And then there was one....Moi

Had to bid farewell to Agnes at 6am this morning - her 2 week holiday is over. We've had a whirlwind journey around Kerela and it's been brilliant. Agnes - thanks for your great company and your kindness. Hope you enjoyed all those local trains, buses, and crazy tuk tuk's we dragged you on... Most people go back to England after India having tasted the spiritual meaning of life however you go back as a convert to electronica music - keep it hip & happening girl!

Currently sitting at cyber cafe off promenade at Kovalam beach. Bit burnt - why does this always happen on your last day somewhere?! I think all the British holiday makers who used to do Benidorm in the 80's have come here..... It's a beautiful beach regardless and really not such a bad way to spend my day.

Amma is on tour in Trivandrum later so going to see her for a big old hug!

Slumdog Millianier

So me & Aggie are back in Trivandrum & meet Ashley at the Greenland Lodge - a sweet re-union! Get myself another pedicure & a manicure which are much needed, a good hour a half is spent by 2 Indian ladies buffing & filing my hands and feet - i am getting treated like a Queen. Nice job ladies.
An old teacher of Ashley called Migs and his wife Sarah are in town so we all meet for dinner and then onto a showing of Slumdog Millionaire (or Millianier as spelt here) at one of the many cinema's in Triv. Skip the long queue full of Indian men as they have a ladies only queue (note not many Indian ladies at the cinema) - a savvy couple of Indian men take this opportunity to get us to pay for their tickets!!
The film starts with rapt applause from the audience (which is fairly cute) and continues at poignant moments throughout the film. Sadly a few initial scenes are not subtitled but kind of work out what is going on (will have to watch again at home to fill in the blanks). What an amazing film and brought back a few memories of Mumbai, including getting ripped off at Victoria Terminus station by our dear friend Sandy....

Go watch if you haven't already!!!

Paneer Butter Masala

In the profound words of Depeche Mode. Paneer Butter Masala. Just can't get enough..... someone please re-create. Beware of horrific calorie content (even though i'm told that sunflower oil is non fattening....hmmmm - really?)

PANNER BUTTER MASALA (Serves 4)
One tin of Paneer cubes
6 Red Onions finely chopped
2 pieces of Ginger finely chopped
6 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
1 Green Chili chopped
6 Cardamom seeds
6 Clove
Piece of Cinnamon stick
1 Star Anise
Black pepper corns
Handful of Cashew Nuts
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 teaspoon of Coriander Powder
1/2 teaspoon of Chili Powder
pinch of salt & pepper
2 tomatoes peeled and chopped

Open a tin of Panner and drain excess water. Deep fry until golden brown and then put to one side.
Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in pan and add finely chopped red onions, ginger, garlic, and chili. Once browned add Cardamom seeds, clove, cinnamon, star anise, black pepper corns, and cashew nuts to pan - followed by turmeric, coriander powder, chili powder, and a pinch of pepper. Heat together for a few minutes and then put into a blender until a paste is formed.
Put mixture with a little water back into the pan - add cubed tomatoes to pan and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Finally add the previously deep fried Paneer and simmer for a further couple of minutes.
Dish is complete. To serve add massive dollop of butter (heart attack alert) and some fresh coriander.
Nice served with coconut rice.

Yes please!

Varkala Sunrise

Have not really felt the need to booze in India but arrived in Varkala with Aggie and feeling a little hot & bothered fancied a nice cold mojito. Slowly discovering why I'm probably not craving alcohol here. An electric green drink with a few limp floating mint leaves gets delivered to the table, maybe it will taste better than it looks - wishful thinking as it totally doesn't. A few nights later we venture to a place called Kerela Arts Cafe and try again on the old liquor front - we are recommended to try something called a Varkala Sunrise by the Nepalese waiter....this time a little more palatable and like turbo fuel.....wahey! Beggar's can't be choosers right. Get treated to a show at the Arts Cafe a little later. After the Indian Classical musicians have finished they turn up the speakers and blast out some old dance tunes where the local Indians jump up on the stage and proceed to dance with more energy and erratic moves than a firework factory struck down by a spot of arson. I almost split my sides with pure amusement. One guy even has to change his outfit as the first one is completely sodden with sweat. All the dancing boys are enjoying immensely and is really sweet to watch.

Varkala is really cute. It's restaurants and shops are lined up along a clifftop walkway a couple of km's in length which overlook beautiful beaches and rolling waves that would be deemed surf worthy by those who dare try. A mixture of different types of people - slightly older holiday makers - (many of whom choose to sit around the pool in our resort day in day out, which don't get me wrong is lovely and make the most of the pool, but with such an amazing beach and view just 5 minutes away baffles me) - backpackers from far & wide - some funny local Indian characters.
Although sadly being a beach resort prices are rather inflated. Get my daily fix of Diet Coke though at least...ha ha.

Me & Aggie decide to take a cooking course with an English guy called James we met the previous day. It's run by a local Egyptian/Indian (and very handsome) guy called Khan who takes a shining to our very own Aggie. Sadly Aggie doesn't share his affections and tells him so the night before our cooking class. So we end up cooking in near silence scared to ask any questions as Khan clearly isn't too happy about the knock back (there is a poor American girl called Samantha also taking the course who isn't entirely sure what the hell is going on). Clock up a few more delicious recipes which will post my favourite shortly....someone please cook and report back to me!!! Thankfully Khan lightens up a little bit when his friend Raj arrives and we all sit down to enjoy the feast cooked. I'm still absolutely abysmal at making parotha's....

Days spent sunbathing, doing yoga, drinking fresh juices, swimming, eating fresh fish, generally bumming around......entirely delightful although after 7 days ready to venture back to the city.

