I Have Wet Pants

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under log
Tags , laundry, monsoon, washing, weather
12 Comments

You’ll be pleased to know I own about 15 pairs of underpants. That’s enough to avoid doing any washing for two weeks, four if I turn them inside out. Being the new-age man that I am I do my own washing, which is a pain in the ass since it has to be done by hand. Since the marina refuses to provide any kind of laundry service I have to undertake this task regularly.

Followtheboat Wins Telegraph Travel Piece

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under press
Tags , competition, newspaper, press
25 Comments

Well, well, well. Whilst I’ve been busy editing my photographs it seems someone has been secretly submitting her travel writing to the upper echelons of the world of journalism. Clearly setting her sights far higher than the sensationalist tabloid sailing blog she usually writes for, Liz has had her hard work recognised by The Daily Telegraph.

“I am delighted to tell you that your article about sailing has been chosen as the winner in this week’s competition”, Michael Kerr, travel dept editor, said in an email. “Thanks for a lovely little piece”.

Don’t Talk. Eat!

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under observation
Tags , eat, food, local, retaurant
3 Comments

“…that and a threesome with two lesbians”, smiled my friend Cillian as we sat in Hotel Ceylon, tidying up a delicious mushroom masala.

“Hmmm, I don’t know”, I replied. “I still think food comes out on tops”.

We were discussing the merits of food, eating and dining out. We were pretty much in agreement that the greatest pleasure in life was food.

“Did I mention that they were Swedish?”, Cillian added. OK, second greatest pleasure.

Daily Telegraph Shortlists Followtheboat Snap

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under press
Tags , competition, photography, telegraph
1 Comment

He’s only gone and won again! OK, so he didn’t win first prize, but Jamie’s photograph of a fossilized coral outcrop in Freedom Bay, Eritrea, was short-listed in this week’s “Big Picture” competition in the Daily Telegraph.

Followtheboat Wins Its First Competition

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under press
Tags , asmara, competition, market, photography, the times
17 Comments

I’ve been badgering Jamie for some time now to take his photography to the next level. I mean, some of his shots are breath-taking, aren’t they?

Having reluctantly agreed he generously allowed me to do the legwork. I decided to start by entering his work into some competitions, this would start to get his name and work known.

It seems that my nagging is starting to pay off. Firstly, we are going to be published, but more about that exciting news in a future blog. Secondly, he’s just won the first competition he’s ever entered!

Encouraged by his Auntie Chris, we decided to enter one of his photos into The Times Travel Photo Competition.

Jaigarh – A Remote Fishing Village

Posted in India » Maharashtra » Jaigarh
Filed under meeting new people
Tags , fishing, palm, photography, river, village
4 Comments

We’ve been sitting pretty in Cochin for a couple of months now, but we’ve still got some catching up to do on the blog. Yep, some more snaps, this time of a beautiful, remote fishing village 110 miles south of Mumbai. The village was called Jaigarh and it was spectacular.

It was spectacular in part because of its location. Tucked up inside the mouth of a wide river that meets the sea the entrance into the natural harbour had the depth gauge nervously displaying less than 2m under the keel. The village, hidden behind an old fort wall and a big hill with a solitary temple on it, sits at the foot of an extremely lush palm forest. Aside from the parks of Mumbai this was the first time we had seen vegetation on this scale since the journey to Asmara in Eritrea, some 2,000 miles away. This was a real novelty after the deserts of Arabia, so come check out the pictures of this wonderful village…

“Mumbai, Mumbai” – The Official FTB Song!

Posted in England » Essex » Fuzzy Freak Studios
Filed under video clips
Tags , dance, music, sing, song
9 Comments

Followtheboat has an anthem! You may have heard the official World Cup song by Shakira but we’ve gone one step further by signing up the even more beautiful female vocalist, Annie May, to write and sing FTB’s 2010 Indian Anthem. This is a must-see exclusive, just for our friends…

Yacht Marina Manager Killed In Shooting

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under log
Tags , death, fethiye, marmaris, yacht marina
7 Comments

In case our yotting friends haven’t heard the shocking news, we received an email this evening forwarded on by Gaby and Paul, who are based in Yacht Marina, Marmaris, Turkey. Yacht Marina is where Liz and I wintered in 2007-08. The email reads thus:

The Dharavi ‘Slums’ Of Mumbai In Photographs

Posted in India » Mumbai » Dharavi
Filed under observation, video clips
Tags , church, photography, poor, shop, slum
9 Comments

To me photography is often about engaging with people. Despite being told to do so by our taxi driver I point-blank refused to stick my camera out the window of the car as we drove down one really poor street. Yet on my second visit, this time walking down the same street, we bothered to talk to the people I was snapping and everyone we met appeared so happy. Except one family. You’ll notice in amongst all the photographs of smiling faces are two brothers who look very sad. Why were they like this? It doesn’t bear thinking about but their eyes tell a different story and their portraits stick out like sore thumbs. It’s a stark reminder that behind all the laughter life is still damn bloody tough.

The Drink Of Brave Men

Posted in India » Kerala » Cochin
Filed under observation
Tags , bar, beer, drink, government, pub, tax
11 Comments

On Sunday I’ll be publishing my shots of the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. That’s on Sunday but today is Friday, so let’s keep it light-hearted. Let’s discuss beer! Beer. The love of my life, the bain of my waist-line. A refreshment to be enjoyed at the end of the day after a hard day’s sail, a hard day’s work or a hard day’s drinking. Whatever the occassion, beer is there to help you celebrate. Here in Catholic Kerala, however, beer isn’t so understood. The booze shop is a shuttered, over-the-counter, slip-the-beverage-into-a-plain-paper-bag-before-my-wife-spots-me affair. The pubs are dirty, dark cockroach-infested holes. The imbibement of this fine libation is not encouraged like it is elsewhere in India and the mantra “alcohol consumption is injurious to health” is seen on both the labels of bottles and across the tinted windows of aforementioned grimey bars. Is ‘injurious’ actually a word? Whatever, whether you like beer or not you’ll be impressed by the sales pitch of one such beer called Zingaro. The masculine gold and red Zingaro label has an Indian, of the Native American persuasion, taming a wild horse with ‘Super Strong Premium Lager’ emblazoned across the bottom. But it’s the blurb on the back that had me in stiches…