South Ind-ulgence

The South of India has been different, very different, and in each way positively different. We have fallen in love with the South of India, and hopefully the following will help you to understand why. If it's not the locations, the people, the laid back vibe, then its the food! OMG, the food! More of that to come, but the last time we checked in we were in Mumbai...

Mumbai...hot, sweaty, busy, filthy, loud, miserable, and oh, expensive! So much so that we had to vacate in the Salvation Army dorm rooms...charming! We disliked Mumbai so much we spent most of our time trying to get away from it, trips around the harbour, not venturing into the city, and a flight to Goa booked almost immediately. The highlight was a trip to Elephanta island, not because of the smoggy sky, the overpriced caves or the luxury of being away from Mumbai, but mainly for the look on Hamish's face (a friend we met) when a monkey easily stole his 7up, climbed the tree, laid back, and calmly opened the bottle - ssszzz - and took a nice refreshing gulp!

Lottie's tolerance to Doxycline final took it's toll (her silicon injected lips started to blister) but a change in Malaria prescription and a injection of multi-vitamins to the buttock seemed to do the trick!

Onto Goa please now. Palolem, was what we had been waiting for. A chilled place to stay with some relative home comforts on a beautiful banana shaped beach, kissed by the shade of overhanging palm trees. Paul's determination to find the right accomodation proved worthwhile, and the revisit to a former abode landed us in a perfect orange hut, on stilts on a rocky hill and overlooking a calming beach. We remember little else of this beach, mainly as we did very little but relax and turn lobster red, but we are sure we enjoyed it. The downside to a wonderful stay was Lottie's camera turning out to be not as waterproof as advertised!!

Gokarna, Karnatika, proved to be everything that Goa had and more. This is a undiscovred haven of 4 beaches cut off by rocky cliff faces and only accesible via foot or water. We (Paul) chose foot, and by the end of our trek we were as wet as if we had swam. Our 'beach hut' (concrete bed in a vertically challenged and insect welcoming hut with the distant threat of kamikazee cocunuts) on the middle of Kudley beach was in prime location for sunsets - so it was aptly named Sunset cafe. The 250 ruppess hut (3.50GBP) was however tolerable where we had one of the best restaurants for continental food that we have had in India - Lasagne, pizza, Seafood sizzlers, and 3x banoffee pies signalled the start of our indulgence. The laidback attitude of the staff was the cherry on top of the cake (or banoffee pie) - so much so we checked out before we had even checked in!!

Forgot to mention the Hindi festival we visited, where the aim of the day was to throw a banana as high as possible into the 40ft temple mounted on huge wooden wheels, or cocunuts against the base, before hundreds of locals dragged this gigantic food trolley through the town whilst trying to avoid being crushed by the monster in a the biggest food mixer known to man! Crazy crazy India!

Hampi had to be foresaken, begrudgingly, for time was running tight. Instead, Fort Cochin was our next stepping stone. A quaint town where we felt comfortable enough to hire cycles, visit a local school where we were invited to lunch, taught the children some english, and then took many photos without being accused of peodophillia!, and indulge in 2 chunks of banana bread (Paul, 30p each) and a chocolate brownie (Lottie). We were only there for one night, as we were already plotting our next and most indulgent of adventures....

...the Keralan backwaters. Allepey started with a stay at the Gowri, where we were gifted a lovely hut (styled like a rice barge) and once more ate (and drank well). Luckily, on this our first night, Paul introduced us to a charming couple from South London Max and Bridey. We had soon booked our delux houseboat for the following night, sharing this 2 double room barge - at a price of 60GBP for the night...eeeeek!

It was however, worth every single penny (ruppee). The rooms were the nicest we had stayed in India - wood panelled and well furnished, with an ensuite bathroom and even a small dressing area. The communal area included a 6 seater dining table, a afternoon tea area, and plenty of relaxed sunloungers, as well as a tv and stero system. The food matched the quality of the boat, with the most exotically coloured plate we had seen - purple beetroot, with green beans, yellow cabage and white rice, and a masala red fried fish to accompany! Amazing flavours!

We made the most of our luxury. Lottie and I trapsed around the town for 45 minutes trying to locate an alcohol shop, and this fueled our evening. We visited a local village where Paul read 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' to the local children, and made good coversation with Max and Bridey throughout the trip. At 11:45 the captain - who consequently slept on deck in the living area - was trying to usher us to bed, but we stood firm and convinced him that although this was his day job, this was a once in a lifetime for us. His attempts to fall asleep whilst we put the world to rights after a number of beers and rum, were fairly unsuccesfful (we could tell by the twitching!). A fantastic experience was had, a sure highlight of our trip..

A short trip to Varkala beach (a beautiful if not touristy beach set below some steep cliff faces) was followed up by an even shorter trip to Trivandrum and Chennai, as we swiftly made haste towards the Andamans!