Farewell

A sad day....
In Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerela, for one night before me & Aggie part ways with Ashley. We are heading to Varkala beach about 1 hour away to laze on the beach in the sun while Ashley will be focusing her mind & body at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari.

Ashley - you have been AMAZING! Going to miss you dearly on my travels as we've had a lot of fun.

Much love lady & good luck with the rest of India & Thailand. May Hercules and Love Affair be with you....heh. x

ahhhh the sweet smelling cardamom hills

From one beautiful place to the next. Kumily is posed up in the mountains about a 5 hour drive from Munnar and is the gateway to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary where you can go on treks, tiger spotting (although later hear this is a total con and you're more likely to win jackpot on the lottery than spot a tiger), and rafting tours. It's also a centre for spice trade and cardamom is rife here - one of the first things you smell on arrival (even with my cold) - gorgeous.

Me, Ashley, and Aggie arrive at the home stay (called The Green View on Thekkady bypass road - real nice and have hot water for the first time) just in time to see the migration of the bats. Scramble quickly onto the roof of the building and watch for the next 15-20 minutes 1000's of bats flying across the darkened sky. It's absolutely crazy and they are pretty big too - a couple going in the wrong direction - stupid bats!

Only going to be in Periyer for a couple of nights so decide against venturing into the sanctuary, plenty of jungle action and creepy crawlies coming up for me in February. We decide to check out the local Kathakali performance and take a cooking course.

Kathakali is a unique Kerelan form of ritualized theatre. Kathakali actors have to train for years to learn the elaborate hand gestures, facial expressions and choreographed movements, as articulate and precise as any sign language. The costumes and makeup are magnificent and extraordinary. Accompanied by a drummer, cymbals, and a singer the Kathakali actors perform a story with only dance and movement and no speech.

We arrive just in time to catch the actors applying their makeup (most performances you can arrive early to watch). The colours and expertise of men are amazing. So vibrant and all from natural sources. They then dress the male actor which takes about 20 minutes in itself - there are about 40 layers to his costume plus jewellery and head dress on top....makes me hot just looking at him!
Before the performance starts we get another little performance which nearly knocked all westerners off their chairs in fits of silent giggles (so childish I know). Haven't really witnessed the farting tendencies of Indians yet (maybe this is regional to the North perhaps as this guys is from Delhi) but wow this guy let out a belter even raising his left cheek to release and then looking pleased with himself afterwards. Needless to say my sides were hurting before the show even started.

We get an introduction into Kathakali before the performance starts showing us some of the different facial expressions used for different emotions - my face just hurt watching them. Incredible.
The story plot was a bit vague (not sure if this was the leaflet translation we were given or the story itself) but regardless the performance was colourful, stunning, and lively. If you get the chance to go to one of these performances make sure you go!

Shortly after Kathakali myself and Aggie get picked up by tuk tuk and taken to our cookery class. The class is at a family house just outside of Kumily and in Indian style the whole family is there while the 5 of us are taught. The house is very basic with no running water and we have to cook at one point with candle light (in Kerela there is an energy saving power cut for 30 minutes every day - can you imagine if they did this in London?!) but the family are very welcoming and keen to make sure we have a good time. The only family member who speaks English is the brother so the majority of our learning is done via watching the mama in action. Learn to cook bean curry, lady finger (okra) stew, vegetable noodles, paratha (although pretty sure will never be able to make these well - i still struggle with pancakes), chicken masala, and potato curry. Most inspired by the fact that everything is cooked from raw ingredients including the coconut milk made from squeezing water out of freshly grated coconut and the curry pastes made using an old pestle and mortar in the garden. Ashley and English girls also staying at our home stay arrive later to sample our kerelan culinary delights. The food is all delicious & sleep well that evening with a nice full tum!

Tea Plantations at Munnar

So it's been a while since i've updated the blog & also haven't written anything in my journal so am going to try and recount last weeks fun & frolics as best I can... From where I left off, Aggie has arrived and we've booked an overnight trip up the tea plantations high in the hills of Munnar. Set off at a horrid hour in taxi via an elephant training centre. At about 8am the elephants are taken down to the river to bathe. There's 5 in total, 2 adults and 3 babies....the babs are dead cute and the adults incredible & huge. All seems a bit set up for the tourist tho, all shackled together and whacked if they even slightly step out of line. Such a shame as so beautiful...secretly hope that elephants hit back at mean trainers but to be honest they are none the wiser about their cruel set up. Set off in taxi again set for Munnar. Experience what will become blindingly obvious is Indian sat navigation. First of all we assume the taxi driver is lost as about every couple of km's stops to ask someone where the hell he's going (get slightly worried when a couple of guys both point in contradicting directions)- however this continues pretty much for the rest of the journey and for every subsequent lengthy taxi/tuk tuk drive following. In future do away with the expense of Tom Tom's and adopt the Indian way - although with UK honesty & warped humour you'll prob never end up in your desired destination....ha.

When start getting close to Munnar the scenery is stunning. Rolling hills overlapping each other completely covered in tea crops which appear in a jigsaw pattern and look real green & pretty. Go to a tea museum where they serve us a cup of masala chai out of a machine....authentic.

Stay over night at a little home stay nestled in the hills which overlooks a valley with a little separate tree house perched on the edge. Extremely tranquil and serene! Ash ends up in the tree house accompanied by a massive spider which gets removed fairly quickly....you're a soldier girl for sleeping in fear! See probably the most gorgeous sun set yet....flame red setting behind the hills....ahhhhh. In the morning visit a view dams - it actually felt like we could be in the Lake District....slightly weird. Back to the lodge where get fed another amazing home cooked kerelan thali. I need to do a cooking course pronto. Super amazing food.