Hello Cookie!

This was the rather sweet greeting shouted at me as I walked down the street today. Yesterday was "Hello sexy" and "Hello, Hello, Hellllloooooo Auntie! Looooookkkkkk(at how cool his swimming was)" I cant decide which I like better really!

This morning over breakfast, my hotel host said to me..."The only Westerners that GET India are Hippies, Loonyies and Crazies!" You know, I think he is right. I have been in the Sacred city of Varanasi for 48 hours, and although its one of the most interesting and beautiful places ive been so far, I still dont GET IT.... I think Im going to leave India Older, and not Wiser... hahah. I think I need to drop out completey, smoke a lot of Pot, take up Yoga, Meditation and Tabla playing, grow a beard and really really work at it, and I might find enlightenment. Sad to think all this effort and Im still in the dark, but at least Ive enjoyed myself!

As you can gather, as im nearing the end of the trip in India (flying to Thailand in a mere four days..) Im getting all thoughtful and meditative. I think its the 45degree enforced siesta's that give me time to think.... I am glad to be having a change of scene, but I think I need another year or two in the Land of the Sacred Cow before I can hope to start really "getting it" Im afraid I might loose my marbles first though. Better to return to blighty and the respectable life I suppose.

How am I dealing with 45 degrees? Well, not really very well. Not sleeping much....Though last night in desperation, I found a MARVELLOUS way to get a bit cool in bed. Shower with your Pajamas on. Then sit under the fan. All your clothes get a bit cool, and its enough to enable you to get to sleep before it all drys out and your body starts sweating again with avengence (wet clothes buy you about 5 minutes cool). So Ill be showering in my pajamas every night for the foreseeable.

ANYWAY....As you can gather, I made it to Varanasi A-OK on the train from Jaipur. It was sad to leave my friends again, as they are tip top mates now, but I know they will be there NEXT time Im over in India! They truely scared me with thier tales of Varanasi though....haaha. Touch Wood....I have had no problems so far! Well, depends on your definition of problem actually... When I arrived, the rickshaw man took me all around the reekin for 2 hours before I got REALLY SHITTY with him and bawled him out - he then took me to where I wanted to go!! Once installed in the cool, calm, safe and peaceful hotel, I have had no further trouble. The lovely boys who run the hotel have been looking after me superbly.

Last night, I was straight out onto the Holy river. What an experience! Leisurely rowing at sunset along all the famous ghats - watching the craziness that this place is famous for. Hundreds of people swimming, splashing, bathing, preying and generally enjoying the river. Two metres further, Buffalos swimming. Two metres further, Three dead bodies. Two metres further, people fishing and trying to sell me thier lovely catch, two metres further, a group of ancient sadhu's praying and doing thier ablutions, two metres further, a group of ladies bathing fully clothed, two metres further a huge burning ghat with 30 bodies on flaming pyres, two metres further, children swimming and swooping in the water, two metres further a subsided temple....and it goes on and on.... Just a total feast for the senses. I can now see WHY its so famous. The climax of last night was the evening Puja (Hindu religious ceremony) which is held enmasse at one of the large ghats in the middle of the river. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people crammed together, all singing, chanting, praying and dipping in the river. There was also an additional festivity last night, which added to the clamour. Luckily from my boat I could observe like lady muck and not worry too much about getting squashed or robbed. Lovely.

This morning, I joined my young boatman again for a dawn row - doing it again tomorrow. Even more magical at sunrise, because the sun shines right on the city illuminating the beautiful palaces etc.

Suffice to say, Im a bit taken with this place. Im yet to explore by foot, so Ill make another report after that.

Pink Turban and Goggles

For all my worried readers - dont fret. In the end Nele and the love interest stumbled upon the hotel and recovered all our stuff....lesson learnt....

