Countdown.....

It wasn’t until we were actually on the bus that we realised that it was to be our last ever long bus journey in India! To which we did a little dance and whooped with joy. It wasn't long till we were going to be on an island in the Andaman sea either. Excellent! But before that, there were a few more things to see and do.....

We left Munnar in the early evening and knew that we were going to be stopping somewhere to change coaches. We still don’t know where we ended up stopping (it was a typical busy, dirty, stinking bus station) but we used the opportunity to have a little snack and a good nimbu pani (we were still stuffed from the thali earlier). We got on the connecting bus without a hitch and arrived in Villupuram after sunrise where we were to catch a local bus for Pondicherry. We were initially expecting to get to Villupuram at around 3am (that is what the ticket agents in Munnar told us) but had found out earlier in the journey that it would be later (around 5 am). That was pleasing to say the least as more sleep and being dropped off later had obvious benefits. This place was even more of a dirty mosquito ridden dump and would have felt even more grim at 3am. We took turns to use the public toilets, which were unpleasant, and then headed for the chai stand to see what sickly sweet delights we could charge our bodies with. It wasn't long before we were tucking into some biscuits and chai.....along with a gold flake.


We waited untill we heard someone shouting 'Pondicherry, pondicherry, pondicherry!' At which point we were directed by the guy onto one bus and then told to get out and get on another one as it trundled past! We hopped out and up again. The only thing quiet about this bus was the amount of people on it, about 8 in all.......all staring, just for a change!
It was 5.30am and off we trundled onto the busy street, Hindu music blaring, driver shouting and tooting and all the time being stared at by 8 pairs of Inquisitive eyes.....


Pondicherry, renamed Puducherry in ’06, sits on the seafront and was formerly colonised by the French. It still has pockets of French culture and some beautiful architecture, and is apparently also a good place to go and stay in an ashram style guesthouse. When we got to India I was quite keen on spending some time in an ashram to see what they were all about. Literally meaning ‘a place of striving’, they are places for ‘spiritual and personal improvement’, and a stay in one involves abstinence, meditation, yoga, mainly always vegetarian food and some other strict guidelines, such as a complete sex ban or positive encouragement to have plenty! But seeing as we didn’t spend any time in an ashram itself, I thought we could stay in a guesthouse with only some rules to follow and yoga and meditation on offer if we wanted it and Matt agreed. After looking forward to it out of curiosity, we turned up at the Park Guesthouse and Matt jumped out to check for availability. The man at the gate was rude and unhelpful which was disappointing, and the guesthouse was full, so we decided to head to a normal guesthouse we had seen on the way. Never mind. We did look for some more ashram style guesthouses later in the day but we decided it wasn’t going to happen and had a look around Pondicherry instead.

My next car


The seafront



The obligatory Gandhi statue


Pondicherry is also talked about for its' array of 'fine French food and wine' so we were hoping to get in on some of that action! In the end we found the restaurants to be a little too expensive, and decided instead to wait till we got back home for some good food and wine and ate some local food instead. The following morning however, we found a restaurant serving an English breakfast and it turned out to be good which pleased Matt’s belly. We intended on leaving for our next destination the following day (from the limited time that we stayed there we found that Pondicherry didn’t do much for us) and there wasn’t much to see in Pondicherry, so we hired a motorbike to drive to a place called Auroville 12km away.

Auroville is a project in ‘human unity’ and consists of an international community, encircling more than 90 communities (about 2000 people), spread over 20km. The project was started 40 years ago in ’68 on a barren plateau of largely red earth and not much else, but due to their consistent tree-planting efforts, the first pioneers of Auroville have turned the area into lush green landscape in which a ‘city’ is starting to take shape. It is not a tourist attraction per se, and you can stay there if you like, but seeing as we only had a day we decided to visit the visitors centre instead to see what Auroville was all about.

