After a night train we arrived in Kannur today. Its a bigger place than we expected, with lots and lots of army people and army buildings everywhere! We are staying in the Government Guest House which is HUGE and we have a giant room with a giant balcony facing the sea!

We got lost trying to find St. Anglo Fort, because each time we found what we thought was the entrance, we got stopped by army guys and told that we couldnt go that way. It also started raining so we had to stop and buy umbrellas - our last one got misplaced on a train somewhere! Anyway, we finally found the fort and wandered around a bit. Then had lunch and walked back to the guest house.

The whole reason we'd come to Kannur was to see a Theyyam performance (a type of dancing that this area is famous for) and a guy at our hotel had told us somewhere we could see it at 6pm. However, we got back at 2 and he told us that it actually started at 3 and we better leave now. "Get an auto to the busstand" he said, like THAT was possible....not one drove by! So we spent 30mins walking to what we thought was the busstand, but apparently it wasnt. So then we caught a bus from there to the busstand, then spent anought 45mins on the bus to the temple, where we arrived at 3:45 and missed the performance! Oh well. The temple was nice, and we saw one of the dancers all dressed up still there (he was blessing people). And, on the way back we stopped at one of India's top tourist destinations - Snake Park! Thats right, a park of snakes. And birds. And geese. And ducks. And monkeys. And many other animals that shouldn't have been there, let alone in such small horrible cages. No wonder it wasn't in the Lonely Planet guide book...

The bus back was a much better Indian experience. Firstly, Mark and I have to go to different parts of the bus because the ladies have to go at the front ( I felt a bit like doing a Rosa Parks and sitting at the back of the bus, but the large number of military people in the area scared me a little). Then, just as you thought that no more people cause possibly get on the bus, about 40 more did. It was very very hot and very very crowded and very very bumpy. But we survived.

Got back and looked at the lighthouse next to our hotel. A little boring really. Then had dinner and slept.