My second day in Delhi was spent in Old Delhi- which was a complete revelation - it was CHAOS, but the sort of chaos I relish - traffic jams of rickshaws, bikes, handcarts, cars, busses, cows and people. Pollution, smoke, street vendors, tangled dangerous overhead electrical supply wires, blue sky and hot hot heat. Dust and extreme noise, honking, shouting, drums being banged, singers, food plates smashing, babies crying. WICKED!

My day started with another revelation - the Delhi underground. Unlike London, this is a slick, very clean and very professional set up. It was peaceful and really simple to deal with. WOW! I didnt even know there was an underground in Delhi. I purchased my small plastic token coin, waltzed through the barrier into the aircon halls leading to the polished platform. Within moments a smart clean new metro train arrived with a scattering of people on board - plenty of seats available. Aircon in the trains too, along with soothing lift music. The other end I cruised out of the gate (which ate my microchipped token) and into the craziness of Old Delhi. How exciting! What a contrast.

Old Delhi is famous for its chaos - and so tourists go there to experience "real" Delhi (like you see on the films). Most of them take a rickshaw around the sights and are strictly onlookers. NOT Abster style as you can guess. I spent several hours walking walking walking through the melee of people, sounds and smells. First on the list was Lal Quila which is the Amber fort of Old Delhi. Its not that remarkable if you have seen the real thing in the pink city Jaipur, but it was a nice beginning. Risked my life to take a photo (that entailed crossing the road...) and then wandered back towards the bazaar areas. These are large areas of tiny alleys running between the main chowk(road) to the Jamma Masjid (the Muslim Mosque) The bazaar is a mind boggling and very very closely knit network of small shops, peoples courtyard houses, workshops and chai shops. All of it is ancient and slightly moorish in feel, as well as being in beautiful decay. Every tiny corner you turned, there was a new picture for the minds eye. People carrying huge bundles of cloth on thier heads, women in flaking courtyards washing clothes with babies on thier hips, fossilised Chai men sitting at little stalls on the side of the alley. Absolutely mesmerising. I wandered for more than an hour amongst these enchanted alleys - everyone was surprised I was there, but very friendly. Didnt get any hassle though at all. Wonderful.

As part of the alleys, I came across the "wedding supplies" road - shops containing paper decorations, fake gold jewellery, turbans and Henna. One stop shop for all your wedding requirements. All the shops were sparkling and glittering with gold, flowers and shiny paper, crepe and cardboard acessories. ACE! Another bazaar area was the Bead bazaar - huge sacks of colourful beads at the front of the shop, sat on, and presided over by the shop owners, who would ladle out the beads and sell them to you by the kilo. Marvellous. The colours man!!

In the end of the alleys, I popped out right next to the Jamma Masjid - great navigation skills if I do say so myself! I busily covered my head and went in to say Hello to Allah. The building was quite impressive (not like the one in Ajmer though), and from the courtyard, there was a great view over the Old city. I spent a meditive half hour and then skeddaddled down the front steps to the main chowk. Next, I was headed to the spice market. You know you are in the spice market because people start to sneeze. The whole air is filled with delicious aroma's of spices and herbs - many of which are of course chilli related. They are flying on the air, and so are irritating peoples noses!!! so funny to have a whole road of sneezers. Anyway, the spice market was lovely, aromatic and picturesque. Big sacks and bowls of spices in various states of powderedness.

The sun was waining and it was time to get back to Vishals via the magic metro. Lovely. In the posh part of town, I caught a rickshaw back to Vishals, and for most of the way we were escourted by a very cool Sikh man on a motor bike who had a huge bright pink turban on, with some aviator goggles over the top. He was COOL. I also saw signs for MacDonalds advertising McCurries like McAloo and McPaneer. wierd....

Next day was roasting, and it was time to go to Jaipur (Im heading there for last minute shopping of course). Vishal booked me a dream bus - Aircon and very swish. I even got to sit next to a lady! Amazing! The journey was seamless, with only one brush with death when the bus driver undertook a huge lorry without enough space to do so. When it was obvious he wasnt going to make it, he just accelerated and swerved out into the face of the oncoming traffic. No problem.

