Today is a new day and a new tour... We said goodbye to our friends and headed to Delhi airport for our flight to the south. With us for the journey was Frank and Stella, Savy and Harry and Vanessa... Who looked like she was dragging a corpse around as her bag cover was so big on her small bag. We arrived and checked in, the whole process being a lot less painless then yesterday! We then headed for breakfast... Steven went for masala dosai and I really fancied KFC, but on purchasing it, couldn't bring myself to eat it as I knew the chickens were no way free range and probably had a rubbish existence... this was playing on my conscience and I couldn't stomach it... Steven however didn't care and ate the whole thing lol. We looked around the shops which included a fab India, but no magazine shop then went to our gate. Not before me and Vanessa took advantage of the cleanest toilets in India so far and freshened up.

We boarded yet another plane and flew to Kochi via Mumbai, we are all shattered and need to reenergise before meeting the new group tonight... Have a feeling they are going to be all excitable and new while we are all tired and smelly haha!! Well I shall update post meeting...

Well after a slight hiccup at the airport (transfer bus was nearly and hour late) and after a very long transfer (one and a half hours) we are in Fort Kochi and its amaaaaaaaaaaazing!! As the plane landed all you could see is greenery and palm trees... We stepped off the plane to thirty three degree heat at five pm! Incredible! the air is very warm but had a nice breeze. The airport was spotless and as was the journey to the hotel. The contrast between Northern and Southern India (so far....only been here a few hrs so could be wrong) are massive. This place is spotless... No smells... No urinating in the street... Hardly any roaming animals... They drive relatively safely... They don't charge you tourist tax, so what you see on the menu is pretty much what you pay and the people are so nice! Plus there are shopping malls and proper fixed priced shops everywhere! We met one of our tour group at the airport... A lady called Patty who lives and works in Los Angeles ...she seemed nice and had just finished the golden triangle tour.

We arrived at the hotel (Fort Manor) at approximately sevenish and were met by friendly staff who took our bags to our rooms without waiting for a tip! The room is huuge and spotless! Like you would have in a resort... The bed is massive and clean, we have two very large windows ...with small balconies and our bathroom is gorgeous! The water is scorching and the pressure immense... We have clean towels ....two each plus a spare! And loo roll.... With spares! Even toiletries and a shower cap. These may seem obvious things to find in hotel bathrooms but as our fellow travellers would agree... not in Indian hotels lol. We dropped our bags and freshened up before our new guide "Ravi" took us for dinner down the street, it was a small quaint restaurant run by a very friendly husband and wife and it was amazing. Steven ordered the fish masala and it was stunning! It was butter fish which has the same meatiness of tuna and the sauce was fresh yet spicy. I wasn't too hungry so had veg rice... Again ammaaaazing! And a salad.. of which there was a mix up and we ended up with two! And then they only let me pay for one! I also had a soda with fresh lime which was yummy! The bill was only five hundred rupees and no hidden tax! Amazing.

We headed back to the hotel after we went to explore to find water and meet an English couple also on our tour... They invited us for beers but as Norwich were playing... It was a no! Plenty of time for beers in the weeks to come. I'm now showered and chilling in bed. Thoughts on the tour so far... Awesome!!! Ravi is lovely and has a very sweet local charm. He seems very genuine and has a lovely persona. He ran through what we are doing tomorrow and sounds amazing! But only after we have had breakfast on the roof terrace at eight thirty... Yay, plus as this area is predominately Christian we can wear vest tops and shorts.... Best news yet!!!!!!! Now the rest of my stuff can go in the laundry. Aww the south! Amazing xxxx