After Cochin we took a 24 hour train ride to Goa, the trains are such a welcome change from buses, they go in straight lines and only gently rock and brake as opposed to sharp U turns and sudden braking that shoots you out of your seat just as you finally drift off to sleep! They aren't luxury but its nice to be able to get up and walk around during the day and people called wallahs come on selling everything from chai, coffee and samosas. Its fun trying to work ...

We arrived in the busy town of Kochin and took an expensive ferry (3p a ticket) out to the island town of Fort Cochin (no fort) where accommodation is all about the 'homestays'. We stayed in the Princess Inn (no Princess) run by two friendly lads who spent their time chatting (up) the female backpackers who drifted in and out during our four days stay. Sorry, no more brackets now. Being separated from the mainland Fort Cochin is nice and quite, more goats than r...

We left Varkala and traveled by train in sleeper class, or poor mans class, two hours North to Alleppey. Alleppey is nicknamed the Venice of India by the Lonely Planet author due to its canals, but thats where the similarity ends. The LP author had clearly not really visited Alleppey or was (probably) drunk. But we had come here to organise a private 24 hour boat trip out into the surrounding wetlands and the canal routes. We finally found the real tourist inform...

One of differences in India to SE Asia has been the amount of conversation with local people. In SE Asia the majority of locals who spoke to us, would inevitably lead to them wanting to sell us something. It was rare to just talk with someone who only wants to discover why we visited their country, and what we thought. But, in India, the Indians are very curious about us, our experience has been if you stand still for any period of time we will be approached for ...

Leaving Pondy we decide to catch an overnight bus up to the Western Ghats, the mountainous region in the centre of India. Our destination was the hill station, Kodaikanal. Hill stations were the famous escape locations for the British, with their heavy rain and cold temperatures any home sick Brit could feel right-at-home, so many migrated up and built little pieces of England, stone churches and cottages and common sights. The most famous hill station in India i...