Beaches and Backwaters...........

So an update of my week-

Chennai was ok but nothing special - we had a driver take us round sight seeing on Friday but me and Lu must have been very annoying for him because most places he took us we weren't very interested in which meant we were in and out pretty quickly. We arrived in Kochi in Kerela at 3am on Saturday morning after taking a sleeper train from Chennai which was a very weird and interesting experience, I was exhausted and not really looking forward to getting a rickshaw (tuk tuk) to the hotel that early in the morning as the drivers often don't have a clue where they're going but we got there safely. Then on Sunday we went to the NF church in Kochi -they have a church of about 30 it was so nice - the service was great and then afterwards they have lunch together - they made us feel very welcome.

Monday we started the organized tour which was good however very busy -

Monday - We checked into are Hotel and met with the other tour members, there is 9 of us 4 British, 2 Canadian, 2 Swiss and 1 Irish, it was great to meet new people!

Tuesday - We travelled to Alleppey and took a boat through the backwaters - which was beautiful. We then arrived at are home stay (which is staying with a family), I was expecting it to be basic but this was not the case the house was massive they had lovely double rooms - enough to fit 9 of us! They live right by the river on a Island in the backwaters - to get to places they have to take a boat (the children go to school on a school boat!) - they were a lovely family. In the evening we had a guide round the village which we got to by canoe and half way through the walk it poured down - fun but we were drenched my shoes have only just dried. We then had a rather long (1 hour!) journey back to are home stay on a canoe in the rain - I was cold and tired so not a happy bunny but the traditional Indian songs the guide and the people in control of the canoe were singing was interesting.

Wednesday - Woke up not feeling great my IBS wasn't at its best and the curry for breakfast made it soooo much worse! I couldn't say no to breakfast as that would've been rude to our hosts (who had fed us lovely food the day before) but it wasn't a great experience and something I hope to never do again. We then had a 5 hour mini bus journey to Periyer - which is in the mountains and has very bendy roads to get there (curry breakfast, bad IBS and bendy roads = very ill maddy! wasn't sick praise God!). Periyer was beautiful and a lovely little town and are hotel was once again lovely.

Thursday - We went to a Tiger wildlife reserve saw no tigers and 1 elephant from quite far away it was quite dissapointing - but the trek was fun!

Friday - We travelled to Varkala which took us 8 hours, when we arrived at are hotel I was once again surprised at how lovely it was (this was meant to be a basic tour) it is on a cliff with AMAZING views of the sea.

I think thats it about the tour......

Weather hasn't been great here it has rained most days...on the plus side I still haven't got sunburnt and the heat isn't unbarable. I am looking forward to going to Goa on Monday as its sunny there and we are planning to chill out on the beach and do some shopping which will be nice.

I have enjoyed my time here but I guess I am looking forward to a bit of normality in Sydney - being able to get from one place to another easily, asking someone a question and them understand what I am asking, eating a salad and a few other things. However I am glad I came because I have definatly experienced something different!

Lucy has not been so great last Saturday she was really ill and this has meant her stomach hasn't been normal all week, she has also felt tired and achey which hasn't been good. However today she seems to be getting back to normal so hopefully she will have a nice relaxing week.

Anyway I'm off now to maybe buy some flip flops then read my book and play Suduko overlooking the amazing views.