Blogs from India, Asia

Warning: long blog ahead. Make your tea now. I started to write this before I got sick and never sent it. Now it feels unfinished to send without being updated first. So here goes: March: This past year has been filled predominantly with joy, watching my baby become a boy. Considering I left the decision of my motherhood up to fate, I never counted on having a son. So I’m beyond grateful everyday that he came to me. But once the sadness of the situation surrounding his arrival subsided, I was still left with wonder and questions, many questions and worry of our future. Much of this was surrounded by finances of course. But with no clear path for me and the unusually large amount of hours of sleep I’ve needed since Taylor’s birth, I often ... read more

Time to leave Forest Canopy...very sad. It has been a really fabulous hotel, looking after everyone really well especially at meal times where the appetites have varied enormously. So it was an early start, and they opened up early for a special breakfast for us and then we were off. Bit of a trek in the A team bus this time round, it was about a 5 hour journey. We were better prepared this time round though, Mum, Phoebe and Chloe all took travel sickness pills and they were ready to go to sleep the moment they sat down! There were no 'accidents' on the way down to sea level therefore and everyone felt relatively fresh still when we got there. Anoop even managed to get some rubber bands for Phoebe's braces on the way down ... read more

OK, so our last night at Shola Crown wasnt the best. We went down for the BBQ and quickly decided that we needed some different food so proceeded to the restaurant where the Hotel Manager told us that he would bring it up to the room. 2 hours later, despite multiple requests and growing frustration it still hadn't arrived and the kids needs to sleep. However, with the music still blaring from the BBQ there was no chance of that. Anyway, after much gesticulating by Dad and some fairly colourful language, the food came and the kids ate a bit before going to bed.......once the music had stopped! All of this on top of the fact that mum and dad found out that our flights home might be cancelled, this could be good news if it ... read more

We moved on today. Leaving behind our gorgeous views and rooms at the Olive Brook Hotel and moving to Shola. So, it was back into the A team van for a couple of hours, and after a short pit stop for a breathtaking view of the blue mountains, we arrived at Camp Kalypso - a Glamping Site built by our tour guide's company which they use as a trekking base camp. After a very welcome snack and delicious tea (cinnamon, cardomom, pepper and ginger), we headed out on our next trek to a village called Pacidpulkudi. The trek was through heavy undergrowth with lots of cardomom plants and endless Eucalyptus trees (brought over from Australia and slowly taking over). Heavy going up hill but our guides kept us entertained spotting black eagles, snake eagles, snakes and ... read more

A bit of a lie in this morning after a rather disturbed night. Olivia and I decided that an adult should be in each bedroom rather late. So, I picked Chloe up from the kids room and Olivia slept in there. Phoebe then had an upset stomach into the early hours of the morning and so not a great deal of sleep was had. After a light breakfast we packed up and left Whispering Waters for our new destination in Munnar. We stopped after a few minutes for Anoop to show us how rubber is collected. He gave us a couple of interesting facts about it too: rubber was discovered in Brazil and was first used as a pencil eraser! It was a 3 hour journey to Munnar and everyone was fairly quiet as the roads ... read more

It was an 8.30 start as Anoop didnt want us to get into town too late and then get caught by the sun. Today we were shown round Fort Kochi - which includes the Fort (built by the Portugese, then destroyed and re-built by the Dutch). We started with the a rather curious trip round the laundry of Fort Kochi which used to wash all of the military clothing. We've still no idea why we wnt round it but it was quite interesting to see a traditional laundry still in working order - no washing machines and irons heated by coal! Our guide tried to make friends with Chloe by teasing her which she was not impressed by and made her cry!! After the laundry we went to the Roman Catholic Church that Vasco De Gama ... read more