The last 3 weeks, Varkala, Munnar, Kodaicanal.. been slack!

The last time I updated the blog was when Leanne left so it's time to stop being slack and type, type, type!

O.k, so, 3 weeks ago Leanne left and we headed to Varkala beach. A nice beach as far as Indian beaches go, at the bottom of a cliff.100 rock stairs lead to the beach which is good excercise and a nice walk-on the way down!Walking back up at the end of the day covered in sand,sun cream and sweat is another story!

Varkala is the hottest place we have been in India so far.It's 35 degrees,humid,no breeze and very sticky.If there was a breeze this place would be perfect but even on the beach the wind is non existent.The waves are massive so there's no way I'll be going for a dip unless I want to kill myself.

We found a really nice place to stay,seconds from the cliff staircase.A pink apartment block of 6 rooms with hammocks outside,a roof top and nice CLEAN rooms with cold showers-no washing out of a bucket!Yay!

The boys we met in Goa arrive the next day with a nice London girl so we have filled the apartment block nicely and make ourselves at home.

Basically the last 2 weeks were spent lazing on the beach, eating, smoking, drinking and having some good old british banter and listening to some new music .It's sooooo nice to hear new music!My 8gb,1000 song ipod is very depressing after 4 months of constant play!

Our lovely Indian landlord Arun tells us about a deep sea fishing boat trip for 10$ so we decide to do it considering in Australia it costs nearly 300$!

Get up at 6 am, half the boys and Sorcha are still pissed (I snook to bed well early!) and we head to the beach to meet the fishermen.

Now, I don't know wether it's just me,but,I imagined a huge boat, a safe looking boat, a boat that looks like one you take to Green Island. I should have known we are in India and everything is a million years old or about to fall apart.

A wooden boat appears in the distance bouncing up and down on the waves and washes up on the beach. We all climb in, I am shitting myself and decide to get off before we set sail.Peer pressure,the boys persuasion,Sorcha and a few strong arms keep me on the boat. WHY do I always do this!?!??! I am petrified of water,it's my biggest fear but I always try and push myself to over come my 16 year old fear!It never works! I always end up panicked,white,shaking and pulling fear faces everytime I get near water.I even lose my breath in the shower if I face the shower head and water goes in my face for godsake! I really wish there was a cure! I see everyone jumping, diving swimming in the sea and the pool but I just can't go under water.It's ok if its shallow but still I'm a bag of shite if I'm near or in water!

The engines are pumping and we head out into the ocean. Now, once agin I dont know wether it's just me but I imagined an island, some rocks, beach.something?! I did'nt think that we would be in the sea in the middle of the ocean. The sea is deep,deep deep, the engines are turned off and the boa rocks.he boys start jumping into the sea off the boat which makes it tip and rock even more and I am screaming everytime there is a movement!

Arun sits me by him and tells me it's all going to be ok and trie sto calm me down but once Im in panic mode that's it nobody or nothing can relax me only dry land!

The boys climb back in because the current is 'way too strong' which makes me more scared and Im now sitting at the top of the boat holding onto Arun and one of the boys fearing for my life!

A few dolphins swim past and everyone 'oooh's' and 'ahhhs' but to be honest it could be a rare white whale or a flying hippo I could'nt give a flying fuck I just want to get off. I knew I should'nt have got on this fucking boat!

It's been an hour and we have'nt even seen a rod or any fishing. The boys ask can we start fishing.Fuck me.Ou come the 'rod's'. A tile of polystyrene with fishing line,hooks and no bait are thrown into the water.There are 10 of us and 3 'rod's'.

Varkala is famous for it's fish which we see and eat every night at the numerouse seafood restaurants that line the cliff. Marlin,swordfish,salmon,tuna,squid and shark are all served with salad and vegetables for 6$ cooked fresh on the BBQ.

