The train journey from Varkala to Alleppey wasn't very long, but it was long enough for us to kill six roaches and chase away many more... so when we finally arrived we were very ready to get off! We were met at the station by one of owners of the accomodation we were staying at and, after a short auto ride, we arrived at the lovely "Lake and Paddy" guesthouse. It is as the name says - surrounded by a rice paddy on the one side and the backwaters on the other... so stunning. It didn't take us long to dump our stuff and get comfy in the hammocks :)

That evening we caught a local ferry into the town with Fiona, an Australian guest we had met there. We wandered around town for a while and then caught an auto to the beach, which is pretty cool - long and wide with white sand and relatively little litter. We caught the very last bit of the sunset before heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner, where we had a cool time chatting about our travels in India and Fiona's travels to China. Afterwards we got a short auto ride back to the jetty where we discovered that the next ferry was only leaving in an hour-and-a-half :-/ So we found another auto to drive us back, only to get caught in a massive thunderstorm - times like these you wish these rickshaws had doors... In the end we had to walk the last hundred meters or so through muddy puddles - arriving back dirty and soaked. So it was a quick cold shower and then straight to bed.

Thursday we stayed at the guesthouse and tackled the huge task of our online U.K visa application. We lost three hours of our life typing our all our information but made it up by hopping into the hammocks with a book for the rest of the afternoon. We ate dinner that evening on a river-side bench overlooking the backwaters as we watched all the boats float by.

Friday we were up early to pack and get going - we had arranged to stay in a place that costs a bit more than what we usually spend, but decided to treat ourselves and we were excited to see what it was like. We caught the ferry into town and found our way to the bus station, where we found some pretty decent snacks, and then climbed aboard another dodgy local bus on our way North to Thuravoor.