Off we go

1.2.19 Happy 8 year anniversary of moving to Turkey to us!

We had no intention of travelling afar this year but when John’s son asked to come over for a few weeks with his girlfriend, having a house sitter was just too tempting.

As in previous blogs there has been last minute dramas. Our new rescue dog Maisy almost died after she was neutered, no reflection on the vet, a misunderstanding over feeding time and change of operation time meant that she was dreadfully sick and ruptured something inside and lost lots of blood. She was critically ill and the vet didnt know if she would make it.

It was just awful waiting to see if she would recover but thankfully she is absolutely fine. Just so glad we had it done 3 weeks ago or would have had to cancel our trip.

Sadly last week Johns dad was rushed into hospital, he has a large aneurism and renal failure but doctors can’t predict how he will be so we are going to continue with our plans, there is nothing we can do by rushing off to the UK.

The weather this winter in Fethiye has been just horrendous. Yesterday many places were flooded and there has been crazy storms for what feels like forever.

Of course from today the sun is going to shine and will even reach 21 degrees by Wednesday next week.

So, Jack and Lucy are in charge of the house and animals. On their first trip out of our house we came back to find 2 stray dogs at our gate. They’re under strict instructions not to rehome all the waifs and strays by the time we get back.

Our alarms were set for 4.30am, by 2am I was up and making a picnic. Just impossible to sleep when worrying about missing your flight.

Parked at Lykia Resort Hotel at 6am, very efficient. The guy was waiting outside for us and didn’t go to the Lewis Hamilton Speed Academy like the guy we had from the last parking company.

Our flight to Istanbul was at 8am.

We saw Dave and Marian, some ex pat friends at Dalaman airport and again when we arrived in Istanbul.
They are off to Thailand and later to meet up with other friends of ours in Agonda. They were last seen in Duty Free.

To pass the 5 hours in Istanbul we sat for ages playing rummicub with coffee in Mc Donalds while waiting to be able to check in.
Absolute chaos as families of 8 people with overweight bags were in front of us.
Watching them trying to cram excess baggage between their cases would have been amusing if it wasn’t so annoying.
They were hiding shopping under their arms and covering with coats.
I will try this tactic next time I’m smuggling parsnips from the UK.

We boarded our Air Arabia flight on time and apart from their mountains of contraband needing to be stowed overhead and a screaming child behind us it was trouble free.
I expected all of the announcements etc to be in Arabic, but all in English.
Even the prayer on the tv screens before take off had subtitles.

This is the same screen I banged my head on as I slid in an ungainly fashion into Johns kindly donated window seat, via the screen.
They should have a mind your head prayer too.

It all feels real now. I’ve been scarred for life by the Turkish airlines and the credit card palaver before Sri Lanka and never get excited now until the boarding pasd is in my hand.
Added to this paranoia, a friend was unable to check in recently as his passport number was wrong on his Indian visa. He had to reapply and travel and meet his wife and friend in India a couple of days later.
Despite checking and double and triple checking our visa and passport numbers I still breathed a sigh of relief.

Sharja is our first stop, we weren’t even sure where it is, it is near Dubai and google says its the conservative cultural capital.

Alcohol is not permitted there, so no alcohol allowed on the flight.
We did ask at check in about taking alcohol and as a transit passenger it is allowed, however once in the duty free shop we realised we have a cupboard full of booze at home and aren’t likely to want more than the occasional beer, so bought nothing.

Our pre ordered sandwiches arrived shortly after take off and our bottles of water. Marinated halloumi had sounded fab, it never warned me about gherkins and cucumber. Yuk.
Overall we were very impressed with Air Arabia, we had low expectations as a budget airline but it was very comfy.

Sharja airport is a busy little hub. Very old fashioned with an extortionate Costa Coffee and a duty free shop with the alcohol hidden behind a huge pillar.
Interestingly it was cheaper than Istanbul.
People were taking selfies with the alcohol in the background!

We found fabulous hot drinks at a kiosk near our boarding gate with a lovely lady serving who was fascinated by rummicub!
We have jumped an hour ahead which is totally confusing as I can’t synch my fitbit without wifi.
We landed at 7.30pm and next flight is at 10pm to Kochin.
I’m so glad we arranged for our airbnb to pick us up, too tired to be navigating.

It’s been a long day.

Already I’ve been in 2 ‘European’ airport toilets that have soaking wet seats and had to paddle in the cubicle despute there being squat toilets available.Drives me mad but I know there will be far worse to come!!
Couldn’t help wondering if we will all be using squat style holes in the ground after Brexit.

Our Sharja to Kochin flight was a little late taking off, I still have my chicken tikka sandwich as trying to sleep was more important than eating. I’m sure we will find a worthy street dog to eat it today.

I ate too much bread today, 4 rolls from home and the halloumi surprise roll.

Looking forward to some curry.

Kochin airport is very modern and squeaky clean. I hope they’re not luring me into a false sense of security.

Immigration wasn’t much fun, you have to sit in front of the Officer. My heart stopped when he asked what happened to my passport. ‘Washing machine’ I said with an apolgetic grin. He was not happy and consulted with 2 other officers, eventually I was let in with orders to look after it properly. It’s definitely a bit splodgy but you can read it. He was particularly concerned about a slightly blurred stamp from Vietnam in 2014.

Jude and his son from Fort Kochi Cukoo nest (their spelling not mine ) were waiting for us. His son drove the 45km whike Jude pointed out places of interest which I’m sure will be fab in the daylight.

The only impression of our room before falling asleep is that its very green.

It’s so clean, you could eat your dinner off the mat.

First impressions?

2.2.19

First impressions – love it.