So we are all expecting to catch a massive marlin?It ain't gonna happen.Tiny gold fish size fish are being pulled into the boat-fish that in Australia we would'nt even use as bait.The boys are gutted,as am I, but I'm secretly a bit pleased as I know they will all want to get off now as there are no big fish.

Finally,an hour later we jump off the boat.I take half an hour out on the beach in shock.Shaking,white and fear faced I spend a few moments with myself and sware I will NEVER EVER do any water related activities again!Apart from getting a wash.

Next day we decide after 2 months in India the time had come to start daily yoga classes. We attend an ashtanga advanced yoga class. It's hot, sweaty, we are slipping off the mat wih sweat but at the same time enjoying it.We decide after the class we must do an hour every day-that's until we wake up in the morning and can't move our bones!Even our 100 daily sit up ritual cannot be completed.We are all in agony!

2 weeks is enough time lazing about in this freaking heat so we decide to head inland and uphill to the mountains of Munnar.

What an amazing place!The bus ride was a bit scary on cliff edges and high mountains whilst our bus speeds and squeezes past lorries and 4wd but the terrifying journey is worth it!

Green fields, tea plantations, hills, mountains, trees, rivers, lakes and pretty cottages are a welcoming sight, as is the 21 degrees temp and the nice COLD breeze! The smell of tea lingers in the air and smells amazing and I walk round with no coat on so I can appreciate what it feels like to shiver!!hahha

We spend 3 days here, trekking,visiing water falls, exploring, eating, drinking tea and on the last day I find a cook book in a local shop with  Munnar's local cuisine in it. I buy the book and the guy at the shop tells me the auhor/chef lives close and takes me to her house. She shows me various magazine articles she is in, share food tips and she signs my recipe book. I am so annoyed I only meet her the day we are leaving or else I could have done a cooking course with her!Gutted.

Head to Kodicanal a place a bit similar to Munnar only there are no tea plantations. We go shopping, sightseeing and have a little trek. There is a nice lake which we hire a swan pedal boat-I know I said no more water...The boat was leaking when we pedalled but I made sure we stayed close to the bank,lol.

We have just arrived in Chennai after a 16 hour bus.The bus was meant to be an A/C  sleeper bus but suprise,suprise as with all things in India it was not as we seen in the brochure!NO A/C, NO FANS, NOTHING! There was no such thing as sleep as every hour we stopped for food or loo stops.

Now, I'm not a rocket scientist but It's common sense if youa re going to be driving a bus for 16 hours you eat before you start work.No, not our driver.We have only been on the road for an hour and he has stopped for a curry and rice.Fucker.

I thought I had valium left from our last journey but it turns out they are anti hystemene pills and Sorcha has the only valium left-which she does not share! So, we get on the bus Sorcha is fast asleep and I am awake, sweating, listening to Indian men and women snoring and spitting out the window. We are sat at the front of the bus so every time there is a bus stop rude fucker indian's annoy me by squeezing my legs and tugging at me to move my legs out the way.About an hour before we are due to get off the 16 hour bus I fall asleep, bummer.

So, yeah. We have arrived in Chennai.We have been here half a day.I's hot, like 40 degrees  hot,80 percent humidity,noisy,smelly,beep,beep,honk,honk,beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Just decided to sit under the fan for an hour or wo and write this blog before we head out when it gets dark and hopefully cool to hopefully find the english style bar that is in our guide book. We have no been to a bar for 7 weeks so I think we deserve a nice COLD drink!

Holi Festival!

Holi festival is India's most exuberant Hindu festival and falls on the full moon in Feb/March.It's a time when people join nature in whipping off their winter coats and revelling in the arrival of spring.People greet each other with bright colours-everyhing from a cheeky smearing of pink powder on someones face to a veritable deluge of multi-coloured-dyed water mercilessly thrown from buckets.

Down south not many people celebrate this festival which we found out a few days ago.We have been looking forward to this day the whole of our journey so we decided to rent some motorbikes and hopefully find some northerners somewhere in the surrounding villages.

