Well.  I am back in Bombay from the tropical paradise of Kerala.  It was a great trip.  The highlights:  getting to see the Kerala backwaters and rural lifestyle from our houseboat.  We were amazed by how people live and farm on these impossibly thin strips of land-- sometimes only about 4 or 5 meters wide-- with the river on one side and flooded rice paddies on the other. 

And truly incredible was our 2 night stay in a beautiful little cottage on Philipkutty's Farm, in Kumarakom.  It is a mini-resort run by a very gentle and sophisticated family.  They treat their customers like guests in their home, offering three elaborate and lovely meals a day of Kerala dishes.  The cooks-- the mother and daughter-in-law of the family-- have been featured in magazines like Gourmet and Food and Wine, and we got to eat their acclaimed dishes for 2 days straight.  And in between meals, we learned about the farm and surrounding village, and relaxed a lot.   Tristan did a lot of writing, and I added to my bug photography portfolio:

Non-bug pictures to come.