Its marvellous coming back to Rajisthan. About halfway between Delhi and Jaipur you start seeing the dessert, and camels on the road, and old men in white with huge red spotty turbans.

Im in Jaipur at the moment, and its lovely to be back. Its still as hectic as ever, but I do LOVE this place. Its really good to catch up with my friends and dive back into the daily competition of survival on the streets! Love it! I did some lovely shopping yesterday and caught up with my friend Maggie. One thing that is happening in Jaipur at the moment - Lychees are in season, so ive been gorging myself! Beautiful! Tonight off on the overnight train to Varanasi, India's most holy city. REALLY looking forward to that.

Lost in Bangalore

On our second day in Pondicherry, we miandered through the pretty streets, sorted out our onward travel and generally rested up. The temperature is around 40 degrees here at the moment. Let me tell you what its like to be in 40 degrees......Each day, I wake up sweating (the fan is on full all night...) although Im sleeping with nothing covering me and naught on but my sarong. The day begins with a cold shower - although its never cold, as the heat has warmed up the pipes and tanks -so the only thing you crave (a cold cold shower) is not forthcoming. You step out of the shower and within minutes there are sweat beads running down your body again. I cannot go out of the hotel without a small face cloth to wipe my face with every now and again. By the end of the morning, your body is about to collapse - you have drunk at least 5 litres of water and you still dont need the loo. It feels like you are breathing velvet not air. By 1300hrs, you are ready to drop, so its time for a siesta under the fan (there is nothing else your body lets you do) plus another few litres of water. By 5pm its time for another shower, and OK to venture out again as the heat of the day has subsided a little bit. By the end of the day you are exhausted and dont know why. You drop into a sweaty heap for your fitfull sticky overnight sleep.

From Pondi, we were headed to Bangalore so that I could catch my train to Delhi. As Pondi is a mini state in itself, we had to do a somewhat circuitus route to Bangalore - first a 4 hour local bus to Chennai, then a 1 hour rickshaw ride across town in time to catch our overnight train to Bangalore. THANK GOD we were in an AC compartment on the train - first full nights sleep in ages.

We reached Bangalore in time to meet Nele's new love interest, who was joining us from Trivandrum. We all then went and checked into a hotel - they for the night and me just using thier shower etc. with a few essentials chucked into a bag. The rest of my kit I left at the station. The rest of the day was spent shopping and whizzing around the city in a rickshaw. ALl was well until......about 3 hours before my train departed for Delhi, we decided to return to the hotel so that I could shower etc before going to the station....we then found out that not one of us had remembered WHERE the hotel was, or WHAT it was called.... Our hearts sank when we returned to the area of the hotel - it was a huge part of town FULL of lodges along a massive grid of interlocking roads and lanes. We spent a full 2 hours looking for the hotel, until it was time for me to leave. When I left Nele and Jackson, they still were no nearer finding the hotel than we were at the beginning! At least my main baggage was in the station! PHEW.... I caught the train with time to spare and spent a pleasant 2 days tootling off to Delhi. I was stinky, but thankful I had the main part of my bags - I still dont know what has happened to them and thier bags - they were talking about checking into another hotel and searching again the following day! Ill update you on this one later....I think a valuable lesson learnt for all - TAKE A CARD FROM THE HOTEL.....

Anyway, Im now in the comfort of my second home - Vishals house in Delhi. Its Aircon and there is everything a girl could want! Brilliant! Been shopping today, and have been planning my onward trip - Jaipur again next.

