Sri Lanka Feb 18

Our 5 day tour of Sri Lanka includes a train ride in tea country and seeing elephants at a sanctuary and in a national park.

India Jan-Feb 18

We spend a week at a time share in Goa, relaxing on a beautiful beach and eating more delicious food.

Next is 5 days in Jaipur, with amazing buildings to visit, and local shops to explore.

Finally we take a train to Agra, and are amazed by the Taj Mahal...

India Jan-Feb 18

After flying into Bangalore we begin our Urban Adventures food tour with 9 others https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/india/south-india-real-food-adventure-107534

It starts with an 8 hour bus ride to a remote mountain coffee plantation in Kodagu for 2 nights of luxury. There’s a huge buffet each meal, free yoga class, cooking demo and a 2 person oily massage then steam bath. 

We watch chicken biryani being prepared in a local house in Mysore. The taxi driver turned chef also has 2 restaurants, and his 4 year old daughter comes home from school with a “stomach ache” so she can meet the foreigners. Lunch is plentiful and delicious. 

Next is the much anticipated (?!) overnight train trip to Madurai. But the 6 berth sections are ok, and surprisingly quiet. Chai wallahs roam constantly. 

We arrive in Madurai for a full day:  touring a famous temple

visiting the Ghandi museum

a flower and fruit market visit

then an evening food tour with way too much spicy nibbles and sweet things to enjoy. This man is famous to his milky almond drink. 

It’s a short drive to Kandukathan where we stay in an old mansion. Of course there’s a cooking class - chicken curry, mint chutney and dosa, then a deliciously spicy buffet dinner. 

Bali - Ubud

The last week is spent with Heather, in her beautiful house in the rice fields, in Bentuyung. 

We have a couple of sound experiences at the Pyramids of Chi - we've watched it being built over the last few years - with gongs and old Maori instruments. 

We walk the increasingly paved and built up path to Ubud. It's full of artists, yoga people and small warung. 

We eat some seriously good food, continue with yoga and spa sessions, and relax. 

Bali - Lipah

Think it's the 8th time we've visited this fishing village on the east coast. There's great snorkelling off the beach, right in front of our small hotel. 

Nothing much to do except the obvious snorkelling, although Cheryl and Ksy find some yoga classes, and we all have a couple of $12 massages. 

We eat lunch and dinner with our Balinese friends Jonny and Made, who now have a small warung next to their house. 

14 year old Kadek is very grateful for his new bike

 and 20 year old Putu rides her motorbike 3 hours each way from her Denpasar Uni to visit us - she's passed 1st year midwifery with good marks. She visits again with a friend when we move closer to the airport for Cheryl and Joe's last days. 

Bali - Keramas

Torquay friends Cheryl and Joe join us for the next 2 weeks. 

Keramas is on the south coast, so known for its surf. Its too strong to swim in, but we splash on the edge and walk along the beach. Joe tackles the surf and we watch the pros and wannabes in action. 

Nirmala guest house is in the middle of rice paddies, and there's a resort next door for yoga and spa treatments …

The rice is ripening, so there are lots of noisemakers - human and mechanical - to scare the birds away. The plane is a restaurant!

We go on a day tour to a coffee plantation, have breakfast overlooking Mt.Batur and its crater and lake, cycle 25km downhill through small villages with kids, chooks and dogs to dodge, then eat lunch in a family compound. 

The nearby night market has plenty of delicious spicy food to choose from - we try 7 dishes. 

 

The local industry is sorting stones on the beach into size and colour, to be sold and used for mosaic paths. The oldest people get the easiest jobs. 

This windy season means there are huge kites in the sky, especially on Sunday afternoon 

We find a turtle hatchery, where the retrieved eggs continue to hatch in sand, then are released 3 weeks later. How amazing to just come across this at the right time

Bali 2017

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