avivendi

Exploring southern India's countryside

Having extended our stay at Varkala up to three days we
left this fantastic hide-out with its 50 norvegiens (whom
we left in tears, of course!) and its laid-back atmosphere
for the famous backwaters.
the experience of this touristic highlight was greatly
enhanced by the company of Anna and James, a British
couple, that shared our sense of humour and were to enrich
our discussions of world matters immensely. the eight hour
trip was very relaxed, one could probably compare it with
the Everglades of Florida. we moved directly on to Kochi
and spend two nights in this 1.3 mio city. as fort cochin
didn't keep what the lonely planet promised we considered
it a convenient stopover and headed for Ooty (yhe Indian
name is not spellable) thereby leaving the beaches for the
next week. I forgot, we couldn't withstand taking a
delicious sunday brunch at the Le Meridien boosting our
budget expenses but by now start spending the coming months
revenues already.
We took an exhilarating train to the mountain retreat Ooty
which reminded us of some museum visit with the steam
locomotive powered by coal. There we spend two days walking
enjoying the landscape and our nice british-style hotel.