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Published: October 12th 2007
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While we're avoiding a mega thunderstorm in Ho Chi Minh City, here is the last entry on India.........
We left Palolem after a few days, and headed to Kerala. Kerala is much lusher, cleaner and greener than Rajasthan and the only cows we saw tended to be tied to trees and eating grass not litter. First stop was an overnight stop at a bizarre Government Guest House in Kollam, an old British Colonial building. Had a great review in the Rough Guide, but was such a disappointment. Huge room and bathroom, but spooky & run down. In it's hay day I'm sure it was very grand, but not so much now. Well what do you expect for 3GBP. And then on to Varkala, a long row of great bars and restaurants on top of a steep cliff overlooking dramatic waves. There was fresh fish and seafood on offer galore and we had a great room with our own hammock on the balcony, but because of the time of year the beach was tiny and the current made swimming virtually impossible. David gave it a go, but much like himself, it was pretty hairy!
Next stop was further north where
we stayed in Ernakulam (the mainland) and caught the ferry to Fort Cochin, which has a real mix of Portuguese, British etc architecture, which of course we could spot and identify!! Note to anyone thinking of travelling in India - trains are great for covering great distances, but if you feel the need to go 2nd class rather than air con (AC) get a sleeper as you get a soft seat and more room, but if your journey's longer than about 3 hours go AC. You still get people selling all sorts of food, but it means you don't get subjected to the stench of urine every time the train comes to a halt.
Sea food was a big thing in Cochin too and we bought fish from the market 2 days in a row caught fresh in the Chinese fishing nets next to the market. Local restaurants then cook the fish for you for a small fee. Calamari, red snapper, king fish, king prawns, crabs & pomfret were all devoured enthusiastically, as were the numerous veg samosas and cakes bought from the local bakery - gorgeous and dirt cheap! We probably looked like right fatsos, the locals were
having 1 or 2 things max and we kept going up for more little cakes! We'd expected to lose weight in India after all the stories but we've eaten far too well...
We hired bikes for the day here too, for a bargain Rs10 each, but it was so hot and the roads were appalling so we only lasted a couple of hours. Ernakulam was probably the most developed town we'd stayed in at this stage, loads of neon, advertising, department stores, but nothing really to see. It was a bit cheaper than staying in Cochin itself and our guide book recommends you stay here as an increase in guest houses in Cochin is reducing the amount of clean water available for locals.
Alleppey was next, and a night in a guest house before heading to the port the next day to catch our houseboat. We checked emails at a local internet cafe and ended up talking to the guy working there who asked us if we'd heard of JAG Cleaners in Cardiff. He'd applied for a job, sent them about 150 GBP and hadn't heard anything for 2 months. After a quick internet search we had to break
the news that he'd been had.....
There were scores of house boats moored at the finishing point and we eventually found ours and climbed aboard to meet the three guys who would be our captains and cooks for the next 21 hours. We had a really relaxing trip cruising the backwaters and were fed mountains of delicious Keralan food (lots of curry leaves and coconut). We were also very pleasantly surprised to be given Kingfisher despite it being Gandhi's birthday (yes we know he's dead) and therefore a dry day. We also found out the night before, 1st of Oct, when we turned up at a hotel bar, that the first of every month is also a dry day! Our room was far more luxurious than most - if not all - of our accommodation to date. Thanks to our niece, Josie, and her parents for buying us this trip as a wedding present.
Our last stop in Kerala was a great guest house 9 hours away in Kannur. In the middle of palm and coconut groves and only 5 mins walk to deserted white sandy beaches, plus with more gorgeous food and friendly other guests, it was a
perfect place to spend 24hours before the chaos of Mumbai. If we'd know about this place (Costa Malabari) earlier we'd have probably skipped Goa and spent more time here.
Mumbai wasn't as bad as we'd feared, although David nearly came to blows with the taxi driver and his cohorts, but probably because we didn't leave the safety of the nice bits and even then we spent 3 hours watching a naff film in Hindi just to be able to sit in the AC cinema. Much of our final night in India was spent in a small internet place pressing the refresh button on the BBC website as we nervously saw England through to the semis of the mans World Cup. We left India with smiles on our faces for more than one reason!
We'll update you on Hong Kong soon
The Millsys
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margaret mills
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Brilliant Blog!
Great to hear from you two! Brilliant Blog, pictures and humour! Continue having lots of fun! xxx