Thursday 17th December Kochin to Heathrow It was a very short night that ended at 4.15 for our departure to the airport. The chef had provided breakfast in our room including a decorative fruit platter garnished with pomegranate. We said goodbye to the beautiful Old Harbour Hotel. The journey to the airport proved something of a challenge. Exciting in retrospect but anxiety-provoking at the time as there seemed to be a very good chance that we would miss our f...

Wednesday 16th December. We started today with an early morning yoga class in the pavilion overlooking the lake. Very peaceful. Feeling suitably tranquil, we swam in our pool and spotted several drongos, a flameback woodpecker and a pair of flycatchers in the palm trees above us, savouring this peace and quiet. We packed our bags yet again - we were becoming quite slick at this now. The phone rang and it turned out to be restaurant staff concerned that we had ov...

Tuesday 15th December. Kumarakom Lake resort. We awoke to the houseboat gently rocking in the water hyacinths at the canalside. A gentle breeze helped reduce the trauma of emerging from our air-conditioned boudoir to the wall of heat outside, despite it being early morning. Our attentive crew served breakfast under the woven palm canopy while we got under way on the return leg to base. We gently motored past men fishing with nets from punts, others pushing nets...

Monday 14th December Kumily to Alappuzha (Alleppey). The Keralan backwaters. After a restless night being chased by a giant buffalo with enormous horns whilst wading through a torrent of water it was nice to see the early morning sunshine. We slept later than intended but after a cup of organic cardamom tea and a swim in the purified water pool (now featuring a leaf covered surface!) we felt virtuous enough to opt for the full curry breakfast (and masala ome...

Sunday 13th December Periyar and Kumily Yet another early start... Up at 6 for a cup of coffee and coconut cookies in the restaurant and then to Periyar Nature Reserve for a boat tour of the lake. Just us, a local naturalist guide, and about 200 brightly dressed, chattering Indian tourists with smart phone cameras. The holiday company had booked us tickets on the first boat of the day in seats numbered 1 and 2. So there we were sitting at the front of the top d...