Three words could describe the Andamans succintly: Paradise, Sunshine, crysal clear waters (ok so not three words). However, on arrival we could describe them as: wet, muddy and damp. Although tropical islands, they are most certainly not in monsoon season and are in fact in there best months to travel, yet we were met with torrential rain and continuous grey clouds! How could this happen...to us of all people. Once we had settled, we were soon to realise that it had rain for 6 days continous prior to our arrival, so we felt an immediate empathy for those individuals for whom this was their annual holliday.

The bad weather created a damp atmosphere, everywhere we went...even the cows were found to be grumpy in the rain (''Mooooooo - why doesnt it stop f'in raining!). Fortunately our first few days here would be in the classroom (lounge) and in the sea, as Paul sought to achieve his PADI Open water licensce. Although there were several options for diving on the island, we certainly felt we found the best one, where our Indian dive instructors (a lot of the competition were foreign) were instanly chilled out and instantly enchanting, yet professional and polite. Paul took to the diving like a duck to water...rather a duck that can swim under water for 45 minutes without coming up for air??

Paul's first dive was probably his most scary and dangerous, little did he know it. As he exhalled to kneel on the sea bed, Paul guestured to Kartic his instructor that there was a flat fish swimming through his (Kartic's) legs, and was promptly dragged several feet up by this collousus (underwater at least) instructor, before resuming training elsewhere. It was only at the boat, where we were informed that the 'flat fish' was in fact a Blue spotted stingray, the same creature that Steve Irwin lost his life too...eeek!!

On our third day, we were able to dive together, Lottie having pounced back onto the proverbial bicycle with only a 15minute refresher course was ready for the water. Our company for the trip...Hazel Croney, a British bollywood star that maintained her British charisma, even if her theatrics overwhelmed her in her first return to diving for 9 years! We dived first at the lighthouse where we saw many a pretty fish in poor visibilty, and then to the wall where the visibilty and current provided extremely disappointing and scary diving for us both - despite the schoals of huge fish appearing from nowhere.

Following a evening of red sky, where we assured the dive instructors of Red sky at night sheppards delight, the sun eventually rose to reveal the crystal clear waters of the Andamans. Hello heaven! Today's diving was far more enjoyable. We saw a lion fish, stonefish, many Nemo's, Moray eels, Lobsters, an Octopus and the rather large Napoleon Wrasse, http://www.diveindia.com/gallery/p1/page012.html, which was around about the size of Lottie! The perfect days diving!

The Andamans also blessed us with two other indulgences..Firstly, the resort Island Vinnies was a paradise. The laid back attitude of the instructors was sybollic of the attitude of the whole resort, yet service was good and for India's standard, reasonably prompt. The restaurant, with relaxing bamboo chairs and sofa's was a welcome break from the Islands 'plastic seat culture,' and served the most delicious of food. Run by an Irish woman and her Indian partner, this was the first experiences of meat that we had had in India, chicken curries, fish and chips, and even lemon drizzle cake proved more than satisfying. Many a meal was had, and mouthwatering

Further to the great food and seating, the calming music and distant sea views proved to provide an excellent atmosphere for making friends and playing cards! GENEVA! That was the cry from the mouths of Manda, a laughing coach English born now living in Aberdeen on an eco-island of sorts, and the German Dominic, a smart young and handsome chap whose working trip to Delhi with BMW was coming to an end. The game soon became a competitive obssession, fueled with laughter and good banter.

Our final few 'non-dive' days on Havelock island, brought about Holi the Indian festival of colour. On this day we met Vince and Valerie from the French-Canadian Montreal, and were also greeted by the warmth of a beeming sun. Within minutes of departing our accomodation for the no7 beach, we were coloured in purple paint (we had got each other) and shortly in reds, greens, blues, yellows etc! Throwing paint at random passers by was not only custom, but also lots of fun! Lottie did need to purchase a toothbrush at one stage to remove from her teeth the purple stains, and still has a purple stain on her lower back (4 days after Holi)!!

The No7 beach, was a short walk to the blue lagoon which was last year made famous for an American female being eaten by a crocodile whilst being filmed by her husband (who was subsequently banged up, charged for murder, and only released when he overcome his anguish to remember he had filmed the whole thing!), was a beatiful location for embracing the heat of the sun. Earmarked as the best beach in Asia, the curved white sand beach was backed by not only overhanging palms, but also huge towering photosynthesisers that would make any forest proud, and met by the emerald blue sea and perfect blue sky. Did I mention the holi paint stains in the sand...forget about them. The colour contrasts did not stop there, as Paul decided to fall asleep in the sun and turn truly bright red from the waist up!

Our final night on the island, spent at the aforementioned resort, with the aforementioned people was another night of food indulgence, cards, and tear producing laughter. This was without doubt one of our favourite nights in India. We thank the people who we shared this with, we will not forget this in a hurry.

We are now in Kalcutta, a calmer city than we expected, having stopped over in Port Blair. We fly to Malaysia tomorrow and are already reminiscing on the highs and lows of India. We will miss it for sure, but many more exciting adventures to come...