Balmy Baba

Next on our agenda was a visit to the beautiful mountain town of KodaiKanal. This small village is known as being one of the most popular holiday spots for Indians at this time of year - as its at an altitude of 2400metres, meaning its a LOT cooler than the rest of the south during these hot months before the monsoon. In addition to that, its the holiday Ashram for Sai Baba - the most contriversial of Guru's in India. His Afro headed picture is everywhere in India, on rickshaws, on peoples houses, computers and shopping bags. He is meant to be another living God - the embodyment of good. He is also very contriversial - he is rumoured to be gay (a very very taboo thing in India) to have links with the Tamil Tigers fighting in Sri Lanka (he gives them lots of money for arms, and in return he gets a state of the art wheelchair and an armoured car from them...) and is reputed to make miracles happen - like making rolex watches appear in thin air (these are then gifted to his richer benefactors) his "miracle skills" could be helped by the fact that his father was a stage magician. In addition to that, Sai Baba has recently survived several attacks on his life- one of which is referred to as "the bedroom bloodbath" where several young men...who were in Sai Baba's bedroom....were killed by intruders...and Sai emerged unscathed.

All this exciting rumour made Nele and I really want to go and see what all the fuss was about. We had an excruciating overnight journey from Cochin to Kodaikanal, and then were dumped into a crap hostel with a beautiful view of the hills. After a day in recovery, we decided to attend Sai Baba's morning Darshan. Unlike Amma, Sai doesnt DO anything in the Darshan - mearly gets wheeled into view and around the crowd. You are certainly not allowed to touch him, or even get up off the floor (you have to be cross legged all the time) The women have to have ALL SKIN except the face covered (even hands and feet, which have to be covered by a shawl). Nele and I sat for 4 hours waiting in the crowd, and finally he came out. We were looking forward to some tricks or even something, anything, happening. But no. He just got wheeled along the balcony by his 5 good looking young male attendents, and then he dissapeared back into his house. His devotees got all worked up, expecially the wierdy westerners, who all were crying and being wally's, but Nele and I felt absolutely nada, except the pain in our asses (it was a hard floor!)

I think we are oblivious to all this religious ferver. Anyway, Nele said "never again will you get me going to an Ashram!" and I tend to agree with her Im afraid! All mental...

After Kodai, we headed down again to Madurai, and then onwards to Pondicherry in an excruciating local bus and then taxi combo (we were praying to Amma, Sai, God, Buddha, Krishna and anyone else who would listen the whole way - the traffic was terrifying!)

Pondicherry is where we are now - the Paris of India. Its a very wierd place, as its JUST like Paris. Very beautiful and peaceful - so a nice place to recover till the next leg of the journey -tomorrow off to Bangalore and then onto a train to Delhi - so Im pretty much constantly travelling for the next 5 days....that should be fun.....Also, I leave Nele in Bangalore as she is staying South for a couple of weeks with her new lover. Ill meet her again in Calcutta just before we fly to Thailand on 31st.

AAA - Amma's Ashram Aliens

Nele was delayed getting to Aleppy by a day (could it be the new love interest keeping her in Kovalam??!!) so I had a day free to wander this beautiful little town. Aleppy (or its proper name Allepphuza) is in the centre of the famous Kerala backwaters, and is one of the prettiest and most comfortable towns I have visited in India. Its based on a grid of interlocking rivers and canals, and is largely undeveloped (except for a handful of heritage hotels). Its nickname is the Venice of India, which is a bit grand for such a cute place, but the concept is right. Everywhere you look, there are canals with beautiful lilypads and swaying palmtrees leading away from the town in different directions. Also Aleppy is a hub for building the famous Kerala riceboats - so on my wanderings, I came across one or two crumbling old boatyards with various lovely wooden boats work in progress. Pappy would LOVE it! Many of the canals have little ferries, wooden canoes and riceboats moored in them, and the main way of getting to and from here is by boat. I walked and walked all around the towns various riverlets and every corner I turned I came across another delightful view. What a place! I could spend a lot of time here. I spent a nice evening with the buff boys who are in a band - they all play traditional indian instuments like Tabla and Sitar, but they do session playing with big electro bands like Faithless and Orbital. Very interesting bunch. Euro Indians at thier best. The hotel is thier little hobby while they are at home.

Next morning Nele made it into Aleppy by the skin of her teeth (off the WONDERFUL overnight bus) just in time to join me on the little ferry to Amritapuri (Amma's Ashram). The journey was 8 hours through the backwaters - the same route as the more expensive riceboats take, but 1/10th of the cost. NICE!

