Cue a very mad dash to Singapore Airport to fly to India. The reason behind our mad dash, Nick wanted to have a haircut. A Mohican to be exact! On our way back to the hostel to pick up our bags the heavens opened and the weather decided to be stormy as if Zeus was at war! This in turn meant we had to shower again and get changed again, Helen was grumpy as she was cold, wet and miserable so decided to fork out for some comfort. A taxi ride to the airport!!!! The flight to Trivandrum, Kerala was uneventful! 

The Indian state of Kerala was our first destination and we stayed at the Palm Beach Resort, Varkala with Tyron and Fifi. Our first day was spent catching up, sunbathing and chilling out! We only stayed in Varkala for one full day, Nick managed to watch Wales produce an excellent win over Ireland. A taxi was booked for 10 minutes after the game finished and thankfully Nick was in an excellent mood for the long journey ahead.

We had a six hour taxi journey to Kumily in the Western Ghats, cue various worried expressions from both Tyron and Helen at the drivers driving! We did however manage to make it to Kumily in one piece. On our arrival at Green View home stay we had a friendly welcome from the family who own the place. Sulekha (the woman who owns the place with her husband) is very tactile and affectionate, Fifi could not resist copying her! Nick and Helen got a bargain as we wanted a cheap room but they wanted to keep the cheap rooms for family members visiting so we were upgraded :) 

We booked tours etc to make the most of our time in Kerala. Helen and Fifi indulged in a Elephant package where they got to ride the elephant, bathe and feed the elephant. Our elephant was called Mera and she was gorgeous and well behaved! The handlers use voice commands rather than a stick (with a hook like in Water for Elephants). We had a walk, and Fifi was worse for the wear when she got off the elephant. Thankfully for Helen the many years of horse riding must have paid off! Both Helen and Fifi really enjoyed this experience. The boys(!) Tyron and Nick chilled out and had some male bonding time. 

We all visited a Kathakali dance show, which ....needless to say was a waste of 1.5 hours. Kathakali is apparently a local dance and the dancers train for 6 years. At the end of the show, Fifi was able to do a lot of the dance moves and facial expressions! We couldn't understand why the dancers needed 6 years!?!?

We visited the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary which meant a 5am start, Helen and Nick were hoping to see some tigers or at least elephants but the vast size of the park (777 sq km) meant we only saw bison, monkeys, giant squirrels etc. We went on a jungle trek for 3 hours where Helen managed to fall into the river so she was soaking wet for the rest of the day which made her miserable, Nick managed to take some photos! We had a boat ride on the artificial lake made by the Brits in 1895 and Nick and Tyron indulged in a waterfall shower! 

Our stay in Kumily turned out to be longer an expected purely because of the quaintness of the town and our home stay was excellent. 

We then headed to Cochin which was a 6 hour taxi ride away, apparently theres nowhere else in India where you will find such a mix of giant fishing nets from China, a 400 year old synagogue, ancient mosques, Portuguese houses and crumbling remains of the British Raj. We were to find out for ourselves.

We had 24 hours on a houseboat, met Isaac a local - ish deaf man who knows Tyrons parents. The first thing he said was that he thought Tyron was a girl, the look on Tyron's face was priceless. We cruised the Keralan backwaters which were simply beautiful. The scenery took our breaths away! While the houseboat was an interesting and unique experience, Helen was absolutely petrified of the cockroaches she saw on the boat! Good preparation for facing the Indian railway system! 

We did our fair share of sightseeing in Cochin, taking in the serene thick smell of the past. Jew town was absolutely amazing with it's wonderfully quaint buildings - it's amazing that while Cochin has a trade around Judaism when there are only 9 Jews in Cochin. We also saw the Mattancherry Palace which was a gift from the Dutch to basically sweeten the Indians for trading purposes. We were disappointed as we expected something grand but it was just another building! We were forced to visit the spice market by our tuk tuk driver, Helen got the opportunity to partake in some spice duties with the local women and sample various teas. There is a growing Christian movement in India so we visited St Francis Church and Santa Cruz Basilica, while both buildings were beautiful we were shocked to see tacky fairy lights dressing Jesus. Our most bizarre experience in Fort Cochin was standing on the side of the road and having 100+ schoolgirls pass us shaking our hands screaming "hi" and "where are you from?" as if we were celebrities! 

We wanted to top up our tan and chill out on our last day in Cochin so we headed to Cherai Beach on Vypeen Island, a ferry and bus ride away.  The beach was lovely and is apparently Cochins best kept secret. We managed to find a hotel who was willing to let us watch a tv in one of their rooms for the Wales Vs France game. Nick was heartbroken at the result but a very proud Welshman for their performance after losing their captain. The result was so close and here's hoping New Zealand will thrash France and Wales will beat Australia.

Nick and Helen then experienced the Indian railway system for the first time catching the train from Fort Cochin (Ernakulam) to Kozhikode (Calicut). Ironic how the trains have grand names but the trains themselves aren't. We opted to catch the train so we could take in some sights of Calicut for an hour or two before catching a 5 hour bus journey to Mysore in Karnakata. Now that is another blog in itself!