The Backwaters Of Kerala

The following morning we took a trip on a houseboat around the backwaters of Alleppey. The backwaters consist of a large lake with much of the surrounding land being reclaimed. The reclaimed land creates intricate alleyways of canals between which lie paddy fields, banana and coconut plantations as well as villagers who work the land.

Our overnight journey was a small piece of heaven as we drifted in and out of waterways, catching a glimpse of village life on the backwaters. It was a scene that Kerala is famous for and incredibly serene.

Our captain proved to be a fountain of knowledge on Indian politics and so we spent the day picking his brains and learning about the communist life that the people of Kerala lead. He lived locally in one of the villages and that evening, he took us into his village and invited us into his home. At the back of his house we watched his family coming in from his paddy field with bundles of harvested rice. I managed to upset an ants nest and landed myself with around 8 itchy ant bites. We then picked a papaya from a tree in his back garden, which was to be our dessert later. He then fed us the most delicious mangoes, fresh from his tree.

We were fed a fabulous evening meal and watched the fireflies lighting up the coconut palms above our heads. We went to bed shortly after sunset and got up shortly after sunrise to finish our mini-cruise back in Alleppey.

Fun And Games On The Trains

We left our beach resort and headed to the train station for some fun and games on a local train. We had a bit of trouble working out which carriage we were supposed to be in and had to run down the platform with our backpacks in tow. We were almost at our carriage (with all the other Indians) as the train started to move. Ever resourceful I jumped on the train and pulled my heavy pack up only to turn around to find that Stuart wasn't there. I looked out the train and found Stuart looking dazed and confused walking up the platform.

I had a moment of panic as I stood all alone on a train, without my ticket. The only positive thing was that I had landed myself in an air conditioned carriage which allowed me to compose myself and meet some other travellers, who had also jumped on the wrong carriage in a hurry.

As we came to the next stop, the train master said that me and my new friends had to go our carriage - the hot, smelly one crammed with all the locals. We jumped off the train, I had a quick scan for Stu, but no sign of him so we ran very quickly to the next carriage, forcing ourselves on with our elbows. I suddenly realised why Stu had missed the train as the carriage was brimming with people and there simply wasn't any room (this was after 30 or so Indians had piled out). We stood for the next couple of stops, moving out the way as local vendors sold chai and other wares between the stops.

A couple of hours later we came to our destination - Alleppey. I left my new friends and went to the guesthouse that we had booked earlier that day. Luckily I had made the reservation that morning, so I knew where to go (normally Stu does it). I sat and waited for Stu, whilst the young Indian men running the hostel doted on my every need.

An hour later, a worried Stu arrived at the guesthouse. A rickshaw journey, bumpy bus ride and another rickshaw later, we were reunited and he tucked into my leftover biryani.

Cooking in Kerala

Stu and I have just been on a 2 hour cooking course where we made our dinner. The food was scrummy and all were local dishes from Kerala. We had Vegetable Masala, Navaratna Kuruma (vegetables in a coconut sauce), Vegetable Biriyani, Fish Moilee (coconut sauce) and Chapatis. The food was so good, I thought I'd share it with you, so here are the recipes - they're all very easy as long as you have the ingredients. All dishes serve two people. So get cooking!

Vegetable Masala (serve with rice or bread)
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3/4 onion, finely chopped
1" cube of ginger, finely chopped
1 small carrot
1 fresh tomato chopped
some veggies, but only about 1 tablespoon of each, we used beans, cauliflower & cabbage
2 tbsp veg oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp white flour
1 tbsp coriander
water to cover ingredients
2-3 tbsp of milk
salt to taste

Fry ginger, garlic and onion for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add tomato, stir and cook for a minute. Add veg and stir well. Add spices and mix well, cook for a couple of minutes. Cover with water, mix well and leave to cook for 5-6 minutes. At the end add milk and salt to taste. Easy.