The journey was truely wonderful - the Backwaters live up to and exceed any expectations I had previously. Peace isnt the word - its like heaven! Cruising down small riverlets passing tiny fishing hamlets with old boys hand fishing from dugout canoes. Everything is GREEN GREEN GREEN as well - its such a LUSH area in the true sense of the word. Later in the journey, the rivers and canals join in a large esturine area where there are lots of traditional large fishing boats with high keels at both ends of the boats - all gloriously painted with fierce faces and lucky Indian designs. Also, the esturary is filled with more Chinese fishing nets and lots and lots of birds. We saw many fish eagles and cormorants as well as all the usual seabirds wanting a bit of fish from the boats. WOW Ive lost my heart to Kerala.

Sooner than expected, we spotted the unmissable towers of the Amritapuri Ashram. When most people think of an Ashram, you think of cocohuts and Yoga with a guru - Amma is QUITE different. The Ashram is a HUGE pink monolith on the penninnsular between the backwaters and the sea - which includes enoough accommodation for up to 10,000+ people, has two temples, two large auditoriums, three restaurants, several shops, an internet cafe, travel centre and a swimming pool! The Ashram did have humble roots though - it is built on the site of Amma's childhood home, and even features a tiny temple inside what used to be the cow shed attached to her house (the house is now the laundry).

Although I knew what to expect, we were both quite overwealmed when we arrived, as Amma was hosting her annual kids camp (yes, that means 8,000 kids in one place at one time...) and the place was in utter chaos. Tha Ashram is quite colourful - all the buildings are pink (this is an Amma trademark) and the temples are multicoloured and gold. Of course the people are multicoloured too with all thier bright sari's etc. Unfortunately Noone is allowed to take pictures, so I only managed a few stealth ones which are not very good.

Both Nele and I decided to go to the Ashram with a completely open mind, even taking into account our initial shock of the kids everywhere. We wanted to learn as much about the Ashram and Amma herself before leaving - so we had two days.

We had an introductory tour of the facilities by camp Hanz (like jazz hands) from Germany. He told us all about where to get drinking water and where to throw our rubbish etc. The whole place is run like a tight ship - very impressive. More importantly, we were told about Amma and her life (she had divine intervention from a very early age, and has been a philanthropist and guru ever since, spreading her love through hugging people as well as doing huge amounts of good throughout the world) and also told about Amma's international aid initiatives - she runs hospitals, universities, housing projects, education and healthcare projects and most recently a Tsunami relief project. Lots and lots of good - all on a sponsorship and donation basis. We were enlightened about her philosophies about life, religion and love etc. Hanz then told us all about the Ashram's daily activities, which you can take part in or not as you wish. We decided that we would be "in for a penny, in for a pound" and that we would sign up for everything possible...starting with evening "Bajans" on the first night. Bajans are devotional songs in Hindi and the local language (Malayalam), which are done in the huge main auditorium. A'La English, we decided to sit right at the back to be able to observe people and not make tits of ourselves. Nice. The auditorium was filled to the rafters with kids sitting on mats at the front, and then banks upon banks of plastic chairs for the adults to sit on. The actual Bajan "concert" was really good - starting with songs from a hairy orange clad guru helper with a topknot and a big beard - seated over a Tabla. Exactly as you'd imagine. He sang for about half an hour before coming to his "climax" when Amma appears onto the stage, and takes her seat cross legged on the raised white dias next to a microphone. Of course, everyone is going wild to see the lady herself - including us. She is a rounded Indian lady, quite short, and well, quite cute looking. She has a divine looking face and generally gives off motherly good vibes. She plumped herself down on her platform and began to sing -amazingly! She then worked the crowd for about an hour. Towards the end everyone was quite in a frenzy, singing, clapping and generally digging the vibe. Amma was very good.

