google ads & housekeeping

please click on the purple vertical advert bar as it means we will be getting money to stay out here longer.

we have also put a link to our photos incase anyone missed the blog entry link,

and also the latest on the tsunami efforts in india - if you havent dontate please do, unicef are here for 3 years so your money will be much appreciated.

jim

its hippy heaven, man!

visiting the sea for the first time since boxing day felt strange, however we were distracted by the amount of westerners we saw.. most since we left the UK 2 months ago..

went to a really cool beach called gokarna, bumped into another couple again, that have been travelling north as well. managed to top up the tan on some great cliff walks, and put in a regular excercise regime, well, fi ran every day! :)

however, one thing which made us run for cover was these middle aged hippy white guys, with beards, turbans and tye dye thong.. it really doesnt need to be seen to be believed! Fi and I were walking back from breakfast at the other end of the beach to our beach cottage, when we saw two yoga tastic hippies stretching and worshipping the sun.. unfortunately, there wasnt a lot left to the imagination when they bent over in their thongs.. :?

we left for goa this morning, and we are hearing all sorts of english accents, geordie, liverpudlians...
had western food for the fist time since being here, the indian food really is that good! one thing about goa, happy hour!

fi and jim

metropole palace

we stayed at metropole palace, built by the majarajah in the late 1800's for british guests

we couldnt have anything less than our own very suite (bigger than the whole of jim's flat in brighton), with a huge terrace and bath tub (how we've missed a hot bath).. swimming pool and superb room service.. i have pressed lots of flowers in my diary to remind me of this.

We were in Mysore for a festival called Pongal - its a bit like harvest festival. They paint the cows to thank them for there work. So the streets are full of mulitcoloured cows with tinsle on their horns. I thought I should do the same at my Mum and Dad's
but with there sheep, I could spray paint them pink and green and tie ribbons on the horns, could be a real toursit attraction - My Dad could make money.....I'm sure the neighbours would love it too!!!!

The majarajah palace in Mysore is amazing too, they light it up for 2 hours once a
week, its light a fairytale castle. The only thing is the rest of the towns electricity goes - so Indian :)

We are back on the West coast and tomorrow vv early we are catching the train north - we are heading more northerly than Chennai (madras), the town we first arrived from the UK in.. after nearly two months of travelling.

We are coming away from the mountains and hugging to the coast line again, first to a placed called Gokarna, in karnataka - the beaches are meant to be beautiful. Then to the state of Goa for a little dancing!

Its true what people say about 'treating india as lots of different countries together'.. its quite extraordinary, but thats why we travel!

Fi

Congratulations Alise and Pippa!

Congratulations on your engagement
Thats fab news. Looks like we'll be having another party to celebrate..

Lots of love
Fi and Jim

(I'm sure Jim will add comments later, at present he is in bed with Regular Use Medcine imbalance)
No Fi, it was a naughty bug that had jumped into my stomach..
thats amazing news, hope you are both excited about your future together as Mr and Mrs Brown.

all the best indian wishes,
jimbo :)

obervations at Mysore Zoo

I think Jim and I are much more fun to look at the the animals

All we need to do is sit down at a bench, and a few minutes later indian teenagers (usually school groups), or very large families begin to swarm, very friendly, but their mission "must get photograph of funny white people!"

All smiles and lots of handshakes, and then they are gone!

You are never lonely in India! :)

Tomorrow night we are checking into a palace built by the Maharajah of Mysore exclusively for British guests.

