Meljarvis’s Blog

so let me back track a little we left varkala and caught a train somewhere cant remember exactly and jumped on a bus to munnar which was a rather hair raising experience as local bus was the only option and it involved driving around mountains……

we arrived at night with no idea what the surrounding area had to offer it was fffffffreeeezing we had to find socks and jumpers could’nt believe it but it made me glad we had carried them all round india and to finally find a use for these winter clothes crazy. We found an allright guest house but hardly saw it as we went on a organised government minibus 2 days running to loads of beautiful places which made our 2 days in munnar very action packed.

scarves all round

on the first day we discovered mountain chocolate, mia fed carrots to horses, we shouted in echo point a lake surrounded by trees that shouted back at you…. then we visited the highest tea plantation look out in kerela looking out across tamil nadu breathtaking views.

the tea plantations are amazing and the women who work them are awe inspiring they just do’nt stop.

over looking the tea plantations

the ladies working

 We visited a beautiful little waterfall which of course mia and mark insisted on climbing you can totally tell they were both born in the year of the monkey………….checking the news

fairies at the waterfalls

 We visited a natial park and went on a beautiful trek up the mountains bit hot for mia at 3pm but she pulled through we dd’nt see any animals but we heard the elephants calling to each other through the valley the sound was incredable

looking for elephants

 We caught a taxi from munnar to kodaikonal it took 6 hours but it was so worth the money as the buses on the mountains are quite scary we had a lovely driver who showed us some really nice places including this little cave mia was fascinatedmia’s 1st cave

on route via taxi from munnar

 arrived at karuna farm kodaikonal to help alex with his earthship www.earthshipkaruna.net  So we have been staying on this beautiful farm a 1000 metres up in the mountains 13kms from kodaikonal its only accesable with a 4wd and an amazing place to arrive at our house had a wood burning stove and a lovely garden mia build temples and houses from the local stone (mini ones of course!!) we have been spending time helping alex with his earthship mark has been teaching the resident chef some recipes and learning a few in exchange we have been mostly bare foot for 3 weeks now am not looking forward to civilisation i want to stay booooo!!!!!

mark professional tyre rammer

mia tyre packer

 While we were settling into cottage life a lovely lady blossom who we are met shortly in Gokarna who is travelling with her daughter bluebell turned up to stay for a few days as there are only 8 rooms here spread across 4 acres of land it was not suprising there were no rooms they bunked on our floor for 6 nights and it was fantastic as mia and blue just played all day everyday we miss them but luckily they live in brighton too can’t believe we had’nt met before what a small world….blue and mia british gas flames lolWhile we have been here there was a big party with all the nepali workers with lots of food singing and a big bonfire we got right into the spirit of things we love it herewe got puja’d

mia the earthshipper

 Alex has had a group of nepali helping with his earthship and with marks fancy photography skills and 4 attempts we finnally got this shot of the infamous flying nepali…..flying nepaliMia made firm friends with all the nepali workers and loved helping them she could’nt do anything on the earthship build with out 20 pairs of nepali eyes all following her at once blessmia and the workersWe went for a fantastic wlk in the forest around the farm looking for fairies for mia  we mae her a flower wand we got a little lost and ended up walking barefoot through the river back to the top of the waterfall on the farm its so beautiful heremia’s wand fairy forest magicA moments rest in the eucalyptus forest paradiseresting in the forest

tommorow we head to kumily to buy some spices and check out the spice gardens then we head to kochi and fly to delhi then back to pushkar for our shopping maybe even by a tipi sad to be heading home but looking forward to all the belated christmas and birthday parties you guys are all gonna throw for me lol thanks for following the blog  made me document our trip without you guys i might have been a bit slacker with updating it lol

wow this is amazing dont have time towrite too much or update pics but to see where we are check out karuna farm kodaikonal on google and also www.earthshipkaruns.net will update asap have been of the grid for 10 days today 1st time in town havnt much time have to get back for tyre ramming loving it hugs to everyone bear with my updating good things come to those who wait

