Various people we’ve met (both Indian and tourists) have recommended a local mosquito repellent called Odomos – doesn’t contain any deadly chemicals, is an Ayurvedic preparation and smells ok
If you look it up it has an interesting story behind it
Month: January 2018
Indian train Bio toilets
Indian train toilets are green! We saw this notice on the platform at Kannur station
Once Jeremy has nationalised the railways perhaps we can have the same!!
Sending a parcel
After our first week in India we concluded that we’d brought too many clothes and our bags were too heavy, so we decided to parcel some up and send them home.
In England you would wrap the parcel in brown paper, address it and take it to the post office, so off to the post office we went. But in India, parcels have to be sown up in calico by a tailor. We were sent across the road to find a tailor and got our parcel sown into a big package. Then the To and From addresses had to be written on with a special red pen provided by the PO staff. Sending a parcel to the UK wasn’t cheap- Rs2,600 (£30) for a parcel weighing 3.3kg, but at least that’s lessened our load.
Here’s the tailor sewing up our parcel
Fascinating!
Hana
Hana (Valerie’s niece) has been travelling in India since the beginning of November and we managed to meet up with her in Kannur. She was in Goa and managed to get the last ticket on the overnight train and we met up after breakfast and got the bus together to Mananthavady.
Hana is travelling for a further three months so good travels Hana x
Trek into the Forest
Went on a 16km trek in the forest. It was very hot with a very steep ascent. On the way we saw …
and
Varnam Homestay – Wayanad
Travelled to Wayanad from Kannur on the local bone shaker bus. Good air conditioning (no glass in windows) and an easy 3 hour journey.
Varnam is an organic farm and our host Beena is extremely knowledgeable on all the plants and trees on her land, together with their medicinal properties. Here are some photos of the farm.
Thottada beach
Stayed at the Blue Mermaid Homestay on Thottada beach close to Kannur. Delicious food, friendly hosts, lovely garden, and the other side of the garden is this beautiful beach
Travelling by rickshaw
Four crazy guys travelling with hired rickshaws (they are driving!) from Jaisalmer to Cochin
Home stay in Kannur
Our 2nd homestay this one outside Kannur.
Train booking
The Indian rail system is an extraordinary beast. It looks as though the bookings that I made through the irctc web site have worked. Here we are at Ernakulam Town and our names are top of the booking list pinned on the wall.