 Here is one of the many boats that ply the Backwaters of Kerala _So, after the floods and a very long bus ride, we arrived at a ferry docking place. We spent about an hour waiting, then got on and spent another hour and a half riding along. The pollution in the river was horrible, and in certain spots you were able to see a layer of oil over the water. We arrived at Green Palm Homes , and was surprised at what it was like. At first Mom had made the impression that it was a luxury hotel. I was super excited, but . . .
 _ Have you ever been caught in a flood? You don't want to - it's no fun. On the way to the bus station, where we would catch a bus to Alleppey, we were caught in floods. Changing our running shoes into crocks, we stepped out of the bus - that we were suppose to take to the Central Bus Station, but the floods were too high - and plunged knee-deep into sludge-water. Wading to an elevated sidewalk, we tried not to get our shorts wet. What was strange, though, was that . . .
 _ We took yet another bus, heading to the state of Kerala. There were riots at a certain part of the border so we had to take three extra hours to avoid them. We arrived at a town called Kovalam. We walked around for about 30 minutes in the dark, asking in at different hotels to see if they had room. None of them did, not even the ones in the very back alleys. A tuk-tuk driver came and said he knew three hotels that had room. Two of them were full, but the third, located on the out-skirts of the city, apparently wasn't full. He said that it would cost us 30 rupees for 20 kilometres. We were all like 'Ouuu! Yay! Great price!' But we should've known better. When we arrived it had room, but when we paid the guy he said we misunderstood and that it was 30 rupees per kilometre. Total rip-off. We were satisfied with the room at first, but in the night we discovered bugs - not bed-bugs, but bugs all the same. In the morning me and Mom got up early and and took a walk on the beach. It was nice, but even if other tourist were swimming and saying it was totally 'clean', we weren't about to take our chances. We went back to the place and woke Dad and Birch up, bringing them back to the beach. We lounged around for a couple days and then headed off to Alleppey, where we were going to spend New Years at a place called Green Palms Homes.
-Allie
 On our way to the temple . . . we couldn't take photos when we got inside _ Sadly, we left Auroville, heading for Madurai, still in the province Tamil Nadu. It was a big city - this time my parents warned me before hand - and, really, the only reason we were going to it was to see this really awesome temple, made up of four towers - North, South, East, West. The bus ride was long. Sure, it's a good way of transportation, but if you're not ready for the worst, figure out a different way. Buses aren't too bad, but local buses + long distances = no fun. Anyway, we got to Madurai and arranged a decent hotel - not one I would go to again, but all the other places were full. In the morning we walked to the temple. The temple is called Sri Meenakshi Amman - one of the greatest temples in India - named after a Hindu Goddess. It was quite amazing, with tiny details hidden amongst the carvings decorating the walls, inside and out. There are . . .
 _ Today we went to the Matrimandir. The Matrimandir is at the very centre of Auroville. It's a big, gold, globe-type building. Once you step onto the field surrounding it, you have to be absolutely quiet or else you will be asked to leave. When we reached the Matrimandir, we took off our shoes and they gave us white socks to wear inside. The inside of the Matrimandir is very clean and very white. We walked up marble stairs and then two ramps with soft carpets. All this time we had to be quiet, and I knew a few people were struggling. We entered a dark chamber where The Crystal is. The Crystal is . . .
 _ Merry, merry, merry Christmas! Birch and I made a Christmas tree out of palm leaves and we decorated it with paper snowflakes and banana leaf chains and balls. Birch made lights out of our head-lamps and colourful plastic bags. It looks really nice, especially when we put our few presents under it. I got lot-sa, lot-sa presents and everybody liked the things I gave them. But it wasn't like a normal Christmas. Well, of course it wasn't, but even with the tree Christmas didn't seem to be there. Sure, a lot of people would think 'I'd give up Christmas to go on that world trip!' And sure, the whole trip is like one big, massive present. But Christmas was only here for the half hour that we opened presents. Then it just turned into a normal day. Besides, Christmas isn't all about presents. For me it's the music, the stockings, Mom's soufflée, the surprise when you bring out all the old decorations. We couldn't really have any of that, and I missed it.