A week before we were due to leave gokarna a lady from wales arrived with her 3 year old daughter lula and 9 year old isha we befriended them and mia spent many an hour on the beach playing with jules and her girls,

surfing gokarna

we realised we were all planning on heading in the same direction so decided to head there together along with rad the lady who was running the guest houses 16 year old daughter so we boarded a train (hmmm 6 hours after arriving at the train station) we slept over night and arrived in kochi where we spent a day exploring then headed on to alleppey in kerela to find a house boat we took a rickshaw to alleppey as we were all able to cram in on an unsceduled stop mark was ambushed by the local school kids (lol)

steady on boys

we made friends with our rickshaw driver and he found us a nice guest house with half price rooms which was a bit of a bonus.

we found a beautiful house boat for a 22 hour trip around the backwaters of kerela with 3 bedrooms and private chefs which was fab i have many more pics which i will add soon.

allappey boat dock

we had a lovely afternoon the 7 of us the boat was big enough to allow every one some child free time which was much appreciated when we stopped for the evening we went for a dip in the backwaters not terribly sanitary im sure and as rad found out full of lttle red worms bless her but it had to be done like jumping in a bath

ready to jump back waters

marks jump

mia not wanting to miss out

where we were stopped we went for a walk to watch the sun go down again i have many more pics of this and found a lovely family with loads of goats so the girls got stuck in

girls and goats

we had a fab time on the boat and it was a great belated birthday treat for both me and rad as she had just turned 17 , i would recommend it to everyone the boat was amazing the crew were lovely the food was traditional kerelan with really good fish

travelling in style

when we got of the boat we went and hung out for a few hours waiting for the train to varkala to visit for a few days rad recommended a really nice hotel with pool with a bit of hard bartering we managed to get the price doqn from 1200 rps per night to 500 it was brilliant mia was swimming in the deep end will try to put the video evidence on as soon as poss

i didnt rate varkala far too built up unique as everything is on the cliffs overlooking the beach instead of on the beach but too many expensive package holiday options ( says she who stayed in a hotel with a pool lol)

Hmmm where to begin as far as i can remember we came to gokarna a good few weeks ago time now is obsolete nobody wears a watch and mine fell off in the see i only knew it was my birthday the other day as a noticed the date on the computer lol…

life has become one long chilled our relaxing day on the beach ok so here goes….

We came from hampi on the night bus crazy we arrived in gokarna at stupid o’clock in the morning and jumped on a rickshaw to om beach which is a beautiful place to start our karnataka beaches experience

arriving on om beach

we watched the sun come up and waited with a bunch of other weary travellers for a boat to take us to paradise

sunrise om beach

we managed to rope in some people to share the boat it was about 4 or 5 kms by sea so we rolled up our trousers and jumped on board it was so exciting,  

the boat to paradise

we had only heard from others about paradise and didnt quite know what to expect it was like something out of survivor as we arrived people started to appear from inside huts and beside the rocks it felt like the cheif would appear any minute with a spear i dont think i have ever been any where so isolated in my whole life it was an amazing feeling arriving and jumping in to the ocean to get to the beach….

arriving at paradise beach

we found a restaurant just setting up for breakfast so we had a kings feast which was fantastic then i scoped out the huts on the island the huts themselves dont have electric and a lot of them dont have beds they just have sand floors but we found a great one overlooking the ocean above the restaurant with a mattress on mud floor which i have to say provided us with the best 3 nights sleep we have ever had.

we made friends with the guys staying in the huts either side of us 2 of the guys danny and richard had built a mud cooker under an old tree root and set up there own little personal cafe with some old signs they found they taught mia to make chapattis and we sat around in the evening by the light of the fire listening to the ocean and the guitars it was fantastic

the bambino cafe

 and get this in paradise     THERE ARE NO MOSQUITOS !!!!! i could’nt believe it must be why they call it paradise

during our stay in paradise we went on some crazy treks on our second morning there we walked from paradise beach to gokarna through half moon beach, om beach, kudle beach on to gokarna it took about 3 and 1\2 hours with swimming stops along the way it was such an adventure as you cant just walk across the beaches you have to climb over cliffs and go through gulleys and over mountains it was crazy i dont know how far but by road its 10kms so i recon we went at least 7kms mia didnt complain once.