It was 5.30am when we got into bed. Just in time for morning prayers at the mosque with an accompaniment of noisy crows.
And monkey birds, they’re not really monkey birds but we’ve heard them all over Asia and always call them monkey birds.

Morning prayers seemed to go on forever but the next we knew it was 10am when we woke up.
Coffee on the balcony and at 11am we were ready to go and explore Fort Cochin which is an area not an actual fort.

We’ve often had issues with cashpoints on our travels but managed to get money with no problems at the first one we found.
Next we got sim cards, very helpful Airtel guy on the side of the road.
John had photographs, visa and passport photocopies at the ready and we were very pleased to find they can do 2 sim cards from one set of paperwork. Even more pleased that is 500 rupees, less than £6 for the card, 1.4gb of internet each day and calls!
We will be even more pleased if after 9pm it activates when we restart our phones as instructed.

We continued walking in a straight line enjoying the sights and sounds on the way. So far today we have seen and stroked numerous goats, water buffalos, cats and dogs, the goats are remarkably tame and just hang out in the town.

There are various art exhibitions across the city.
The toilet one had to be a highlight though.

The spice trading area is very, very run down, the road is rough and dusty, a bit grubby and very manic with people loading up handcarts and lorries, then a few feet away it’s clean with lots of tourist buses and souvenirs.

It’s a very diverse area, traditional eateries where they eat with their hands, upmarket restaurants and trendy places with smoothies, chia seeds, hummous etc. Something for everyone.

We ventured into a traditional place but I changed my mind. I can’t get my head around curry for lunch, so we are now sitting up on a balcony at Cafe Crafters in Jew Street waiting for paneer fingers and a chicken and cheese sandwich for John.

I decided to go sugar free last July with just an occasional treat.
I’m currently drinking fresh lime juice soda, sugar free, but planning on a pineapple lassi for afters.
This is going to prove difficult here with pineapple lassi freely available. Pineapple will be my holiday downfall. Coffee with ice cream could be an issue too.

In fact the pineapple lassi didn’t need sugar, my tastebuds have definitely changed and even John didn’t add the syrup they provided in case we needed it.
Lunch was great, good people watching too.

We went into an antique museum, a few old cameras, scales, typewriters etc but mostly it should be renamed as a chamber of horrors.

We visited the Dutch Palace, equivalent of 5p admission, pictures, murals and a bit of history. The clue was in the admission price.
Great building though and good to see it hasn’t been made into an expensive crab restaurant like the Dutch hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

We enjoyed browsing the little souvenir and clothes shops. It’s certainly got a lovely feel about it and the locals are great.
We braved it back through the spice area, I bought some coriander seeds and have had lessons on how to grow them.

Time for a drink and seeing the first sign all day for beer we have ventured in to the swanky looking Seagull seafood restaurant by the sea, although sadly most of the sea side seats were reserved and the rest taken and not that swanky at all really.

John is feeling slightly squiffy after just one Kingfisher beer.
I’m sticking to the very refreshing lime juice and soda, with no sugar.

As it turned out my lime soda caused a bit of an autication.
I had the exact money ready to give to the guy at the till who had spent a while in conflab with an older guy at the back. I had a feeling something was going on and when the bill was 11 rupees more than it added up to I asked why.
They had added GST which clearly said on the front of the menu would be added to hot food price.
We asked to speak to his boss who said there’s no GST on beer but there is on lime as it’s a fruit..! Anyway.. we refused to pay it and left. It’s only peanuts but not the point.

We walked to the infamous Chinese fishing nets. Fabulous atmosphere as everyone was waiting expectantly and looking at the catch of the day.

We carried on walking and I heard a young man talking to some tourists in perfect English telling them that he just loves to chat with foreigners to use his language skills and learn about their cultures. They were just leaving and I asked him if he wanted to hear a tourist story and relayed our lime soda tale. He apologised on behalf of his country and said we should complain to the tourist police. It’s such a small amount of money but he said the Police need to know whats going on.

Anyway, we walked along to the end of the walkway and sat looking at the sea with our new friend Sijo discussing anything and everything, even Brexit, which he knew a lot about.

He said it’s the very first time a tourist started a conversation with him. As John said, I talk to everybody.
After watching the sunset and swapping facebook details and giving Sijo a 5 Turkish Lira note for his collection of world notes and coins we headed off towards our base.

On the way some musicians were warming up for a Folklore Festival.
We waited to hear them but decided against staying as it was horrendously loud and more than a tad squeaky.

Not far from our room we stopped at Shawarma Expres, they have an extensive Arabian menu but as we’ve already decided we are going to learn all the Indian food types we chose Butter Chicken and Beef Masala, rice and butterscotch ice cream which didn’t taste of butterscotch at all.
The curries were superb though.
The chef came to our table, a little, older man, and asked how our food was, ‘mmmm.. Lovely’ I said, he looked thrilled to bits, bless him.

We are now back in our room, supposedly getting some sleep but yep..
the phones are activated but mobile data isn’t working. Looks like the included data is out of date. A trip back there in the morning…

Having a shower when we got back with a bucket of hot water and a jug was entertaining.
There is a shower head but it doesn’t do hot water. Could only happen to us.

Night night all x

Exploring the other side.

3.2.19

For every low there’s a high and after washing my hair with the bucket of water and the jug I discovered our internet package has kicked in and we don’t have to go and have a row with the nice Airtel man. Having access to timetables and Google maps makes life so much simpler.

I feel like I’ve been awake forever, at 6.40am there were loud slapping noises that would have been disturbing if followed by screams but still enough to prevent me getting back to sleep.
Watched a few episodes of Celebrity Coach trip til John woke up. What vile specimens Jedward are, talentless and spiteful.

Sat on balcony having coffee and the slapping started again. It was our neighbour doing her second load of laundry.

