helllloooo! we've just arrived in mamarrapulam! Our first few days were mad- katie was sick but ironically from a bug caught from Alice at home- we haven't had the wrath of Indian diorrea yet (touch wood). Bangalore is soooooooo polluted so first impressions were insane- we thought we saw a guy who was dead, but turened out he wasn't- but when people thought he was they all just ran away! We fouund a nice resturant and had a biryani, yummy, and some nice tiny little Bannanas. Eventually we got a train (after queing for an hour and sleeping through our train b4) from Bangalore at 6.30,arriving in CHennai at around 1pm. Chennai is much nicer than Bangalore, everyne seemed alot friendlier. It was still pretty busy though, and it was raining could you believe! Mamarrapulam is beautiful and quite touristy too. We had our first cup of chai he heee, it was really tasty actually- tea with milk and sugar already mixed in. Kaite said 'i feel so cultured' when drinking her tea....we had a serious laughing fit lol how ironic is that. The train was great but got a little delayed as the train infront derailed!! We were in A/C class, which is the luxury, so everyone was extremely friendly. Alot of Indians seem really keen to show they have affiliations with London!We met some people from Paris who had been living in Bangalore for two years!...we had the best journey to Mammarapulam in a pre-paid gov't taxi (400 rs each for a 2 hour journey) in which we had 2 hilarious drivers, ran out of petrol, qued for a while, nearly ran over a cow, and ended up in a beautiful hotel right next to the beach. It is 150 rs per night with a fan, bathroom and realy sanitary conditions. We've only been here a couple of hours but it seems brilliant! There's a swimming pool, an internet cafe' andddddd, loads of english people- or french, Australian and American. We jsut walked to the beach and saw loads of tiny crabs everywhere. It's so surreal. Its time to get out the mossie repelent me thinks...but so far haven't been bitten. It's so nice here we'll prob stay for a couple of weeks and avoid another long haul journey for abit. How are you guyssss??....WHat's the gossip mayyyyn?? How is everyone, suny crouch end, the Princess?? we've already been offered 'hashish' on the beach today....we declined of course (he was also selling paintings and jewelery lol)....Hope u all get this okkkkkk.....love u and miss u lots,it's tough but worth it. will be in touch soon. LOVE YOUUUUUU