Finishing off India

After returning from the Andaman Islands I've spent the last three weeks with Helen in Southern India. She flew into Trivandrum and acclimatised at Varkala beach. She also brought news that a couple of Friends were in Goa, so we trained it some 1000km up there to go see them. Treated Helen to a AC1 sleeping berth (Air Conditioned First Class) which was quite nice. Can't quite see where all the extra money goes and Helen's asthma was aggravated by the smell of the cleaning but still, all in all a nice way to travel.



There then followed a whole lot of nothing in Arambol in the north of Goa. Nice place, easy to while away the time although it's not very Indian. Well, OK, aside from the tummy bugs and cows on the beach I mean! We had intended to head up to Hampi but a combination of apathy and Indian transport served to confound us. In the end it was hard enough to get a train back down to Kerala! I did enjoy my interlude in Goa though. Interesting mix, fairly well summed up in the graffiti below.



Then it was just a matter of getting ready to fly over to Malaysia. I say "just a matter" but I got the heebie jeebies real bad over this, and all over getting the bike boxed. I was mostly worried that if the airline told me the packaging wasn't OK I was the very edge of my visa. Got it packed by a parcel packing place and as it turned out the airline were only to eager for the chance to take it and charge me extra for the privilege! Ah yes, money money money.

That brings an end to my travels in India (for now) but it may mean much more frequent blogs now I'm back on the bike again! We'll see on that front, I broke my phone a few days ago so I can't blog straight from that, although hopefully internet cafes will be easy to find.