Once we were off the main road into Auroville it was quite a long drive to the visitors’ centre (which was not well signposted) but it was pleasant and quiet. The red dirt roads were lined with trees and fields and the odd guesthouse or organic plantation of some kind. We ended up making a few u-turns and stops to ask people where the centre was and we eventually got there, hoping we would have enough fuel to get back seeing as there weren’t many petrol stations around!
The visitor centre was smart and informative and we learnt quite a bit from the various displays.



Auroville is the invention of The Mother and was created as ‘an experimentation in international living where people could live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, politics and nationalities’. The layout of the ‘city’ was also seen as a reflection of their beliefs for unison. In the spiritual and physical centre is the Matrimandir, the soul of Auroville, and four zones (cultural, international, industrial, residential) radiate out from it.



The Matrimandir contains a silent inner chamber lined with white marble and houses the largest (70cm diameter) solid crystal in the world. The suns rays are beamed into the crystal from a tracking mirror in the roof but as a visitor you get to see only the golden outside.



Each community has its own area of work interest or expertise, such as organic farming, arts and dance, herbal medicine, women’s groups etc. They even have a Solar Kitchen, powered totally by solar energy, which serves over 500 meals a day.
We had mixed feelings about the place with regards to its ideas about a better future, some seem promising and some not, in our opinion, so it will be interesting to visit again in ten years time. We decided to head back to Pondicherry after we were done in Auroville, stopping in a local fishing village along the way.



We even stopped at a spirulina farm so I could stock up on the algae superfood. It's amazing stuff you know! And it was so cheap. The drive back to Pondicherry through the traffic was fun because there wasn’t too much of it but Matt got to test out his horn lots! It was good not to be on public transport and if we were to come back again to India one day, I think we would seriously think about buying an Enfield motorbike. Dangerous, we know, but it seems to be the only way you get to really get off the banana pancake trail excluding walking.

Later that evening, back in Pondicherry, we tested out some French dishes in the restaurant we had found. Although it was tasty, it wasn’t as good as we were made to believe but we did choose a relatively cheap French restaurant. Who knows.

Next on the hit list (and the last port of call before the Andaman and Nicobar islands!!) was Mahabalipuram, further North up the coast of Pondicherry and famous for its rock carvings. By this point in our trip, we weren’t too bothered about ‘sightseeing’ any more, and were just looking forward to relaxing in peace and quiet. However, seeing as Mahabalipuram was closer to the airport for our flight to the islands, we decided to head there and caught a bus the next morning.
The bus journey was bumpy and I had the wind blowing hard into my face for the two hour journey, but we couldn’t care less as this was another last for us in India (yay again). It was to be a short stay in Mahaballipuram, so after checking into Tina Guesthouse, we went for a wander. It’s a small place and consisted of the usual small shops, restaurants and travel agents. We enquired about booking our flights home (exciting and scary), got on the internet to write some last emails and then thought about dinner. We had passed many prawn farms on the way, and the place is supposed to be known for its cheap seafood, so we were looking forward to some jumbo prawns. Following our restaurant inspection we were quite surprised, and disappointed, to find that the prawns weren’t that cheap and their cost varied a lot, sometimes 3 or 4 times more times more expensive in some. We ended up at a dud restaurant in the end and had a rubbish meal, followed by a spoonful of sugar breath fresheners that on closer inspection was riddled ith ants! (Matt quickly ejected his mouthfull over the balcony!!). It was a shame but we headed back to our rooms as we were pretty tired.
The next day was spent on bicycles, taking in the sights of the Five Rathas and the Shore Temple. The description of the Five Rathas is long and mostly boring. Being close to the sea they were hidden in the sand until discovered by the British 200 years ago.





Once finished, we got back on our bicycles and took the long way around the village for some exercise and to see what else was around. As soon as we arrived at the Shore Temple and before we got off our bikes, we were accosted by a local trying to sell us leather chappals (flip flops). This time I was actually interested in buying the ones he had so I promised to return later.

The guidebook made the Shore Temple out to be quite ‘majestic’ but we weren’t too sure.