Navaratna Kuruma (serve with rice or bread)
2" cube of ginger chopped
1/2 onion chopped finely
4 beans chopped small
1/2 medium potato chopped
small piece of cabbage chopped (2 tbs)
1/2 carrot chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 sweet banana chopped
1 tbsp pineapple chopped
1/2 small eating apple
1 tbsp fresh coriander

Sauce:
1 cup of coconut milk
1 handful of chopped cashews
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin seeds

Fry onion in oil with ginger and mustard seeds for 1 minute. Throw in all veg (not fruit) and fry for a couple of minutes. Cover with water and cook for 5 minutes. Put all the sauce ingredients into blender and cover with water. Whizz up contents of blender (should be quite thick). Add to the veg and cook for 2 minutes. Throw in fruit and fresh coriander. Mix well. Take off heat.

Vegetable Biriyani (serve with rice or bread)
1 cup of rice
1/2 carrot fine slices
1/4 onion fine slices
handful of whole cashews
1 tbsp raisins
small piece of cinnamon
5 cloves
1/4 tsp aniseed
3-4 cardamons
1 tbsp mint and coriander combined
2 tbsp ghee (or butter melted with residue removed)
1 pinch of turmeric, salt and sugar
Few drops of essence of pineapple (optional)

Put rice onto cook as packet instructions. Remember to wash rice well before cooking. When rice is cooked, drain and leave to one side. Fry onion and carrot until brown. Add cashews, cinnamon and raisins and cook for 2 minutes. Turn heat off and add sugar, salt and turmeric. Mix well. Add pineapple, mint and coriander, and cashew nuts. Mix. Add rice and fry for 1 minute. Add essence of pineapple at the end - this is just to add to the smell.

Fish Moilee (serve with rice or bread)
1 clove garlic shredded
1" garlic shredded
1 hot green chili - split down the middle - don't chop
1/2 onion sliced thinly
10 curry leaves (fresh or dried)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp chili
1/2 tbsp flour
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 tsp creamed tamarind
1 tomato sliced
salt to taste
1 x small fillet of white fish

Fry mustard seeds in coconut oil. Add garlic, ginger, whole chili, onion and curry leaves. Brown off these items a little (2-3 minutes). Turn off heat. Add in turmeric, coriander, chili, tamarind, flour and fry for 1/2 minute. Add coconut milk and heat again. Add fish and tomato slices and cook for 5-10 minutes until fish is cooked. Add salt to taste.

Chapatis (flat bread) - makes 4 chapatis

4 tbsp water
8 tbsp plain flour
salt to taste
Little bit of oil

Mix the water, flour and salt together to make a smooth dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Roll into a sausage and then divide into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece so that it is quite thin. It should be about 10" in diametre. Cook in a hot fry pan like a pancake. Use very little oil, sprinkle the oil over the bread just so it doesn't stick - the less oil the better. Flip it when you start to see bubbles form underneath. They just need to be lightly cooked, around 3-5 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Enjoy your feast - this will easily serve 2-3 people. And a feast it was!

Kerala Bamboo House - Bliss in a Beach Hut

Another taxi ride later we arrived at our beach hut paradise. A little peace of heaven on a cliff top looking out at the Arabian Sea. Once again, we were in a place with amazing sunsets, friendly local people and waterfront restaurants. A perfect reminder of my favourite place in Bolivia - Lake Titicaca. I don't want to leave.

We're filling our days with yoga in the mornings (which we're not very good at, but you have to start somewhere), breakfast looking over the sea, an hour on the beach, a dip in the wonderful warm waters of the Arabian Sea and then pottering about on the internet a bit in the afternoon. Dinner is again looking over the sea at a hazy sunset and sharing some Kerala fish curry with Stu.

It's low season here as they come into the monsoon season at the end of the next month. It's very hot and humid. I'm loving the heat (around 30-35 degrees), but not enjoying going through two to three tops everyday with the sweating. The only thing bothering us are pesky little ants that like to nip you. No mozzies (yet).

