hey hey everyone!i havnt wriiten for a while!not reali an internet person, so im doin quite well!

on leaving Goa we went to Mangalore (the train journey was fine and i fell asleep at after being on it for about 3 hours and the men selling:chaiaaaaa,coffee,karam,chaiiaaa!! wer pretty few and far between and not very loud! so the journey was pretty pleasant!)where we stayede for the day while we awaited our train to trivandrum and we found elena(the italian lady) at the station! she was only goin to cochin and arrivin at 3am by herself, so we convinced her to stay with us in trivandrum and extend her ticket! on arriving in kerala,i realised all the hindi that i had learnt was useless as the local language is malayalam , which is apparantly one of the hardest to learn, in the world as it has no connection with any other language and no rules to speak!anyhow, i have learnt to say Thankyou:nan nih, yes:sherrie, no:il lah, how much:etray i, how are u?:sucki marno, my name is:enday pair reh.

we managed to find a nice hotel called ozram hotel on mahatma ghandi street(mg.st.) which we found in the lonely planet, after driving round for ages lookin for kukies hotel, with a driver that cudnt speak english or hindi! we wer soon to find that v.few ppl speak anythin but malayalam in trivandrum as its not a v touristy place.after checking in:R250nt, i sharede with kim and that price was for th e room, the girls went to visit temples, thr was one that was seven stories high, cant remba the name, but it began with 'sree' i got my first india icecream! but the icecream isnt reali icec ream, its like sweet whipped cream!then we visited a Aloysius Chapel in aloysius college and university.it was huge, but we cudnt take pix! it was all painted on the inside by an italian artist.(that was in mangalore!got confused).

we went to visit a museum inafter the museums and saw statues from as far back as the 8th century!, buddhas, shiwas, masks, royal chairs, lots of god statuesques anmd carvings!this as R5!after this we sat in the park and met sumcollege kid who we sat and chattred with for a while and the seemed so excited , the stuck bindis on our heads and made ussay things in othr language that the kept makin us repeaty and laughing! they even invited uss to thr houses, wich wer declined, cos we had to get bk to torq, who wanted to be by himself.we all met for dinner after and then to a bar/restaurant(that they call hotels)ther was ony one girl, who left shortly after.i had a lime soda(which has somin called quintin or sumin like that which is also an ingredient of malaria tabs!)so did elena and kim and torq got on the beer(kingfisher) we started chattin to sum guys on the next table and they proved to be quite a laugh, and one of them taught us a handshake that he had learnt at school! they owed a jewelry shop that they invited us to.

the next day we got the train to varkala and stayed on the sth end of the beach in a place called pradeshvadi, or sumin like that, opp bohemian masala, with 24hr security.this was by far the best and cheapest place! R200 for a double room.here i shared with torq, but he ony spent 1 out of4 nites in the room!we wer soon to find that thr wer power cut everyday! our hotel manager lent us torches.the first nite, we spent at bhemian masala at a buffet party and had to wear white, but only hada jacket, so i wore yellow pants! we found soph and russ again here! i actualll tripped over and russ laUGHED,BUT HE DIDNT NOTICE IT WAS ME TILL I CALLED OUT!i keep pressin caps lock by accid3ent!

for the next few days, we just lazed about.on the monday(we arrived sat morn) me and kim went to the temple(susie from b.h advised us wat to do )we had to take our shoes off and fint a temple we wer drawn to and stand to the side of it, not the front cos of the energy channels, pray, then walk around it3trimes clockwise, then place a donation in the box.after this , wer saw the priests awakin the gods, this consisted of playing drums and singing infront of the temples.after this, we had to pay the lady who looked after our shoesd nd walk down to the sea(the holiest sea in the south of india). here we satin front of a priest who told us it costs R100,who asked us how many deaths there had binin our family.he then placed2banana leaves in front of each of us and and on one thr wer chopped up bananas and we had to sprinkle rice on it.with the second, we had to place a stick for each of our deceased and say thr name(at this point my voice got wobbly and i had to pause as a tear dropped down my face), then flowers, then rice.then the priest prayed.then we had to repeat wat he sed in sanskrit, we obviously cudnt understand, or pronounce the properly and at one point, i want to laugh as he started to go v.fast and dint wait for us to fin!i cudnt close my eyes cos the n i cudnt see his lips and try to mimic!after this we took the leaves witthe food and said the names in our heads and clapped 3xs, then walked away, this symbolises the food we are givin our deceased relatives, feed ing thr souls and wen we clap, we call them to come eat, and the crow r sposed to symbolise them, as u clap and move away, the birds arrive as iof on cue and eat the food, i got 3crows and a pigeon! then u take the next leaf and and go to the water whr u pray and think about ur loved ones,again, i got pretty emotional, i think, i had bin waitin for an outlet, and i ges,what mopre perfect a time than this,than the symbolism here!then u turn around and walk backwards in to the water and tghrow it over ur head and turn ariound again and put the water over ur head.the leaf in the water symbolises, freeing their souls. then u just watch it float away and collect ur thoughts.Here i just stood crying for a long time, but it wasvery refreshing. The priest came over and gave us white power and told us to put marks on our heads for the amount of deaths we have had, then came the part, whr he took tried to take advantage of our european accents! he told me i had top pay R300, for the amount of ppl i prayed for and kim,R400! as i already knew the price, i had taken R101 with me, the extra one meant i gave more than was needed and so he cud carry on doin so, so wen he gives a donat6ion to someone, he could give more than was needed as i gave him the extra.i told him wat i had brought and he took it with a smirk like, he knew that i knew he was trying to take the piss out of me! then as i stood there just reflectin, lookin onto the sea, he came to disturb me several times!i thoughtr it was sposed to be my own private time! he came over and asked me if i was poor!how cum i dint give him much money?!what am i doin here?! where am i stayin?! Now, up til then, i had felt quite satisfied with the lovely symbolism, then he kinda ruined it for me!that rweali disappointed me!