After an hour of 'trying' to drive about on India's dusty roads a young Indian lad speeds past us on his bike his shirt covered in paint.We beep,shout and catch his attention and the rest is history.

He takes us to his family home where there are about 20 family members dancing, singing, splashing paint and powder all over each other whilst loud western music pumps from the old crackly speakers in the background.

On arrival I am too scared to drive down the steep hill into the house so I let the lad drive.He crashes it straight into the washing line of sheets and rips the front panel of the bike off....too much to say about this situation but I ended up paying 60$ repairs,being verbally abused by the motorbike renter and having a stressful hour of hard barganing so as not to pay for a whole new bike.Leanne keeps telling me not to pay and use my insurance but I cant tell her in front of the lady that I have no bloody driving licence.

Back to the party.The family take us round the back away from the women and give us some beers,whisky and Indian spicy soup.We are splattered in paint,powder and buckets of water-good job my camera bag is waterproof.Leanne's camera is drenched, Sorcha's Iphone is drenched and the floor is becoming a muddy swamp.It's boiling hot and humid and we are sweating and smelly dancing in the garden to Akon(the Indian's favourite arist at the minute lol).

The women and young girls are running about,cleaning,washing,pulling water from the well,cooking whilst the men and boys party with us.We decide to send the boys to buy some alcohol so that Leanne can make them cocktails.We get mint,sugar,vodka and soda and Leanne whips up mojitos.The Indian's cannot believe mint goes in with alcohol and start putting it in their whiskies and rum.

We don't drink too much that day,probably only 3 or 4 drinks each but we are high on happiness.It was a great day and after arriving at 11am we never left till 10pm.

Today is the day after holi day and we decide to 'take a day off' India. We sleep in, go for a nice breakfast of toast and boiled eggs,upload our pics onto facebook which annoyingly takes 1min per photo,eat pizza,fries,drink coca cola and have a lazy day.

The sit ups are coming along nicely, we are doing 150 a day and good news we found scales AND although I thought I must be putting on the kilos I have lost 2 kilos the last 6 weeks! I think it must be stress..lol

Leanne leaves tomorrow I cn't believe she has been here 1 month already.Time has flown.I am secretly jealous she will have a nice bed,A/C,music,salad,the esplanade and normal life!

I am so excited to get back to Cairns.Hopefully I can get a job based flying out of Cairns and get back into a routine.All the time I was there I moaned about Cairns and how I'm over it and now I can't wait to get back to the place!If I have learnt anything on this trip so far the main things are to appreciate what a beautiful part of the world I live in, realise who my real friends are and not take anything for granted.I am excited to get back and watch my good mates Richie and Carrie get married, welcome Jodie and Marty's little baby into the world(mega excited!!!) and spend quality time with my real friends that I have missed.I am going to concentrate on getting my drivers licence before July next year, save up to fly my parents over in 2013 and then hopefully save up to buy my own home in Cairns!

'Venice' to Kovalam beach

Arrived in ‘Venice’ and after an hour’s hard bargaining and finally find a room. We take a stroll along the ‘Venice’ canal... Dirty water, bird shit stained overgrown trees and bird shit stained broken pavements...Venice?!

After the hard day of travelling we decide to have a ‘few’ social beverages and bump into some Swedish boys. An hour’s search later we eventually find a restaurant which sells alcohol.  Drink some beers and try to chat with the Swedes but they have the personality of a teaspoon so we make our excuses and leave.

When we arrive back at our place there is a group of young Indian dudes sitting in the car park. We say hello, hitch a ride on the back of one of the guy’s motorbikes and buy some rum and coke. The guys have a few drinks and then break out into various dance moves of the caterpillar, the ski walk, the shuffle, the moonwalk and back flips.  It’s brilliant fun and we must have laughed for an hour whilst Sorcha pumped tunes from her phone, before teaching the boys how to ‘shuffle’.

