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!!

Dec - Jan 2009

Beach Life....

Talking 'bout the beach life !!!

As one little chapter comes to an end it seems the perfect time to update you all on the madness before there become too many stories to know where to start.I'm leaving Goa
tonight after a month of wonderful beach life.

. I think I have eaten my weight in tiger prawns and managed to go against all my money saving travelling instincts and buy, do, drink and eat exactly as i please.. theory being i am sure this is one of the only luxurious tourist friendly places i will be lucky enough to spend time in over the up and coming months.....!!! I came to Goa with a firm image in mind.. and it did what india does best - flipped that expectation on its head and gave me daily images of pristine beaches...

wonderful smiley happy people
not a trace of day glow hippie strewn trance parties in sight....
i have done the hut thing i have done the cliff side bungalow thing.. i have marvelled at the portugese villas all over this jungle like countryside..
and even thought i had found my next home when one particularly beautiful one was perfectly named villa emilia!!!! The research for the colombia dream is coming on a treat

and some conversations i have had with bar owners and restauranters have opened my little eyes - i am still daily impressed at the movement of people across india - how nepalese and manalese and ladhkis will come south to work the sunny months and return north for their own high season - it puts my complaining of 3 months straight work while on boats into perspective - these peeps seem to work 12 months straight!!!!! i have been hounding the Enfield (motorbike) dream but have oddly enough become quite sensible and have stuck to driving scooters and so far only been a passenger on the big beasts -

however it is just a matter of time before i get my mojo up and running and few pratice sessions under my belt and then the big purchase of, followed by the big journey with my dream machine!! I have hung out in the north I have endured my first long train journey (12 hours)

and bus journey -( with beds!! ) I have bumbled round India's answer to Macchiu Piccu - Hampi

and gone just a little, and just for a moment, all spiritual..


I have hit the south and gone beserk with the camera - best move I made bringing the big boy with me... everywhere you look there is a picture and all indians seem to be blessed with self confidence and photogenic qualities that make me cringe with self doubt!!!

The lovely lorna green came out for 1 week to visit me..
and she was whisked within an inch of her life up and down Goa - we hit tranquility peppered with decadence and bumpy rice fields with a passion...

discovering the wonders of watermelon juice!!!! and i am still smarting at her departure yesterday!!! :( Goa is a paradise and a place i can definitely place high on the must return to list... the thought of renting a little house here and kicking back for a few months is a likely possibility at some pint in my ilfe - and one i would highly recommend to one and all....

So now it is after much deliberation that i find myself with a 17 hour train journey ahead of me starting 9.30 tonight destination Kerela! My plan was to hit the coast of Karnataka and partake in more beach life first... however a newly acquired friend has convinced me with the rather winning argument that i do have a long time here to meet them in Kerela and share the experience...i think it is positively the right decision and I now am very excited at the prospect of cruising the backwaters on a houseboat (something my uncle started me thinking about many years ago) driving around the southern mountains and going through a few national parks and reserves.. there is of course the beach to add into that list of fun... and with 4 more months of glorious weather ahead of me my friend is right i have time to come back re visit or just stay put wherever the mood takes me...

yeeh hah India is India is India -

there was a reason i had a burning to desire to return.. daily i am understanding why... also something tells me this won't be my last journey here.... the mix of travellers, holiday makers and crazy indians (who i swear are more fun than children!) make the journey alone worthwhile

and thats not even considering the beautiful locations, countrysides, beaches and mountains... and the food!!! oh my gosh the food.

I have already done one cooking course and can safely make chaptis, dal, pakora and spicy curry - god help you all when i do eventually have a fixed abode and can extend that long overdue dinner invite out.... i am sure there is a lot more to recount but i reckon thats a good snapshot. for now xx