stumbling on a secret beach

tiny beach secret cove

walking out of paradise

walking from om beach

 on the way back we caught a boat to om and walked the rest of the way back as the sea was pretty rough and the boats are real small and mia cant swim so it seemed more sensible than risking the boat with the crazy indians

one thing we got from our day out was that kudle beach would be much better for mia as parasise is a really steep drop into the sea so if mia paddles she gets wacked by the waves and if we swim its too deep where as kudle beach has rock pools and wicked waves there were us and 7 kids body boarding today .

so after 3 magical days on paradise we moved to a really nice guest house the shiva prishard we have a hut on the roof they have 2 litters of puppies and 8 kids staying its hectic but mia is in her element

mia lovin the puppies

mia and the gang

So that only leaves my birthday we had planned to be in kerela in a house boat but as any one who has ever been to india will know sometimes india has other ideas for you so sadly we had to stay as events took a turn for the worse mark was poorly then my nan died and then there was the incident with the dead puppies needless to say plans og booking the train went out the window and when i finally got round to it we had to wait an extra week but hety who cares really we had a wicked party on the beach brought to us by glen, mark and ali who contributed by sourcing excellent sea food then cooking it in the sand by burying it and letting the fire rage ontop for 2 hours then producing top quality food

ali and glen preparing the catch

checking its cooked

mmmm cooked crab

we had the best feast and fed loads of people i have to say the crabs were sensational and the calamari just melted in your mouth

It was topped by the discovery that when we were swimming in the sea we were surrounded by phosphorescence (check spelling lol)

millions of tiny little white lights shimmering in the bubbles every time we moved the water it was breath taking we went in the sea about 6 times through the course of the evening coming out wrapped in blankets by the fire falling asleep waking swimming i have to say when i finally went to bed at sun rise i had sand in places you should never have sand it was falling out of my ears eyes etc for days after lol

it was a great night and even mia had a sleep over with the lady running the guest house so she would’nt feel left out fantastic night had by all thanks to every one for there birthday wishes thats all for know you will have to wait for markees monthly monologue

we are celebrating my 30th tonight on kudle beach with a fish bbq will update all our goings on as soon as possible sorry for the slackness in my posts

We were delayed from coming to Hampi by 2 days as the ticket purchaser was most definately on indian time but all was good…

We caught the night bus to hampi after getting a much appreciated lift from niels our german friend to mapsa bus station as always the bus was due at 8.45pm and left at 10.10 we then preceeded to drive around goa for an hour picking more and more people up we were joking with the conducter NO MORE PEOPLE PLEASE!!! he said no its ok 10 more people then we stopped he woke people got them to more places so the men were next to men not women then we drove on a bit apparently full he said one more stop we said NO MORE PEOPLE he say its ok 10 more people he was waking people rolling people over in there sleep and positioning other travellers next to them so it frightened the life out of them when they woke to find they were being hugged by a big fat sweaty russian, im glad i was a spectater and there was’nt any more room on our bed as i dread to think what i may have woken up beside lol….

We arrived at hampi bus stand at 9am having bumped ourway along may i say a much in need of serious repair road but we arrived in one piece so it was fine .

We were mobbed getting off the bus by a pack of wild 10 rupee, fair best guest house around, rick shaw drivers, after we had fought our way through the crown using only Mia’s toy tortoise as a threat to drive them back, we headed with a Michob a finnish guy we met the night before to get the boat over the river,  which was quite nerve wracking as he recounted a story from the previous week of the ferry men over loading the boat and watching helplessly as a boat load of tourists with luggage and bikes sank to the bottom of the crocodile infested lake (there are actually only 3 crocs and they live further up the river but infested makes the story more exciting)…

Michob assured us it was a different boat phew….

walking the paddy fields

We headed to a guest house he recommended which was full until today 3rd jan so we stayed with a local family for a couple of nights before moving into our thatched mud hut for 3 pound a night GET IN….

views at sunset hampi

such a result as the first place we phoned before we came quoted us a tenner

Yesterday we went to the main temple and fed the temple elephant a bunch of bananas then he took a rupee out of Mia’s hand and blessed her and mark with his trunk

1 rupee elephant blessings

then after a lovely meal in the mango tree restaurant which you have to walk through a banana plantation to get too Mia had a little sleep then we got a rickshaw to the Hanaman monkey temple which is 600 metres up a mountain i love that they put temples on mountains could you imagine in england if they put the churches on mountains how many people would actually make sunday mass lol

on top of the world monkey temple

We fed the monkeys rather quickly as they surrounded us when they realised we had food it was the most fantastic view sitting on top of the boulders looking at the setting sun with a huge fire billowing plumes of smoke up into the air straight underneath the sun while its firey glow reflected in the paddy fields below my photos dont do it justice it was like a scene out of lord of the rings when frodo is heading to mordor it was breath taking..

