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mich_and_dan_moors

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mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog

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Kummilly, Thekkadi

Thekkadi, India

(Sorry not had chance to upload photies- to follow)
Staying here was amazing!!! Our guesthouse was set in the forest/national game park so the views were fantastic, our room was so clean & spacious that we immediately booked a few extra nights to take advantage. The guys at Shiva Gardens had already recommended things for us to do so we booked on the spice & tea plantation tour as well as an elephant ride.
It was a really lovely walk into the town, and on the way there & back every day we saw families of monkeys & their babies so that was a treat in itself.
The next day we woke up, excited for our visit to see the Elephants!!! I was like a child, too excited but we were both a bit worried about it being too 'commercial' and just hoped the animals were going to be well looked after..........the fab news was they were. So much in fact we saw a pregnant elephant who had conceived within the reserve so that was lovely. The ride lasted for 30 mins and was great, a bit bumpy , but the enormity of these amazing creatures when you're riding on the back of them is pretty unbeliveable. The BEST part of the day was that we got to actually wash an elephant!!! - we both washed & scrubbed it, then sat behind it ears & gave them a good wash! We then took it in turn to climb on it's back where it proceeded to squirt a trunkfull of water over us. It was great! I could go on & on about it, a bit boring for you to read, but we both loved the experience.
Day 2- Tea Plantation & factory tour which was so interesting, lots of facts including they use the same type of tea leaf to produce 6 kinds of tea ( i always thought green tea came from another tea plant?) as well as they only export 20% of the tea they produce, the remaining being consumed in India.
Ou guide for the Spice Tour was pretty mad- an old Indian guy who kept on telling us how much he loved the UK & quoting Mr Bean episodes! WTF?!!!!! Again we learnt a lot about spices such as 'All Spice' is actually a plant- which we originally thought was a manufactured mix of several different spices. Monty Don had actually been to this very Spice plantation so it seems we were in good company ;-)
All in all, we loved Kumilly its a great place to chill out & soak it all up

permalink written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 17, 2011 from Thekkadi, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
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The Backwaters of Alleppey

Alleppey, India

Next onto Allepey for just a few days which is the place to see the amazing 'Backwaters'. We took a train from Varkala and were joined by Trish & Lauren whom we'd met at Shiva garden.....crazy girl, both really fab company. And they really did appreciate having Dan around to carry & load/unload their bags onto the train ;-) The trip took about 2.5 hours, and weridly on the way we met an Indian couple who had friends from Stoke & lived in Bridlington! Such a small world.
We checked in for just 2 nights as there's not much to do or see other than the Backwaters, and to be honest we'd been spolit a bit by staying in the beachy resort of Varkala. Alleppey is a bit more city like, not a relaxing place so 2 nights was enough. The owners of the Homestay recommened a canoe/paddle trip on the Backwaters which was just 700 rupees which all 4 of us booked.

The next day Antony who would be our local guide for the day, picked up up at 8.15 and we proceeded to catch the Ferry. From the start the views were absolutley stunning. The pictures speak for themselves

permalink written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 15, 2011 from Alleppey, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
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Varkala, Kerala

Varkkallai, India

So next onto Varkala....a beautiful beach resort set in the cliffs. Our stay was at 'Shiva Garden' which for a budget of just 500 ruppees, around 7.50, it was actually prettty lovely. V. clean, everything we needed and it didn't freak out my lovely OCD hubby!! ;-) To be honest it was a bit of a easy settling in period.....we did naff all every day! Got up, ate amazing fruit salad, went for a bit of a stroll on the beach,tried to master marbles Solitaire (failed miserably) had a few beers , ate fresh fish, and then to bed. Every night! We met some really lovely people from the off....Ichbaal a guy from London, the crazy travelling Trish who gave us some great tips, Lauren, Margarita,and Matt & his wife Clare with son Oscar.

Our favourite haunt at lunch was Lakeside bar- we'd watch the fishermen come in every day on their 'boats' 3 Banana shaped pieces of wood tied together) & we even went out on the boat for a little trip with one of the fishermen which was amazing.


The people who ran Shiva were amazing & organised a trip to the 'Temple Festival' which I believe is how they celebrate the first & last crop harvests- the local guys will carry a massive Tower across the paddy fields which is then lifted onto the Elephant who parade them around the village.

the tower


The amazing elephants at "Temple Festival'
The photies posted are of the festivities & the local people who were just so beautiful & welcoming.




permalink written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 7, 2011 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
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First Night - Oh What a shock! ;-)

Mumbai, India

So it all starts here!!!!! The flight to Mumbai was great, thanks to our lovely nurse friend Sarah who gave us some sleeping tablets we managed to grab about 5 hours so getting into Mumbai airport was great. We had no problems getting a pre-paid taxi to our hotel.....but the ride to the hotel was a bit of a shock, it's juct so busy with traffic and there appears to be no lanes- it seems to be 'who dares wins' pretty much! so lots of beeping horns & dodging in & out of traffic. It's just a bit of a cutlure shock, an obviously big contrasting city between the rich & the poor with a massive gap in the middle. The only way to describe it is like there's been a nuclear war, everything has been wiped out & people are starting their lives again. Except they're not. That's just how they live......wherever there's a space to squeeze, whether it's on the side of as road or down the side of a derelict building that's their home. Unfortunately we didn't have any charge on our camera hence only a few pics (which I'll upload soon) & when we got to our hotel , which was ok, clean & fine for 1 night, we didn't really want to spend the evening there. There was nothing really to do or see around it, so we headed in Mumbai. We saw the Gateway to India, had a wander around the Taj Mahal hotel which is spectacular, then the only place I remembered to go from when I visisted 10 yrs ago was Leopolds Bar! - which is an infamous Mumbai hangout.
So the first night that's pretty much all we did- and to being honest we're not sure how much more there is to see. So I don't think we'll be heading back. Sorry Mumbai, you're just a bit too crazy for us!

permalink written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 6, 2011 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
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