To be honest, I think we were both templed out and couldn’t give a monkeys about it but I wont do it the injustice of not saying something about it. It was built a long time ago in the 7th century and represents the ‘final phase of Pallava art) and contains shrines for both Shiva and Vishnu (I think).



With the sightseeing over and done with we headed back (not without buying my chappals) to the village, picked up our air tickets, and went for dinner at a better, but still not amazing, seafood place. It was an early start the next day and we were excited! We had been looking forward to some island life in the Andaman and Nicobar islands for a while, and it couldn’t have come sooner.

More Tea?

The journey to Munnar took us inland and away from the coast for the first time in a while. The journey itself was pleasant. In the end we had to take two buses with about an hours break in between connecting vehicles. The second leg was more picturesque and the higher and further in land we went the fresher and less stiflingly hot it became (the backwaters in Kerala were very hot and humid). With no windows in the bus the air was whipping around us as we twisted and turned up and around the hillsides taking in the increasingly beautiful scenery (and listening to the Stones on the ipod. Cool!).

On arrival at the bus station in Munnar we jumped off and gained our bearings via the trusty (or not so trusty in some cases) Lonely Planet. We phoned one of the highly recommended guesthouses (Zina Cottages) to see if they had anything for us. After a none too clear conversation where we ultimately gathered that they had rooms, we headed off on foot towards our intended sanctuary hoping that a rickshaw would pass by sooner rather than later. On hearing the unmistakable whirr of a rickshaw engine I turned around to find it empty, which triggered the mad, please stop hand waving. We clambered in and off we trundled, bouncing around in the back as we headed off the road and up a steep side track. What with Munnar being a popular back packer stop we of course got the sales pitch from the rickshaw driver, who offered to drive us round the sights in the area for X amount of rupees. We took his card on our departure and wobbled into the guest house grounds.

We had to poke our heads round a couple of doors to find someone and when we did it turned out that we had not followed their phone instructions. We were actually meant to be at the bottom of the hill at their overflow place as the guesthouse was full. The directions given on the phone were obviously clear as mud. Anyway, whilst we waited for the manager of the other place to come and get us, we had a cup of tea (of course) and a quick chat with the owner who was also ran a tourist information office in the town. He was a very helpful and nice chap who had a tendency to repeat himself. Especially the ‘largest tea plantations in all the world’ fact and also the one about the tea plant actually being a tree that grows to over 3m in height. Anyway, the manager turned up within about 10 minutes or so and we had to wobble back down the track to the bottom of the hill. The place had very little character (unlike the hill top house, which had great views and a cottage feel to it). What it did have though was a good-sized room (large in fact), a hot shower, a thick double mattress on the bed (very rare!) and a TV! That’ll do!

We got settled and sorted (i.e. showered) and headed out to find some grub. There were a few touristy restaurants around, but we wanted to go cheap (as per usual) and headed along the road where a couple of busy roadside places were serving up local Indian food. It was at this point that we started to feel slightly underdressed as everyone was in jumpers and hats. We were of course in hot weather gear freezing our bits off! (we got caught out because during the day it’s pretty toasty here). Not only that but we left our money back at the ranch, so we had to negotiate a meal and some fags on tick! After all that we sat down, shivered, ate quickly and scuttled back to the warmth and comfort of our room swearing to be better dressed the following night!

We only planned on staying in Munnar for a couple of days. The plan was to do the sight seeing thing and then move on to the east coast as we were now counting down to the Andaman islands. So there was no time for lounging and relaxing, we had to get into town and find out what’s what from one of the tourist information offices. After a brief trip to the guesthouse on top of the hill (to see if they had vacancies for the rest of our time there, which they did, so we checked in) we walked the K or so into town. We found the tourist info place that was run by the owner of Zina Cottages and had a good chat with him regarding our options on what to do and when. Mr Iype was very helpful, and again told us all his favourite facts, more than once regarding tea trees and plantations. He is a very proud man!

With a clear plan now in mind we found somewhere to eat. As it turned out, the restaurant we picked served up probably the best value, and dare I say the best Thali we have had!