There's not very many tourists or travellers here and the locals are shutting up their shops, preparing for the monsoon. It's great for us as the beach isn't very full and you're not sitting on top of people in the cliff top cafes and restaurants. Bliss.

We've been here two nights and we're going to leave tomorrow or the next day. Whenever we feel like it really. Off further north to sample more of the delights of Kerala.

Welcome To India

We made our way from Trivandrum airport right in the tip of Kerala up to Varkala, a small town 60km away. We decided it was best to get a train, even though we were offered the pleasure of a road trip with a crazy taxi driver the 1 journey. We were hoping we would get used to Indian style train travel in preparation for our many journeys to come. We felt we had the energy.

To get to the train station from the airport you drive through the arse end of town, then I realised, it wasn't the arse end of town, it was actually what the town was like. A visual feast of people washing; carrying large items on their head; taxis and mopeds fighting it out on the roads; and everyone just everywhere. Hundreds of people - all wafting their sarongs to cool down from the humid heat.

As we arrived at the train station, we were greeted by about 20 men in red nappies (shortened sarongs - but look very nappy like), all wanting to carry our luggage. Unfortunately for them, we surrended to none and carried our own luggage into the ticket office where we tried to work out which train we needed.

We queued in line and discovered that sharp elbows and a wide stance were needed to prevent the locals pushing in - a standard custom, only allowed by women, who get priviledges over men. Unfortunately, if you're not clearly stood right behind the person in front, it is assumed you're not queuing at all. There goes personal space for the rest of our trip.

The train to Varkala was a standard passenger train. Wooden seats with all the locals and with stops at every stops. Ideally we would have gone tourist class, but there's nothing like getting stuck into travelling with the locals. The 1.5 hour trip was painless. The only difficulty was knowing where we were and when to get off. It nice to say, we didn't really care. What if we missed the stop? No problem, we'd just jump in a taxi and pay about 15 pence to get back to our destination. It's good we both have this attitude - it allows you to deal with everything India has to throw at you.

End Of Part Two

After the wedding, we quickly put the guest book together and then had our last meal with the left over guests. The next morning we hurried off to the airport for the final leg of our trip - India.

When we arrived, we were stunned by the calm that surrounded the aiport. We thought that it would much more hectic. When jumped in a cab and found our way to a local hotel, we discovered that much of the area around the airport is a collection of shanti towns. Between each lay 4 and 5 star hotels, crazy roads and lots and lots of people. Our hotel was a little 3 star number with helpful staff, although a little too attentive at 6.30am when asking for the drinks bill from the previous night.

We arranged flights south to Kerala and without hassle and pain, made it very easily to the airport and down to our destination.

The Wedding Of The Season

Well the wedding went really well and Debs was beautiful. There was of course the obligatory little hiccup, which didn't set the day too well - the make-up lady didn't turn up at the hair salon. Luckily the manager of the salon was very professional and took Debs round the Mac shop on Oxford Street (Sydney), where they kindly saved the day. Naughty make-up lady. Debs emerged stunning with a few little extras (little false eyelashes) which made her very coquettish. All was quickly forgotten as we washed away a couple of glasses of champers before the photographer arrived and the formalities started.

As far as I believe, not all was running so smoothly at the groom's camp. Besides frequent toilet trips, nervous sweating and very fiddly ties, they managed to turn up at the church on time. By the time we got there, there were still guests arriving (due to Sydney's inefficient taxi service) and the groom and his groomsmen seemed to be dashing in and out of the loo. Whilst all this was going on, we kept hidden behind some trees and out of the sweltering sun.

The service was good and all was fine. There were a few moments of tears, from the bride, groom and mother of the bride, but still everyone managed through and an ecstatic Mr and Mrs Woodford emerged from the church.






