Australia is flat

We had a largely uncomfortable train ride in general class yesterday. Cheree and I were more comfortable though than Luke and Anita who didn't have seats the whole 4 hours. One cheek of my buttocks laid claim to the end of a bench seat, as some ladies had put their shopping up on the bench. At one point a young lady came through and told the woman off and then proceeded to sit in the cleared space which obviously didn't improve my situation as there were now 4 ladies to a 3 seat bench. Irritation flew out the open door and into the rice fields when the young lady introduced herself and we had an excellent conversation. She explained she had strict parents and to do basic things like go to the cinema or meet her friends for coffee she had to sneak around and skip class. She had just graduated as an engineer but was under pressure from her parents to get engaged within months (being the ripe old age of 21). Shamna became our great ally in Calicut. She will help us book a train up to Hampi for Christmas.

Currently up in the moutains in Kerala near Wayanad Wildlife Reserve. When I said to our new friend Shamna that we were heading to the mountains she looked confused What mountain? There is no mountain in Kerala. I explained we were headed to Wayanad and she said Ah. That is the hills. Mountains are much bigger. Of course. My Australian view is that anything larger than an ant hill is a mountain. With India being bordered by the Himalayas that would hardly be an Indian view.

We have had a false start in Sultan Bhatri trying to visit the reserve. The jeep drivers are on strike. Instead we wil do some yoga, have an ayurveda massage and climb Chembra peak tomorrow morning (I think its a bit more than 2000m high).