When the cackle gets you in trouble

We just spent a few nice days in Munnar in the hills of Kerala. The landscape is beautiful and we met some lovely people (I am not just saying that Hazel because I know you will read this). The place we stayed at however left a lot to be desired. Musty and dank rooms, an old man who tried to rip you off at every turn and who woke you up at 5:30am with his bird calls. I still think it was him no matter what anyone else thinks.

A group of us went out for dinner, we were laughing and having a good time when the manager/owner of the place came over, looked Hazel (the rowdy Scot) in the eye and told her 'Silence, we have other customers' and then he looked at me and made the zip it action across his lips and walked away leaving us all in shock. Now you have to picture this restaurant jam packed with Indian families all talking loud and being boisterous...so loud that at times I couldn't even hear the conversation going on at our table because of them...and we are the ones that get told SILENCE. I couldn't believe it. I was told by the group that it was because of my laugh...which I just can't believe. I will die saying that it was all Hazel's fault.

We are now in Kumily...a 5 hour hour bus ride south, staying in a thatch hut very close to the Periya Tiger Reserve Park Entrance. Tomorrow we may float down the river in the hopes of seeing elephants or take a 3 hour hike.

some sri lanka shots

Well this computer seems to let me post images...so lets catch up on some stuff I haven't done in a while.

These are Sri Lanka.

more pictures

pictures

The end of Fort Cochin

Well now that Deb and I are completely comatose, we think it is time to leave Fort Cochin or we could easily see the next month passing without us having gone anywhere. It is a lovely little place, very European in flavour. Very quiet and clean...which I think is rare in India. Today was by far our laziest day EVER. All we did was have breakfast, lunch and dinner and somehow the hours in between just disappeared...and it wasn't even in a drunken stupor. We had the best of intentions of renting bicycles and taking the ferry across to Vycheen Island, but somehow the heat and the humidity sucked that idea right out of our heads. We find ourselves saying tomorrow, tomorrow.

But on Monday it will be time to get a move on. We will once again have to pack up our bags, throw our backpacks on, jump in a rickshaw and get to the bus station. We have a 5 hour ride ahead of us to Munnar...which is inland and we are told a much cooler (temperature wise) place. It too is quiet, so we feel like for a few more days we are putting the real India on hold.

Today we actually had to pull ourselves out of our haze and talk about where we will go next, how long we will stay and how we plan on getting there and we both agreed that even that felt like too much damn work. Ha...it feels pretty good. Our thoughts are that we will stay in Munnar for a few days, then head to another hill town, then onto Mysore for a bit and then to Gokarna and Goa...hopefully get to these locations before the rainy season starts and everything closes down.

Deb is desperate that we avoid dirty, dirty Delhi for as long as possible....but I think after Goa we won't have much choice as it will be time to either fly north (ideal but expensive) or hop on the 2 day train to Delhi so that we can explore parts of the north. Decisions, decisions...however will we cope?

I think I need a beer to help me through all this stress....