We made our way to the ferry port and caught the 10.15 boat to Ernakulam. Such a strange mix of grand houses, areas of poverty, stinky canals and modern shops in a 20 minute walk.

It takes just 20 minutes and the equivalent of 5p each.
The men and women queue separately to buy tickets and sit in seperate areas of the boat.

When we arrived in Ernakulam we pulled up next to another boat and cut through that one onto the jetty.

First stop pineapple juice. (unsweetened) Lush.

It was great walking through the town. Some beautiful churches, absolutely rammed with people as it’s Sunday. Then through all the street stalls and then the fruit and vegetable area.

I bought a dress in a small shop along the way. I packed very little hoping to buy lightweight clothes here.
Most of our clothes in Turkey are shorts, tops with thin straps etc and I need more modest clothes here than I have brought with me.

We walked for about an hour as far as Mahatma Ghandi street and got the metro to Indias largest mall just in time for lunch.

The metro system was really easy, the staff were super helpful. Having someone in a ticket booth makes the whole experience nicer. A real human to tell you which platform you need and which station to get off at. 60p for both of us. Spotlessly clean too.

Lulu Mall food court was huge, a mix of Western Brands and Asian.
We chose Indian, despite my previous issues about curry for lunch I ordered butter chicken and garlic naan, John had a non-vegetarian biriani mix.
My butter chicken wasn’t a patch on last nights but the garlic naan was superb.

We had a wander around the mall which was mainly international brands. Mothercare, Marks & Spencer, Body Shop etc. In all the sport shops and Clarks nothing was priced. Goodness knows how much extra GST they could add on for us!

Actually I saw more washrooms than shops, luckily several on every level!
All spotlessly clean with 2 cleaning staff in each washroom.
I was right. Curry is not a lunchtime meal.

2 Immodium later I was good to go and we caught the metro back close to the ferry port.

The queue for tickets was huge and suddenly a man called everyone to get on and there was a mad rush. We went with the crowd and squeezed on with everyone else. Seperate male & female didn’t apply.
Part way over a ticket man came and instead of 5p each it was 20p..suspiciously I confirmed with the local lady next to me and it was correct as its the private boat to a different jetty. Great views of the Chinese fishing nets.

I need to stop the paranoia and accept that Seagull Seafood Restaurant are the exception not the rule!

Disembarking was hairy, everyone trying to clamber up onto the high concrete step while the next passengers are climbing in.
I’m kind of dreading Delhi. It’s going to be mental!
I was already feeling like locals push and shove past because we are foreigners but John had been chatting on the blokey boat side earlier to a very educated man who was explaining that they don’t mean any harm, they don’t know any different and do it to each other, not exclusive behaviour to foreigners. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.

As friends had said we simply must see the Dhobi Khana laundry we walked there after my heart rate came back to normal and we hadn’t been pushed overboard and drowned.

Glad we saw it, lovely friendly people who take great pride in their work. Everything was so beautifully ironed, using big chunky irons, some electric and some heated on a fire. They all looked quite terrifying, the wiring didn’t look particularly safe.

They taught our neighbour everything she knows!

We had spotted an ice cream parlour on the way so it had to be done on the way back. Coffee and butterscotch (not at all like butterscotch and not sugar free) for me and a pineapple sundae for John which he absolutely loved.

We stopped and read a takeaway menu for a nice looking restaurant not far from where we are staying, but both feeling like we don’t want a full meal.

Ended up bringing the balcony table and chairs inside and playing rummicub while eating crisps that we brought for the plane journey.
Followed by a bit of packing and some tv.

Tomorrow we are getting a train to the scenic backwaters of Allaphuza and will be staying there for 3 nights.

John chose the accomodation …

Onwards to Allaphuza, Alleppey

4.2.19

Woke up this morning with fingers like sausages and think I may have been bitten on one as it’s especially large. I’ve only got drowsy making antihistamines with me so will get some others later if no better.

Our neighbour started slamming her washing around at 7.30am this morning, much more civilised.

We’ve not noticed the crows or the mosque since the first morning, drowned out by the fan I think.

We loved our time in Fort Cochin and Jude at Cukoos Nest Homestay was the perfect host.

Fort Cochin is a small place and 2 days was just the right amount of time to explore and today we move on.

We allowed more than enough time to get to Ernakulam Junction station, it took about 30 minutes by a very scary Uber ride. No reflection on our very good driver, it’s just nuts on the road. The fare for this white knuckle ride was just £1.90 and he was very happy with a 50p tip.

We are currently in a cafe by the station, I’m buzzing after a fab double espresso. John isn’t so impressed with his passionfruit and E numbers squash. (we don’t hear much about E numbers anymore do we?)

I’ve checked online and our train is currently running 16 minutes late.

I’m very excited as I love a train journey and looking forward to exploring the Allepey backwaters.

The train arrived a few minutes late, knowing where to stand for your allocated seat was confusing but between a lady who has travelled in India before and the information desk we were just right to get on and find our seat.

After all the worry about not being able to complete bookings online and paying 12Goasia 9 times the cost we could have just turned up. No one even checked our carefully printed out ticket.

We arrived in Alleppey about 30 minutes late.

Our accomodation is 1.6km from the station. A very enterprising taxi driver said 400 rupees, bearing in mind we paid 180 for the long drive to the station this morning. We declined!

We had to go to a counter to prebook a tuktuk, pay 1 rupee which turned out to be a service charge and the 5 minute journey cost just 50 rupees payable to the driver.

We met our host at Abrus Holidays. He seems very nice and helpful and the room is spacious and clean.

I asked about dress code here and whether it was ok to wear shorts, yes, fine, it’s a tourist area.. Felt so liberating to be in shorts and a vest top and off ee went.

