Last Weeks

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Well we have now reached our last week, and with mixed feelings, whilst it will be nice to get home I have really enjoyed the last few weeks of India, and would love to keep exploring this amazing country.
Last time I had time to write we were in Mumbai, which was a very scary day, but we made it out safely and have such a story to tell now. After Mumbai we caught an overnight train to Bangalore and after a night there an early morning train to Mysore. Mysore was a really lovely place, not too busy and not overly effected by western society, which was nice, whilst there we explored the amazing palace, which was my reason for going there, the palace was amazing and with an audio guide we got a lot of very helpful information. We also took a horse and cart around town and generally relaxed after our Mumbai ordeal.
It was then off to Trivandrum the capital of Kerala where we caught up with Jonathan, who we had met in Varanasi and travelled with to Agra and dehli, it was really nice to catch up with him again, and the three off us headed to Kovalam to spend a lovely day relaxing on the beech, although the sunburn showed just how relaxed we were. The following day we bid farwell to Jonathan and spent a night in Kochi before catching an overnight train in sleeper class to Margao, in Goa, where we then met Jonathan again for two nights in Benaulim, on our first day here we hired scooters and drove through beautiful lush tropics to Palolem beech, it took us at least 3 hours to get there and at least that again to get back, and whilst it was worth it it was a long tiring day, and needless to say sitting down wasnt so easy later in the evening, scooter riding had been something I had really wanted to do and I am glad I didnt try alone, Jonathan was very patient waiting for us and looking after us, especially when it got dark, and the traffic began to get insane, it is quite scary when you are on a scooter and you see a truck passing another truck heading straight towards you on a road wide enough for one car. The following day I was quite sick again, but carried myself to the beech for the day.
The next day we said a final farewell to Jonathan who is heading back to the States, and we caught a taxi to Baga beech which is more in Northern Goa, here we met up with Marie, and older lady we met in Pokhara at the orphanage we visit, she is lovely and from th UK, it was also nice to have someone there for my birthday, we spent much of the day at the beech and in the evening Dominic and I ate ate a beech side restaurant, where we were treated to fireworks, and next door even played happy birthday. The beeches in Goa were beautiful, and lined with beech shack/restaurant/bars, with sun lounges by day they replace them with tables and chairs by night and candles, and lots of music, the atmosphere was great and definetely good to celebrate my birthday. Whilst in Baga with Marie we also took a dolphin tour, where we saw many dolphins in the ocean, some of which put on a show for us, with a Goan BBQ on the beech, our last night in Goa we spent with some retail therapy. Yesterday we then farewelled Marie, and caught an overnight train back to Trivandrum, arriving early this morning we caught a rickshaw straight to Kovalam, where we are staying for the next 3 nights to relax on the beech, before going back to Kochi on Friday.

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