Homeward bound

(Written 12.00, 13.10.2013)

Having rushed this morning with fear of missing the flight, I am sitting in the airport with a two-hour window before I can look out of an aeroplane window. No complaints - as discussed in blog post number two, missing a flight does not appear to be a good time.

I'm not going to sit here and write a long essay reviewing my trip because that would roughly entail copying and pasting all of my previous blog entries into a new one. Shall I do that? Nope. But I will say that this has probably been my most interesting trip abroad (not just because it was the longest!). It has been memorable for so many different reasons given the highly varied nature, but particularly for the things I have learnt through visiting historical places, reading and listening to knowledgeable people. During this travel chapter, the ups and downs encompassed in "real life" were non-existent. Let's see if that was just the holiday feeling or some of these readings have filtered through. 

Two-and-a-half weeks until the cows become kangaroos! 

The Big Beach Adventure

(Written 20.00, 11.10.13)

After yesterday's disappointment of a beach, I set out for Kovalam beach bright and early this morning. I took a bizarre 2km heritage walk (which felt a lot like trespassing) to Chowara junction, where I got a bus to Kovalam junction. Holding on to the bus was quite a nice arm workout. Another 2km walk later, I reached Kovalam beach and it looked much more appealing. Unfortunately a serious storm was brewing, and before I knew it the precipitation had hit. It actually made for quite a pretty picture! Not a great day for getting brown though. 

Well... Actually it was! The sun melted its way through the clouds and the storm subsided after about an hour. Half of the beach had black sand and half white, and the Arabian Sea was a soothing blue. I met a couple of very funny Goans who worked in shops along the beach, and claimed that this sight was nothing compared to Goa. For 25 rupees I got the opportunity to climb the Vizhinjam lighthouse. Great view and not too dissimilar in feeling from a rollercoaster - holding onto a rail, legs dangling off the edge (they made us take our chappal off) and strong winds smacking me in the face! (While thinking about the rollercoaster similarities, I realised it was actually more similar to a tower-drop ride. As a consequence of this realisation, I decided it was time to remove myself from the lighthouse!)

The journey home was fun! I missed several buses and tried my best to get run over. Reversing the walking route I had taken in the morning from hotel to bus stop proved quite difficult in the dark! Strangely, I felt some relief as I began to hear the booming voice over the loudspeakers meaning I was nearly home. But as it got louder the relief faded and the 1984-esque fear resumed! Funny how a two-night hotel can seem like home after what felt like a big adventure. A highly entertaining last day of the Kerala tour!

As I write this I feel that I have not captured the adventurous nature of the day effectively, and it seems as if I simply got the bus to town, chilled out and cried like a little baby all the way home. Possibly the truth.

Beach?

(Written 21.00, 10.10.13) 

Waking up to the tranquility of the Alleppey backwaters is an ideal way to start the morning! I took up my favourite position at the front rail of the boat and got the music back on for the cruise back to the jetty!

After a temporally long, but seemingly short journey to Kovalam, I set about finding the white sands and blue seas I had heard about. The beach near the hotel, however, exhibited a multitude of cans, a few murders of crows, and a half eaten rat. Possibly a winning picture in the Tate Modern but not ideal in real life! I headed in the opposite direction (towards town) to explore. This was a very odd journey. It reminded me of 1984 (the novel!) with obscenely loud announcements/chants from loudspeakers on lamposts, and with me looking (and feeling!) dramatically out of place as the only obvious foreigner in the area. I reached another beach, which was slightly more aesthetically pleasing, but the grazing cows on a random tuft of grass still made for a peculiar scene!

Alleppey, set, go!

(Written 18.00, 09.10.2013)

I am currently watching the Sun-God descend in very attractive fashion as the houseboat is being docked for the night. A lot of hype had been created around the Alleppey Backwaters houseboat. At the beginning, surrounded by murky-looking waters and grey clouds, I was not on board with the concept. This feeling, however, was eradicated when we hit the Alleppey canals. There was a particular period during which I was steering the boat, old Hindi songs were blaring, the sun was beaming down on the palm trees either side of the canal, and I started to understand the joy of this life! The food that they cooked on the boat was really nice too - some completely new dishes to me. They have this great system in which each boat cooks a few dishes in bulk, and then they share between the boats. The experience has lived up to the hype so far! (The abundance of insects is not ideal, and has got me smacking myself in a frenzy trying to reduce the biting population.)  