At the Bajans, we had our first brush with what we later called the AAA's. These are the Western devotee's to Amma, who end up staying at the ashram for months or years, and even in some cases bring up a family there, and live there etc. (though Im not sure HOW they have a family, as people are strictly segregated by sex all the time in everything -prayer, eating meditation etc) The AAA's are mostly middle aged shriveled women, either English or American, or worthy young men who wander round the Ashram with a "Im giving peace to all" smile on thier faces. They are all clad in only white (this is the kind of ashram uniform) and they are all balmy. The first one we saw at the Bajan was a Japanese girl who looked like she was cracked. She had a large stuffed rabbit with her (we saw her many times in two days, and she always had the rabbit...she even fed it....) and was obviously "taken" by the music...swaying and crying all the while. The other AAA's invariably were to be seen arguing with one another or pushing and shoving and complaining in queues or waiting to go into prayer etc. They were the complete antithesis of what Amma is all about. The worst were the grovelly bossy ones who surround the lady herself. They would stop at nothing to get close to Amma, and so you have to watch your back!

The following day we were up at 4.30 ready for our morning prayers with the Amma statue (yep, a STATUE) and then our SEVAS duty (which is Selfless Voluntary Service) which was washing clothes (from 7am to 9am) Nele and I quite enjoyed that bit, as the people we were working with were quite nice and interesting, though I met a girl from Portugal who was a massive Amma devotee, and when I said I thought Id seen her before, she said "Yes, that often happens with Amma's people its probably a sign!" fixing me with a meaningful stare.....I got paranoid I had been marked to be "one of them" and ran away! Next was the Darshan - which is code for THE HUG. Each day she is in the Ashram, Amma spends a few hours on stage "doing the Darshan" or Hugging people (spreading the LOVE baby) People come from far and wide for the HUG and this was the main reason that Nele and I came too. One is meant to feel enlightened and want to follow Amma after the hug. We duely got our hug token, queue'd amongst the AAA's for eternity, then it was time to get up on stage. Amma was in a throne in the middle of the proceedings, surrounded by perhaps 20 people, some AAA's doing crowd control, and the rest people hoping for a hug and enlightenment. You have to be poked and arranged by the AAA's so that you dont take too long, have the wrong position, or hurt Amma. I had to take off my glasses and my hairclip, as this might poke Amma. Then I was shoved to my knees and my head was plonked on Amma's right boob. She gave me a hug and whispered a little mantra in my ear, then I was dragged away and shoved off the stage. Nele had a similar experience, except her hug was much longer, as Amma was talking to someone else over her head. Nele was "on the boob" for about 3 minutes! I must say, I dont particularly feel enlightened, but it was a nice experience. Amma is all wobbly and cute, so a hug with her was quite nice. Nele was less impressed.

After the Darshan, we planned our escape from the Ashram - we decided to leave early the next day and head for Cochin.

We duely presented at the local bustop the next morning -and came across two of our fellow SEVAS companions - some more sane ones - who were also escaping! We all hopped on the bus and headed to the nearest station. The bus broke down halfway (something large fell off the busses undercarriage), so we all shared a taxi instead. The train to Cochin was a nightmare- packed to the rafters and BOILING hot, but we made it in the end, and whizzed off to the beautiful old fort ares for an overnight in a homestay - with a lovely Indian family.

That night we all went to a KathKali show - which is the Kerala local dance. Its the famous one with the charachters with very intricate makeup. Before the show for an hour or so, you can watch them getting made up - fascinating. The show was also excellent.

Elephants and Lemmings

So the next day, we got the bus back into the city and comandeered a rickshaw to take us to Varkala. The rickshaw ride was the longest yet, at one and a half hours. Great fun, but also a little hair-raising when dodging traffic on the highways! oh well, this is India after all. The poor rickshaw wallah didnt realise the distance (looking back, I dont think he had ever been out of Trivandrum) and undercharged us by about 200 rupees.

