Santa Cruz cathedral Fort Kochi

Chinese fishing nets Fort Kochi

Syrian orthodox church Fort Kochi

Hornbill camp Thekkady NP

the beauty of Munnar

Two forms of water transport....tourists and local

St Thomas church alongside the backwaters

Varkala beach

We are now back in Chennai despite turning up at the airport and finding our flight had been cancelled yesterday. We were quickly changed to another airline and flight one hour later on the same ticket ! Great service. We had already experienced a missing train at the station in Alleppey. Due to damage on the line the train was diverted so we had an exciting taxi drive in an old Ambassador to a station one hour away at which the train was arriving (albeit two hours later than promised) Fortunately we had a room booked in Varkala so when we finally got there at 10.30pm we were sorted, as they say.
It was even hotter in Varkala so our couple of days here were spent moving around slowly from one bit of shade to another and rehydrating ourselves from the refreshing range of fruit juices on offer. We also had the sea to jump around in. Exhilarating (Pete) scary (Cath) waves with strong currents so not recommended for swimming but good fun in the surf and warm water. There are a lot of Tibetan refugees trading along the cliff top and a great laid back atmosphere but beach culture rather than Indian. Good fish on display each night. We had an excellent fish baked in banana leaf one evening.