Our first day here we discovered of the beaten track a wicked little guest house with a giant tipi restaurant  and loads of lovely people we went there for new year but headed back just before midnight so we could see our way home as all the electricity goes off at midnight there was a big fire loads of guitars and bongos mark even had a go on the digeredoo

mark and mia musical duo

As you enter the grounds of the guest house which is surrounded by collosal boulders bigger than anything i could ever have imagined there is a ladder made out of bamboo

climbing up the boulders

which we have climbed 2 or 3 times now to watch the sun go down over hampi from another little temple right there on the rocks its such a awe insiring place

holding the boulders

 cant believe we spent a week in goa when we could have been here

festive family fun

last day at arambol beach

What can i say we had a really nice christmas we watched Mama Mia on the big screen on the beach which was brilliant Mia loved it she was trying to sing along bless.               We had a curry for our christmas dinner made sandcastles and watched the fire twirlers mia danced and had a whale of a time.

Mia and Maya christmas day sandcastles goaMia made good friends with 2 brits and we hardly saw her for hours on end it was brilliant for her as she had been so sad to leave her schoolmia with tara and lucy

Mark was very content as he found a group of lads to play poker and volley ball on the beach with what more can a man want.

mark full volley......

cooling off after volley ball goa

ITS CHRISTMAS EVE!!!! and it doesnt fell a bit like it at all!! Although the palm trees sandy beaches and warm waters make up for missing the constant flow of Cliff Richard crissy songs and the mad rush to get the last minute shopping and in my case carving my 82nd turkey of the season..

Anyway we got off the bus a little under a month ago , at the wrong stop , which was the best wrong stop ever seeing as our plan was to make our way up to the top of Goa and head back down stopping off at all the beaches  as we went , as it turned out we where only 10 km from the top anyway so we didnt have to back tracck and we could just flow the way gravity intended, although as soon as we saw the ocean , the sand and the palm trees ,I  LOVE palm trees, we decided that we should just stay put and see what happens .

Our first stop was the Pia guest house which  seemed lovely , cheap and everybody seemed friendly enough , well they seemed to be , walking into the cafe there for the first time reminded me of a film , have any of you seen “An American Werewolve In London”? just me then ? well dont worry we hadnt moved in with a load of man eaters  and it was a full moon coming up , it was juast in one of the opening scenes two guys walked into a pub on the moors and EVERYBODY stopped drinking and talking and whatever else they were doing and just stopped and stared , and one guy missed the dart board and said “I Aven’t missed that board for 15 years” anyway the point Im trying to make is it didnt seem to friendly and after 4 or 5 unreturned smiles I wasnt sure if  it was not my paronoia or the Lassi in Pushka or even my ridiculous beard and hair thing I had going on ? Maybe they just a bit protective of their little place or maybe seeing as most of them looked like middle aged hippy motor cycle types straight off the set of  Easy rider , maybe , just maybe , they were stoned.

We didnt let it bother us though and I just smiled more and we thought we could all live in harmony with or without smiles and conversation!!

Now the lady who run it seemed nice to begin with but she soon turned a bit funny , first she told us to use one of the bathrooms then 2 days later was saying that she told us to use the other one then we couldnt sit on the steps then I hat my hat on crooked etc etc we couldnt seem to do anything right and it seemed like we were not very welcome which was a surprise because everywhere else we have stayed we have been made to feel so very welcome , we found out at a later date that she wants people to spend lots of money there  and seeing as we were making our own salad in our room for lunch and doing our own washing it probably gave her the hump.

