around the outside and the centre as a spiral ramp. The food was very good and we rolled onto the train for the 16 hour ride! The train was as good as they all have been, pictures are better than words but each person gets a bunk bed which is about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide and they are pretty comfortable, unless you happen to be 6"4' and ... read more