Tigers. Thali and Tea Plantations......

Whilst everyone's been stuck in the snow back home, we've been lapping up plenty of sun and we've had to drag ourselves away from the beach to write this!

In Varkala we found ourselves caught in the trap of lazy days spent soaking up the sun, eating freshly caught fish and getting well-hydrated in the evening.....the holiday is almost over, soon the travelling to Australia starts!

After missing out on a Backwater Houseboat experience the last time we were here, we booked our trip from Kollam to Allepey on a traditional kettuvalam. This trip saw us travel the longest stretch of backwater in Kerala. Unfortunately this wasn't quite the unique tranquil experience that it was meant to be! Two hours in to the trip, we hit a bridge, bent our shaft and broke down for 8 hours!

After a rough night in our cockroach-infested bedroom and unpleasant noises coming from our crew, we were awoken with gorgeous views and chai. The Backwaters were stunning! One thing that didn't go wrong was the food - endless amounts of curry. For lunch we were given the best Thali, which is a collection of curries, fish and chutneys laid out on a banana leaf and eaten with the old Indian right hand!

We finally arrived in Allepey after what turned out to be a relaxing experience in the end. After a pit-stop there it was an early rise for our first local bus! Through mountainous roads, surrounded by tea plantations and villages, we arrived 5 hours later with numb-backsides in Kumily where the Periyar Tiger Reserve is situated. We sourced a cute little cottage with a tree-house overlooking the park and many a night was spent sitting in therer spotting wildlife.

On one of those nights, Jim and John (from Norwich) were using torches and had about 12 different sets of eyes reflecting back. The eyes that drew the most attention had moved from the deeper forest, across the river and stalked towards them. Before they knew it it was 10 metres from the tree house right infront of them - 2 big cat's eyes, 2 pointed ears and a long tail....it was a leopard! (Obviously I have to take Jim's word for this as it's gone from a tiger, to a Puma and now a leopard, I'm still not convinced!) After trying to protect themselves with plastic chairs (!), the boys legged it back to the cottage shaking and white with fear.

So the boys got a rare glimpse of 1 of the reserve's rarer species(allegedly) and we were all lucky enough to see wild elephants, barking & samba deer, byson, otters and buffalo whilst on our boat and jeep safari. Unfortunately there are only 38 reported tigers left in the reserve (2 were found dead last year), so ofcourse we didn't get to see one.

One of Caroline's work colleagues Moideen is from Kerala and just so happened to be on holiday at the same time. He very kindly invited us to stay at his brand new house, so after a 5 hour Ambassador taxi ride, 3 hour wait at a crowded train station, then a 4 hour train ride, we finally reached his village and were welcomed by his whole family.

We couldn't believe this but they'd never had any Western visitors to their village before, so the Chai, photos and man-hugs (for Jim) flowed freely around the village and many invitations to come again! Moideen and his family couldn't have been more welcoming and his wife Sabna prepared banquets fit for a King every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Reminder: Don't clear your plate too quickly as it gets filled-up straight away! It was great to tuck-in to some meat that we knew would be safe to eat after being mainly veggies since we got here.

So we left Moideen and his family back in Kerala and headed off on our first night train to Goa for some beach time. Just to give you an idea, this isn't all holiday and fun! We arrived at 4am after sleeping on a hard train bed all night and didn't have any accomodation....not nice. Luckily our taxi driver sorted us out and we spent a few days in Palolem right on the beach.

We've met some nice people, and on a recommendation, headed 2 hours south to Gokarna which is very chilled-out and quieter, that's where we are now before we start heading up North.

We'll have to get back to our hammocks now so enjoy the photos and we'll be in touch soon xxx