I had heard a lot about Varkala from the people at Om beach - so I was expecting something similar - and so, was surprised when it turned out to be nearly as touristy as Kovalam. The beach is at the bottom of a cliff, upon which is a fair village of hotels, restaurants, shops, internet cafe's and bizarre other things, like a dental hospital (for tourists). The whole place was like a ghost town. Not sure what to make of it, we checked into a really beautiful little hotel (for which Nele did her best blonde blue eyed negociation resulting in a HUGE discount!) and spent the rest of the day chilling out. We watched sunset and the resulting HUGE thunder and lightening storm from the top of the cliff, and then ran into a girl we met at Om -small world.

As you can probably gather, I am now a little bored of the beaches and am itching to get exploring again, so it was by a stroke of fate that I got a call from Vishal in Delhi (remember him from the beginning of my trip - he is the DI ground ops man in India) who told me that my mate from DI Rosalind was about to appear in India on a FAM trip to Nagarhole NP near Mysore. If I wanted to join in the FAM, all I needed to do was get to Mysore...tomorrow!

Of course, I needed no further encouragement, so I hastily packed my bags and booked the overnight bus to Mysore. Luckily, almost to order, one of Nele's Indian admirers had appeared in Varkala - so he was going to keep her busy while I was away!!

The overnight bus from Trivandrum to Mysore was an interesting experience to say the least. Indian wandering hands made an appearance again, and so I ended up making a scene, hurting the perpetrator and getting him chucked off the bus. Lovely! I arrived in Mysore (which is a BEAUTIFUL city) little worse for the wear, and so bought my way into a posh hotel to wash and await Rozzer and her little band of clients.

Fully refreshed and fabulous I put on my best threads and waltzed into lunch with Rozzer, Vishal and the clients as if I owned the place. Just like the old days! Roz was very kind and said I looked almost like a native now! It was REALLY good to see her and catch up a bit. We shared an Ambassedor for the drive to Nagarhole, and gossiped the whole way!

Nagarhole NP is in the wilderness between Mysore and the coast, and so it has very much more of a lush feel to it compared to the other parks I have been to - lots of green everywhere, also lakes, rivers and bamboo forests. Although Tigers are present and quite prolific here, we were really here for the Elephants (Rozzer and the clients are recce-ing for DI's new Ele study trip) Roz was accompanied by one of India's best Ele researchers - who was excellent and very interesting to talk to.

I spent an idyllic three days in Nagarhole, gossiping, eating, going on safari and seeing wonderful things. Nagarhole has a large lake in the middle of it where Ele's go to drink and bathe, so each evening we went by boat to the area where they appeared. It was magical watching the sun setting over a herd of wild Ele's. The lake also had many beautiful birds - some which I had failed to see at Bharatupur - like Painted Storks and beautiful Ibis. In addition to that, the lake is famous for coracle fishing - so seeing the tribal people rolling thier coracles to the water, loading them up and launching into the croc infested waters was treat. I wanted to have a go too, but the lodge's coracles were a bit mankey - dont fancy taking a dip in the lake...

The only blighter on the time there was the weather. Each evening just after sunset, a HUGE thunder and lightening storm would hit, including a huge deluge of rain....COLD rain....REALLY COLD rain! A bit of a bummer if you are out in the middle of the lake on a small boat! Three nights running, and one morning, we got absolutely soaked. It also kept the animals in hiding a bit, so of course the clients complained! haha.

The other cool thing about the camp was that it was presided over by an elderly gentleman called Col. John Wakefield, or Papa John to his friends. He is an old British Raj family who has been looking after the NP for generations (of course, like all these people, it started when he was a hunter...he killed his first tiger at the age of 9 yrs!) The first night we were there, we were requested to visit Papa John on his veranda for pre dinner drinks. He is an absolutely lovely old man, who is surrounded by photos of beautiful animals and beautiful people who have visited the lodge, including his most favourite, Goldie Hawn. Lots of amusing stories and tales from him. He had also shown Sai Baba (the most famous guru in India) around the park. This interested me, as we are going to try and see Sai Baba in the next week or so. Talking to Papa John, I mentioned it, and he said he would pull some strings for me and get me a private viewing! This would be like a private chat with the Dalai Lama. WOW! Papa John did duely phone up Sai Baba's manager, and has given him our names - so hopefully, next week Ill have something marvellous to report!