Again though it didnt get us “the shiny happy smiley people “down and we decided as it was so close to the beach we would stay for another week , but when we told her this she said that she would have to check with some other guest s as there had been a complaint about ,get this , Mia coughing at night!! What? now there are plenty of things one can do of an evening in a beach shack that could cause complaint but coughing? Come on!! so we were a little shocked about this and decided that it probably wasnt meant to be , Mel did have 57 mozzy bites on one hand and both my kness had been eaten by either bed bugs or fleas so maybe a room made from concrete not twigs would be a better idea..

That evening while swimming Mel met Pam and Keith a lovely english couple in there 50 s who are cycling around the world and have been for the last 14 years , and they found us a place around the corner from them with its own shower room and a little stove too , bonus!! everything happens for a reason!!

Wow?? hark at me 723 words from me in Goa and all Ive done is moan!! sorry ,, its been amazing too ,, just the Pia guest seemed to wind me up a bit more than I realised!!

Our days have mostly consisted of waking up to the sounds of the birds tweeting , the cows mooing and the funny little tunes from the car horns , eating breakfast , going to the beach before it gets too hot have a swim , tell all the same beach sellers from the day before and the day before that I DONT SHOP , I always do it politely , unlike some people we meet , whick is probably why they come back time and time again, although I do like the odd cheeky coconut and the water melon is pretty special too!!

In our new house we lived in between a Israeli family with 2 girls a bit older than Mia and a boy a bit younger and a Russian couple with a little boy called Igor , none of the children spoke the same language but all seemed to get along lovely which meant many a happy moment lying in a hammock , ahhhh,

Now Igors Dad , also named Igor , was a wee bit scary , he was as wide as I am tall , nearly , and looked like a cross between a Russian Terminator and a James Bond villain , he only spoke 2 words of English which were Good morning , whatever time of day it was , and I am sure he has killed grown men with his bare hands , he was nice enough though but I wouldnt want to be on the wrong side ..

The food seems to be getting better and better but I think it is just great and always has been but I m growing to love it more, Mia has become very fond of Momos , which is a shame because she didnt like them before and now I have to share them , or rather she has to share with me which means I get a half eaten one and another thats been re gurgetated back onto her plate because it was too hot , Im not fussy though when it comes to Momos !!

mia and cookie

The best Momo place we found was Cookie walla , run by a young guy  named Cookie funnily enough and on our first night there he sat down with Mia and broke each of her Momos up blew them to cool them down and then fed her each one , Mia loves Cookie , he also took her in the kitchen and let her help make Chapati s , bless ,

making chapattis cookie walla

the resturants here are soooo accomadating with children you hardly see them at all , the waiters or waitresses just take them off and play , run around throw frissbees play catch , its truly lovely , although we are a little daunted by Mia s behaviour when we get back to England and she wont be allowed to run across the tables ha ha , cross that one when we get to it I reckon.

So we planned to stay in Arambol for a few days but that turned into 3 weeks seeing as we met so many lovely people and had such an amazing time , we had Yoda on the roof every morning at 7 , well nearly every morning , some mornings I couldnt move from the day before s but it felt great!!

Mia also stared a little school , she really missed it and we cant exactly deprive her if she wants to learn , and that also opens up another door if we decide to escape the grey grey cold ness of the UK another time in the future.

We did leave Arambol to go and meet one of my mentors just outside Calangute for a few days , we were treated like royalty and it was really lovely , Mia was so well behaved too , it seemed like she was a different less excitable little girl , Im thinking his 2 huge Rottweilers who were keeping an eye on her had something to do with it!!

Finally came the time to leave , we had after all ageed to spend Christmas with Ze Germans so we headed down here 2 days ago and we feel really really young and we are really missing the Arambol vibe but hey the beach doesnt have cows walking around , which I do like actually , and the sand is like corn flour under your feet , not sure what I mean?? tip a box of cornflour out on your kitchen floor and walk on it bare footed , feel that squeakiness?? there we go x

Anyhow it seems Ive been rambling for hours and me bums gone numb so love to you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy New year , oh Mel apologises for being slack on the blog but the easy Goan laid back way does have that affect !!!

Thanks for listening

xxxxxxxxx

So the first week in Goa has been such a breath of fresh air i’ve been so busy swimming in the sea, sunbathing, making friends and eating i completely forgot about my trusty blog followers sorry guys!!

