Home on the range!!

Final pictures on the blog! This is us sitting on the plane from Bombay to London - you kind of know the game is up when you see the Union Jack flying on your wing tip!

And this is our first view of dear old blighty.
That'll be London down there folks!

Flight number 32 of the year was the last one - from Heathrow to Durham-Tees. Here the doors opening and the blurred movement of Ron and Ann coming towards us at a great number of knots!! (Pictures courtesy of Paul and Shirley).











Someone asked in a previous blog 'who would be the most excited at the home coming' - here's your answer! Ann and Suzanne.









Despite the lateness of the hour, our lovely friends came along too, there's Shirley (with bump) and Paul in the background looking for sympathy with a chalk on his slender lady like wrist! Not so much of a CS now eh?




Notice we're all smiling! Shortly after this picture the outside doors opened and a gush of English summertime wind hit us and Elvis and I had problems breathing as our lungs struggled from the cold air.





This is the next day - ahhh look at how pleased me Ma is at having her FAVOURITE sibling back (he he he). My Mam even said I look well despite being two stone lighter and an inch shorter than when I left - but that's what Mothers are for - I may look like I've just been released from a hard labour prison but your Mam doesn't see any of that. By the way - I've an appointment there tonight for a lamb dinner, I'm on the road to restoring the lost pounds!.



Back home and clock the yellow ribbon!

Here we are back in the house - Elvis being carried over the threshold - again!

My secret is out - this is how all those pictures of the both of us were taken - the long arms come in useful!

We couldn't get used to the house - it didn't seem right having more than one room to live in.

On Monday Ann and Ron had a welcome home party at their house. It was fantastic to see all the pale faces from home! Not many pictures unfortunately, just a couple of 'long arm' ones from me!

This is Christopher sporting his new Vietnam hat with Suzanne.

Dear Bloggers,
Well this is it! The last blog will come in two parts because right now I don't have the Internet at home and I can't get the pictures onto the blog from this computer - so look out for the reunion pictures in the next couple of days. We eventually got back to Durham Tees airport at 11:15pm on Sunday the 8th June 2008. It was wonderful to see Mam and Dad Elves and Paul, Shirley and Bump! We went back to our house and had cups of tea for a couple of hours until we all got too tired!

It has been VERY strange the last 24 hours. It's amazing how quickly it all starts to become a dream and 'normal life' edges it's way back.

So have a laugh at the last re-union pictures (they'll appear in this blog soon) and then find someone else to follow around the world you nosey buggers!!

A big thank you to all of you who have followed us around, family, new friends, old friends and some of you we've never met before and may never will. We've really enjoyed writing the blog and loved to get your comments and e-mails. Now all I have to do is work out how to turn the blog into a book - because this is a year we'll never ever want to forget.

Just one little matter to close on, the final cup of tea question. The last COT question is answered with a question!!. The answer was of course: 'Do you mean an African swallow or a European swallow' Anyone who knows their Monty Python will know that. Top marks to Sister Ginny who not only correctly answered the question, she even quoted the famous line 'How do you know so much about swallows!' Full marks Sissy!

Best wishes and love to you all
Keith and Suzanne AKA Hodgie and Elvis xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ps There's plenty of other places in the world we never got to visit - if anyone wants to take up the baton.......

This is blogger control over and OUT.

THE END.

Royal Enfield Goodbye!

You should get a video clip on this post, but we've had lots of problems with it, so if nothing appears then the clip didn't work!

Goa

Today is the 7th of June - tomorrow we fly home - so this is it - or is it? We did think of doing a blog of 'getting off the plane at home' so we'll see. This is certainly the last blog from foreign shores. Today we arrived in Bombay on the overnight train - it's pittling down right now as the monsoon season starts to take a grip. As my Sissy Gin often says, it's much easier to leave when the weather isn't good! So have we been sight seeing in the rain - not a chance! We've been to Bombay's biggest mall, watched the Indiana Jones film and ate western cack all day (we don't want dodgy stomachs on the plane now do we?)
So here are the last images of India and of course our trip around the world. As you'll see we went out in real style! You remember we mentioned sometime back that in India they still make the old English classical motor cycle: 'The Royal Enfield' - well we hired one for the day and had a trip around old Goa. For the motor bike connoisseurs among you, this is a Royal Enfield 350 Bullet (and it wasn't Rusty in case anyone was wondering!).


Here I am on the old girl(the Motorbike - not Elvis!!) getting her 'warmed up' for a blaze through the old town - more of that later!











This is where we chose to stay after coming off the train, a place called Colva. A nice little beach with plenty going on and around to keep us amused for a couple of days. The waves were MASSIVE but, the rip currents are really bad this time of year, so alas, Hodgies body surfing school remained closed for business.