We sit on the roof of our hotel till the ‘wee’ hours learning all about their culture, arranged marriages, affairs and girl talk. They ask lots of questions about our culture, lives and boys and wish they could live like us. I am so lucky to be able to live how I choose. It’s like one big cult here.

A bit rusty the next morning we jump aboard a 7 hour boat along the back waters of Kerala to reach Kovalam Beach. Lovely views of palm trees, clean water, villages and  happy local people flash past us.This is a really pretty part of India.

Six hours pass and the boat gets stuck in the mud as it’s gone in shallow water. I am packing all my valuables into my waterproof ‘emergency’ dry bag whilst Leanne and Sorcha take the piss out of me. Everyone on the boat is looking and I could not  give a fuck as long as I’m near an exit and a life ring. Even though the water is shallow It’s still terrifying as water is my biggest fear!

The boat finally sort’s itself out and we dock into Kovalam. Three local buses and a taxi ride follow and after a 15 hour day we arrive in Kovalam Beach.

Hotels ,restaurants, jewellery shops, souvenir shops line the man made lit up  promenade along the beach. Sun beds and umbrellas line the black sand and the massive waves on the rough sea sir in the background. Hello Benidorm! Find a great room on the beach and head out to ‘cafe del mar’ cafe for dinner in which the menu is priced in EUROS?! What the hell.?! I ASKED THE WAITER COULD WE PAY in Euros but we could’nt, ha ha.

Everything here is made for package holiday makers and probably 90 percent of the holiday makers here are over 60 with orange tans, white socks and sandals and dodgy hats.

Lying on the black sand a Sudanese man calling himself ‘DJ.Boombastic’ struts past and gives us a flyer. Every sentence he says ends with ‘Boombastic’ and a figer click. We decide to go to Mr.Bombastic’s party which starts at 10pm and finishes at 6!! 6 am!? Everywhere in India closes at 10pm so this is going to be a good night for us!

Drink a bottle of rum between us with dinner and head to ‘Spice Village’. The tunes are pumping from techno to trance and Mr.Boombastic is dripping sweat all over the decks whilst dancing crazily and screaming Boombastic into the air. There are3 Indian’s in here and 3 hippies bouncing a tennis ball to each other across the dance floor? Move onto the next bottle of rum and decide to drink the night away.It feels like a million degrees and we are dripping with sweat in this tiny dance hole. In walks a group of guys who look a bit tropical and we get talking. They are Arab’s from Baghdad, Dubai and Iraq and are all studying mathematics in India. We share stories whlist me and Leanne have a debate over my opinions on Sep 11^th.

A few hours of shuffling follow and we have a swim in the sea and then the hotel pool.

Next morning we are hanging and head the black beach for a day of relaxation. The arab’s come and join us and we are too hung over to talk . One of them shows off and starts doing push ups next to our bed and telling us storie’s  about  how he can play the drums, sing, dance and basically do anything that he thinks can impress a girl?

We go for dinner and the bill comes. The arab’s won’t let us pay and we won’t le t them pay so after half hour arguing we reluctantly  agree and  let them do what they do in their culture. They invited us so it means they pay? I need to find an Arab to invite me ravelling for a year haha...It’s so different how everybody lives all over the world and I love learning about all these different lives, cultures and people.

Ayurveda the science of life has been developed in India since the earliest times and is the nations civilisation. Eveything from medicine to oils is made from herbs and is 100 percent natural. We decide to get a massage.

I am taken into a hot room with no fan or A/C and told to sit on the wooden stool in the middle of the floor. The lady then tells me to strip and I strip to my underwear. She then signs me to remove my underwear as she cant speak English and within seconds I am naked ,feeling very weird and shy.