We were starving and made our way to Indian Coffee House near the beach on his recommendation.

John wanted biriyani but they didnt have any rice, so he had normal curry with chapatis. I decided to play safe with chicken cutlets and chips. However I think my chicken and mash balls in breadcrumbs were probably spicier than the curry, but thoroughly enjoyable.

We walked further along the beach area which has been ruined by the construction of a massive flyover. It’s not finished yet but is a real eyesore and will be noisy right near beach clubs and holiday resorts. These sound grand but are basically a bit more upmarket places to stay that still come out to the road where there are piles of old metal and all a bit unkempt.

It’s a huge beach area but we won’t be spending any time on there, it’s very hot sand, no sunbeds and no shade.

There are several beach bars and restaurants along there, Dreamers caught our eye as they had a board outside and included duck and pad thai.

We looked at the menu and said we would be back this evening.

We turned up back to the streets just after and John saw a sign for a billiard venue.

As it was our darts and pool night back home he thought it would be fun to go and visit and have a game and a photo for the team. According to Google maps it was a 30 minute walk.

So off we went, 6km and over an hour later, past endless little shops of no interest to us, crazy traffic junctions and endless bibbing of horns we found it.

Of course all this time I’m in shorts, in no way was this an area where tourists would stray. The kids were all coming out of school and had seemingly never seen foreigners before let alone anyone parading around the streets half dressed.

Raiban Shopping complex didn’t bear any resemblance to any shopping complex we have seen before. I wasn’t hanging around to take photos, so here is one from Google to give an idea.

We crossed over the road and followed the waterway road all the way back. It wasn’t as bad going that way, less traffic and people.

We stopped at a stall and bought some grapes and the sweetest oranges we have ever tasted.

By the time we got back it was time to think about eating again. But only after coffee.

I take my travelling element everywhere. It heats a cup of water in seconds. But makes vile coffee if you heat the whole drink.

The last place had a kettle, so without thinking I put the tea and coffee in our (rinsed) cups.

Armed with element to explain I went downstairs and asked the lady sweeping in the garden if she had a cup to heat some water in. It was a flat no! Not sure she approved of my shorts either.

A bit of faffing and we had our coffee, changed into a beliw tge knee resoectable dress and walked back down to the beach to Dreamers.

We received a warm welcome and our table was waiting upstairs.

We crossed the wobbly floor to our cosy corner table.

Our pad thai and duck was lovely, with a side of garlic naan, my new obsession, a very pleasant evening.

We have a very busy day and appropriate clothing planned for tomorrow.

Alleppey to Kollam Ferry

5.2.19

John went off for a run at 7.15am and at 9.30am we got a tuk tuk to the boat jetty.

We read about an 8 hour backwaters ferry to Kollam from a blog and it sounded like a fab way to see the backwaters. The fare is just 400 rupees each, expensive in terms of usual local ferries so although it’s a Government ferry it is mainly used by tourists.

But an absolute bargain compared with private companies who are charging thousands of rupees for 6 hour tours.

We’ve checked and there are buses that can get us home again.

We boarded after buying some snacks and are currently waiting to set off.

I think we might be the only people doing it as a jolly as the others have luggage so are obviously off to their next port of call from here.

We got seats upstairs at the front as we arrived early. We may well regret it as there are no cushions up here.

I am suitably attired with most parts covered.

We ate our snacks, onion bhajis and yellow rock cake which had a hint of ginger and lemongrass. I found a dreaded cardomen pod just in time. We didn’t think the round doughnut things were worth the calories but otherwise very tasty.

Bang on 10.30 am we set off on what was a fabulous day. The scenery is just beautiful and amazing villages and wildlife all along the way.

There was a bit of a palaver at the lock gates, the gates wouldn’t open. After about 10 minutes, and with our boat giving them a bit of a nudge it was sorted.

At 1pm we stopped at a little place for lunch. They were all prepared for us and silver trays with lots of sections were placed in front of us. They kept coming round with extra dahl and sambal. It was very tasty indeed and just £3 including large water.

The rice was amazing and unusual, big chunky grains from the local paddy fields and so beautifully cooked. When I cook rice it always goes gloopy.

Back on board we had 2 and a half more hours of loveliness, and dropped the Brazilian guy we sat with at lunch to the Internationally famous (although we had never heard of it) Amma’s Ashram.

https://www.amritapuri.org/ashram

Apparently you can stay there for a night for £2.50 including meals.

Shortly after that it was a stop for tea. I had read about this stop and had my coffee with me as I knew I would be gasping .

4 attempts of asking different people for hot water resulted finally in a cup of hot milk!

Back on the boat and we gave in and sat on the lovely cushioned seats downstairs. It was heaven on the bum and also it’s away from an incredibly annoying German man and his irritating sons. John has been very restrained all day.

There is such a mix of houses along the way, some very run down places that you cannot imagine people live in side by side with stunningly beautiful homes. Even the lovely places have people outside doing their laundry or bathing in the river.

We arrived in Kollam at 6.15pm.

What a beautiful relaxing day. Absolutely loved it.

And then the fun started. We went over the road to the bus station and showed the manager our app showing that there is a deluxe fast bus at 8pm, does it go from here? Yes. Fast buses every 10 minutes. Ok, but we still want the deluxe with real windows and everything.

So off we went to have dinner. First place took forever to find an English menu, we then decided what we wanted but a different guy came over and told us it was out of date and prices would be different. Rather than leave ourselves open to whatever we left and soon found the mall where Wok & Grill is, which John fancied originally from TripAdvisor. 5 floors, no Wok & Grill.

Settled on a chicken burger for me, not wanting any disaster on a long bus journey and vegetable kurma with vegetable biriyani for John. Delicious on both parts.