But I sound so negative! I hadn't really expected to have any Christmas, so I was surprised when everybody tried to make it happen. Being here at Auroville was really nice too, 'cause they had a festive dinner. I was surprised they did, because most of the people who live here are either Hindu or Muslim, and have come from all over India. They also gave us little candles!
Merry Christmas,
Allie
 _ Yesterday we went to Sadhana Forest for a festival celebrating the forest's birthday. There had been a note about the party on the notice-board and I was really excited for the arts & crafts, so when we got there I was really disappointed. It was for little kids, maybe six or eight. I felt really weird standing there so I went and joined Mom in her yoga class. Maybe I should explain things more. The cluster of huts is like a community centre. There's the Main Hut, the Healing Hut, the Nursery, the Kitchen and a whole bunch more I didn't get to explore. Pretty much everything is natural. The huts are made of bamboo and palm leaves, they wash their dishes using a coconut husk to scrub and ashes from the fire as soap, and they turn the... stuff from out of the toilet into compost. To sum it all up, almost everything is . . .
 _I am sitting here writing, absolutely loving Auroville. It's a community built up by one whom they call 'The Mother'. The purpose is to have a community that doesn't have any religion, that is simply spiritual and grateful, or at least that's how I understand it. It was founded by non-Indian people, but five thousand locals from neighbouring towns work here and there are five different schools, plus a program where teachers from Auroville go to other schools and teach certain classes. I love it because it doesn't have the RUSH RUSH RUSH of the outside world. Also I feel totally safe AND there are no street-sellers. They have only four shops, and I've done the little Christmas shopping I have to do. We'll spend Christmas here. They have bikes which make transport easy and enjoyable. The meals are included with the guest house and we've met interesting people. One woman has lived here for thirty years! Dream come true!
Merry Christmas,
Allie
 Here we are in front of the Shore Temple. We arrived in Mamallapuram at dark and walked around the village. It was pretty much made of shops, restaurants and hotels. At first I wanted to spend Christmas there, and so did everyone else. We passed a tourist centre and in the morning, Dad and Mom arranged to have a taxi guy drive us to all the different temples. He drove us and at the gate of the Shore Temple and he introduced us to this man called Ali. We assumed Ali was part of the tour and gladly accepted the offer. Looking back it was obvious he wasn't. The taxi guy probably told him about us so he came to this spot. People do this 'fake tour guide' a lot in India. No more tours for us, thank-you very much. We had to get a ticket to enter the temples, and it will count for all the temples we will go to in India, including the Taj Mahal! At first the guy seemed . . .
 On the bus to Mamallapuram So, we arrived in New Delhi, India. Yippee. The first thing I saw; smog, smog, smog and more SMOG. Everything metres in front of me was blurred in a thick grey haze. We made a point of not going outside, and switched airplanes to fly to Chennai. Okay, I was pretty silly to think that Chennai would be like Chiang Mai, which I'd been to earlier in Thailand. Chennai, Chang Mai? What's the difference? Oh ya, EVERYTHING. The streets were filthy with dirt and it didn't smell too good at all. We retreated to our hotel room and spent the night. In the morning Dad went to look for a train station and Mom insisted we walk for breakfast. The last night had been dark and we hadn't seen anything, so Mom wasn't aware of our surroundings. We got about a block before turning around. The air TASTED bad, which said a lot, and all the people cooking food were using their bare hands, which they also use instead of toilet paper, and usually don't bother to wash. When we got back into the hotel room I admit I started to cry. All my expectations about India were coming true. All of India would be like this. Then Mom told me, as if she'd thought I'd already known, that Chennai was the 4th largest city in India! Dad came back a long time later and said . . .
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