Anyway, after my lovely time in the park, I returned to Bangalore with Vishal. Enroute we visited a small bird sanctury, which was a really nice addition. LOTS of birds very close up - so even I, with my humble camera, could get good pictures.

In Bangalore, I managed to purchase a train ticket to Kochin, which was another overnight maneauver. Trains are MUCH better than busses, as you are in the upper class, and so no-one talks to you, let alone bothers you! yay! time to read my book. In Kochin, I had to decide whether to spend the night or whether to just do some sightseeing and then head down to Aleppy, in readiness of meeting Nele to go to the Ashram we are heading for. I dumped my stuff in the left luggage and headed out for a days sightseeing.

Kochin is the capital of the Kerala backwaters. It was originally just the Fort Kochin area, and now has expanded to include a huge new city called Ernakulam, which is one of the most outwardly wealthy places I have come across in all of India. Its like a very smart clean version of Mumbai. Big towering new housing complexes and lots of huge shopping malls with Lacoste, Gucci and Armani shops. Very wierd. The whole place is right on a network of waterways which is the start of the backwaters. Kochin is also a huge port for freight and fishing, so, on the waterfront there is a strange mixture of large iundustrial port activity - container ships being loaded, fishing boats with huge nets and large navy ships, as well as the more traditional things like canoes, dragon boats and small rowing fishing boats. Interesting to say the least.

I had read in the book that the Fort Kochin area was frozen in 60's India, since the government banned new development -so I was interested to visit. This meant a 2 rupee ferry ride across the water - how exciting. I was the only westerner on the ferry as it ploughed its way through the water towards this low lying green looking penninsular. Of course everyone wanted to talk to me, but luckily, a passing group of dolphins averted thier attention! I was feeling MINGING after an overnight on the train in 35 degree heat and no shower!

Fort Kochin was exactly as expected - a beautiful little place with artistically decaying buildings, old style fishing boats, and of course, the emblem of Kerala -the huge cantilevered chinese fishing nets all along the beach. Swaying palmtrees above your head and dolphins at play - marvellous. I sat on the shore overlooking the fishing nets and spent time over a freshly squeezed orange juice...now this is why I came to India! I spent a lovely (and very hot) afternoon wandering the streets taking photos and genterally enjoying myself, then headed back to the ferry port to catch a ride back to the main jetty in the city. Lovely!

After a 30 minute sweaty fretful queue for a ticket, I suceeded in boarding the correct train to Aleppy - the town which is neares to Amma's Ashram. Disaster was closely averted when the train I was meant to be getting was changed platform without notice. I just saw everyone else who was waiting jump after an announcement and then jump like lemmings off the platform onto the railway lines and clambering up into an adjacent waiting train. In a split second I decided to do the same...rucksac and all. Not the sort of thing you could get away with in Paddington. Anyway, I managed to scale the side of the trian just in time to launch into the ladies carriage as it pulled off. Shaking and sweating, I managed to stow my stuff and calm down. The rest of the journey was very comfortable. No men in the carriage, thus no trouble, and a long hand gesture conversation with the 6 ladies sitting next to me. I was also given several babies to hold and was asked to take numerous photos of my happy smiling companions- who immediately put on the straight indian "photo face" as soon as the camera was directed at them - only to break into huge smiles and giggles when they saw thier image in the back of the camera!

We all tipped out at Aleppy - most of my women traveller friends were also going there - and bade goodbye to each other. A short rickshaw ride and two hotel inspections later, I found myself in a charming crumbling heritage hotel in the centre of Alleppy, run by a host of buff young Indians. Who could ask for more! haha

So here I am, awaiting Nele's arrival tonight. Tomorrow we tackle the backwaters enroute to see Amma.