On to the reception and again, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves drinking champers and Pimms on the lawn. Very civilised. Stu and I ran round taking Polaroid snaps of all the guests so we could compile the guest book while the rest of the guests nibbled on some scrumptious canapes. (We missed out as carrying drinks, camera, postcards, pens, film and organising guests didn't leave a free hand for canapes. Damn - they looked good!)

The meal was lovely. Probably the best wedding food I've ever had (besides the food at our own wedding, of course). In true Ozzy style, half the guests had fish and the rest beef. Perfectly cooked and beautifully presented. If you didn't like what you were given, you simply swapped with your neighbour. The catering company did a fab job.




The speeches broke up the servings of food and once again there were a few tears, lots of laughs and one or two boos - poor best man! Never mind. All was quickly forgiven and the guests were left with a lovely memory of the groom from his stag do. Ouch - that looks painful!










We danced well until 11am, the bouquet was thrown and then stumbled down to the taxis and on to a nightclub for some; bed for the rest of us.



A lovely day.

An Australian Rugby Match

On Sunday we went to a rugby match at Centennial Stadium. It had been lashing with rain all day and the weather didn't let up for the game either. We arrived in good time and settled in our seats, but were blown all over the place by a wind created by the stadium - it seemed to be sucked down into the grounds like a vortex. Luckily we had lots of layers to keep warm, even though it was 18 degrees outside the stadium.

The game was set off with a fanfare and fireworks as the Warratahs came out to play against the Stormers. The play was poor and both teams struggled to score a try, in particular the home side - the Warratahs. The end result was 18-10 to the Stormers. A dispointing game, but the event was good. We had a few beers and thoroughly enjoyed having a gang of us at the game.

Filling Our Time

Just to let you know, whilst in Australia we haven't been doing very much. Helping out with wedding tasks, meeting up with the relatives and pottering about. Very busy doing nothing. All good fun - but nothing to report.

Rock & Roll On A Harley Davidson

It's mum's 60th birthday in May and so for her birthday present we got her a tour of northern Syndey on the back of a Harley Davidson. Cool. She squealed at the sight of the bikes and thoroughly enjoyed herself - alongside dad.

All good stuff.

Wedding Preparation

Well we've been busy with the wedding preparation and it's now only a few days away. Everything is set and luckily for me the bridesmaids dress fits (after a few alterations). The family have arrived and we've had lots of family dinners and a few ladies only lunches. It's been lovely catching up with them all again. We've even managed a few days sitting on the beach and Stu's been doing some surfing at last!

Moving On - Australia Here I Come!

Well, I left Stuart in Auckland seeing his friend Tammy. We had a minor panic attack as we realised that Stuart didn't have a visa for New Zealand just as the plane was landing in Auckland. Oops. Luckily for us he didn't need one and so I was allowed my mini-holiday away from him for a week. Hoorah! - only kidding Stu ;o)

Now I'm with with my lovely sister in Sydney and we're going to be pottering about and doing last minute planning and preparation in the run to her wedding on the 23rd March. I'm very excited, as is she! Plus, I get to see my parents in a week or so. Lovely!

End Of Part One

Well, we've left South America and I suppose that's the end of part one of our journey. We've spent more or less, six months travelling around Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina and we've thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now we're on to part two - the wedding of my sister in Australia. Should be fun...

To end this part, here's a synopsis of our thoughts of the parts of South America we visited:

Favourite country: Bolivia
Simply because the life there is so different and there's very little western influence. It's not changed in years and the majority of people there are the indigenous people. The black market is strong so there's a certain way of doing things and nothing quite works. It has spectular scenery, beautiful jungle, strange, out the way villages and very few proper roads. The people are lovely too.

Favourite city: It has to be Buenos Aires
Cosmopolitian, beautiful architechure, tango, tango, tango

Favourite place: Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca in Bolivia
Simply amazing and idyllic. Another world.

Favourite restaurante: The Alvear Hotel, Buenos Aires
Amazing value for their lunch menu. It is rated the best restaurant in BsAs by the people of BsAs. I'd have to agree.