All you can eat for 30p and it was cracking!
Anyway, with our bellies full we set out to for our afternoons’ entertainment, which consisted of a walk through the countryside taking in some of the sights and sounds. We jumped in a rickshaw and got dumped off at the start of our route.

I’m sure most of you remember the PG tips packets that used to have the Indian women on the front in their colourful saris picking tea. I have always wanted to see and walk through tea plantations and see the women working in the fields picking tea. Strange I know but I have always wanted to see this. Anyway, the illusion was shattered when we soon came across some real women picking tea.

Not a sari in sight!! I didn’t really expect to see the saris of course and yet again it was great to see something that I thought I would never see.

After lots of smiles and Namastes’ we were of along the road. We spent around 3 or 4hours walking along the road and back again. The weather was cracking and the views were stunning.




We returned to the guest house and had a shower and got sorted for the evening. It was starting to dawn on us though that the guest house at the bottom of the hill, although it lacked character, was far the better value as the room was way more comfortable. We thought we would give it until the morning to make a final decision on it but we suspected that we would be moving down the hill in the morning!

Morning broke and a relatively poor nights sleep sealed the guest house decision. Off we set down the hill once more and straight back into the large, comfortable room.

We headed into town to organise a bus for the next day to take us to Pondicherry, the next stop on list. At the same time we talked to the guy about a rickshaw for the day. We negotiated one for 400 rupees. It started at 450, but it was then agreed at 400, plus 50 if we were happy with him at the end of the trip. This always makes me laugh! So we clambered onboard with our goofy rickshaw driver and headed for the hills.

Some of you will know that rickshaw drivers like to jazz their little chariots up with all sorts of cheesy and garish things. From little pictures of Ganesh and garlands of flowers, cheesy sickly sweet photos of babies or landscapes with some proverbial pearl of wisdom inscribed next to them to booming stereo and light show systems. It’s like someone has been reading MAX power for the deaf dumb and blind. This particular rickshaw was no exception to the rule, but it has to be said that this guy took great pride in his motor, and it was in top condition. So we raced around the road with the stereo blasting out some great Hindi tunes. Awesome!

The plan was to go to somewhere called Top station and take in the sights on the way and back again. The Top Station is right on the Kerala/ Tamil Nadu Boarder and offers fantastic views over the Western Ghats.

Firstly we pulled up at huge dammed reservoir which was cool.


Then we stopped further up the reservoir. There was a tame elephant along the route at some point, but can't remember where so he is shown here!


Rounding the end of the lake and heading up hill again we caught sight of a wild elephant, so took a couple of snaps of him. He was a big old boy!


We stopped at various other picturesque places along the way……

Aparently part of Ohm Shanti Ohm was filmed on the above mound!


We kept stopping and starting all the way to the Top Station. Which was beautiful!



On the way up the air cooled quite a bit. We mentioned this to our rickshaw driver and on our return he had put up a screen across the side of his wagon, which would cut out some of the breeze.

Love the camo look!

On our way back, our driver really came into his own. He knew what he was doing with his stops and the places he decided to take photos for us had obviously been done before. We gave him the camera and he managed to get a couple of shots where we were not actually posing, which we think is a first for our trip!

There were a few posed shots....



En route back we came across the wild elephant again. This time he looked to be attempting to cross the road and go up the hill. Only problem was that there were a hundred odd Indians tormenting, yelling, waving and goading the bloody thing. They were all gathered right in its’ path. The elephant was obviously showing aggression towards the hecklers in the form of mini lunges/ charges and throwing its’ head around. It made for interesting viewing!
Here you can see the elephant rearing up at a passing car.

We stopped and watched for a bit and then decided to risk the road past the elephant. We whizzed past and came within a few meters of the angry beast!! We stopped a safe distance the other side and decided to watch some more as the elephant made its way up onto the road…

It was still in a bit of a temper and even threw some boulders around! It was also rearing up at any vehicles that passed. We got a little bit of video footage on our camera, and as I was filming it made a bit of a lunge towards the crowd. Everyone made a bit of a dash for it and I can safely say that I crapped my pants! My hands were shaking after that, much to Dipi’s amusement. Eventually, once everyone got right out of its intended path, it made it across the road and started to head off up the hill.

