08.07.10 - 23.07.10

It was a complete write-off of two days but we got ourselves down to Kerala without any problems. The train journey wasn't too bad as we were expecting the worse after the Death Bus up to Kashmir... but it was relatively painless in comparison. We arrived first in Varkala where we got straight ourselves straight to the beach. There was a few locals kicking a football about so we couldn't resist but get involved, we got a match organised: India vs. England. We had a plan of playing silking one touch football round them, but typically English having gone a goal down we switched tactics to route one football and lost the game 5-4. In our defence we were outnumbered about twelve players to four. Still, we took the loss pretty badly... it had been a bad month for English football. We then proceeded to swim in the sea which was fun, the waves were absolutely crazy so we couldn't go far out at all without the lifeguards blowing whistles at us. After befriending the lifeguards though we learnt that the reason behind their extreme safety conciousness is that no-one is India can swim (them included). They eventually allowed us to swim but we'd have to get out if any locals started to copy us.
Next in Kerala we ventured up to Kollam where we went on a backwater boat tour through the rivers of the jungle. Due to time and money we just went for a half-day, but it was beautiful and well worth while none the less.
Another monster train journey got us to Goa, there was no sleeper tickets left though so we we're pretty squashed sardine style in the carriage. James and Tino did well to get up on the luggage rack, Pete and I were not so lucky. We decided against going via Hampi as we didn't want to cut ourselves short with our plans back up North, so went straight to Goa. This is my first major regret of the trip as we have heard really good things about Hampi, whilst Goa was out of season so it did nothing but piss down with rain the whole time. Not great weather for a beach resort. We tried to make the best of it though... the highlight probably exploring the countryside on mopeds and making friends with some old English hippies with funny northern accents who had been living there for years.
Next stop is to Varanasi to see the Ganges, looking forward to doing something a bit more cultural!

22.06.10 - 07.07.10

After what seemed like a long time we finally left Kashmir. There were further delays due to tensions between Kashmir and the Indian government, the Kashmiris were rioting as the government were pretty much screwing them over (this was the opinion of the locals anyway). It seemed to be a bit of a vicious circle because the army kept shooting people which just caused the locals to carry on rioting, and because the buses are government run we were unable to catch one because they were all cancelled until things calmed down. Finally the day came when things settled down enough for us to get a bus the hell out of there, which was a relief as were we getting rather fed up of the severe lack of alcohol and single women in Kashmir. It appeared we got out just in time, the day after the shit hit the fan when the protesters burnt down the police station and other government buildings. Little scamps.

Things certainly perked up when we arrived in Delhi, we had arranged to stay at Imran's, our new friend's. That night we went out with some of his mates, and being a wealthy bunch they took us to a 5-star hotel. We felt somewhat out of place but it was all built paid for and we felt like right big shots! The nights out continued that week as it seemed like we were making up for the lack of them in Kashmir. Many funny stories came of them, but I have chosen not to share any of them. Some things are best kept in India.

Apart from the nightlife we have been enjoying some of Delhi which we didn't when we first arrived, such as going around the markets and knocking around on rickshaws (tuk-tuks) which one of them foolishly let me drive. Lucky he did not know about my track record.

So next on the agenda is a 48 hour train to Kerala, we had planned to visit the Taj Mehal and Jaipur this week but swapped things round a bit for weather reasons. Baldies arn't so bald anymore but we are still going strong!