India - the South

I know it's been a long time since our last post, but as it's our last few days in India I thought I better start writing! So, following our last entry we landed in Mumbai on a very hot and sweaty morning….

We spent a few hectic days in Mumbai, watching people play cricket, visiting museums, the high court, and the Gateway of India. We tried to visit Elephanta Island but there was a big verdict that meant the harbour was closed so that didn't happen! We ate some very good vegetarian food in the little restaurants and got lots of help from the waiters choosing things that weren't too spicy for us. We even enjoyed food in one restaurant after we'd seen a rat run past us and into the kitchen! Mumbai was too busy for me and being crapped on by two birds in two days didn't make me like the place any better! When we left on our overnight train to Goa I was really hoping that I would start to enjoy it more…

The train was teaming in cockroaches and the toilets were clean but stank of piss! But we met some very nice people who explained that there are cockroaches and other bugs everywhere in the world, you just see them more in India. With our new knowledge the train journey passed relatively easily until the morning when we picked up our bags and mine had one of those sticky mousetraps stuck to it with dead mouse attached! Luckily we found a hotel in Candolim with a pool (and a shop with dettol)! We spent nearly a week in Goa, eating good food, hiding from the very hot sun, meeting very friendly people (locals and travellers), using the pool and visiting the beach. We managed to find the huge wrecked ship on the beach (it was right by the hotel) but our efforts to find the path to a nearby fort were pathetic and we were eventually chased off by a wild pig!We found the number of cows in the street amazing, but with the regular power cuts the cow pats were a serious hazard!

Our little holiday in Goa finally ended and we boarded another train (we checked the floor before we put our bags down this time) to Hampi, a little town with lots of ancient Hindu temples. We spent a few days exploring the temple complexes, dodging monkeys, and eating less than average food. The place itself was spectacular, and we managed to find one very good restaurant with a view over the river. I can't do the sites justice in writing, but luckily we took a lot of photos!

Onto Bangalore on another overnight train… significantly less cockroaches this time! We didn't spend long there so we didn't see much, but it was a lot easier than Mumbai. Cheating, we flew to Kochi in Kerala and found Lois' favourite guesthouse. It was run by a little old man who explained how the taps worked twice. I admit we were very comfortable here and ended up spending five nights in the little town. We had a brilliant time during our stay, enjoying a backwaters cruise (visiting some little villages and seeing islands that had cable TV but no water or schools!), a cooking class, and one morning we visited an elephant sanctuary for the elephants' bath time! The food in Kochi was excellent and we even had tea and cake (from a teapot)! This was also the first place in India where I got beer served in a teapot because the restaurant didn't have a licence!

After another superb breakfast we dragged ourselves away from Kochi and caught the train to Varkala along with most of India's cockroaches! Lois survived the ordeal and we found an extremely cheap (£3) bright pink guesthouse and had cocktails on the cliff overlooking the sea. Again the food was great and I even managed to have HP sauce with my eggs at breakfast!! We spent a few days doing not much, reading our books by the beach and eating well, having very oily massages, and again meeting people we'd seen earlier in India). And again a bird crapped on me!

We moved on to Trivandrum, Kerala's capital, for a couple of days (one too many) before flying to Darjeeling. We did have fun at the zoo while we were there, but we were sure our rickshaw driver to the airport was drunk!