Day 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 - Panaji to Mandrem - Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th, Wednesday 7th, Thursday 8th, Friday 9th December 2011 We waved goodbye to Panaji and boarded the bus for the 30 min drive to Mapusa, here we would change buses for an hour further to Mandrem. So far the trains have been great and our experience of them has been far, far better than we imagined before we came to India. The buses on the other hand are awful!! They are crowded, smelly, and incred...

Day 48 -Palolem beach to Panaji - Saturday 3rd December 2011 Up and checked out by 11am, we said goodbye to Palolem and jumped on the bus to Panaji - the capital of Goa. Today was the feast of St Francis Xavier which takes place once a year on this very day! The festival is to commemorate the death of St Francis Xavier, who is the patron saint of Goa, and in honour of this a big festival takes place in Old Goa. Once in Panaji, we made our way over to the Mayfai...

Day 44 - Mangalore to Palolem beach, Goa - Tuesday 29th November 2011 For once we arrived early, an hour early to be precise. The problem with this was that the station we arrived at was not very touristy or a busy station for locals, in fact it was dead. Plus it was in the middle of nowhere with no buses and there were only a few rickshaw drivers so we were a bit stuck for haggling. We ended up (what we think) paying double what we should have to get us acros...

Day 42 - Kumily to Kochi - Sunday 27th November 2011 Hold on, were awake and we can't hear rain and there is power! Brilliant news, oh but we're leaving today! We got up, packed our still soaked clothes and went for a hot breakfast before catching our bus from the town bus station. 6 hours to Kochi. Should be fun………. Our bums are officially numb and even after being off the bus for over an hour now, we still can't fell them. The joy of travelling!...

Day 40 - Alleppey to Kottayam to Kumily - Friday 25th November 2011 Wet, cold and foggy. Well, ok, our day didn't start off that way but it defiantly ended that way! We woke up to the sound of our house boat slowly paddling down the backwaters. We had a shower and then sat for breakfast right behind the skipper who was steering the boat whilst texting (love India!). We had an original Keralan breakfast which was steamed rice puffs, curry and dhal, followed by a ...