Went back in plenty of time for our bus, so confusing, mostly in hieroglyphics, but occasionally with Western alphabet too.

No sign of our deluxe fast bus by 8.10 so we got on the next normal one that said Alleppey on its sign on the front.

When the conductor came he told us it was going to Trivandrum, totally wrong direction.

We asked to be let off but there was a flyover and then we were dropped off just after.

We decided we would have to get a tuk tuk back to the bus station but a few feet ahead we spotted the train station. Deciding it would be a total waste of time we asked on the off chance. Yes. 8.30pm train. Fab 😊😊😊

2 tickets to Alleppey please. 90 rupees. (510 cheaper than deluxe bus). Result. Platform 2.

A train arrived, we asked at the Police desk next to us if he had any idea which carriage we needed. He said we couldn’t get on that train and a guy who spoke English explained its a special reservation one and next one coming soon.

When it arrived he explained that our ticket was a local one but to follow him and maybe they would ask us to move but he didn’t know.

We chatted for a while with the helpful guy. When we told him about the sign on the front of the bus he laughed and said it happens.

He was fascinated that we were travelling without a guide and not in a group.

Sometimes I’m surprised we are even allowed out on our own.

Of course sure enough a grumpy ticket man came, said we couldn’t be there and shooed us off waving us to go forward. A few carriages later, and scary open doors, another ticket officer said we could stand by doors until next station, get off and on again in the back carriage or pay extra to upgrade our ticket for 80 rupees each.

We opted to upgrade and he led us to some seats and wrote us a new ticket which became 200 because he didn’t have change.

He could have charged anything, by this time we didn’t care!

What a nightmare…!! Just wanted to get back now and so relieved we were on the right train, going the right way, and in the right carriage.

Our phones were almost dead by this time, so when we got off the train at 10.50pm we knew it wasn’t far and it was nice after sitting all day to have a 10 minute stroll and anyway we didn’t remember the address to tell a tuk tuk driver.

We followed the route we took in the tuk tuk when we arrived yesterday morning.

It ended up being a bit of a frog march because the pitch dark little roads felt scary and every time any one passed us I was sure we would be raped and pillaged.

Naturally we hadn’t followed the same route. I was sure I knew the way but John was adamant it was wrong.

Long story short he was right. It had been such a long day he either didn’t have the energy or wasn’t brave enough to gloat.

Such a relief to unlock our door at 11.20pm.

What a weird and wonderful day.

6.2.19

After yesterday’s shenanigans we were adamant we were having a chilled day today.

To be honest once you’ve seen the backwaters there isn’t anything else to do here. Looked online for an ayurvedic spa or cooking school but nothing nearby.

I suggested to John that we get up when ready, go for breakfast, take a pack of cards and rummikub and stroll down to the beach and visit the lighthouse (yes it really is an attraction) #6 on tripadvisor – that gives an idea of how much there is to do here.

We did some washing in our bucket and went for breakfast in our nearby cafe. Lovely scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and juice.

On arrival at the beach we spotted Amaze World. It looked like a park complex from outside and I wondered if it might have a pool or somewhere nice to sit. Asked the ladies at the desk if there were any seating areas in the shade. They looked totally confused and said it was for children. The adult price was just 20 rupees each so we decided to take a chance and look inside.

Not another soul in sight, but over at the eating area we saw some staff and ordered drinks and proceeded to play rummikub. They were very interested in the game and chatted to us and wanted to learn.

One of them does a magic show after 2pm when the children arrive and they said that we should stay and watch and that he’s in the Guiness book of Records.

Suddenly 100’s of children piled in from various schools, some were there for a party and to play, some for the magic show and we had a crowd around us wanting to know our names and where we are from. They were all so lovely.

Indian time is a bit like Turkish time but eventually the magic show was about to start.

We got so many beaming smiles and children wanting us to take their photos.

Then the show began. We weren’t expecting too much and only stayed to be polite as he had been so friendly to us, but wow!!

It was fabulous. Smiled all the way through and the kids and their teachers had a wonderful time for over an hour.

After the show the children were going off to visit the lighthouse before coming back and the party children had gone so we repositioned ourselves and just enjoyed chilling. The magic guy said he has to do another show at 5pm. The other guy said there would be a rain dance when the children came back so we decided we would stay for that.

The rain dance hadn’t materialised by 5.30pm but the kids had and they had the music on very, very loud and inflated the bouncy play equipment right near. It was mad!

We decided to leave, said our goodbyes and went off to the ATM but got waylaid in a bar.

It seemed really seedy but maybe it was ok, just very male dominated, and there was a bit of an autication going on opposite on the beach which ended with an old boy on a pushbike being waved on his way by a policeman.

Onwards to the ATM.

Outside it a group of lads were laughing and pointing to their mate, telling us he is Indian Spiderman.

You can see the mess on the floor! Branches were falling down as the guy violently shook the tree, people were rushing to pick up some tiny little fruit. They insisted we try them, John was brave and tried one and said it was very sour. I didn’t eat mine.

We saw the sunset before having dinner at Dreamers again.

It’s such a shame about the ugly flyover and all the associated mess.

Dreamers didn’t disappoint, I tried paneer butter masala for the first time, it was lovely and Johns biriyani was one of the best he has had.

We got a tuk tuk back and have just finished packing.

We have a 7.15am ferry in the morning, 2 and a half hours to Kottayam followed by a bus to Kumily. We will be staying in Periyar by the national park for 3 nights.

Just hope we get on the right bus….

Onwards to Periyar National Park

7.2.19

We got up at 6am. Finished packing and set off to find a tuk tuk to take us to the boat jetty to get the 7.15am ferry from Aleppey to Kottayam.