Here's a couple of pictures of the beach and beautiful sky!









The guys from the restaurant we were staying near loved cricket - so during the quiet times they'd get the gear out and have a game, I joined in. This is me mercilessly smashing their fast bowler for a six (Elvis did well with the picture because you can actually see the ball on its way!)




This is an old building in old Goa 'not half'. The ruins of the church of St Augustine.

It went to ruin when the Portuguese wouldn't allow people to use it, then one day half of it 'fell off'.

These pictures are from Panjim, the capital of Goa. It was run by the Portuguese for a number of years, that's why it has that Mediterranean feel about it.


This is us stopping in a Portuguese style hotel for a little light refreshment. No beers though - there was a big bike to drive back to Colva - what a chore!!



















For anyone who is going to be turning up at our tea party without a free scone win under their belts and would be therefore forced to sit and watch everyone else quaffing away, here is your last chance: Riddle me this:-


If you want your tea for free, you must answer me these questions three:

1. What is your name
2. What is your favourite colour
3. What is the average wing speed of an unladen swallow

Last scone question - Ginnon Ginny with a dose of CS'ness that even out does CS Sandersfield. A free scone with your own jam for you.

Fort Cochin & More Cooking!!

Spot the fake turban wearer amongst these two jokers, I know who has the real turban but you must admit the moustache looks a bit 'clagged on'!!















Fort Cochin was a stop on the way to the train station for the next trip to Goa - but it turned out to be much more than just a stop - it was a fantastic little place.


No cups of tea for guessing what's in this tea pot folks! It's the same colour as tea (well the same colour as my brothers tea - maidens 'watter') but has an entirely different effect all together! They're not really allowed to sell alcohol here, so they pretend that they giving you tea and you drink your beer from a tea pot and china mug! Just remember not to add milk and sugar - yak!





A late scone at the tea party could be won for the first person to tell me what in tarnation is this contraption?

This is real tea!! This is a place called 'the Tea Pot' and much tea and cake was consumed! You can see Elvis' humongous slab of chocolate cake in the foreground! Five seconds later it was gone!

This is our little driver boy Ramesh - young enough to be my son! He called us 'movie stars' because the Indian people were always taking pictures of us!

This was one of the most wonderful things we saw that day - for once I wished I had a video camera. This little boy had obviously been told to wait for his cousin to come along and take him to school - he must have been told not to move from that spot. Look at the concern on his face! We were sitting in the 'Tea Pot' watching. All of a sudden his little face lit up and he was just about to run ... then stopped ... remembering he can't move, so he jumped up and down on the spot smiling his little face off. The older boy came along, put his hand out - this little fella grabbed his hand , never looked away from his face and skipped off down the lane to school - pure magic!!

Residents and visitors to England will all be delighted to know that that is me at yet another cookery class! This time making the delights of the Southern Indian cuisine! This is me with the expert chef - Leena (not Leena Lorna Turner!)

Some would say that Elvis has the best deal here. I slave over the cooker for two hours then Madam shows up for her dinner, sits down and gets served by the chef and I. This time I made a fantastic dish called Marsala Dosa and a vegetable curry. Prepare yourselves back home for some Indian delights!!

Scone's 'R' Us: Outsourcer takes the lot again and never mind trying to make teams, we think your team of Outsourcer and Google are already doing pretty well. Mumbai is the new name for Bombay. The dish of the City is Bombay Duck and the main ingredient, despite the name, is dried fish. Our Paula - Lancashire hotpot is good - but it's not right. Say what you see though!

It's not over yet folks - look out for another blog in the near future!

Kerala - Boating

Stay with us a little bit longer - we're still blogging if you're still reading! Today is the 6th June and we leave for Blighty on the 8th. They may be more blogs - so keep checking for a couple of more days!
2nd June. This was our first 'messing' about on the canals, known around these parts as 'the backwaters". A two hour tour around the backwaters and lakes of Kumarakon in Kerala. The scenery was just amazing and it was so peaceful. However the boat guy was sweating buckets (yes - just like a big lad in a pie shop) and I did feel a little guilty so I gave the guy a hand with one of the oars - just for the last ten minutes or so as I'm quite prone to 'wire netting' myself!

There were quite a few kids waving and shouting at us. As this is not Sunderland all the comments were clean and polite like "What's your name?" and "Where from?" And no one threw a half brick at us either!
Some more little cuties, check out the shy one on the right!


This is the bird sanctuary at sunset - lots of herons and fish eagles flying around.






