26th August – Sitting in Tibetan café perched above cliffs overlooking Arabian sea. OK it's not too hard to be here deep in backpacker territory.
We came down the mountain from Kodaikanal (7000ft above the Tamil plains, post to follow) on 4 buses in 8hrs for about A$8 each & C only (nearly) needed the sick-bag once. Stayed a night in Kottayam, not the most interesting town but we were a little tired.
Yesterday a tuk-tuk to the station & a gentle 3hr train ride brought us to what might be our 3rd 'country' in India. Moving from the north to the south felt like changing countries & coming to this little place tucked away miles from anywhere feels the same. Only here we could be on a Thai beach, a Bali beach or somewhere north of Mombassa.
It's actually fine & we are going to love it but seriously dislocating after so many weeks careering around the subcontinent. 
The signs are exclusively in English, the tourists are 95% white & 98% dressed in backpacker beach chic (which never seems to change) Buddha, Gandhi or Ganesh T-shirts, baggy pants, spaghetti strap tops & sunburn. The local boys grow their hair, buy some shades & have a wonderful time with the European girls & Indian men come on day trips to ogle the bikinis. There is a cop wandering the beach to stop inappropriate staring but he's having too much fun to do any enforcing…
No Bob Marley as yet, but it's just a matter of time, plenty of Tracy Chapman though & other stuff from the late 80s early 90s, why is that? Had to listen to an execrable album by some ex-member of the Eagles yesterday while C was looking for a room, god it's hard. Bet they wish they were getting the royalties that cafés in places like this owe them.
Today we slept in till 10, threw caution, & cool, to the wind & had a banana pancake each for breakfast…in a Tibetan café… Like I say, not really India but we need a rest. It's been a huge trip, it's coming to an end & we are so over-stimulated we can hardly string a sentence together.
C is off having her first Ayervedic massage & I'm happy to watch the passing parade, the red kites fighting with the fish eagles & drinking surprisingly cold beer from a blue & white mug with a weeping giraffe on it in case the cops come by… there's an Italian couple on the next table eating a passable mushroom pizza…like I said it's hard…
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