It must have rained hard in the night and John made stepping stones from bricks in the garden so that we could get out of the gate.

We had a few moments panic because there wasn’t a soul on the road but then a driver came along. Bought snacks again from the little place by the jetty, sadly the onion bhajis hadn’t come in yet.

Set off bang on time. We were surprised to see a little lad packed off with his ferry fare and waved off by his mum. He seemed way too tiny to be on his own.

The ticket man came and we were shocked that it was 30p for both of us for a 2 hour journey.

The little lad was colouring with wax crayon and then using a razor blade to scratch it off!

The ferry went in a different direction from our 8 hour marathon cruise. The scenery is just beautiful.

Very soon several more children turned up wearing the same outfits as the little boy. They were off to school.

They were soon flocking around us, well John mainly. They loved looking at photos on his phone and roared with laughter at photos of our dogs wearing raincoats and seeing cats and dogs together on the sofa. They wanted to know their heart rates on Johns sports watch but all had zero as their arms were so tiny.

The waterways became narrower, I love the greenery with its pretty flowers and watching the herons flying as the boat gets near. Always so much to see along the way.

All too soon we had arrived at the final stop, Kottayam.

The children ran off into school, unbelievable that most had a 2 hour journey.

So pleased we opted to do the ferry for the first part of our journey rather than a 6 hour direct bus.

Next we shared a tuk tuk with another passenger to the bus station. The guide book said it was a 15 minute walk, it was at least that by tuk tuk.

We were terrified about repeating our previous bus drama, but asked a guy and followed some other foreigners to the Kumily bus. It wasn’t the planned 10.35am fast one but we didn’t care, we just wanted to be on a bus going the right way.

We were scrunched at the back with our luggage, I moved to give John more room. He was feeling queasy and very hot. An elderly man got on a little while later and had the most horrendous cough. He didn’t look like he was going to last the whole journey and was hacking into a large piece of cloth. At one point he put his head down as if to spit on the floor next to John. Luckily he didn’t.

First chance I offered to swap places so he could be next to the window (well the space called the window, not actually any glass). Instead he moved further down the bus. At least it had taken Johns mind of how sick he felt.

The bus drivers drive like lunatics. The roads were very windy with sheer drops but that didn’t affect the speed.

Some of it was so rough that according to my Fitbit watch I completed 10,000 steps.

I watched 3 episodes of Flirty Dancing which had me smiling loads and took my mind off what was going on.

Some of the scenery was just amazing. I’m amazed any photos came out the speed we were going!

We arrived at the bus station after 3 and a half hours. The cost of this white knuckle ride was just 224 rupees for both of us. (less than £3)

Google maps said it was a 15 minute walk to Wild Window Homestay. Google maps lied, much to the amusement of many ladies sitting alongside the little alleyways we went down.

When there was no right turn right at the very end of the directions we were too embarrassed to go back down the alleys and after another 15 minutes in a different direction Google said we had arrived. We were at the top of a small lane with just forest in front of us and only derelict looking buildings. Our hearts sank.

Thankfully Wild Window was just after the corner.

John’s pull up metal handle came off his case just as we arrived.

We thought we had blown all the electric sockets just after I made coffee when we arrived but was in fact a powercut. Apart from that our accomodation is lovely.

Literally on the edge of the national park

Went off into town to explore and to book hiking and bamboo rafting at the Eco Tourism office. No places tomorrow so we are booked in on Saturday.

We planned to also go boating on the lake. It’s a separate booking office, but after going along there we were undecided from the reviews. It’s a man made lake and no guarantee of seeing wildlife, so we are going to give it a miss and go to the spice gardens and cookery class instead.

Thekaddy / Kumily is a lovely little town, has a great feel about it and lovely shops.

We looked at suitcases in various bag shops and explained to the lad in one shop that the handle had come off, he said there is a place near the bus station that can repair it.

Off we went in search of the repair shop. This man asked where we were going, we explained and he said Yes…. Follow me… Yayyyy..

He took us to a bag shop. A bit of google translate and consensus was a big no.

I bought 2 long Indian tops and some thin trousers. After looking at all the different colours in every shop in the area we went back to the first one later on.

Sibi at our homestay recommended Grandmas Place, so we went there for dinner.

We saw more tourists in there than we have for our whole trip so far. The menu gave detailed descriptions of each of the Indian and Chinese dishes on offer. We sat and studied each one.

But of course we had paneer butter masala and chicken biriyani. Butterscotch cornettos on the way home, still not really very butterscotchy but pretty tasty anyway.

Just after we got back the owners called us to see the wild boar family. What a great view from our balcony. Lovely! She feeds them every night. I counted 11 of them.

The big one is so tame she hand fed it. Then it came right up to the gate asking for more. So nice to hear wildlife around us instead of traffic and laundry bashing.

He loved our yellow rock cake leftovers and grunted for more 🙂

John’s man bag has also broken so he has borrowed a screwdriver, dismantled his case and attached the man bag strap to make a pull along handle.

He isn’t just a pretty face. (his words not mine)

Sadly his phone just will not charge. He even bought a new charging lead today but the phone is having none of it.

Fingers crossed we can find a repair shop in town somewhere tomorrow.

Thekaddy adventures

8.2.19

John went off for a run and I had lovely hot water once our host Sibi came and switched something on the roof.

There was an awful lot of animal noise that sounded like it was right outside the door, in my head a herd of wild boar were on the corridor eating a street dog alive. I was too scared to go out and look. From the balcony I couldn’t hear it or see anything.

I made coffee and sat on the balcony and watched monkeys playing in the trees and thankfully the awful noise had stopped.

Saw a couple who were just leaving when John came back, it was monkeys that had been fighting over some popcorn people in the room further along had put outside their door. Good thing none of the rest of us were waiting to go out!

