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

Today we had the same breakfast and then Mark spent the rest of the day in bed feeling rough. Dale and I headed out to explore the area. Taking the inevitable shortcut we got lost and so found ourselves going in what we figured was the wrong direction up a strange hill. No worries, we found a fantastic little hut which served food and had a great fish fry with plenty of curry, porotta and tea to wash it all down! Great lunch! We then asked for directions and eventually found our way to the lighthouse beach where we used the internet for a bit and then headed back taking the short way round this time. In the evening we all headed out to another roadside hut for dinner, chicken fry with porotta and an interesting ... read more

Paul was blissfully unaware of the plans we had hatched for him. Having failed to wonder slightly why John and I only spent a few hours in Varkalla before coming down to Kovalam we had managed to organise a venue for the night without raising the slightest suspicions. During the week in Kovalam I had liased with Michael and organised a 22 seat bus for us to take the boys up to Varkalla, wait the whole day and drive us back at midnight. We all met up at Leo's. Paul was nervous. I told him not to be. He didn't fully believe any of us. I suppose he was dreading the Kiwi style bachelor parties he had witnessed or taken part in before. We all got a beer in us and walked up the hill to ... read more

We woke late for breakfast and packed all our stuff up. We then organised a taxi to Kovalam, some 70km south of Varkala. Yousef's current employer, Richard, had very kindly offered us his holiday house in Kovalam which was very generous! After phoning for instructions we made our way to where we thought the house was and were greeted by a very grand looking cottage. Not until the agent turned up with the key could we believe it! We left our stuff in the house and then went for a walk to the other beaches in the area, found a great restaurant and ate another massive curry! Tired from the long walk we returned home and had a few beers and some cards on the veranda! ... read more

March 5 - 9 We arrived in Trivandrum after a short 2 hour flight from Mumbai on Jet Airways. The domestic terminal in Mumbai was light years ahead of the dilapidated hectic international terminal we landed at only days earlier. This modern domestic terminal was extremely efficient and clean. Having to go through separate security lines (one for “LADIES” and one for “GENTS”) was a new experience as Julie was frisked behind a curtain and I was patted down out in the open by an armed guard. Trivandrum was a tropical paradise and is one of the main cities in the state of Kerala (about the size of Vancouver Island, but with a population of 33 Million!!). We planned to relax for next 4 days at a beach resort in the small town of Kovalum (45 ... read more

I am going to cheat on this blog! I have uploaded photos onto my facebook profile already so am going to paste the link so you can see these photos from our trip (Anth and I) to India instead of uploading them again (lazy I know;) We had a fantastic time away, especially after winter in Manchester, we were really looking forward to some sunshine, catching up with good friends and seeing Paul and Heidi get married! We left on Wednesday the 13th Feb and had an 8 hour flight to Abi Dhabi (near Dubai) then a 4 hour flight to Trivandrum. Paul met us at the airport at 5am their time which was fantastic! Caught a taxi back to Kovalam and settled in for our 7day holiday. The photos pretty much show what we did. ... read more