Houseboating

So just to make everyone calm from the start I can tell you all: my flipflops were successfully mended. The magical man was called Anthony, he was about 1 metre tall and worked in a shop the size of a shoebox. My shoes were fixed within a minute with some simple stitching and he refused to take my money until i forced it into his hand, so remember if you ever have troubles in Fort Cochin ask for Anthony he can mend anything from flipflops to broken hearts. We stayed in Cochin for a total of 5 nights before heading south to the small town of Alleppey by local bus. The local busrides here are no joke, the white dotted line down the middle of the road has no meaning in India and the whole trip quickly turns into a constant chicken race. We only stayed in Alleppey for 1 night and then went on a 24 hour houseboat cruise down the river and canal systems to the town of Kollam. The houseboats in Kerala are just amazing, incredible craftsmanship and the best accommodation we have found in India so far, allthough you can't help but feel like you are a white man during colonial times when you cruise between the palm trees sipping tea served by Indian men throughout. Apart from that feeling I would say it was one of the best experiences of my life, beautiful environment, great food, nice weather and all you can hear is birds and the silent motor humming. I don't think I can think of anytime in my life when I've been more relaxed and tranquil. I could have stayed on that boat for weeks on end, but "unfortunately" we reached our destination as planned and two local busrides and 4 hours later we arrived in the beach town of Varkala. I haven't had too much time to judge Varkala yet, but what I've seen so far I really like. The whole town is built high up by the cliffs and has a nice beach waiting below. It's nice to get back into beach-mode and as a difference from the beaches we've been on before the waves down here are actually quite strong which can be nice for a change. I'll see if I can manage to persuade Miriam and Isabelle to let me post some of their pictures on here soon even though they have a strict policy of not uploading any of their pictures on the internet. However my stomachs rumbling now and we're going to go get some dinner...