Jan - Feb 2012 India Blog 1 Kannur...Boy did we need that!

Hi Finn,

Yes I know, I know, this has been another long time coming, but there’s so much to say, we’ve done so much again…blimey, you’ve done so much, it’s sort of difficult to know where to start, so I’m just going to have to try to break it all done in to small (ish) segments…mouth sized chunks…that sort of thing.

The last time I left you, we were about to go off to India, the third continent you’ve travelled in your four and something years….pretty good eh!

Tbh we had no real idea of where we were going, only that we needed a holiday and would sort out the details when we got there, so off we went to Kerala, a communist state in southern India, and headed straight for the deserted beaches in the north, just south of kannur.

And what beaches they were! Gorgeous, empty, palm lined and safe. It took you a while to get in the sea but when you did you loved it. Of course there’s more to beaches in Kerala than sun, sea and sand.

You discovered beach cricket and football. We aimed to stay a few days and didn’t leave for two weeks…why would you? It was blissful in many ways and boy did we need it. The shadow of four years building hung heavily over us, it still does, but this was a place to heal… so we chased crabs chasing and did lots and lots of swimming.

Now travel in India is something else and it was a bit of a learning curve for us all. I’ve been a couple of times before, aged 20 when I hitched from UK to Kathmandu and back, hanging out with Kurdish rebels in Turkey, Iranian revolutionaries and non revolutionaries in Iran during the war of the cities, Afghani Mujahedeen in Pakistans’ Baluchistan and NWF Provinces, Sikh militants in Punjab and Buddhist monks in Nepal…yup it was then that my life changed for ever…you’ve got time Finn.

The second time was just before my 40^th when Bobby and I, a mate from Zanzibar, wangled the free use of Enfield India motor bikes and rode from Delhi to Leh in Ladekh over a couple of weeks…amazing, God I loved that trip.

But whilst we’ve traveled extensively with Habiby or Rusty, we’ve never traveled without and we soon discovered the difference of heaving bags and bodies cross country without our trusted steeds to help us…..

This meant a whole host of travel options for you. Of course there was the plane journey with Emirates, what a joy and yes, total film and cartoon action. You loved it. Then from Bangalore we drove by taxi to Kunnar, where we booked ourselves in to Kunnola Beach House ( www.kunnolabeachhousekerala.com ), on Ezrah Beach. I’d thoroughly recommend both. Great staff, gorgeous location in a quiet village where you made new friends and of course spoke French to them, well they are foreign!

Three curries a day was too much even for mummy and I and what with added Kingfisher beer as additional protein, I gained a whole new interpretation of Delhi Belly. You, it must be said, weren’t overly impressed by spikey curries…again there’s plenty of time for that!

But with all that eating, mummy and I took ourselves off shopping for materials, to be given to local tailors, who turn them in to luchious new selections of colourful shirts and kurtas …..you even got in on the action, stylish I’d say!

Now Paradise doesn’t last forever, at least not in this life and so we decided that we’d try to seek adventure in other places to the north. We’d heard that this area was off the beaten track and we sort of wanted to keep ourselves away from the maddening hoards of tourists that, rumour had it, had occupied the south of Kerala already.

Thus we set off on train to try to see if we could set up our own backwater trips near Kasargord. The train was a real pleasure. I love travelling by train in India and you seemed to also. What is amazing is the world that travels with trains, food sellers of course with an array from delicious treats. But story tellers, beggers and these musicians, who played for their babe in arms, Yes, Kerala may be a highly developed and successful state, but it still has plenty to remind us how lucky we are.