Saturday 24 March 2012

Photos from my trip to Kerala, South India....

Cherai Beach (Vypin Island), our first day in India, and what an amazing beach!!

 The Chill Out Cafe on Cherai Beach, Vypin Island at sunset

 A lovely bunch of coconuts

 A traditional rice boat on the backwaters of Alleppey

 Alleppey backwaters

 Freshly caught crabs

 Our boat, Alleppey backwaters

 Alleppey backwaters

 One of the staff on our hired boat, Alleppey backwaters

 Two Indian crows enjoying the beginning of sunset, Alleppey backwaters

 Our boat, moored up for the night

 The smokey sunset on our exploration of the Alleppey backwaters

 Two men from our boat going fishing for little silver fish


 You can't beat a delicious vegetable biriyani

 Indians on Varkala Beach

 A bit of art in the back yard of our hostel, Alleppey Beach

 Indian crows and graffiti

 A bit of tired grafitti?

 The back roads near our hostel at Alleppey Beach

 Not sure what this hut is, maybe it's a garden shed, but I like it!!

 Little hut on Alleppey Beach

 The back yard of our hostel, Alleppey Beach

 An interesting and colourful use of sand bags

 I love the way they hand-write signs in India

 An interesting flower shop on our taxi ride from Alleppey Beach to Varkala

 Bricks made and stored outdoors, somewhere between Alleppey Beach and Varkala

 The vast majority of Indian vehicles have "Sound Horn" written on the back

 An interesting decoration on this building

 A sign for Varkala Beach, in front of a golden statue

 I found this arrangement interesting! Varkala Beach

 Lovely sari-clad ladies on Varkala Beach

 The "sludge pond" by our bungalow, Varkala Beach

 There were lots of these paper stars hanging at Varkala Beach

 An interesting style of accommodation near to us at Varkala Beach

 Pretty pink flowers by our bungalow at Varkala Beach

 A stall trader on the cliffs above Varkala Beach. At first I thought the baby was
 a doll, it gave me the fright of my life when I realised that it was actually alive!

 The view from a cafe on Varkala Beach

 Another delicious Veg Biriyani

 I liked this colour combination

 A little ice-cream cart

 A gentleman resting in the midday heat, near to Varkala Beach

 A lovely pink bus

 One of many tired looking buildings

 Looking up to the Varkala Beach cliffs

 A view to the west of Varkala Beach, with the cliffs above. This beach was 
lovely but it had a very terrible sandy-wind that liked to whip you as you lay

 Men looking very nice wearing dhotis on Varkala Beach

 Another interesting bit of advertising near to Varkala Beach

 Hand-painted Kingfisher signs, of which there were many in around Varkala Beach

 The interesting interior of The Juice Shack up on Varkala Beach cliffs

 A lady performing a traditional dance outside the temple in Varkala

 Outside the Varkala Temple was this temporary structure

 Lots of lovely bananas outside the temple

 The Temple in Varkala

 Very plastic looking ice-cream cones outside the temple

 I think these were balloons??

 "You are an organic being constantly evolving"

 Decorations in Varkala for the Holly Celebrations

 The front view of a jazzy tuk-tuk

 The back of another jazzy tuk-tuk

 A bus stop that caught my eye

 More painted Kingfisher signs, complete with cow

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach, lots of very enthusiastic drummers

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach

 Night view of a Varkala Beach restaurant on the sea

 An Indian Kingfisher watching the early morning cricket on Varkala Beach
 
 I think this was a game of "shoot the heart with an air rifle", on the banks of a dam between Munnar town and the Top Station. I just loved all of the colourful bits of balloon that are sitting underneath the board

 Another game of "shoot the hearts" at the same dam near to Munnar

 The legendary techno tuk-tuk

 Lots of these flowers are to be found in Kerala, they have an interesting section of square components

 A view over-looking the tea plantations in Munnar

 A view of tea picker's and local's accommodation

 Looking down over the tea plantations

 Looking up into the tea plantations

 The Honey Bee Tree, on the way to the Top Station on our tuk-tuk tour of the local area

 The first dam between Munnar town and the Top Station

 Tea pickers up high in the plantations

 Our techno tuk-tuk driver on the way up to the Top Station at Munnar

 A market stall at night, the Bazaar, Munnar


 Lifesavers on Varkala Beach. The currents here are really dangerous!

 A view out over Varkala Beach from a cafe on the cliffs

Rubbish on the cliffs at Varkala Beach

 Holly Celebrations near to Varkala Beach, more relaxed drummers

 Lots of tired fabrics, not sure how they came to be on the beach?!

 A large beach, sand swirl

 One of many, many crabs on Varkala Beach

 Indians playing two games of cricket at 8am on Varkala Beach

 Some fun graffiti found above Varkala Beach

 ... and some more!

 A pretty sight I came across whilst on my early morning wonder of Varkala Beach

 Looking back towards Varkala Beach

 An Indian crow welcoming you to the Tibetan Market, Varkala Beach

 Spices

 A little lizard, Varkala Beach

 Approaching sunset at Varkala Beach

 Locals enjoying Varkala Beach

 Young men messing around in the surf, Varkala Beach

 Locals enjoying Varkala Beach

Young men messing around in the surf, Varkala Beach

 A lady waiting for the fish to be brought in

 Fishermen hauling in the morning's catch about 30 minutes walk away from Varkala Beach

 More grafitti

 Locals enjoying Varkala Beach

 Locals enjoying Varkala Beach

Fishermen looking at their catch

 Sorting out the fish

People trying to get their hands on some fish

 Pushing the boat out to collect more goods from the sea

Crows looking out at the fish coming in

 A very pretty building/ temple to the West of Varkala Beach

Men making fishing nets (and then having a rather large disagreement!)

The beach west of Varkala

 A cow on the beach west of Varkala, another one followed moments later

Waving to myself

The building/ temple to the west of Varkala Beach

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