We got back after dark and as you can imagine, we paid our man the full 450, plus a bit actually. He was a top fella. He took some great snaps for us and he was a good laugh. Dipi had wanted to copy some of his music for her mum, so we nicked some of his CD’s and copied them before handing them back to him with our thanks. We had a great day out!

That evening we tried to play back the CD’s, but they had not copied properly! So, in the morning we got in touch with the bus ticket man who then put us onto the rickshaw driver. We got him to come and pick us up so there so we could copy the music properly! We had been carrying around a whole bunch of CD’s with LOTS of music, so we did an exchange. He was well happy with that!

He then took us into town where we gorged ourselves, yet again, on ‘the best Thali in India’ before heading off to the bus station.

The Famous Backwaters

The state of Kerala is probably better known for its back water cruises more than anything else and this is the main reason why many tourists visit the state. The cruises consist of anything from spending three hours in a canoe to days on a house boat. Either way it’s a sightseeing trip to take in the natural and manmade beauty of the backwaters. You also get to see how people live alongside the water ways as there are many villages perched precariously just above the water line. During the monsoon many of these villages and areas are left until the waters recede once more.
We had taken a relatively short train ride from Kannur and a similarly short bus ride to get to Alleppey. After some exploration we ended up in a place called Gowri, which is quite popular with tourists. We ended up with a nice little chalet which had an outside bathroom which we loved!

We found our bearings and had a plan to find out about house boats over the next day or so with maybe a plan to take a canoe ride too.

That evening we sat down to dinner at Gowri when a cheery couple approached us. After a quick chat we invited Sarah (from England) and Joe (from Austria) to sit with us and enjoy a beer. We had a fun evening and even enjoyed a little party that a few of the local lads were having there.... well we sat outside in a hammock and chatted while the ‘party’ went on inside. Between the four of us we had decided to go on the hunt the next day for at least a canoe trip and maybe more.....
So the next morning we set off along the canal to enquire about a canoe ride.

It didn’t take long to get intercepted by someone offering boat rides and, after some negotiation, we had ourselves a canoe trip booked for the afternoon. We had a quick bite to eat and considered the house boat idea. As we were now a foursome it made the whole thing a lot more affordable, although we don’t think Joe and Sarah were considering the whole house boat idea prior to meeting us. We headed to the tourist office and the guy inside ran us through our options. Most of them bloody expensive options. Anyway, we had to have at least a look at the boats and, as I was nominated, I sped off down the road on the back of a bike to have a look at the prospective boats.

Now call me old fashioned, but to me, if you are going to go out on the water in these surroundings it would be nice to do it in rustic and ‘at one’ fashion. The boats that I was shown had air con rooms with en suite, arm chairs on the front with TV’s and DV bloody D’s!!! No, no, no.

“So, any simple boats my friend??” was the question I asked. We went all the way along the jetty. “This one? This one?” Each and every one was same same but different. So again I pushed for a SIMPLE BOAT PLEASE. We came to the very end and there she was. Moonshine, the smallest and most simple boat there and she could sleep four. She also had bags of character and cost 4500 rupees for 24 hours, which seemed reasonable. So this would be the one if we were to go as a foursome, or if we were to go as a couple I thought.

So I returned to give my report and stress to the guy who showed me around that we didn’t want to pay any commission for any boat that we hired. He assured me there was no commission of course. We took the decision to give the canoe a go and then see how we felt about the houseboat idea after.

2’ o’clock came and we met up with the canoe guys who transported us along to their family home by the water and plonked us down in their snug, covered canoe.


After quick introductions to our guide and cameras at the ready (especially Joe) we were off. It was great to be so low to the water, you really feel like you are right in the action.

