We we up early (again!), to leave for Periyar Tiger Reserve. We arrived ahead of schedule and checked into Mickey Cottage (another home stay with a really friendly family), then went straight into the park. We went on a boat ride around the reserve to animal spot - we were lucky enough to see elephants, deer, water buffalo, bison, wild boar, although we think the boar could have been a rock! We also saw lots of birds, but unfortunately there aren't many photos...

We were up early to meet Antony (AKA Tony, AKA Tony Blair!!), our driver who was going to take us on a tour around Kerala. Our first destination was Munnar. On the way, we stopped at the Elephant Training Centre, where we helped to wash the elephants. It was free, we just had to give the trainers a tip (for Chai!) and the elephants some bananas! The elephants were aged between 7 months and 35 years old! We washed them using the husks of coconuts and a bit of ...

Early start again to catch the train to Cochin at 4.30am! The train was delayed nearly 3 hours so we settled down with our foot rests again! We made another friend, a soon to be bridegroom who gave us both an invitation to his wedding, in May! The train was a bit better in the A/C car, we even got breakfast included, an omelette sandwich. After arriving in Cochin we headed to our hotel in Fort Cochin (an island just off the mainland) called Adam's Old Inn, wh...

We headed to the train station after a long day of just waiting around (we were a bit limited on what we could do, as we had bags with us!). We got there with a couples of hours to spare and the train was delayed slightly, so we settled down at the station, with our bags as foot rests. We managed to draw in a bit of a crowd and got chatting to some of the locals; we were even asked for our autograph, even though we explained that we weren't famous! The train ...

The past few days have been very lazy and relaxing; after finding out we couldn't get a train until the 23rd we HAD to stay for a few more days, which we were a bit disappointed with at first, but we now feel really relaxed and ready to get on and see the rest of India. So during our extra few days we have read some books, sat on the beach and had regular swims in the sea, to burn off some of the yummy food. Then in the afternoons we headed to the hotel bar wher...