A to B - Cochin to Varkala:
We took the boat bus as our cruise across the Backwaters and stopped overnight in a grubby town whose name we don't care to remember. Great views from our sky scrapper hotel however! The next day, bus to Varkala, and after much dithering, we found our cliff top chalet.

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We treated ourselves to 2 weeks, including Christmas and New year, in Varkala on the southern Keralan coast. With its red volcanic cliffs, warm entertaining sea, great massage and delicious French breakfasts - well we deserved it after 3 months of "hard" travelling.

A long narrow path runs along the cliff, lined with restaurants, guesthouses, cyber-cafe and large huts for the different yoga and massage schools which sprung from someone's first good idea... It is a bit of a traveller's paradise - few locals, except the eternal youngsters spying on holiday makers in their indecent bikinis - not a real taste of India, but not Goa either (but for how long?). After travelling for so long, the place was magical for us, so far from mad traffic, so close to nature, sublime sunsets and well-spoken locals, increasingly irresistible the more you wander along the cliff (a fisherman's hut on black sand beach, huge waves and eagles/crows).

We lodged in a little chalet a few metres off the cliff next door to the lovely french/indian couple in charge with the "Clafoutis" cafe - the one with wonderful croissants and french delicacies. Great basic room with a small sitting room at the front, classic thinly foamed bed and a cold shower at the back covered with blue plastic sheeting giving a eerie glow.

We took our first course in yoga here, at the 'Scientific' School of Yoga and Massage. The sessions were held twice per day although our attendance at the early morning one waned after a few days! Each session started with the "Sun Salutations", a series of postures mixing stretching and breathing which served as a warm up. The teacher then worked on individual poses which exercised first the legs then the back and stomach and finishing with the arms and neck. Held for about 30 seconds, each pose is followed by at least 2 minutes of complete stillness to relax. The teacher often chanted a soothing litany to help you with "the beauuuutiful movements of your stomach" as you took each breath - really hard not to laugh sometimes. The aftereffects of each session were however amazing, we walked back to our room with liquid limbs and beauuuutiful smiles.

New years eve however had an altogether different atmosphere, almost of a suppressed civil war on the beach broken up at ten past midnight by an army of stick wielding policemen. We largely managed to kept clear from this and sat down to a very special Lobster Thali.