I’ll try my best to recap so we caught the night bus from mumbai thank god we did’nt stay a few days and opt for the train …. We thank our lucky stars….                                                                           And as the sun rose through our sleeper bus window we watched the landscape change in to lush tropical hills and palm trees,  And the houses become  something to dream about in their beautiful surroundings,                                                                                                                                       We were under the impression we were going to Panjim then we were going to head north to start at the northern most beach, We got chatting to another couple who said the bus didnt stop til Margao which would have sucked as that was at the bottom of Goa and we don’t like to back track,               so when someone said we were coming into panjim we happily jumped off the bus only to find we were in Mapsa,

 which was a very happy surprise as this was almost adjacent to the most northern beach so we jumped in a  rickshaw assuming the beach accomodation would be alot more expensive only to find a sweet little hut 5 minutes from the beach for 2 pounds a night.

It was spacious and did the job then the mosquito’s found us and started finding cunning ways of getting us through the net at night this is the only down side of virtually sleeping outside when you apparently lack vitamin b12 they come from miles around just to get a drink,                                     as the 47 bites on my left hand proved…..(note to self do’nt sleep with hands against the netting it defeats the object… Doh)

We were all set to stay at the hut for a couple of weeks despite the mossie’s so we went to extend our stay only to be told someone had complained about Mia coughing at night!!!!

We actually think the owner was’nt so happy that we paid very little rent made our own food and did our own washing instead of paying her to do it….. just a feeling we have….

one morning as i was sunbathing and watching Mark and MIa in the sea horsing around like a couple of lunatics i was approached by a nice Tibetan man who told me about a fire show later on the beach

We befriended a Canadian chap Tim and took him along, The fire show was performed by a man from Israel Moran It was the funniest thing i have ever seen he even roped in one of the children in the audience to help which was brilliant as she totally upstaged him,  there must have been easily 300 people with children sitting on the beach watching,                                                                             As his final piece he walked further down the beach spinning great balls of fire which were throwing sparks into the sky like Cathrine wheels it was amazing.

The following day after hearing the complaint about Mia coughing which was such a crazy thing for anyone to complain about as the people in the cafe who were there until really late were well noisy…

We went swimming at dusk and i bumped into a lady Pam and her dog Chrystal who was cycling around the world with her husband they were a lovely couple, When i mentioned the mosquitos and Mia’s chough she said India is telling you to move house….

Mia and Pam making friends

It got us thinkiung and the next day when we went to visit them she took me to look at some flats off the road a little way surrounded by palm trees and with a yoga group starting up on the roof we looked at a nice place and with a cooker and bathroom and agread to take it for 4 pounds a night it had a little balcony so we bought a double hammock and that night i spent 2 hours at a free yoga group on the roof it was beautiful surrounded by dragon flies with the breeze of the trees….

Our next door neighbours on one side are a nice Russian couple with a 2 year old son Egor Mia loves him they share a terrace with us so they are constantly in and out of each others houses its great..

And on the other side over our low wall we have a couple with 3 children 2 girls 1 boy from Israel Mia calls the girls her big sisters and we have been out with them to watch the magic shows with tight rope walking it was really nice I hardly see Mia when we wre at the flat she is too busy with her friends she has’nt clocked it yet that they do’nt speak english…

Mia making friends from Israel

A couple of days ago we discovered another beach about a 20 minute walk around some big rocks further north with a lake We bumped into another couple Camille and Sebastian who have a daughter Miya who is 5 and daughter zia and we spent a few days meeting for the morning swimming with the girls it was so sweet Miya, Mia and zia they went back to france today Mia says they will be her pen pals but she will send cards not pens!!! bless her

the lake just off the beach

I am not a happy bunny i appear to have 26 viruses running through my memory card so i am now the proud owner of 126 beautiful pictures i would love to share with you all but cant will seek out a new card asap and try to make up for the missing pics

ps goa is awesome up at 7am swimming in the water  could bath in it its so warm  fantastic cheap as chips room mia dived in fully clothed as soon as she saw the ocean …….

Problem solved yeah thank god for anti virus software…

we finally made it yeah!!!

Mia was so happy to see the sea she did