Us on a seriously crowded bus

After an amazing night’s sleep we headed to the bus station and luckily we straight away found seats.

However, it does seem that no one wants to sit next to 2 white travellers so most of the way it was just us on a bench that with a squeeze could fit 3 people. However, when someone did sit next to me, I did feel like a sardine with a largish Indian man to my left- and Chris to my right!

A lovely sunset on the water

A lovely sunset on the water

But to be honest the journey really wasn’t too bad about 1 ½ hours long and very breezy as there are no windows which meant not too many fragrant smells! We then took a small Ferry ride from Ernakulam to Fort Kochi and walked around for over an hour to find somewhere to stay as everywhere was full as it’s now high-season. Another long day!

written by  chrischarly on November 19, 2010 from Ernakulam, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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The train journey again was ok and seriously cheap once again standing at the back of 2nd class.

We then haggled a taxi and arrived at the boat jetty to take the Ferry almost 3 hours early, the first ones to arrive!

Then after quite a beautiful, yet long 8 hour Ferry journey along the back-waters (wishing it was a house-boat) we arrived in Allepy!

The houseboat I wanted to go on...too much money

Compromise- A ferry along the backwaters

Chinese fishing nets

Hundreds of ducks

Another big bird

A big bird

Chris waiting to buy some munch

2 men rowing

3 men fishing

A lady washing her clothes

A man washing his bits

Chris' dream woman

A man fishing

Us on the ferry

A nie photo!

A man inhis fishing hut

Pretty exhausted we searched for some accommodation and managed to find a little home-stay for £3.50! However, we noticed that there wasn’t exactly anything here to see or do we didn’t unpack. Next stop: Fort Kochi!

written by  chrischarly on November 18, 2010 from Kollam, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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Our bargain room

Today is our last day in Varkala and thus we spent the majority of our day planning what to do next!

Our balcony at Clafouti

But apart from that we didn’t do anything very exciting; merely a ton of hand-washing and general re-organisation of our luggage…

written by  chrischarly on November 17, 2010 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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Lovely beach

Chris pointing at our accomodation

Today we spent the majority of the day just relaxing before going for a loving walk around the gorgeous beaches Varkala has to offer.

The sea

A Mosque

Fantastic sunshine until yet another electrical storm hit. It's funny, I never thought anywhere could or would rain more than in the U.K, but in the south of India I have been proven wrong!

written by  chrischarly on November 16, 2010 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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chris in our rick-shaw

In the search to find somewhere to post a package we managed to go exploring Varkala twice in one day, travelling using the local transport an auto-rickshaw.

our rickshaw driver

over-taking a rick-shaw

Although no one in India has any knowledge of the highway code it was great fun!

written by  chrischarly on November 15, 2010 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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the view from where we're staying

the north cliff

Today we had a lovely walk exploring Varkala. We are right on top of a Cliff over-looking the beach and it is simply beautiful!

Chris drenched by the rain

drenched by the rain storm

Chris actually managed to haggle further with the manager of the resort we’re staying in as we love it here so much. So we’ve extended our stay to 5 nights and are now paying £4.79 a night, although it does make me cringe when Chris starts bartering.

written by  chrischarly on November 14, 2010 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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the train we went on

chris busy working

Deciding that we’ve probably seen and made the most of what is on offer in Kovalum we packed our bags and made our way to Varkala on the train. It was certainly an experience this time travelling 2nd class, but to be honest we enjoyed it, for just 42p per ticket it was a bargain.

crammed on 2nd class

sitting on our balcony

When we arrived, after some serious haggling by Chris we managed to get a 2-bedroomed air conditioned cottage for just £5.63 a night! That’s a 10th of the Price of what another couple has just paid, admittedly in a slightly nicer room. As usual we’ve landed on our feet!!

written by  chrischarly on November 13, 2010 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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another picture of the lions

lion

male lion

2 lions

a lioness

This morning we went on a guided tour around Kovalum. However the guide barely spoke any English so the tour didn’t exactly happen, he also got lost many times and tried taking us to the most expensive places so we think he was on commission.

crammed like sardines on a bus

the lake we went on

the dam

beautiful scenery

So we ended up finding our own tour for the fraction of the Price and just using him as a driver and left him sulking in the car.

amazing views again

standing at the back of the boat

more beautiful views

on the boat

chris seriously unimpressed with having to wear a life jacket!

the crocodiles right by our feet !!!!!

However, we did have a good day going on a small boat tour, to a lion park, a crocodile rehabilitation centre where we went inside the actual enclosure with them, a deer Sanctuary which unfortunately didn’t seem to have any deer in and experiencing our first yet very claustrophobic Indian bus journey.

written by  chrischarly on November 12, 2010 from Neyyur, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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me eating the true indian way

Today we ate in the true Indian way enjoying a typical local dish ‘thali’ however; I later didn’t find it funny when I chewed on 2 green chillies!! Chris however thought it was hilarious…

a lovely sunset

beautiful sunset

kovalam beach

Our delhi friends

The beach front

Check out the hair!

Again we over-slept as it had taken hours to finally drift off, but we still had an amazing day exploring Kerola by rock climbing to discover some hidden secluded beaches.

More amzing views

Chris

the beach

At around 3pm we took a walk up to a lighthouse and climbed to the top to see some breath-taking views.

Lighthouse

The millions of stairs we climbed

The term and conditions

2 temples

Lovin' the lighthouse

Amazing viwe of Kovalum

By the evening we were exhausted and enjoyed a quiet dinner along the coast starving due to having too much fun to eat!!

written by  chrischarly on November 10, 2010 from Kovalam, India
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey
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