Beach....bosh

We finally made it to the beach - hoorah! Was hoping to add some photos today but there are no USB ports in this cafe, so just a bit of blurb for now I'm afraid.

We had a lovely Christmas in Ooty. We splashed out and bought each other some little gifts to open on the day, and decorated our guesthouse room with some tinsel and stars! We had a lovely walk around the lake in the morning and then treated ourselves to an Indian-style Christmas lunch of err, pizza and chocolate brownies.

We then spent a few days in Mysore (arriving there on Boxing Day). It was a four and a half hour bus journey north to get there; not including the hour and a half just driving around town in circles. Could have had an extra hour and a half in bed!? No one got on or off the bus during this time; most odd (but then a lot of things are). Was a bit touch and go on the bus tearing around hairpin bends, but the scenery was really beautiful and we drove through a national park along the way. Although saying that we didn't actually see any animals? We did see the most horrific toilets on the planet though; Trainspotting had nothing on these bad boys.

During our stay in Mysore, we looked around the fantastic palace and took a trip up Chamundi Hill - a big hill with a temple at the top! Lovely views down over the city. You could walk down the 1000+ steps to get back down from the top, but we lamed out and decided to go for the rickshaw option!

From there we embarked on our mission to Gokarna where we are now and have been since the 29th. We took an over night bus for 6.5 hours and then a 5 hour train. The bus dropped us off about an hour earlier than expected, so not only were we turfed off the bus in the middle of a dead town (apart from a few rickshaws thank goodness), we were waiting at the train station from 4.30am til 7am for our train. On the plus side, we were preparing ourselves for the train journey from hell, to be sitting on the floor with about 5 people on our laps or something. As it turned out we had our own seats and plenty of space; OK not the most comfortable seats, but seats nonetheless! And the views from the train were just stunning. Just wish I'd been a little more awake to take them in - I didnt manage to sleep on the bus beforehand as I was too busy fearing for my life. It was really beautiful setting off on the train at that time of the morning with the sun glistening off the dew. The copious amounts of tea and coffee on offer throughout the journey certainly made the 5 hour, bum-torturing trip a little easier to deal with.

When we finally arrived in Gokarna, the journey already seemed a distant memory. It is just beautiful here. Long, empty beaches, surrounded by rolling hills and lined with palm trees and little cafes (for pineapple lassies and pancakes..mmmm)! It's such a relief to finally deck out on some sand and swim in the sea! Unfortunately Tegan has been feeling rough with a fluey type bug for a couple of days (yes, she 'is' actually allergic to India!), but she's on the mend now thankfully.

We had a pretty chilled out New Years Eve here. Just had a few drinks in one of the beach bars and then watched some fireworks outside our guesthouse and had a drink with an Irish couple we met.

So tomorrow we're heading an hour north to Goa, by train. Our first stop in Goa is Palolem (right down south) for more, err, beach! Heard lots of good things about Palolem from other people we've chatted to, so quite excited about heading there next.

Well I think that about brings us up to now. Scary to think we're nearly half way through!

Will get some photos up here soon.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year....

Laters! x