December 8, 2009 – Day 348 – Alleppy, Kerala, India

Today was another travel day but we stumbled into a bit of luxury when we arrived to Alleppy. As usual, there were touts waiting for us when we got off the bus but today we were lucky to be greeted by one who had a great place on offer.

Empty bus

December 7, 2009 – Day 347 – Fort Kochi, Kerala, India

A full day of “sightseeing” in Fort Kochi is really all it takes. It is a pleasant little town and would be a wonderful, quiet place to spend 2 or 3 days. We are running a bit short on time and decided to do a day-tour.

Chinese fishing nets

December 6, 2009 – Day 346 – Fort Kochi, Kerala, India

Around 2pm, we arrived at the Ernakulum Railway Station. A rickshaw, a ferry, and a 1 km walk later, we arrived in the center of town of Fort Kochi. It is a small place and easily walkable.

On the train

December 5, 2009 – Day 345 – Palolem Beach, Goa, India

It was a long day of waiting. We had to check out of our room at noon so we couldn’t go to the beach today (who wants to ride an overnight train covered in sweat and sand?). Instead we took very long meals and spent a lot of time at the internet cafe and walking around town. Finally, it was time to catch the last local bus into town at 7pm.

Samosa!

December 3-4, 2009 – Day 343-344 – Palolem Beach, Goa, India

Spent a couple of nice days walking around town and going to the beach. Lots of sun, some good samosas for breakfast and fish thali for lunch, and enjoying the rare luxury of a TV in our room during the evenings. We are heading out of Goa tomorrow on the night train and into Kerala.

View down the beach

December 2, 2009 – Day 342 – Palolem Beach, Goa, India

Up to a good start with a hard workout this morning and a good breakfast (eggs, toast, fresh veggies, and black tea—yum!) before hitting the beach. As beautiful as Palolem Beach is, it can be tough to face the reality that it’s overrun with tourists and touts, cows and boats, and more touts!

A little over crowded

December 1, 2009 – Day 341 – Palolem Beach, Goa, India

Wow, we can hardly believe it is December already! It is hard to keep track of the time when our weather is nearly always warm.

Fishing Boats

November 28-30, 2009 – Day 338-340 – Palolem Beach, Goa, India

It has been a glorious few days here at Palolem. The sky is bright blue, the sun feels perfect and the water is just cool enough to reward basking in the sun.

Washed ashore

November 27, 2009 – Day 337 – Benaulim Beach, Goa, India

Benaulim is a very, very quiet beach that seems to attract mostly older tourists and many from Russia. There are so few tourists and virtually no touts aside from 1 or 2 fruit sellers. We walked down to Colva Beach, about 15 minutes down the beach from Benaulim, to see what it was like and discovered Benaulim was the better choice for us.

Indian standard swimwear

November 26, 2009 – Day 336 – Benaulim Beach, Goa, India

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a dual-celebration for us. We’re celebrating Thanksgiving and our 8th anniversary! Since we are miles from home, we celebrated in an unusual way. We spent the day on the beach soaking up the sun and warm water of the Arabian Sea. Without a bird in sight, our Thanksgiving feast/anniversary dinner consisted of tuna steak and calamari! It’s hot weather here instead of the usual cool weather we enjoy at home this time of year so we enjoyed a pleasant moonlight stroll along the water’s edge after dinner. What a great way to spend any holiday!

Us!

As close to a bird as it gets