We came to Mysore for a number of reasons, some nostalgic, I came here on my first trip to India, um..a few years ago and this is really where I fell in love with the country. I particularly wanted to show Karen the Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid, which had mesmerised me all those … More Mysore
Wayanad was a bit of a trek but well worth it. Miles upon miles of forest, much less litter and fresh,eucalyptus scented air. We stayed at Varnam Homestay. A small organic farm which in itself was a great experience. They farm by mixing all the plants together around the house: It was a gardeners paradise. There were … More Wonderful Wayanad
We liked Fort Cochin. A tourist enclave on the corner of Cochin peninsular, surrounded by container ships and oil depots across the bay. We reached here by the most dilapidated ferry from the main land, after refusing a suspiciously cheap rickshaw ride from a driver who told us how a ferry had sunk the month before … More Fort Kocin, India.
So we have now been in India for 2 weeks. Wifi has been unavailable or too weak to post but we have managed to find Willy’s Coffee Pub which does wifi for 30p and hour and is about as far removed from an English pub as you can get! Certainly there is no alcohol. This … More India. The beauty and the beast.
Some of the little things I really liked: Curious hungry cows: As we watched the shop owner brought out a bucket of food for the cow and her calf. Hanging from trees like monkeys wrapped in umbrellas, when they took off it looked like a 100 batmen in the sky ready to rescue Gotham city! The … More It’s all in the detail: Sri Lanka.
To visit Colombo we stayed outside at Mt Lavinia beach and loved it. The beach itself is a bit scruffy with a litter problem. Ramshackle food stalls line the beach and it’s mostly used by Sri Lankans with a smattering of western tourists. We enjoyed drinking beer, watching the sunset and lots of people just having fun. … More Mt Lavinia
Galle is a city of two parts, the Old City and the New. We stayed in the wonderful Old City. It can’t be much over a square kilometre in size, retained within the remains of a 17th century Dutch fort. Upon first sight it appears to be a chocolate box tourist town, with beautiful colonial … More Cricket, kites and posing in Galle. Sri Lanka.
Mirissa didn’t start well. A very poor guest house put me in a bit of a princess mood I’m afraid to say. I won’t bore you with the details but damp, dirty, dark and with a bathroom door that doesn’t fit is not on my list of essentials! I got my bug tent out pronto. … More Mirissa and the whales
We have spent the last couple of days in and around Bundala National Park. The first evening we walked from our guest house, the Lagoon Inn, a few hundred yards down the road towards the park entrance where: We also spotted black headed ibis, open billed storks, black winged stilts, yellow beaked babblers, to name but a … More Bundala National Park. Sri Lanka.
This is for those of you who know how worried/obsessed Julian gets about his hair. (And also for Maria. What do you think?) We’d agreed I would trim it while we were away and purchased the appropriate gadget. So this week he finally gave in and let me do it. I’m quite pleased: And finally … More Time for a hair cut.
Old enough to know better! 