HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sorry we have been out of touch....we have been living large with Kate and Carl :) We sent them on their way south this morning and we headed east to the hills of the Western Ghats - we are in the tea plantation town of Munnar.

We had a FABULOUS time with Kate and Carl!!!! We are very happy that they came to see us and spend their holidays with us - it's always nice to be around your friends/families at this time of year. (It wasn't because of all the wonderful care packages that they brought us, either...honest! :)

The first few days we were totally pampered at Lagoona Davina's in Kovalam - talk about relaxing! I did manage to get a swim in the ocean and take a yoga class, though - between meals and reading 2 books :). Then we headed north to stay overnight on a Keralan backwater house boat - that was also relaxing, and a lot of fun, too (and the food was excellent!). The best thing (besides having our luggage in the car with Kate and Carl and riding the bikes unencumbered - woohoo!!!) is that when we arrived on the motos and discovered that it was a one way trip along the canals thre was no panic - the boatmen just picked the bikes up and put them on the boat with us! The bikes were safely unloaded the next morning and we were chasing the pace car :) to the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills to our "plantation retreat". The next day we went into Periyar Nature Reserve and did an early morning hike. We saw a ton of birds, including a rare sighting of an Indian Blue Robin, and lots of monkeys in the trees (and everyone saw this monkey on the trail :). No tigers or elephants, but the guide was really good and definitely knew the trails inside and out. We toured a tea factory (that is a ton of work for a cup of tea!) and then went to a small spice plantation that also had ayurvedic plants - the guide there was also very knowledgable and we saw both green and black cardamom and a whole lot of other interesting plants.

Next up was an amazing drive to Cochin. We took a road that wasn't even on my map, past a huge dam at Iduki and then the road that follows the Periyar river and the hydroelectric project along it's length. A gorgeous road, one that we want to ride again. On the way we spotted 5 wild elephants (pictures coming!!!!) on both sides of the road. Wow and double wow. We didn't see them in the nature reserve but we saw them on the road! We arrived in Cochin for that magic third item to fall off my bike (I have been waiting for it :) and it was a VERY necessary item - the gear shift lever! The bolt had just come loose and with all the rough roads it had shaken itself off the shaft (it's all sorted now :). Cochin reminded us of Panaji - a modern port city. We went to see the Chinese fishing nets (amazing to watch) and have a walk around and the next day we went to the Mattancherry Palace with Carl and Kate and then left them to their shopping while we hopped the ferry about the bay and did our own bit of shopping. Then it was dinner and a New Year's celebration for us :) This morning Kate and Carl piled into their car and A and I packed up the bikes and with lots of hugs and some tears we went our separate ways. :(

It was a wonderful visit...I hope that they had as much fun on their holiday as we did on ours (it's definitely back to work for us - there is a lot to see here and we are doing our best to see as much of the interesting stuff as we can :) Thanks Carl and Kate!!! For wining (well, beering :) and dining us and putting us up in a style that we are most definitely not accustomed to (my travel sheets stayed in the bag the whole time!!!! the sheets in these establishments were very clean and we had hot water!!! Bonus, eh? :) And on top of that, Kate and Carl are packing a bunch of kit home for us and we helped them out by maiking room in their luggage for all our stuff by raiding their luggage for everything from bandaids (plasters to you Brits :) to bathing suits! If anyone else wants to spend time with us on our travels, let us know.... I am sure we can make some good exchanges :):):)

Catch you all later!!!!