Favourite experience: The Seeds of Hope children in Peru
We both gained so much out of working with the children at Seeds of Hope. They won't be forgotten and the charity will be in our lives for a long time.

Biggest disappointment: Chile
Expensive, a little lacking in culture (in comparison to the other countries we visited) and the people weren't the friendliest.

We've had a fabulous time in South America and will certainly be going back! (But not for a while).

Leaving Good Friends

On our last night in Buenos Aires we went around to our Spanish teacher's house for dinner. Mariano, our teacher is hilarious and we've thoroughly enjoyed our classes with him.

Mariano is an interesting chap and as we've had our many hours of Spanish conversation with him over the last two months, we've become very fond of him and discovered a lot about this his life. He's a great teacher, mainly because he tells us a lot about his life too, breaking down the usual teacher-student barrier. It's been great, as we've been able to see a real snapshot of Argentine beliefs.

Mariano, 39 is married to a very beautiful, young 24 year old Equadorian girl. They've been married 6 years and she's now 3 months pregnant. From their own admission they fell in love at first sight as Mariano was a good friend of her father. As her father was dying, she used to type out all of his emails for his friends. Mariano was one of these people and she loved his witty, dark humour. Then, when she saw him, she actually fell in love with him as well, without knowing that he was her father's witty friend. After her father died, they got married to her mother's disgust, under a tree on a hill in Equador. A very simple affair.

He's got the same sense of humour as Stuart and a love for travel as well. I think we'll be seeing him again. As you can see from our last dinner, we managed to polish off a few bottles of wine. We left his house at 4am in the morning in the lashing rain. We were soaked! When we woke up the next day, our clothes were still wet!

Last Tango In Buenos Aires

We've been to some great milongas over the last two weeks. Some of our favourites include Nino Bien, a milonga only 3 blocks from our flat (pictured here). It's a grand, traditional hall that gets very busy. The space available for each couple is very small, so you have to take very small steps. It's also quite dangerous and I walked away from the dancefloor bleeding. I've now come to learn this is an occupational hazard with the popular milongas!

Another favourite is Bien Pulenta. A hall that is used for one of the tango spectulars. It's a little gem in the middle of Once - an area quite rough around the edges. Both these milongas offered up live orchestras to dance to. Truly beautiful.

El Beso (The Kiss) is a very small milonga, with a tiny dancefloor. A large pillar obstructs the flow of the dancing a little, but isn't too imposing. The photo's of dancers here are taken in El Beso. This was the favourite club of Belen, our landlady - she goes about 2-3 times a week until the early hours of the morning. It's difficult to get a good seat here. The regulars reserve the best tables round the edge of the dancefloor and because the venue isn't big, foreigners tend to get tucked away in a corner or at the back, making it difficult to get eye contact for dances.



My favourite milonga was a social club in Flores, a residential area a little out of the centre. Here, families come together to eat, chat, catch up and dance, so it's got a much more relaxed atmosphere. We went with Aurora, our dance teacher. She has a regular table reserved for her. We were blessed that night with a lovely show from a couple of German tango teachers living in Buenos Aires. They were lovely dancers.

Belen's Crazy Cats

Our land lady Belen lives on the floor above us and she's got these two crazy cats, Juanita and Carlito. They're brother and sister and are long haired ginger cats with a really cheeky personality. The funny thing is though is that Belen has long curly hair and has a cheeky personality too. You know what they say, pets look like their owners.

Unfortunately, its very difficult to get a cat to stand still, let alone two, so the photo isn't great.

Our Last Week

Its now our last week in Buenos Aires and we're doing lots of tango classes. We've really made an improvement and now thoroughly enjoying the milongas - which we've been frequenting late into the night.

We've been busy buying presents for our teachers and going out to dinner with friends. Its been really nice and everyone has been lovely to us. Hopefully we've got some lifelong friends. :o)