later on that day,me,kim and elena went to an elephant farm!in a jeep, which he took the roof off on the way back! we fed the elephants fruit, washed them with a coconut shell, and climbed about 15steps to sit on the top of thwem and go for a ride! they are HUGH! i never realised how majestic elephants are! or how scary!! we watched them wash themselves and a baby drink its mums milk! so cute!! the ride back was fun! like we wer celebrities! everyone waved to us and sed hello, ppl stopped and skool kids looked over the fence and waved!!

later that evenin, we went to the funky arty cafe and watch about 8 kids do bollywood dancing and another do classical dancing with bells on his ankles and makeup! i loved this the most!there was also a lil boy, maybe5yrs old, who was like a lil micheal jackson and did gymnastics and breakdancin2!after they dance, they talk to u and ask for skool pens and money to sponser their dances. there wasa man who i think was mentally challenged who was makin me laff so much!either that or he was soooo drunk, but he kept comin up to me and dancin and winkin! then he took money out of his pocket to offer me R100 to dance with him!i declined, then R200, then R300, then a car! i jus laughed!! on the way back, we saw 2dogs matin back to back and they just statred at us as we walked past, then all of a sudden, as i was showin kim, 2more dogs appeared and they started fightin and trin to get the dogs apart! they were rollin and rollin, still connected and they knocjked over someones stall, i got a bit scared and jumped into a restaurant! it was funny tho!

The nite before this it was v dark and its about a 20m min walk home with bumps and cracks and rocks and steps up and down everywhr, 3dogs took it in turns to walk with us! they walked with us, walked around us walked ahead and waited for us, then as they left us another took over, then another! i realli think they were trying to protect us! it was nice!

the followin mornin, we packed and left torq in varkala as he lost his camera the prevoius day wen he was drunk and he fell asleep again in a restaurant and he wante dto go to the police stn, but he dint get in til 8am and our tyrain was 10.30am and he hadnt slept and ity takes him hours to pack and get sorted and i think he wanted to stay with the friends that he had made. so we got thwe train to allepey and arrived yesterday afternoon. a man had given us leaflets on the train about a place calleds johnsons nest and swed sumone will pick us up and take us thr from outside for free and if we dint like it they wud take us to other places for free.so we went , after of course checkin their cards which had bin stamped by the police of kerala. it wasd all fine and we decided to stay there as it was only one nite andpretty close to the backwaters, which was why wecame.we got a bamboo hut, but gaps so lotsa mossies! we had a net and an extra mattress! R300 between 3 of us! so we did a backwater boat trip for R400 for 2 hours. was nice, but ki and i developed a cold and got fed up so we just stuck tissues up our noses during the trip! took nice pics! saw lotsa ducks, ppl in canoes goin about thr everyday lives and takin showers and doin washi ng u[p in the water.we also saw house boats and a snake boat, rice fields and lotsa palmtrees! after this we had dinner, and went to bed! this mornin, we had to check out by 11am, so we got ready and had breakfast of scrambled eggs and toat and jam, i dont like jam and elen adont like eggsso we swapped! they went to the beach afterwards as i am in here as i am a slow typer and needed a couple of hours to update this! th e lady in the shop gave me her pc to use and she is just sittin down and ansers the fone weneva it rings and collects faxes and is readin a mag! sumone jus came in and brought her food, which she asked me to try and she fed me! then she told me to have it coas i llike it! i cant rember wat she sed its called, somin like passat somin! it quite nice, kinda with a masala flavour,(ginger, clove, sugar and cardamon) with ricelike bits in it!

kept meanin to say that in arambol, wer went to these rock that have healing power and u scrape it off with a rock and take the pieces and wet it then rub it into ur skin.then u walk into the sunshine and let it dry, with the sunshine then u bathe in the lake to wash it off! not sure if i notice d much difference!

ok, now id better go and book our train from here to go to cochin.

speak soon!

;op x