After reaching the hotel yesterday (day before houseboat day), I made some friends! An Irish couple, an Australian woman and their funny tour guide, who was very unsuitably named Charles. We went for a boat ride this morning to an island called Pathiramanal. As we got off the boat without the guide it felt like the beginning of a horror movie. Luckily we were back on the boat before anything could go wrong. As we all know, in the absence of a black person I would have been first to go! That being said, the scene I currently find myself in also resembles a cabin in the woods...

Fun fact-ish: the captain of the boat told me that there are 1500 boats on the Alleppey Backwaters!

Elephant showers bring May flowers

It has been a remarkably memorable day in Thekkady. My freshest memory is of Kathakali, which means "story-play". I walked out at the end of the performance thoroughly disturbed and accepting that nightmares would be spicing up my sleep tonight. The story showcased a woman trying to make a man kiss her. He persistently refused, and then she reappeared at the back of the hall as a screaming demon (making two children in the audience cry). I could not get my head around it until I found out that this was just a small chapter of a bigger story. Relief! I don't think my explanation here has done justice to how horrified I was feeling when I was watching the show. Yes, apparently I am a narrow-minded racist! That being said, the other show of the evening, Kalaripayattu ("the mother of all martial arts"), was very impressive and entertaining. Religion, swords, fire and petrol - powerful combination. 

The morning started off with more spectacular landscapes on the way out of Munnar. We were in the clouds! I literally could not stop taking photos for the first forty minutes of the drive, mesmerised by the fifty shades of green. Oooooo...

Thekkady is known for its spice and coffee plantations. I had an interesting tour around Evergreen Spices and Ayurvedic Garden. They seemed to have remedies for everything! The tour included medicinal chillies for lowering cholesterol, a seriously spiky fruit for curing snake poison, and also "Here is a treehouse, climb it".

I debated for some time whether it was acceptable to visit Elephant Junction, where elephants are kept in captivity. I went along to check it out, and the elephants seemed solid and nicely looked after. This was good because the elephant shower was an unbelievable experience! Having an elephant launch a trunk-load of water at you while you sit on its back is something special! Strange that when a human spits water at me it's not so fun.

To tea or not to tea?

Eravikulam National Park was incredible! It's peak is at 2,695m, which is the highest point in India south of the Himalayas, and as such the views of the jigsaw puzzle tea plantations and the eucalyptus trees below were very special. It houses the Nilgiri tahr (a goat-like animal) that is supposed to be as rare as the Bengal tiger. I, of course, treated sightings of this animal as though I were living Pokemon. Between the landscape, the wildlife, the blue sky and the crisp fresh air, I think this was one of the most attractive scenes I have ever seen - second only to beach sunsets!

The other main highlight of the day was seeing the procedure behind turning tea crops into drinking tea at the Kannan Devan Tea Museum. Munnar town and the surrounding roads seem to only exist because of the vast tea plantations. Now no one can quote me on ever saying "Boy, that's a good smelling tea", but today the fragrance of tea in the museum was GOOD! They should package that and sell it as tea de toilette! The tour guide went on to say that no one apart from the Chinese and Japanese really know how to make tea. Oh right. 

Later on, from the speed boat, we saw a family of wild elephants through the towering eucalyptus trees! That's the sort of place Munnar is! 

Munnar Bhai

The long drive from Athirappilly to Munnar was spiced up by a couple more waterfalls and some skilful near-misses as we ascended the steep hills of the Idukki district. Reminiscent of the drive to Minali many years ago, I was grateful that these were hills rather than mountains allowing the morning's poori-masala to stay inside me. It was very nice, but not that keen for a second taste.

That's disgusting, Prashant. 

Apologies.

I am now in the vicinity of the hotel having lunch at a nearby restuarant. Munnar seems very cool so far. A lot of interesting plantations of mainly tea, but also cinnamon, eucalyptus and others. These vast crops on the hills were the makings of highly picturesque landscapes. So much so that there were spots labelled "View Point" on the way up! Apparently a lot of Chennai Express was shot in Munnar and Shah Rukh Khan stayed in a hotel called Silver Tips very close to mine!

I did some exploring in the evening and found the tranquil and eye-soothing Hydel Park (opposite of eyesore?). People call Munnar a Green Paradise, and so far it seems fair. Tomorrow is a full day of sightseeing. Surely tea plantations can't be that exciting? Find out after the break.

 

All Falls Down

Driving out of Athirappilly, I get a last sight of the lush greenery that surrounds the road. I was excited about the few banana trees that I saw in Kochi - well, now the nature has hit! Welcome to the jungle (is what I would say to myself if I wasn't currently departing from this place). 

