One Life ...

Today we are heading to Munnar which is an old hill station. We walked the 2km to the main road and caught the bus up the hill. The scenery from the bus was beautiful as we passed tea plantations and boulders. Once in Munnar we headed for coffee.  We found a little cake shop and ordered coffee.  The cakes on display were too much of a temptation, so we ordered 2 milk buns.  They were a little like donuts but more moist inside. We then wandered around the town and market place.  We saw a beautiful mosque and a beautiful church up on the hill.  An old bridge was a reminder of when the British were here. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  Having been to Munnar on a previous trip, we knew a good place.  We both ordered the Kerela meal and enjoyed every bit of it ... and there was a lot!  After lunch we started walking.  We walked through little villages along the river.  We stopped to have a look at the High Range Club.  An exclusive club from the British era.  Outside it had beau...

We are in no hurry to start our walking tours. We relaxed and ate breakfast before starting our up and down route. Today we are searching for a small lake we spotted from the bus. It is in the opposite direction to our usual route. The route was pretty, mostly on the road. In some areas were being repaired with cement and it was wet cement! It also was a bit of a bodge job but obviously works for a while! We passed beautiful houses, flowers, animals and found the lake. It was quite small and used to create hydro electricity. The views up the valley over the lake were wonderful. After a few wrong turns and indecisive manouvers we decided to follow almost the same route back but at the last minute turn towards the centre of Anachal. We ate lunch, drank tea and cakes and rested! Lunch was a nice Kerala meal for 70 rupees and the halwa we ate for dessert was only 10 and delicious! We will be back for more... Home was another 2km so we headed in just before dark. We surfed the net, ate dinn...

A relaxing start to the day before the walking adventure began. We didn't get too far before we stopped for breakfast at a small cafe we frequented last time we were here. 2 dosas each plus chutney and tea and we were on our way again. We admired the beautiful scenery, houses, flowers ...WoW! We walked up the main road for a few hundred metres and the chocolate shops called us in for a tasting session. One dark 80% fella won us over and was far superior to everything else. We watched videos and many people explained the chocolate making process. Lunch across the road was a great idea. We filled ourselves to bursting with Kerala meals. Topped up until we could take no more. Our journey continued up a small side street and when we say up, we mean UP! It was so steep and although the altitude was just above 100 0 metres, it was a killer! At the top we were rewarded with magnificent views over the valley and tea plantations. A small tea stall provided the necessary chia and we explored...

Our alarm woke us early as we have to catch the 8am train, which is about an hour's travel away.  Two friends were due to give us a lift to the bus stop on the back of their motorbikes.  However one overslept so the other asked his brother in law to give us a lift in his car!  Rather than dropping us at the end of the road at the bus stop, he kindly took us to the bus station. A bus was about to leave so we jumped on.  This bus took us back into Kozhikode where it was a short walk to the train station.  On arrival we discovered the train we were going to catch was delayed by 1.5 hours.  However another train, which took longer, was running on time so would get us there half an hour before our original train now would.  We bought our tickets and waited.  The station was filling up fast, which is always worrying when you only have a general ticket, so no allocated seat ...  and the journey is 5.5 hours. The train arrived on time and we jumped in a carriage which was less crowded, alt...

This morning we started reasonably early. We waited for 'the boys' to turn up with their toys. 2 Royal Enfield bikes, a Bullet and a Himalayan arrived and we were whisked off into the hills. The traffic was quiet and the roads in good condition. We stopped at a small cafe for tea and cookies, oh and muffins and more cookies! It was a funky little place with photos of the local tribes from the hills. We were joined by more of our friends and we all left for the waterfall together. Shortly after we stopped to explore Grandma's land full of cacao trees. We collected a few and ate the white flesh. Very sweet and good! Next stop was the river area. We trekked through the forest a short way until we found the falls and the huge boulders we would call home for the day. We set up camp and our friends prepared the fire. They went off into the woods and returned with cooking pots and a chicken The fire was built on a large boulder using smooth rock...

We didn't do a lot but just sat. Nothing woke us up other than the sound of the birds ... We spent the day sitting, watching the wild life in a myriad of colours.  There is a overhanging plant at the front of the house with beautiful purple flowers.  Every night the flowers fall and in the morning the floor is covered with the beautiful flowers. Lunch time our friends took us to a very popular little cafe but first we had to cross the river on the wire bridge... On the way to the cafe we saw a man climbing a coconut tree. He managed to cut off quite a few and very kindly gave us 2. He chopped them so we could drink the fresh water and chopped them again so we could finish the tender flesh. The restaurant was packed with a large group. We managed to find a seat and ate paratha that was torn up with chicken, vegetable gravy and a fish sauce. All very tasty. We continued to eat fruit all day. Fresh papaya, guava, jack fruit, bananas, water melon. You name ...