Fi

into bangalore, trains and bars

we arrived in bangalore, karnataka province by sleeper train..

ive heard nightmare stories of these overnight journeys, but it was actually quite relaxed in indian terms, no boisterous groups of teenagers or screaming babies.

we met a family who had emigrated to australia who were touring india to visit their relatives. we found the guards very efficient at allocating people seats and beds, its the first time we have sat in our proper seat numbers, as other people have always been in ours.

our distance or an eight hour journey is considered a short distance in India, so it was a small train, only 15 carriages and no food! we ran out onto the platform of another place i cannot pronounce to buy biryani. Only the trains which travel 3 days seem to have pantry cars attached to the trains.

sleeper trains are not good for people with feet phobia, from oevery bunk was emerging bare feet.. i suppose the smell wakes you up on the way to the toilet, if the toilet doesnt! saw a rat the size of a dog dead on the tracks. we slept next to a fella who covered himself in his sheet like he was in a body bag, i think he got off at our stop..?

Bangalore is famous for its nightlife, india does not really have a nightlife so it was our duty to represent this fine opportunity for an outing.

• Went to a pub called "NASA", a space ship theme pub, say no more, apart from i got a salute from the DJ when waving at him. there was a sign above the DJ booth saying "no dancing"..
• the folowing bar was "guzzlers", more draught kingfisher.. nice job.
• the final bar was "pub world" - menu: "welcome to the world of pubs, first of its kind in india, featuring a carousel of drinking places the world over!", family bar: "this is an area which gives you a feeling of a typical english pub", "oh! to be in england, drinking english beer!"

pleeease!! music: instrumental version of raindrops keep falling on my head, and soft rock ballads.

the following day fi tried out saris at the worlds largest toy and sari shop.. after she greeted the party animals outside who were dancing to michael jackson tunes.. nice touch :)

jim

eating thali's - you realy get looked after!

this is what you should know about eating the mothership of all south and north indian lunches

• On arrival you will be shown to your table by a
  group of eager waiters, asking you 'coming from (which country?)', you may be
  lucky enough to make it into the family air con room if the restaurant is full
  already.
• The calm before the storm is the banana leaf you
  will get put next to you, this is your plate. In North india you just get a
  meatl tray with all the items on.
• Then another person with comes along with thali
  items, such as coconut chutney, bean sabji, lentil dhal, popadoms, sambar, curd and rice pudding (fi's favourite aka 'frog spawn').. then followed by another person with rice.. a whole pot of the stuff..
• Eatas slow or as quick as you like, no matter what happens as the piles of food items gets smaller, the items will be replenished by one of the many walla's.

unilimited food for around 30 pence..

the record so far is 14 waiters/wallas in one restaurant.. as you can imagine it gets a bit busy around the tables..

the grand finale is a hefty burp of approval..

then once you have washed up at the sink, you would of eaten meal with right hand fingers, you start saying goodbye to the waiters until out of the premises.

which ever way you look at it.. you will not have to eat for a long time!

volunteering

After the tsunami Jim and I decided that we would really like to try and volunteer in some way. We saw an advert in one of the papers wanting volunteers, so we contacted them. They asked us to go to Nagapattinam - the worst hit area of main land India.

So off we went - it took us 2 days to travel across Tamil Nadu. When we arrived we entered a hectic town with a sad edge to it. The bus station was taken over by tv camera vehicles, and NGO vehicles. All we could smell was bleach which was been put on the edge of all the streets to stop diseases spreading.

In this town was the headquaters for all the NGO's - which I have to say where all working together really well. Unfortunatley 'our' organisation wasn't so orgainsed and we were told that we were not needed. Both Jim and I were very frustrated, especially as we had travelled so far. There was no accomodation in the town either which is actually quite a good thing, as at least income is being generated for the local people. So we had to head inland instead.

The conclusion was that although we both felt sad that we couldn't volunteer, from what we saw the NGO's are doing a great job, not just in the short term of cleaning up the areas but strategies were being made for the long-term rehibitation of all these communites, from new houses to how generate incomes. So if any of you have donated to the diasater you will be please to hear that your money is being well spent!

As for volunteering, well we are still looking out of opportunities and I'm sure we will find somewhere soon.

