Rustling up a treat in Palolem A short train ride brought us to the south of Goa and the beach town of Palolem. We chose to stay in the town rather than the beachfront as the water was only a five minute walk away and you can get more 'bang for your buck' in the town. Palolem is a lot more built up than Gokarna, probably due to the accessibility to the beach, but it manages to maintain the feel of a quiet beach resort due to the lack of high rise buildings and...

Isolation in India It was time for some relaxation but getting to the beach turned out to be quite problematic. When we did get settled into our very cheap and 'rustic' beach shack and could take a breather we realised we had chosen well in coming to Gokarna, Kootlee beach. It is extremely isolated with a limited accommodation choice and a few beach shack restaurants that are simple but served a good choice and quality of food. We did a few laps of the kilome...

Magical Mysore We arrived in Mysore on a sleeper train from Mangalore at the ridiculous time of 4:00am. Our auto driver woke up the workers in the hostel and we managed to check in and caught up on some sleep until mid-morning. Still feeling a bit sleepy but wanting to get some fresh air we headed to the Maharaja Palace in the city centre. Along the way we stumbled across a local restaurant with delicious vegetarian curries and more paratha bread. The palace...

Dangerous Diwali We only chose to stop in Mangalore to see some Diwali action. Kerala does not really celebrate this Hindu festival as the majority of people are Christians. So it was goodbye to Kerala and hello to Karnataka. Mangalore city is a clean city, by Indian standards and the climate, due to its location near the sea is pleasant. James has booked us into a pretty swanky hotel, by our standards and we have been enjoying some of the finer things in li...

Tea for Two and Paratha for Ten KB had recommended the hill station called Munnar that is 5 hours east of Kochi. She had used the word 'amazing' when noting it down in our guide book and she was very accurate. It is the principal area for tea plantations and the beauty of the tea trees covering the hills like a moss is 'amazing'! The area enjoys a refreshing climate with crisp mornings and delightfully cool evenings. Not all the mountains in the area are use...