Eventually emerged from my bed. Laetitia from the tour was in Singapore for the day so we teamed up to explore. Found some great places to eat. Checked out a few of the old haunts. Arab St. Orchard Rd. Generally a fun day.

A really fun day appreciating the cool vibe of Kochi. Three of us went shopping, first in the touristy district around the Jewish Quarter. Nothing purchased, but went to a great cafe. We then went (by tuk-tuk – now a preferred mode of travel) to the colonial part of Kochi near the Parade Ground. Really…

A day for goodbyes. The first of us left from the river guesthouse this morning. We left the guesthouse at 9, by boat. We sat in beautiful cane chairs and motored down the canal for an hour to reach Aleppy. We transferred back to our van, and drove back into Kochi via the coast road.…

Blissful day. We left Chrissie‘s early, after another of their divine breakfasts. We drove over winding mountain roads through various villages, with the usual stop for chai. The scenery included rubber and pineapple plantations. Very spectacular. Eventually came in sight of the Kerala Backwaters, all wetlands and islands. We arrived at Alleppy And boarded our…

A relaxing day with no travelling. We got up really early and at 7am went for two-hour guided hike in the national park. Green and beautiful. Big downside: leeches! We had to wear leech socks over our own socks. Disgusting. Lots got on us, but no one was bitten. Tiny compared to ours, but still…

An early start and a long drive. We left Madurai and travelled through agricultural areas, stopping in a place called Theni for tea. The road eventually wound its way back up into the hills, the Western Ghat, as we are now back in Kerala. Really beautiful. We spent some time in a spice garden, learning…

Another big day of travel. We left Pondicherry early, with a new van and driver. We were seven hours on the road, passing through wetlands, rice paddies, sugar cane and coconut palms. We stopped for tea/food/toilet breaks a couple of times on the way. We reached Madurai about 3.30. We went to a small museum…

A bit of a temple day, really. We left Mahabalipurum and set off for Pondicherry, once a French enclave in India. On the way we visited a really unusual place. It is called Auroville. It is a community set up in 1968 by a French woman (known as The Mother) to embody the teachings of…

A bit of catching up to do… Yesterday we had a fun day in and around Mysore. First we visited a beautiful World Heritage temple called Kesheva. Really amazing. Dating from 1268, it has 3 separate temple spaces, one each for the main Hindu gods. Incredible carvings everywhere. It is made of soapstone. It was…

We began our day with breakfast at the beautiful open air restaurant of the Windsong resort. A huge herd of cattle came running through the resort as we ate. We set off in the van and travelled toward Mysore in Karnataka. On the way we stopped at the Charmundi temple, which was really interesting. The…