John’s phone charged overnight. No logic to it. I’m now able to add the selfies the kids took with it on the boat yesterday.

We set off to Barbque firstly to see if we could book a cooking class. Great, booked in for 5.30pm today.

We stopped for lunch at The Leaf. Chicken biriyani for John (surprise surprise) and I ordered pineapple and cheese toast.

2 triangles had pineapple in, 2 had cheese. It made me think of the tuna ‘n’ sweetcorn Dinner Ladies sketch with Victoria Wood. I even googled it and watched it again.

So anyway it was cheese and pineapple not cheese ‘n’ pineapple but was very tasty. We both had curd and honey afterwards, curd is thick tasty yogurt.

From there we continued walking to the Green Park Spice Garden, John said I didn’t need maps on as he saw it this morning while out running.

I was surprised how long it was taking and eventually we reached Green Spice Garden, probably the same experience but Green Park has great reviews. Turned back and walked 3km to the right place.

The tour was very interesting, some online reviews mentioned animals and an aquarium, one large fish and a pool with tiny ones. The animals were 3 goats, a couple of rabbits, some guinea pigs, 3 cows and a dog that John untangled from it’s short chain and another dog on a chain. The first one was so excited to have some interaction. John pointed out to the guy that they need some water.

Aside from this it was worth visiting.

We then walked up to see the Rose Garden which was nearby but mainly for children so went off to find pineapple juice instead as we were a bit early for cooking class.

We found a little place advertising juice but he didn’t have pineapple so we said goodbye. But then he came after us and said he could do it.

He sliced the pineapple and was just about to put it in the blender when the power went off, so we said no problem we will just eat it as it is. He cut it into little chunks for us and gave us 2 forks, a sprinkle of lime juice and napkins. It was a huge plateful. Followed by a 2nd one!

He asked for just 40p for this, so we gave him extra.

We were first to arrive at cooking school. The teacher was just putting marinated chicken on a huge barbecue. It smelled amazing.

There were 9 of us, a mix of Brits, 2 Australians and 2 Americans. A really lovely group.

Our first task was chopping okra, green beans, shallots and potatos, all into tiny slices.

We then watched and took turns stirring, grating coconut, frying poppadoms and making parotta bread.

We had samples of everything along the way.

Then we all sat together and feasted. It was all delicious.

I’ve often looked at okra in the market and assumed I wouldn’t like it as I am a real baby when it comes to veg, but I’m definitely going to buy some when we get back.

Absolutely fabulous evening, would thoroughly recommend to anyone in the area.

Our American friends gave us a lift back in their car. They have hired a car with driver for their entire trip.

She was envious of us doing it all independently on public transport, I was envious of her not having the stress of having no idea what is going on at the bus and train stations!

Just as we got back our host family were just setting off for a family function. No sooner had we got in our room when their 2 little daughters presented us with…. a pineapple. The hugest one we have ever seen.

We may well die of pineapple overdose. What a way to go 🙂

Elephants :)

9.2.19

We were up bright and early for our hike and bamboo rafting. First we had to go to the tourist police office and pay 475 rupees each for admission to the National Park. The admission is only valid for a day. This was on top of the £18 each charge for the half day tour. It’s one of those annoyances, especially when nationals pay 40 rupees but there it is, you just have to accept it.

We met the rest of our group at Bamboo Grove, 2 young lads from Geneva and 6 young Russians. I did feel like they must have all thought we are really old.

We set off at 10am after signing to say the company has no liability for injuries, death etc and being given back packs with water and our lunch.

The Russians were ridiculously noisy and silly even though the ticket and the guide advise silence in order to have a chance of seeing wildlife.

We moved near the front and the 2 Swiss lads made a joke about the Russians behaviour and that was it, we bonded for the rest of the trip.

We hiked through the forest for 2 hours, trying hard to zone out their noise and appreciate the sounds of the birds and monkeys. Sadly they really did spoil it for us.

When we reached the lake it was time for lunch.

Chickpea curry, chapatis, 2 tiny bananas, a huge banana, an apple and a carton of juice. The curry was lovely and thankfully John had saved 2 plastic spoons from a previous meal. I cannot get my head around eating curry with my hands.

I don’t like bananas but these tiny ones were gorgeous. I was assured that the large one was like eating raw potato so am saving it for the wild boar.

After lunch it was time to board 2 bamboo rafts. Well almost – 2 of the girls decided it was time to do lunges, squats, skipping and jumping. The tranquility of the lake and the birdlife was clearly of no interest to them.

The Swiss guys made a beeline to sit with us on the raft, but the guide had already sensed the atmosphere and put the Russians all together.

They started shouting and arguing with each other while the guide was trying to get their attention about the trip. They really were just dreadful.

Off we went, its very slow and tranquil. Lovely.

Very rarely there are elephants.

We could see some far away in the distance.

But then we were totally blessed to see 2 nearby.

One of the boat staff took this for us through the binocular lens.

It was wonderful. We moored up and just sat on a small hill and watched for ages. The staff were all as excited as we were.

Then it was time for them to paddle us back over to the other side. As we got off and approached where we had lunch the 2 elephants were walking along our path. One guide went ahead to shoo them away.

The only other animals we saw were some bison.

We walked a slightly different route back and didn’t have to be silent. Ironically the Russian worst offenders were tired and quiet. In fact we think they may have had another fallout.

It was lovely chatting to the 2 lads all the way back about travels. One was only 23 and has travelled so extensively. Iran was one of his favourite places and he says we should go.

Our walk was 13km in total and we all agreed we would have felt very disappointed if we hadn’t seen the elephants.

Said our goodbyes and may spot them in Munnar, they go tonight, we go in the morning.

