Yo!! It's actually 8th Dec today so we've gotta back-date a little! It's almost sunset and we're sitting in a little beachfront restaurant writing this, watching the sun go down - everywhere is orange at the mo, it's beautiful!

We're currently at a place called Varkala (arrived here on 5th) which was a four and a half hour train ride South from Cochin. The train journey was an experience in itself!! Basically you get your ticket and unless you have reserved a seat beforehand, its a scramble to get on!!! Luckily we both have good elbows so we managed to get a seat on the slowest train ever, although the scenery on the way through was really nice!! It wasn't as bad as we'd imagined.

Where we are now is absolutly stunning, its a non-commercialised little beachside resort on a cliff! The beach here is gorgeous - it's at the bottom of the cliff in a little cove surrounded by greenary, and at the top of the cliff is the accommodation, restaurants, market stalls, etc. The sea is really rough which is great fun, and it's warm like a bath!! We've been here for 3 days now and are staying in a really nice brand new room at Arith Villa's, which is about 50 meters from the beach. It only has 3 rooms and is only costing us 300rps a night which is about £4!! Been sleeping really well to cuz it's so quiet.

When we first arrived it was dark, and there was a lighteneing storm somewhere over the sea which lit up the sky, it was amazing! We sat in a cliff top restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean and watching the lightening. The restaurant was called Kerala Coffee House and it's gorgeous - all chairs face the sea and at night there are inscence sticks burning, chilled out hippy music playing and little lanterns and fairy lights everywhere. There's a brilliant laid back atmosphere there. It's very back-packery too - lots of people to meet! And they sell beer (although they're not licenced!) for 90rps for a huge Kingfisher! The food is amazing too - we both had fish curries and they were massive and gorgeous! In fact we've eaten there every night since - nowhere else along the front seems to have the same atmosphere, or be as competitively priced! We're gonna try somewhere different tonight though - The Funky Art Café - there's a Bollywood night and disco on!!!

On our first day here we were on the beach and a really big pod of dolphins crossed the bay right in front of us and they were doing all sorts of flips and jumps right out of the water, it was really nice to see so close to the beach!! There is a small footpath which runs all the way along the front of the cliff and its lined with all sorts of shops and resturants which sell all kinds of fresh seafood, so at night its nice to walk along the front and get some din dins whilst watching the sea... the food is so nice!! Finchy's brought a couple of pairs of Hareem pants (or Ali Baba pants as they're called here!) after haggling with the shop keepers and only paid about £5 for 2 pairs - one of which is silk!

Tomorrow I think we are heading further south to Trivandrum where we are going to a Zoological Gardens & Museum where there are all sorts of gardens and animals ect, so that should be good. Apparently there are tigers roaming around massive enclosures there! We're just gonna get the bus there and back cuz it's only about an hour or so away, and we don't wanna stay there cuz Trivandrum is the capital of Kerala so it'll be busy and noisy... and we love Varkala!!! Only staying here for a couple more nights though before we head up North a little to Alleppey for a backwater cruise on a rice barge! We'll keep you posted! Love and miss you all. xxx