Pictures of Southern India

The prettiest video I ever saw-confirmation of our berths on the train to Kerala (see next post)

Train station in Kochi

After reluctantly leaving Varkala Beach we headed a little further up the coast to the town of Kollam. We booked a deluxe private houseboat for a 24 hour cruise of the famous backwaters of Kerala. We slowly motored by local villages while munching on local cuisine. It was a very relaxing trip.

Misty morning on the Backwaters

Deb and Richard on the Backwaters of Kerala

We spent a few days on Black Beach at the north end of Varkala. Beautiful palm trees framed an
azure blue sea. Water temp and air temp about 85 degrees. Heaven! A small swell the first day was fun for body surfing. The next day the swell increased to around four feet and I got pounded into the sand.

Deb makes a friend

Fisherman haul out a boat in Varkala

Richard meets some fisherman in Varkala


Temple interior-Madurai

Deb gets blessed by Ganesh

We visited the South India town of Madurai which is a bustling IT center with over 1.2 million inhabitants. It is a mad swirl of buses, autorikshaws, cars and scooters. All are belching black smoke and as a consequence, Deb and I both have upper respiratory issues. We are issuing coughs, seriously green phlegm and expectorating a lot. Despite this we enjoyed Madurai. It is a very lively city and not surprisingly full of Indians. The local food is great with a vegetarian thali available for anywhere fro 75 cents on up. You either get a banana leaf or steel tray which is loaded with rice, puri, two or three spicy sauces, a couple of curries, raita, curd and pickle. It is an all you can eat deal and invariably tasty and well prepared.

The temple complex

This temple complex covered approximately 160 acres

Temple in Madurai

Some of these temples are over 300' feet tall. This temple has over 3 million images of Hindu gods