Blogs from Kerala, India, Asia - page 167

Heading up the west coast of Kerala state on the west coast of India through the famous backwaters. Here are some pix taken on that 3 day trip north with journey completion in Kochi. ... read more

Arrived at Cochin airport in the morning . We took a taxi to Fort Cochin.We paid 585 Indian Rupies for 45 km.we watched the fisherman at Chineese nets catching fish.Having a nice lunch of fresh fish we took the super fast bus to Allapey.The bus driver really rallied rather than driving.We stayed at Tharayil Tourist Home paying 700 Ind.Rupies for a night for non AC (no need for AC at this season) double room.We are quiet tired and sleepy we may continue later.... read more

So...we arrived in Cochin from the houseboat by train...but there's only one storey to tell.....We starred in a Bollywood TV production (yep really...read on) So, Cochin is a lovely town - well at least Fort Cochin is, which is the old trading port at the end of the Island. A marvellously preserved town, stuffed full of old colonial buildings, and mercifully, very little Indian traffic and general hubub. The old sea wall is stuffed with Chinese fishing nets and you can by the fish fresh from the sea and have it cooked then and there. We did !! 2 quid for a plate of Tiger Prawns. The town also has an Old Jewish quarter, with the Indian Pepper 'Stock Market'. We barged in to have a look - but it was all computerised - very disappointing ... read more

Well we seem to be getting use to this beach living stuff! Having trouble pulling ourselves away. After almost a week in Varkala we headed to the southern most point on the continent - Cape Cormorin, stopping along the way at one of the larger Hindu temples. I think it was the first one we were allowed to go in as usually they do not allow non Hindus entry. It was huge with lots of alleyways and many many statues and temples inside. They were preparing for a festival so there were alot of pilgrims and many statues for the parade. It was fascinating. We then found a great beach cottage - Wild Palms at the Sea, along a coconut lined secluded beach. It was set among rural Kerala that did not look as though it ... read more

Well after waiting eagerly, my folks finally arrived in Delhi and to help ease them in to the vagaries of India I had booked us all into a fancy 5 star hotel (against our wishes of course!). It was a tough life cocktails by the pool, air conditioning and a bath...ahhh! Next up was helping my dad celebrate his 60th birthday, so we had the best curry and Kingfisher beers we could find (plus a cake of course!). We soon left our Delhi bellies behind and headed to Amritsar the place of the Golden Temple which was well.... very gold, rather cold and to top it off we had to don fetching orange mini-turbans! It had been my dad's dream to come here and luckily it was worth the trip especially seeing the 30,000 person a ... read more