Chasing Noodles

Some things you just cant explain. Today was beautiful; I witnessed something that even if you tried to explain it, it wouldn’t be possible. Its just one of those things. We had a remarkable guide that joined us in the morning to show us in and around Cochin, starting with Fort Cochin which is part of Old Cochin. First we went to a beautiful St Francis church, which is said to have been built in the e arly sixteenth century. Vasco da Gama was buried here after he died from Malaria but 14 years later his son returned his remains and buried him in Portugal. The ceiling of the Church is designed to look like the hull of a ship and is spectacular. Next we went to the fish mark et where we were suddenly ambushed by hundreds of sales men who had all sorts of things. We eventually bought a couple things, did a run, jump and dive into the taxi and drove off. Then to calm Nancy down after she nearly went insane from the ambush we popped into a coffee shop with the most delicious chocolate cak...

After arriving in Cochin last night our first thought was to grab a beer at the Vasco Da Gama Bar in our “Casino Hotel” which subsequently does not have a casino. We tried the local beer, being the cheapest and it is great! If you know me, then you’ll know I’m not a fan of beer normally, but this one, Kingfisher Gold, is good! Then we headed for dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was to be our very first proper Indian cuisine experience. Now, before we left South Africa we got all sorts of advise on avoiding Delhi Belly, don’t drink water unless it’s out of a sealed bottle, don’t eat fruit that has been pealed already, don’t eat cashews that haven’t been taken out of a sealed bag, be careful of the local cuisine, ect. A few beers later, we were daring each other to try almost everything. If we were going to stay in India, we would eat like Indians. I then learnt my second bit of very important advice from Nancy, “Never expect to get what you actually ordered”. An example, we ordere...

So in a couple hours time, we will have been in India for 24 hours and what a 24 hrs it has been. I’m not even sure where to start but I can tell you that since check-in yesterday in Joburg, Nancy and I have barely stopped laughing. To say India is an experience is a massive understatement. It all started back at the check-in counter. While standing in the queue we were greeted by a gentleman who had asked us if we were on our way to India and if it was our first time. He then told us that he had the best advise for us as he had visited his family in India at least twenty times in his life. After an awkward silence he said, “have a good sense of humour”. We thanked him for the advise but it seemed that saying it once was not enough. He must have said it at least fifteen times. “When they rip you off, as they still do to me, you have to just keep a good sense of humour.” We thanked him for the millionth time, and as we walked away we could still hear in the distance ….humour… We were f...

Hi all, I know it''s been a while since the last post but I have been in India and we have chosen to stay away from technology for a while so that we have more time to see things and do stuff. I have some of the most insane stories to share with you and will start as soon as I get back home. I've kept a strict diary each day so that there is nothing left out. Love and light....

Hmmm, easier said than done when you have spent more time trying to figure it all out than you have living the way you want. Something clicked not so long ago, and I’m starting to get this one, but its seriously difficult to get into and then try and stay with it once you have made up your mind. So many factors make their way in, like, should’ve, would’ve, could’ve making this a trillion times harder. I obviously have to start being realistic about how I want to live my life, but things are very slowly falling into place for me and I am starting to get extremely excited about what’s coming up.

Completely appropriate for my family if taken literally. One thing about all of us, and you must understand when I say this, we LOVE to dance. A couple sips in and our old friend Wilhem joins us. The only thing that gets us off the dance floor is to stop to take a breath and grab a drink from the bar. Yes, I know, this was not meant to be taken literally, but that way is so much more fun. We all know what this one means, and it really is good advise, so use it if you can.

Vice – immoral or evil behaviour Or Vice – a tool with two metal blocks that can be moved together by turning the screw. The vice is used to hold an object firmly while work is done on it. According to Butt-Nutt, this rule is rubbish. He believes you cant have two vices at once. He was arguing with three girls, and lost badly, but this is his input regardless. Wait, he has something else. He says he has actually managed to use two vices at once before, placing timber in the one and a screwdriver in the other. (He is busy explaining this technique to me at the moment but I lost him at timber) …blah blah blah Lovely Lamb says this, it might be immoral but fun none the less and should be tried at least once in your lifetime. It’ll make you laugh so hard, you stomp your own feet on the ground. So, I guess what we saying here is that generally one shouldn’t really do this, but I think based on the fact that we have just had the best night in a long time with so much laughing we had to stop...