Jan - Feb 2009

Bikes, rivers, mountains, NO tigers and lots of tea

The moment has come = the dream trip on el Enfield arrived...


the backwater trips in Kerela

(on the canals and on bikes) blew my mind.... the tea estates of the nilgiri mountains come up trumps and the persistent search for the elusive Indian tiger continued.


After an excellent start to this tripette in Goa, Kerela beckoned. Named "Gods own country" by India, Kerela without a shadow of a doubt lives up to that name.. The backwater trip on the infamous houseboats was an absolute paradise...

It is truly tranquil

and beautiful

and clearly a living tourist attraction

with a whole host of communal activity going on

amongst all the pasty legged photgraphers.. we managed to sneak off for a quiet - dare i say romantic !! - 2 days, and aside from the millions of photographs i have taken, that experience is up there as an all time favourite...

Talking of all time favourite experiences its incredibly hard to distinguish which is the best in this whole Indian adventure.. After all that beach life and river water serenty we (me and my new found travelling companion David - from Spain) headed up into the mountains originally on a tiger and elephant search (In the south, for those of you not in the know, are the Nilgiri Hills - part of a mountain range older than the himalayas). The mountains have a lot of reserves with wild animals roaming free - apparently there are lots they just seem to be avoiding all amelia and david look alikes we soon came to discover - our tiger and elephant search took us to some amazing scenery in the form of Periyar wildlife sanctuary.. it was here high in the tea estates that we decided there was only one next step that could be taken - both in the search for tigers and for the benefit of this amazing trip - ahh at last we were to rent an Enfield.... I had already given up the notion of buying one and driving it myself - just too damn scary! But after a fair few intense/hilarious/hair-raising bus journeys, renting one and behaving myself as a great passenger sounded much more achievable. Varkala we hit and an Enfield we rented.....
then ensued a month of wonderful journey's: A visit to the most southern point of India = Kanyakumari and a hilarious encounter with a bonkers Baba some more reserves and tiger spotting missions and the glorious renting of a house (with kitchen and open fireplace)
high up in tea estate filled Coonor. Crossing over from the state of Kerela to Tamil Nadu with the ever entertaining trials and tribulations of having an old motorbike and its failing parts, India showed her true colours

with everyones unfailing and humbling generousity,
her mind blowing scenery
and her certifiable, undeniable, absoulte complete madness..


At the end of all that, phew, two and a half months of this trip (in total) has flown by.. My travelling partner in crime had to return home to Euroland and I was left in the amazing Kochi Enfield less - and little lovelorn - and with a blank sheet (again) readying myself for a touch more beach, yoga, community life and island paradise.... i e: don't feel too sorry for me.... the story of the spanish inquisition and the Enfield can not end there!!!

i leave you with the only tiger i managed to click my lens at! ggrrrrrrrrrrr!!