She pours oil on my freshly washed hair and starts to rub my head vigourously. This is not pleasant and I can feel my hair breaking with each hard rub. Then she rubs my whole body down with hot oil whilst beads of sweat drip off her body onto me. She stinks, the oil stinks, the room stinks and now I fuckin stink this is not relaxing at all. I’m then told to lie on the rubber bed which has no towel or sheet on so I am slipping all over the joint trying to lie down. She makes me lie on my stomach and starts rubbing me up and down.She’s rubbing my ass, my inner thigh and I am feeling a bit un comfortable. She turns me over and starts rubbing my front. Her hands are circling and cupping my boobs and I’m feeling a bit weird. She then starts rubbing my legs and stroking my vagina?! I am freaking out now and start fidgeting and pretend to scratch my leg whilst knocking her hand.She pats me and starts tickling my toes, feet and legs. 10 min later its over and I quickly get dressed well try to get dressed. I’m oiled up and everything is sticking to me and I just need to get out. Pay her 10$ run home and get showered. Never again do I want an Indian massage!

Yesterday was Holi day in India. It is a day I will never forget my whole life and probably the highlight of the trip so far. But I’m too tired to write anymore so stay tuned for  a tale of love, paint, music, life, celebration, motorbike accidents and culture!

Nightmare train journeys..petrol strikes..sleeping rough..hitch hiking....the last few days of HELL on earth!

Head to the train station to get an 8 hour train to Hampi which should'nt be that bad- we thought.It's a day train, it's absolutely roasting and humid.

The train station is packed and the Indian's are definately at their rudest today.The train pulls up and they all run to he nearest door causing a slight crush and some guy hits Leanne's head with a huge parcel running past,her head nearly fell off.

We squeeze onto the tain and kick the Indian's that have stole our beds off them.We have sleeper beds booked but that does not stop the rude Indians climbing on the end of our bed when we eventually doze off. Leanne can't handle this and rudely kicks the indian's off her bed everytime she wakes. I'm not sleeping so to Leanne's disgust I decide to give my bed up to a little Indian guy who is covered in dust and dirt sleeping on the floor.

My trousers are stuck to me,shirt is wet with sweat and I am stinking.It's Leanne's first train journey, this is definately the worst train me and Sorcha have experienced and I am secretley laughing inside looking at Leanne's face. Karma pays me back for that as when the train stops I cant squeeze off quick enough,there are about 100 indians trying to squeeze in through one door and I have to throw my bags out to the girls and squeeze through the mosh pit of rude fucker indians who are pushing,shoving and screaming in Hindi at me.Rude fuckers.I officially hate indians at this moment in time.

The torture finally ends and we jump a local bus to Hampi.

Hampi is green,surrounded by lush palms,banana plantations,pretty CLEAN rivers,quaint streams,ancient ruins of temples,massive rocks and believe it or not NICE Indians that do not want to rip us off or be rude.

After a few minutes we meet a nice indian guy who takes us to his home in the middle of a banana plantation and stay at his house.The shower is outside in the garden with straw walls and we are eaten alive by mosquitos every time we shower with the hose pipe.

We rent a couple of bikes, spend the day exploring and watch the sunset.This place is like a ghost town and we decide to leave the next day on what should be a pretty easy journey of two buses which take 4 hours on each.

Get up early,eat a nice Indian breakfast and head the bus station to find out the buses are on strike.The indians normally say this so they can squeeze a taxi fare out of you so after an hour of being convinced there really is a strike we get into a auto rikshaw which takes an hour to get the main bus station which is apparantly not on strike.

The bus station is unusually quiet so we walk 2 k to the train station in the blistering heat.My back pack is seriously pissing me off.I throw an item away everytime we  arrive somewhere and I just cant understand why it's so bloody heavy.I really wish I had invested in a good bag and not opted for the pink one just because I love pink!Durrrr!

It's an 8 hour wait for the next train so after 2 hours debating we decide to blow the budget and pay 60$ for a private taxi to Gokarna.Nothing is ever easy here though.There are no taxis in this little shit hole of a town and we decide to find an Indian with a car and offer them some cash.There are no bloody cars here at all and we find a guy who can get a car in an hour.Another hour of waiting in the heat and the car arrives.An hour into the journey the driver explains to us there is no petrol and all the petrol stations are on strike.Typical.We head back to the shitty town and wait for the train.

