Hey All,

Sorry its been a while, i know you all sit at home wondering what we're up to. Since the last update in Pondicherry we have spent time travelling through the lovely beaches and backwaters of Kerela and theres not really been an oppertunity to update the blog. I hope you like the photos I added yersterday, they give you a good impression of what everythings like here.

So we left Pondy on Friday 16th on a bus back up the coast to Chennai where we stayed in the same friendly hotel and didn't do much as we had to leave early the next morning to get a short internal flight down to Trivandrum. The flight was delayed by an hour but was otherwise uneventful and we arrived mid afternoon at the southern most point of our trip. Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerela and is centred on one long street running north-south through the middle called M.G. (Mahatma Gandhi) Road, on M.G road there are countless banks and offices, a few resturants and hotels and precious little else to do.

With little to do in Trivandrum we took a day trip about 30km out of the city in an autorickshaw to a place called Neyyar Dam, a picturesque resevoir sourrounded by greenery and wildlife. There we visited a crocodile sanctuary, run by or at least named after Steve Irwin (who else!), and had a nice wander about over the dam enjoying the scenery. We then headed back to Trivandrum for food, ready to move on the next day.

We took a train the next morning the 35minute journey up to Varkala, we bought unreserved tickets for the journey meaning 4000 people to a carriage, hanging out the doors, windows etc, it was fun with all out luggage too! We arrived in Varkala and after fighting out way through all the touts and commission agents managed to locate the Rubyblue Guesthouse, its a colourful building set back from the cliff, with a few double rooms and a dormitary on the roof! We opted for a rooftop bed each, very confortable and not too hot thanks to the open air. It was also good to share with several other friendly travellers from far and wide. Varkala had two beautiful beaches and we made good use of the waves and the sand while we were there. The numerous cliff top resturants mostly served excellent Indian/European/Fish/Pizza cusine and cheap beer (although often served in a tea pot if they are not licenced). Last Wednesday I managed to find a place with satalite television and a few of us stayed up late to watch a football match - in hindsight I dont know why I bothered!

We planned to stay in Varkala for three nights however due to the relaxed athmosphere, the beach and all the people we'd met we actually stayed for a couple of extra nights and didnt leave until Sunday.

We got another cattle class train from Varkala up the caost to the backwater hub of Kollam, ther town itslef had little to offer but due to its location on the edge of the backwaters had built a large industry offering houseboats and canoe boat trips. As much fun as it looked to stay on a houseboat, even the cheapest ones were beyond our budget so we decided to take an afternoon canoe boat trip. This actually gave us a much closer look at the small villages and tiny winding canals of Kerala due to the face that the canoe can fit down even the smallest canals whereas the houseboats are restricted to the main channels.

The following day we took the eight hour tourist ferry from Kollam accross the backwaters to the town of Alleppey. Alleppey is smaller than Kollam and is once again focused on the backwaters, hundreds of houseboats travel up and down the canals and are moored all along the banks. We had been reccommended the Bamboo Stix Backpacker Resort and decided to give it a shot. It is a fantastic new development on an island just off Alleppey, the main reception building is a giant bamboo tent with walkways running to the rooms and resturant. They have canoes to hire out giving you a chance to explore the backwaters on your own and organised us a Keralan cooking class. The resort is very new and there are still some teething problems, for example it helped if you ordered your food at the resturant a good 2 hours before you were hungry, but apart from that - I highly reccomend it.

We left Alleppey on Wednesday and have now arrived in Fort Kochi, this town which is an extention of the large modern city of Ernakelam could not be further from it, accross the harbour from the high rise buildings is a rustic old colonial town lined with chinese style cantelever fishing nets, craft shops and pleasent street resturants. There are influences here from the Chinese, the Dutch, the Portugese and the British Raj. There is a 600yr old mosque, a 16th century synagogue and several churches. There also several other islands and towns close by which we may have time to explore.

Hope your all having fun back in Blighty, the weather here is around the low 30s with a nice breeze. We're moving on up the coast and will be in Goa sometime next week.

Take care all

Jon