Friday 17 January 2014

Days 11-12 - Yoga Studies Tour 2014

A packed 48 hours involving Wendy's last yoga classes on the trip, a full body Ayurvedic massage, a 12-hour overnight train journey from Thanjevur to Cochin which included a picnic, a walking tour of the resort, a boat trip around the harbour, a performance of Kathakali dancing and a meal in the hotel.

I won't attempt to cover it all but here are some highlights . . . . .

I'll start with a reflection that at the start of the tour we had so much time in front of us that I didn't think about future days at all, I just focussed on this day and the experiences it would bring. As I appreciated and valued more moments in the actual moment, time seemed to expand so I felt I was getting more and more out of each day. I am attempting to keep that feeling despite being well into the second half of the tour.

Wendy's last classes focused on Kriya Yoga and it's three parts - tapas, svadhya and isvarapranidana, and it was a fitting end to a brilliant week - thanks Wendy!

 
I have some great photos of passengers, dogs and goats standing on the railway line, and some great railway signs. Here is my favourite:
 
 
After a fitful sleep on the long train ride to Cochin (many thanks to the Ideal River Resort in Thanjavur for providing us with our meal on the train - they didn't have to do that and it was great) we are now in the Killians Hotel situated two minutes walk from the famous Chinese fishing nets.

On the walking tour I was offered the chance to pull the nets up - the fisherman get more money from tourists these days than they do from the fishing - so here is a photo of me 'on the pull', taken by one of the fishermen.

 
And here's the net I pulled, which contained a lot of rubbish and one fish!
 

 
Here is the sun setting over the nets, from the boat trip:
 
 
Now we have moved from Tamil Nadu into Kerala we are no longer being treated like celebrities because there are a lot of European tourists here and the street sellers are more insistent although there are bargains to be had if you have the motivation and persistence!
 
I have an early start tomorrow for another full day so I'm off to bed!
 
Namaste!

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