There is not a great deal that I can put into words about the journey, apart from that the surroundings were very pretty and the ride was relaxing and fun (our guide was comical and chatty).

We took many photos and were aghast at how many Joe took! (Mind you it is his work and the main reason they were there).


We made a couple of stops along the way for chai and soft drinks which afforded us even more camera fodder.



On the way I thought we might have passed Moonshine (the prospective house boat), just so that I could show the others what it was like, but that didn’t transpire. However, the guys we had hired the canoe through did suggest that we have a look at their house boat (everyone seems to have one!) so we thought we would have a look at this one.

After our canoe trip we set off and it dawned on me that we were going to the same area that I had been to previously that day. We so happened to pass Moonshine and I of course excitedly pointed it out to the others who gave it the once over. The other guys still wanted to check out option two so we headed off toward the bigger boats, not before the captain of moonshine whispered to us a price 1000 rupees cheaper than the quote we had earlier. Now the price stood at 3500 rupees! No commission my arse. With a little nod and assurance to the captain that we would be back either way, we set along the path to the other boat. After a quick inspection of the much larger boat, I waited to hear what Joe and Sarah really thought of things. I was glad to hear that they preferred the first option and that they were now sure (given the much reduced cost of the boat) that they wanted to do the trip. The decision was made and Moonshine would be our chariot the following morning for our sortie into the backwaters of Kerala. That evening we had a pukka bit of Indian in a relatively sophisticated restaurant which was great.

We awoke early the next morning (earlier than we wanted due to a very noisy temple that blared music out from 5 in the morning. It was Shiva’s birthday after all). We all had breakfast and set off in a rickshaw to the main jetty.

It was a beautiful morning and we were all quite excited and also slightly unsure about what lay ahead. We boarded the boat, the small engine chugged into life and we settled into our low lying seats as we slowly slid along the main canal......

We asked about the food on board and we were pleased to know that we would be getting traditional style Keralan food, which is good stuff. Rice and rice derived things (such as uttapam), veg curries, fish and chapati’s. All tasty bits and pieces. We were also told that we could go past a local fish mongers to by some prawns if we wished. We wished for sure! Joe and I did the hunter gatherer thing, which meant hopping off the boat and choosing the beasts that we wanted to eat. Ugly little suckers these things, but great to eat. They are the same tropical, fresh water prawns that we caught in New Zealand.

On again we went and we started to get into the relaxed feel of things whilst our nostrils were filled with the sweet smell of lunch being prepared at the back of the boat.

After some time we stopped for lunch and Joe went for a swim.

The rest of the day was spent chugging around and chilling out, taking in the sights, sounds and wildlife. You see life as it happens for the locals as well as the odd house boat cruising around. We didn’t see many other house boats which was good.

The nicest areas are the smaller canals. It is way more picturesque and you also get closer to the local life action.

Now part of Moonshines character and charm was something that set it apart from all the other boats. It was the DVD / TV alternative. That’s right, a bath tub!! Right slap bang in the front of the boat. Joe and Dipi couldn’t resist taking it in turns to have a dip as Sarah and I got busy with the cameras and hose!


The sun was setting as we chugged through some smaller canals and eventually out onto the lake where we would moor up and spend the evening.

Joe and I took a brief walk in search of some coke to go with the rum we had for the evening but we had no joy on that front. We did get to meet some locals and the family of our captain which was cool and we also had beer in the cooler so not all was lost on the drink front. That night we ate some more great food prepared by our on board chef, drank the beer (well I drank most of it!) and chatted till late. It was quality time.

After a hot and sticky nights sleep (its damn humid), another beautiful morning greeted us, and it was a great setting for a spot of breakfast. We devoured this as we headed back to the main jetty.

It was a little sad that the trip was ending as it was such a nice time and we had bonded well with Joe and Sarah, but all good things come to an end and we had gained new friendships from our trip (something we hadn’t expected). We said our goodbyes as the others were off to do a week of intense Ayurvedic treatments and we had to scoot straight off to the tea plantations on the hills of Munnar.....