Hello!

Have managed to update some photos. Celia's done some on her site too... www.offexploring.com/celiabowles.

I'm finding this blogging really quite hard. Not sure what to write or who to. Anyway will give it a go: last time I wrote we were planning to head off to Ponmudi, a hill station in Kerala.

We caught the bus - only 3 hours and we got a seat which was good because it became rammed - people occupying every single space. It was quite a bumpy ride and quite scarey at times - our bus overtaking other buses on bends (don't tell mum that bit!). The final stretch of road up to Ponmudi was fab - 22 hair pin bends!

There's only one place to stay in ponmudi (according to The Book) and that is the Government Guest House. we had high hopes for this place involving Verandas and G&Ts. What we got was slightly less romantic - the national park was invading our room and wasn't about to retreat. Lizards, a dead cockroach (how bad must it be for a cockroach to die?!) and various ant trails criss crossing the rooom. And the bathroom was filthy with no water coming out of the shower. We went upstairs for dinner - turned out to be fly curry. yummm.

Now, I'm not sure if we should be getting used to this (probably) and it would have been better if there was lots to do there, but there wasn't - we were hoping to just lounge around but couldn't because the moths kept hogging the beds. The staff were particularly unhelpful - they didn't seem to want us there. We think the place was a cover for something less savoury but we're so innocent we can't think what. We bailed out on the first coach the next morning after going for a walk. It's such a shame because the scenery was fantastic - have put photos on site.

So, we bussed back to Trivandrum and then worked out trains to Varkala. And that's where we are now. It's a little town on the cliff tops. Nice and Breezey. It's the end of the season so fairly quiet. However, there's more westerners here than we've seen elsewhere and we suddenly feel under scrutiny over what we're wearing and the like.

We have decided to treat this as a holiday. We have got a room for less than 3 pounds / night- with no bugs! There's lots of cafes and could spend a fortune on swooshy skirts and shoes (yes mel - shoes!). We're here for a week.

It's very bizarre to think that we have a week with nothing that we have to do. Nonetheless, we have made several to do lists, planned our remaining time in India and read the Rough Guide 3 times over. It seems we haven't quite got work out of our system just yet. After several months of sleeplessness due to impending homelessness / housemate hunting / Category Reviews / Brand Audits / Travel Planning etc, you would think that my mind would happily snoozle. But no. Now I lie in bed wondering if the fan is going to unscrew and decapitate us, wondering if I will be able to teach english (Schnighty Schnighty will appear in the Oxford dictionary one day!), what will I do when I come back? etc etc.

Luckily, though we are off to a Yoga Ashram next week where we shall dedicate our time to emptying our minds and becoming bendy. Apparantly. looking forward to it!

thanks for making it this far! I'm off to get a Banana Lassi - after I have ticked off all of the things on my "things to do on the internet" list...

Karen x