Bollywood stars and burnouts - April 19th

We seemed to have done a lot since the last update!

We enjoyed Fort Cochin and treated ourselves to freshly caught red snapper as well as the prawns (baby tuna, shark and barracuda were also on the menu but it didn't seem right to eat them). Garry popped down the local laundrette whilst we were there - see the iron!

We caught a few ferries between the islands which are similar to buses, ie just when you think they are full, another 50 people get onboard. For those of you familiar with the "through the window" technique used in skiing this can also be applied to boarding ferries. See Garry modelling a window exit on a quiet ferry!

We have been trying to integrate ourselves with the India cultures, this applies of course to food and refreshments, but we have been intrigued with the tea towel fashion. It consists of a very long tea towel wrapped three times round your waist, it never falls down, can be wafted about to create a nice breeze, worn short on hot days and long for more formal occasions. Women have to cover bare legs and shoulders, but a tea towel dressed man can wear them very short. See fashion photo.

From Cochin, we went by bus to Kumily and met Tanya and Vikas (Australian and Indian). We went by bike exploring round the spice gardens, tea plantations and feeding baby elephants. Whilst stopping for some refreshments, we were spotted by some celebs from "Kick It", a trendy comedy programme over here. As you can imagine they were very excited and wanted our picture taken with them! Anyone recognise them?

You will be pleased to know that although we had hired a 100cc bike, it was still able to do a burnout by the side of a road and a longer wheelie than was strictly necessary with 2 heavy westerners on the back!! You all know who was responsible for that!!! We have included a "long way round" photo of us. Eat your hearts out Ewan and Charlie.

Tanya was not well in Kumily so we all spent a day at the hospital with her. We met the Doctor who was really interesting and wants to come sailing with us. He invited us to look round his garden one afternoon. He took us into a large brick building and inside was a movie theatre, air conditioning and sound proofed. Absolutley unbelievable in the middle of the countryside.

From Kumily, we went to Allepey and travelled for 8 hours on the backwaters southwards down to Kollam. These are inland canals running parrallel with the sea which support hundreds of families. We have included the Goddess ofLight as she was rather an unexpected sight on the canals. We then took a taxi southwards again down to Verkala. By this time it was dark and raining (yes - just like it does in England!) and we managed to pick up a taxi. We travelled with Giles, Ruth and Nathan. Unfortunatley, Ruth appeared to have done insufficient travelling in India for this to be a comfortable ride. She was worried that driving on the right hand side and veering from side to side was dangerous. We have a bit more experience and knew this was normal. When we eventually arrived at Verkala, we told the hotel manager that we thought the driver was drunk and partially blind. He agreed with us and we all checked into our rooms.

Kanyakumali was the next destination for us, so another train journey. Luckily for us, Kanya.... is at the very southern tip of India so this time there was no chance of missing our stop. We nearly saw the sunset, but it was cloudy, but we did manage to get up at 5.30am for the sunrise which was pretty spectacliar. See pic. We did another ferry trip out to the southern most tip. This is where the Indian Ocean, the Arabian sea and the Gulf of Bengal all meet. Getting on the ferry was a little tricky. On the video, see how the boat moves up and down the quay!!

This place was just like Blackpool for Indians, loads of stalls selling all those plastic things that you never want when you get them home, but it was great to see them all on holiday.

From Kanyakumali we have moved slightly further north to Kavalan and yeaterday went out for a little ride. We have to take cover from the rain at one point, so Garry found us a classy bar to shelter in and as you see we met a few locals. This is our last day in India and we are really sad to be leaving. We are definatley going to come back, it's just a question of how soon! We catch the plane to Colombo tomorrow so the next update will be from Sri Lanka.

TTFN