Very random but in this tiny town we spotted a massive hotel,looks 6 star here but it's probably 2 star in Oz so we decide to spend the next 3 hours waiting there.We read the menu and there is western food which excites us,just what we need.We order sandwiches, chips and beers and wait patiently for an hour for it to arrive.Cucumber and tomato on stale bread cut into tiny triangles arrive with some crispy homemade chips and I sware it's the best thing I have tasted in months.After drinking two pints of beers each I feel smashed and we head the station.

This train takes 8 hours,we have no seats booked so when it arrives we have to do the 'Indian run,push and shove to get a seat and there is 6 of us on a seat made for 4 in a small cabin of about 12 people.My back is killing me as we have been sleeping on a bed with no matress the last 2 nights and it's boiling hot and stinks of Indian sweat-as per usual.

Arrive at our destination to get the connecting train but once again we have been mis informed and there is no train.A half hour hike to the bus station through the busy city follows and we pray there is a bus to Gokarna.

It's now 9pm we left at 8am and nobody in the bus station speaks English.Indians are laughing at us, talking about us, staring and we are in no mood for this shit today! We pull out the map and ask about 30 indians how to get to Gokarna and finally get an answer. Wait at bus stop number 10 for an hour and the bus arrives.The guy who spoke little English tells us it does not go to Gokarna but we can get off a the last stop which is another 6 hours away and then get a connecting bus to Gokarna. There is about 10 of us on the bus,it's dark and the driver is a madman.One of the fellow Indian passengers is arguing about the price of a fare and the bus condutcor blows his whistle.The driver slams on, there is a full blown argument for about 10 min then the mad ride continues.

At one point I doze off and wake to the breaks screaching, the bus nearly tipping over as its taking corners so fast and massive trucks flying past us on a one laned windey road.I tell Leanne and Sorcha I think we are going to die and I really dont want to lose my life in this hell hole of a country and start to well up.They are so sympathetic and make me feel a lot better by telling me to put my ipod on full volume and close my eyes.I crank up the volume, listen to radio1 live lounge ,close my eyes, wrap my shawl around my head and hold onto the bar on the seat in front of me for my life.

Finally at 2am we arrive at a bus stop but there is no connecting bus till 6.30am.We strap our bags to ourselves and get ready for a night on the streets.It's hot,humid and I am being eaten alive by bugs and flies.I cant sleep, the girls doze off and I watch a little indian man sit and put the sports page in about 1000 newspapers for the next 3 hours.

The bus finally arrives we hop on and after another hour and a auto rik shaw ride we finally arrive in Gokarna!

Surrounded by lush rainforest is a pretty beach with nothing but a few beach huts.I have been praying for a beach with 'nothing' this whole trip but after an hour in the blazing sun we are bored and wish for a bar,music and some fellow travellers.We feel really out of place here.There are lots of hippies,yogis and weird people and we look like we are on a package holiday dressed in denim shorts and singlets.Leanne and Sorcha head into the village to buy some alcohol for wih our dinner and I have some 'me' time playing with my camera(which I am still using in auto mode.)

Order our food and finally after 2 months in India get a spicy curry.We ask for spicy all the time but it never is.This blows our head off.We hit the rum and coke and end up sitting chatting about death,old times,future,mates,cairns and family till the wee hours.

Wake up the next day a bit delicate do our 100 sit ups ritual which we have been doing the last week and try to figure out where we are going to head next as this place is way to quiet..hahah. After a stressful hour or 2 of 'trying' to book a train we figure out we have to head backwards to the shittiest city of the world Margo in Goa to get a train to the next state Kereala.

Tomorrow is going to be loooong day.We have to get up at 8am to get a bus ride to the train station,hang around for 11 hours in the shitty city and then get SIXTEEN HOUR train to Applely which is decribed as India's Venice. WATCH THIS SPACE!