Fi

bus driver from Ooty

This guy started the journey driving in his socks, so we knew we were in for a good ride :)

Usually the bus horns are very loud but this guy had 2 wires on the steering column to sound his horn - parp is all that came out!

He used the passengers to look out on hairpin bends (38 in total) for oncoming traffic. Fi sat shotgun on the engine cover at the front of the bus, she was later adopted by the driver and taken to the front door of the hotel. All in all a great service.

On the way back up the 38 hair pins Fi slept through all of it and Jim read his book - now thats what I call talent!

Getting on the bus can be a real challenge - as everyone jumps into the entrance at the same time even when the bus is still moving. When exiting the bus u also have to be prepared to jump off whilst the bus is still moving just like a skydiver, however, u do get a whistle clearance from the guard!

We have often wondered why bus's have such accurate timings on the front on the windscreen. For example, departing 8am, arriving 12:08pm.. why?! no wonder they drive so mad.

Fi and Jim

Welliphants

We caught the the last day of the temple elephants annual hoildays in Masinagudi National Park.
81 elephants were in the national park being pamered and having a great time - a glastonbury for elephants.

3 rules to tame elephants (good for humans too)

1. discipline
2. food
3. love

We watched the elephants being washed in the river and had a walk through their hoilday camp. I have to admit although it was great to see the elephants up close nothing compares to seeing wild elephants and some of the elephants owners used discipline more than love!

After we watched the elephant we went on a walking safari and an evening drive safari, we saw bears, 2 types of deer, loads of birds including eagle-owls and wild cats. - well worth the effort..

Fi

Snooty Ooty (or otty if u r Fi)

Former capital of the madras presidency. There are RAJ reminders everywhere, notably the terraced botanical gardens, the english public schools.

Highlights of this Old British Raj Hill Station

• Jimbo's shoe repairs
• Madras horse racing club - virtual horse racing from Mumbai
• bazaars to buy Fi pressies
• Snooker was invented here, but the place was closed down!
• Old English street names such as Greenbanks, Glenmoran, Windermere etc.
• Pedallo on smelly lake in rain
• party animals at 'Jolly World' theme park (Indian's version of Alton Towers)
• New years day trek throu tribal villages in hills, really good hangover cure, shame Jim cannot put his trousers on the right way (quote from Jim ' I wondered why I couldn't walk proberley, knees in the wrong place')

We decided to leave to leave after new year as food was limited to 4 items: any other item was served cold. We learned this mistake after we walked out of 5 resturants in the same evening.

Fi

indian mountains

after two weeks in kerala we left the coast.. Fi prefers Tamil Nadu, it more real india, and not as rich or touristy.. therefore we get better food and not ripped off as much.. some beach resorts just drain your money..

from our arrival in chennai we had aimed to be in the hill stations for january. we headed for mannur, an interesting tea plantation town which had three hills surrounding the town, all with a religious building on - temple, mosque and church.. as you can imagine it is quite a racket at sunset > loudspeakers, bells, and other musical instruments coming from each one.

we only stayed there one night as was very busy with indian tourists, a highlight was viewing the massive nativity display in the church, we wrote our postcards on the steps, and on leaving the town by bus we got stopped by jesus, or a truck named this anyway..!

the journey further into the hills took us into lush tea plantations, and near the tamil nadu border semi arrid forest with pristine trees and waterfalls everywhere.. more like africa.. we saw our first spotted dear from the bus window, and were escorted thru the national park by eagles and kites overhead.

the bus had to reverse around the series of hairpin bends down the other side of the mountain range..

all thru the day it was a little bit daunting as fi and i neither could pronounce the towns we were trying to reach.. like 'udumulpet' and 'coimbatore' >> said with a local accent, quite tricky :) mind u Fi's pronounciations are very individual...

new photos online - adventures in Kerala

some more goodies for you

we've added some more pics to the kerala album and have created a second tamil nadu album.. as this is where we are again, in the hills and national parks..

http://community.webshots.com/user/fijim/