Athirappilly is mainly famous for its waterfalls, and after seeing them I understand why! Standing about 10m from the bottom of the waterfall for nearly two hours, I got soaked! In my very brief video diary I described it as being on Tidal Wave (Thorpe Park ride) constantly. Again this was some exaggeration. That being said, I was loving it and acting like I was shooting for a Tresemme advert. I also took this opportunity to refine my selfie* skills.

In the evening I found a great spot on a rock in the middle of a river to sit and read. Unfortunately it got dark rapidly again, and preferring not to present myself as a meal for mosquitoes and/or other monsters of the wild, I returned to the hut.

*A "selfie" is a photograph for which the photographer is the same person as the subject. It is usually used for Facebook profile picture purposes. 

Kochi Part 2

3rd October

Ahead of a full day of sightseeing, I was refueled with some nice oothapam and sambar. Despite this being my first visit to the South India, the food was not new to my buds, as I spend the bulk of my waking hours at Sarvana Bhavan*.  

Kochi is composed of three main parts: two islands (Fort Kochi and Willingdon Island) and mainland India (Ernakulam). Ernakulam has developed into a business town and accordingly the traffic is ridiculous. Willingdon Island is fundamentally a navy island, and at the shipyard I saw India's first homemade navy boat! Apparently until now they have been buying from China and Russia. Finally, Fort Kochi is seen as the "real Kochi" or "old Kochi" having maintained the original culture. Surprisingly (or not?) this is also home to most of the tourist attractions.

The attractions of Kochi are mainly religious monuments. Whether or not these count as God's creations, thus reinforcing the image of "God's own country", is a debate I shall have with myself at another time. The tour included the Paradesi Synagogue on Synagogue Lane in Jew Town (impressive only for being built in 1568), Mattancherry Palace (known for its murals of Ramayan and Raja portraits - built 1555), Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica (a very large, colourful church), and St. Francis Church (a contrastingly depressing church, but the oldest in India - built 1503). The 1500s seem to have been a golden age for builders in Kochi, but it was also the century of colonial struggle, particularly with the Portuguese and the Dutch. I also saw the Chinese Fishing Nets, which may seem insignificant compared with the religious monuments above, but were also impressive and very important for the livelihood of many Fort Kochi residents. ⊙

By the end of all this I felt like I had been in a triple history lesson, so I decided to head back over to Marine Drive in the evening to watch the sun set over Vembanad Lake. Funsets never seem to get old!

* Vast exaggeration.

⊙ The source for a lot of this information was the driver, Mr Sunil. He has a similar facial profile to Will.I.Am, so I believe what he says.

Kochi Part 1

2nd October

On the drive from the airport to the hotel I began to understand Kerala being described as "God's Own Country" because it is primarily made of natural spectacles. Kochi itself, however, seems to be the business capital of Kerala and so has a nice fusion of attractive nature and architecture. Had a little wander on Marine Drive tonight, which seems like a nice place to relax. Unfortunately it appears that I don't understand how quickly Earth rotates so I only caught the very end of the sunset! 

Hyperabad/Flight (Hyd-Kochin)

Monday and Tuesday were so packed out I didn't even have the time to drop a few words on my phone! On Monday I had my first experience of target shooting (pistol and rifle), and also my first (and most likely last ever) experience of shooting big bore at a 300m target. The 300m precision gun had full range of 1200m, and was similar to a sniper rifle. The feeling of that power at effectively the click of a button was crazy! Apparently I was some sort of natural, as the coach started asking who I was! Hmm... Saw lots of military facilities, some drills and began to understand the pride of representing a nation in the army. Again these were brought to life with an array of intense stories.  

I also saw Apu Di's school, which was really impressive both in aesthetics and attitudes (from what I could gauge). Very colourful and positive feel, quite different to any school I have seen in UK. We watched The Lunch Box in the evening and to add to my previous encounter of an Indian cinema, there was a man next to me asleep throughout the whole film with his bare feet on the seat in front! 

On Tuesday, I saw the hugely contrasting old city and new city ("High-tech city"). Charminar and the Nizam Palace gave me some insight into the historical significance of Hyderabad. 

This chapter of the trip was also class*: first real insight into the military world, first impression of Hyderabad, some once-in-a-lifetime activities, and thoroughly well looked after by a very interesting and affectionate family.

Onboard IndiGo 6E-317 now, aisle seat, front row. LG.

I am excited in anticipation of this tour of South India. There has been great hype about "God's own country" (Kerala) so let's see how this goes.

*On reading back through I realise this is a pun because of how much I learnt in Hyderabad. Hah.