We had a light shower of rain on the way back and the temperature has really dropped. Its been 30 degrees here and cool enough at night without the fan. Just perfect.

We went off to find a mobile phone repair shop as Johns phone won’t charge again. They tried a new charger and hey presto… Fingers crossed this sorts it now.

We ate the huge pineapple given to us by our host family back at our room. It was good to get the walking boots off and chill.

We are planning to book a taxi through our hosts, it’s 5 hours by bus to Munnar, 3 and a half by car. The roads are apparently even bendier than on the way here. Our hosts aren’t back from their family do yet, hopefully it won’t be too late to sort it when they get back.

We went to Bamboo restaurant as it was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. Lemon chicken wasn’t good at all and cashew naan was a big let down. First meal I haven’t enjoyed in 8 days so that’s not bad going.

Our taxi is all booked via Sibi on Facebook, we set off to Munnar at 8am.

Onwards to Munnar

10.2.19

Poor John didn’t get much sleep. There has been drumming and parades all day, a Christian festival of some sort.

We saw a large group walking with decorative umbrellas and trucks done up like Christmas and flashing neon all over the place. It couldn’t look less religious!

Seems the partying continued until midnight and then he was woken up by our hosts returning at 2am. I slept through everything.

We sat for the last time having coffee and watching the monkeys and buffalo from our balcony.

Feel really sad leaving Thekaddy, I think it’s my favourite place so far.

Our taxi arrived at 8am. So glad we didn’t do this journey by bus, the main road is closed as it’s being widened and the road we are on is like a UK country B road. Definitely not suited to crazy Indian buses.

Some of the houses are stunning, like millionaire’s homes. The taxi driver Uni explained it’s because of the cardamon plantations.

Uni speaks perfect English and we chatted about traffic laws. They are very strict, heavy fines are imposed and accident rates are very low. Helmets are compulsory and maximum 2 people on a bike but because it is Sunday and no one is checking we saw many without helmets and 4 people on a scooter!

We stopped to see Indias 2nd biggest dam, 4th largest in Asia.

Nearby was a toddy shop, we’ve not been brave enough to venture inside one before, Uni was having his breakfast in there so we went to investigate.

The alcholic drink is home made from coconuts and they all seemed happy drinking it!

Next we saw some of the terrible damage caused by landslides and flooding last September.

This is where the bus station once was, you can see some of the foundations.

Uni’s house was also destroyed, they had 6 days with no food or electricity, he was very choked up as he told us about it. He is in the process of having a new house built. Many people lost their lives.

We stopped again, mountain views and selfies. Uni showed us various traveller selfies he has taken in the same spot!

He showed us a cashew tree and explained the long process to get an edible nut. No wonder they’re so expensive.

The 3 and a half hour trip flew by and we were so happy to have such a fabulous driver.

Taxis are the way forward, no lugging cases to bus stations and trying to interpret malayalam alphabet. It was wonderful and great value at 3000 rupees (£30) and 2 hours quicker than by bus.

The scenery around Munnar is beautiful.

JJs cottage where we are staying is a far cry from the lovely Wild Windows. It comes highly recommended on Lonely Planet but we won’t be in the room much anyway. The place we originally booked on Booking. com cancelled with no explanation 3 weeks after booking, by which time there wasn’t a huge choice left.

The staff do seem lovely though and we are happy to have a laundry service.

Everyone said the weather is cool up here so we have both packed too many things for cold weather. I also packed too many shorts and vest tops which are not needed at all unless you enjoy being made to feel like the town hooker.

It was very hot while we had lunch, so hot we sat inside.

It was extremely noisy when we arrived, the Munnar marathon was on. John wasn’t disappointed to have missed the half marathon as it’s a high altitude one.

After a very nice lunch, (curry is now a lunchtime meal since I discovered paneer masala) we ventured into town.

Lonely Planet describe Munnar as a scruffy, traffic clogged admistration centre. I think they’re being overly kind. It’s horrible.

I asked at the District Tourism Office about trips but was all a bit vague and need a minimum of 3 people and no one else has booked yet. We could take pot luck and call in there tomorrow at 9, but only have 2 full days here so not taking the chance that we can’t go.

So we asked in a couple of places and got prices, then a tuk tuk driver accosted us and cut the price but said half the places aren’t worth going to.

We decided to get an independent opinion from where we are staying. When we finally got away from thectuk tuk driver it was raining.

Then the heavens opened and we sheltered for 20 minutes by a building with a few others, in fear of getting splashed as the pot holes overflowed and formed a mini stream.

We got a tuk tuk for the very short journey back to the pinkest house in Munnar.

We have arranged 2 full day trips through JJ’s. A tuk tuk tomorrow at 8am for the day to the Top point area, (1000 rupees) and the same driver for Tuesday at 9am by taxi to the Chinnar area.(1800 rupees).

There are entrance fees, National Park fees, elephant riding fees (but not likely to do this) etc on top, but amazing value. Virtually the same trips the DTPC were offering, but a little dearer because the driver is exclusively ours.

We would have liked to have visited Eravikulam National Park but the rare almost tame Nilgiri tahr mountain goats are breeding so the park is closed. We’re assuming they have candlelight and soft music too.

We sat in our room drinking coffee waiting for the rain to stop.

Visted the nearby Ali Baba and the 41 dishes for dinner, decided it was time to try something different and ordered dingri mattar, peas and mushroom in a spiced sauce, or gravy as they always call it.

They have run out of chicken biriyani. Oh no!! John ordered chicken rice with a vegetable kadai curry on the side. It was all just about ok once you go over the saltiness. We shall be back to our lunchtime venue for tomorrows dinner.

Looking forward to our tuk tuk tour tomorrow.