Now to the real reason you come to Kerala - 'Houseboating', this enormous boat was all ours for a day. There was only Elvis and I and three staff (yes - outnumbered by staff!) . We read about house boating in a book our Poll has called '50 things to do before you die' and we always hoped that we'd be able to fit it in - and here we are about 18 months after reading about it!


One of the staff was a chef, this is our lunch feast on the boat:- bbq fish, vegetable curry and rice, poppadoms and side dishes of cabbage and okra - mmmmm!! For supper we had the best prawns we've ever slopped our chops upon!




Sunrise from our spot by the side of the canal where we stayed the night.


Luckily we were 'anchored' here, those who are concerned about 'Calamity Jane' taking the helm! (Just in case you're wondering she also has two of those church bells hidden up her frock







This is the same kind of boat as ours (I mean the one on the left - not the three guys fishing below!!)

Next stop - a little number known as Fort Cochin, a fantastic little town with a fishing village, lots of laid back cafes and restaurants and a little place called the Tea Pot that does a smashing little cake and tea combo - mmmm yes please Madam!!

Plates of scones carry on: CS Sandersfield was of course correct with the jack fruit answer, although I was disappointed there wasn't a diagram of the molecular structure of said fruit, there was however, quite enough info to warrant a scone. A ward of warning though, if there's anything the Hodgies can't stand it's a reet CS, so don't be surprised if you get some back lash after your last scone winning escapade.

Outsourcer, team work is forbidden!

For a free scone - Elvis and I fly back from Mumbai on Sunday - in the days of British control, Mumbai went by another name - name the City to secure your scone. After you have the name of the city, this should help with the next question:What is the famous dish from that city (City name in the name of the dish) , get that right and you have some butter and jam for your scone. Then finally, for a big dollop of clotted cream, what is the main ingredient of the famous dish. Today's question is what's known in University challenge as 'your starter for three'!!

By the way - I (Keith) became a proper Indian today - I had a curry for breakfast - delicious too!

Kumily, Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and Munnar

This is the TEA plantations of Kumily. Wondeful scenery up here and we managed to get a free pass for a visit to a tea factory.

This is walking through the tea plantation on the way to the factory.

This factory worker taking us around proudly 'posed' for this photo then promptly took me to a display board and pointed to a sign 'Visitors are NOT allowed to take photographs'! No the wonder he's got a bit of a 'twisty' face! Nowt like getting your visit off to a bad start!

Two pictures of the girls returning back to the factory with a days 'pickings' balanced on their heads. I wonder after picking tea all day they sit down and have a cuppa - or would you not be able to look at the stuff. Dam - I always forget to ask the important questions!

This is in Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary - it's Southern India's most popular and home to bison, sambar, wild boar, over 1000 elephants and 46 tigers! We took a boat trip around the lake within the park. We also did a hike with a guide and saw.... NOWT! He did very kindly point out where a tiger had 'wee-ed' the night before and also elephant tracks. Actually we did see some wild boar and quite a few birds. Me being the excellent bird spotter I am pointed a few out to the guide! There was an Indian holiday maker on the trek with us and he excitedly asked the guide 'So when did you last see a tiger' - probably expecting the guide to say something like - 4 hours ago. When he said, well, I saw some tiger crap on the path about a month ago, I think I detected a hint of disappointment in the Indian guys face!!

A neat way of crossing the river in the park - the rope is tied to the other side and he 'pulls' us over.

The view of the town of Munnar. It was packed when we were there as it was Indian school holidays, we were lucky to get accommodation. Just as a incidental factor, this is where I (Keith) fell with the Ertha's - please no comments!!

This is the rare mountain gerte, Nilgiri tahr. It's only found in India and South Africa. This one was a very willing 'poseur'! Rare and not very shy - does anyone else think that these two traits may not be particularly good for the species?

Hummm yes interesting. This was only one out of about 6 occassions when Indian families stopped us and asked for a photo with us. We decided it was about time we had a photo with them too. When they see us it's 20 questions, eeee the trails and tribulations of the 'famous'! I (Keith) have been mistaken for Beckham once, although they didn't say if it was David or Victoria.




Now there's only one reason a picture like this appears on the blog - there's must be a free scone question coming up! How right you are! So, for that free scone - name that fruit?

Can you tell it's the start of monsoon season? Here is a very moody looking resevoir just about to get a right good 'topping up'! And that's us two taking cover in a market stall while the 'topping up' was happening.


Driving out of Munnar was a beautiful sight. This was a rare clear day as we drove through the mountains and you can see the mountain ranges in the distance.

Plates of Scones questions - Go on Jenny Schmenny by mentioning everything that is produced in this area and hoping to 'happen' upon the correct answer. There was no need to hurt your brain Schmenny - your first answer was good enough for a scone - it was of course TEA that's grown all over them thar hills!