Our friend had very kindly offered to take us to the train station on his way to work. He also prepared a delicious breakfast to feed us up for the journey ahead. When we were dropped off, Christine had left her bag in the car which meant a quick u turn for our friend to get it back! The train did eventually arrive 2 hours later than expected. It was fairly empty and a very scenic 6 hour journey along the coast of Kerala. We caught up a little time and arrived at 5pm. A 15 minute walk to the Palayam bus stop and we jumped on the first bus heading to Koolimandu, a small village amongst nature! In Koolimandu we were collected by our friends and whisked off to their home amongst the trees. The road was being fixed so was a little bumpy but the place we were staying was marvellous. We relaxed, drank juice and listened to the chill out tunes and little critters amongst the trees. Later we went out to a bridge where the locals hang out at a little tea stall.  We d...

Breakfast at our accommodation today was a very tasty minced chicken, with tomato, onion and chilli - reminded us bit of a dish we have had in Thailand. We walked down to the beautiful lake and saw some huge migratory birds catching their morning fish. We headed to a cafe which had been recommended to us for its filter coffee and neer dosa.    The cafe was busy and we placed our order but alas, as it was now gone midday we could not have the dosa, as this is apparently a breakfast item.  We settled for just the filter coffee which was very good.  As we sat, the cafe got busier and busier with the lunchtime rush.  Obviously a very popular place.   We headed out of the cafe without a real plan for the day.  It is so hot so we decided to have a 'chill' day .... meaning air conditioning.   We headed down the main road and went in all the big shops to escape the heat.  We ate some bananas and found some cows to feed the skins to.  However, one cow seemed to know we had more bananas ...

After a very peaceful, if a little warm, night's sleep we awoke refreshed and ready for the day.  We had chai and poha for breakfast and then headed out to catch the bus. The area we are staying in is called Manipal.  We caught a bus to Udupi.  In the centre there is a pedestrian area with many little temples...the area reminded us a bit of Durbar Square in Kathmandu. After a walk around the temples we headed back to the bus station to catch a bus to Malpe on the coast.  Malpe is famous for the fish market and as we approached the town we saw many fish trucks leaving and ice trucks arriving. Down at the port we were amazed at the sight of so many brightly coloured trawlers all parked virtually on top of one another. Quite what the etiquette is for getting out we are not sure! We wandered through the fish market, which was just finishing off for the day.  We then headed down to the beach.  There was a pretty garden with some interesting sculptures .... We found a tree to sit under a...

Today seems to have been called as a national holiday. Up in the north a temple has been opened by prime minister Modi. From what we understand, it was destroyed by the Mugals and now has been rebuilt. It seems to be quite an important event for the Hindus ... We lazed around at our friends apartment, drinking coffee and playing with the kitten. We finally got the motivation to leave and walk to the train station. We loaded our bags on our trolley and started to walk. We grabbed some Mango flavoured whey drinks as we passed a small shop. We stopped for lunch at our favourite Thali spot, which again was great. Though Christine wasn't that hungry. She opted for a gobi manchurian. Our journey to the train continued and we arrived at the station. We had purchased one ticket in advance and got a general ticket at the station. We didn't realise the train was mostly unreserved seats and today no one was on any of them. The train arrived a little late from the first station and got lat...

We had a lazy start to the day, starting with delicious french press coffee at the apartment.  We chatted to our friend and another family who are also now staying there.   We were quite tired from all the walking in the heat yesterday so thought we would take it easy today.  We wandered to the town, had some mango whey followed by pav bhaji and tea. There is a market along the road today so we ambled along looking at all the stalls.  We soon realised we were over half way to another beach so decided to continue. Along the way we spotted another dairy shop which also sold mango whey ... so we refreshed ourselves with another one. Today's beach is Palemo beach.  This is a more touristy area than Patnem beach and reminded us a bit of Thailand.  The road in was lined with souvenir and beachwear shops along with cafes, restaurants and bars with posters for live music. Palemo is a pretty cove surrounded by rocks and coconut trees.  The beach is lined with beachfront accommodation in hut...

As always, first stop was breakfast. On  the way we found a little dairy shop selling mango whey.  We hadn't tried this before but generally anything  with mango is good, and it was!  We found a little cafe and ordered pav bhaji.  We have had this many times on this trip but the Goan one is slightly sweeter, maybe containing coconut. Today we are off to a different beach.  Talpona.  This beach is where the Arabian sea converges with the Talpona River.  The long walk took us through quaint  little villages, past a lake of lily pads,  a bridge over the mouth of the river and past little fishing villages and beautiful churches. We saw many beautiful birds including a colourful kingfisher and many eagles.  We saw beautiful butterflies floating past on the breeze. It was a hot walk so when we spotted a little shop we stopped and bought mango ice-cream to help cool us down. When we arrived at the peninsula there were little boats ferrying...