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24/10/2013
Said last goodbyes, went to the cliffs for some cornflakes. Never been up this early and the coast looked stunning, everything was so quiet. Got the train to Alleppey for 80p. The views were stunning on the train and the breeze was so nice. Coming off the train I seen a white lass so asked if she wanted to share a taxi. Turns out she was from south shields! You really couldn't right this. Turns out she was a lawyer for Ben Sherman. She was going to some Ayuveda place. She only wanted 20rs for the taxi too, result! Found homestay. Had shower, went to town to buy an adapter and checked out the boat jetty. Had a biriyani, returned to find Maurro, an Italian from Venice. Real quiet and didn't speak much English. Shared a cold kingfisher. Afterwards we had a walk to mushroom, a local restaurant which was really nice. I got this plate of meat chunks in this lovely gravy sauce stuff, on a thin naan bread thing. Haha as I ate it I thought of Angela, shes a vegan and I remember quizzing her on it a few days earlier.
Then the strangest thing ever happened. I heard a girls voice…. Turns round… and there was Angela!!!! Of all the places and all the restaurants at the right time. Honestly could not believe it haha.
When walking back we could see into the mosque as the door was open, it wasn't a service but maybe just some extra prayer a small group had decided to do. There was around 8 men sat on the floor in a circle chanting the same word again and again. They were all really into it and rocking back and fourth in a frenzy. Found it really weird!!
25/10/2013
Left Dream Nest homestay at 8 with Maurro, today we were doing a backwaters tour. Went to the jetty and got off at the last stop, there met us a woman who led us down a really muddy road to her house where we got breakfast. Really nice sweet pancakes. The house was in the middle of nowhere, and was tiny and dark. We had to cross many little cannels to get to it. Later we met her husband, and he took us to his kayak and we stared the trip. He set out a nice chair for us with cushions and a cover and me and Maurro jumped in. Went through all the back waters with the overhanging trees above. Was amazing. Lots of other little boats past us. One was of a guy who just screamed wooop. Wooop. Turns out it's a bit of a siren, means hes got fish to sell. Later joined the big cannel with all the other house boats. They literally are houses on boats, very big and always covered in thatch or leaves. You can see the tourists sit at their tables and eat their catered food. Probs abit out my price bracket! Later we got out and went for a walk. Found a gigantic paddy field which was amazing. You could see the women with their hats on in the distance working away. Went to a local church after. It was honour of some saint who was really influential here before. You often see his picture about, Christianity is quite big here. The rain came so we sought refuge in the door of the church and rested out eyes almost until it passed. Got back in the bought and went for a coconut later. Afterwards went back to his house a got a veg thali. Was very nice. There was some 1970s bollywood film on in the background and even though it was in a foreign language you could still follow it, everthing was very acted and was funny to watch. Got back on the ferry later to take us home and there were sooooo many school kids on the boat, all with different coloured uniforms etc. This was the school run and there so many stops, atleast 30 easy. Childen were getting off but the amount of people on the boat just didn't seem to be going down. The sun set and it was nice to see.
Later on met up with a 29 year old NZ guy called Mark, hes an anesthetist. Hes been traveling for the last 10 months around the whole world and was so good to hear his stories. Last week he climbed Kilimanjaro. Such a modest guy and he didn't even bring it up, I had to dig to find out that info. If that was me I'd be shouting from the roof tops! Later the two of us went to mushroom and later on ran into Angela again. We talked about traveling etc and was a really good night. Spurred me on so much!!!
26/10/2013
Agreed to meet up with Angela and got breakfast. I ordered chicken noddles and got a ice cream for dessert. Haha being a vegan she really must think I do it on purpose! Afterwards we headed for Marari beach, an idyllic beach a bit north of Alleppey. We asked so many tuk tuk drivers who all said 250, but we were determined to get 200! Eventually we found one. We got there and the beach didn't disappoint… so nice. Golden beach which stretched on for miles, much bigger than Black Beach of Varkala, lovely palm trees. We shared a papaya fruit and later Angela bought a coconut. I didn't go in the beach but instead just chilled under the shade of a palm tree and read my book. We went back after. Back at the homestay I met mark. In his room was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. Easily the size of my hand spread out, if not bigger. One of the guys soon killed it and all was good. We went to mushroom again, this time accompanied by a Californian guy called Michael, 25, he had also done the back waters tour with mark today but he was at a homestay up the road. He was a really funny guy. He told us about thanks giving and we taught him about rugby. Went back to him homestay after and we watched Federer play a match on the TV.
27/11/2013
Woke up at 11.40am by someone knocking at my door. I got told I needed to be out of my room by 12 noon as there were other guests arriving and they had booked the ac room, the one I was in. I took Mark's old room, as this was good for wifi, and prayed there wasn't any more spiders. Soon enough the guest arrived at 12, and I can honestly say it was definitely worth wile being kicked out for this couple. A married 60 year old couple from Australia, Ed and Linda. Ed left Manchester when he was 18 so spotted my accent (accurate to Newcastle or course). Turns out they're big travelers and have been at it all their lives. We exchanged many stories, and we soon went for lunch together at mushroom where the banter continued. Was so good to hear their advice and warm words, they were such nice people. They ofcourse invited me to Perth to stop at my place which was very nice. It made me think despite how big the world map is, and how little of it I've seen, I've still got plenty of time to see a lot of it, and I'm already doing exactly that day by day. Later on back at the homestay, feeling confident, I booked tickets to Sri Lanka. Since I was in the area it really made sense, id probs never get the oppourtunity again, and it was only £107 return and the Sri Lankan rupee is twice as weak as the rupee (and that's saying something!!!). Got a really bad headache on the night but had a good sleep in my nice new bed.
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