Week 31, Alleppey to Munnar, India

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,
Well we have been truly amazed by India this past week. The Southern Indian state of Kerala is so diverse and has so much to offer. We started the week in Fort Cochin, a colonial seaside fort area with quaint streets and nice and quiet. Here we saw the old Chinese fishing nets, crane like structures built out over the water to lift the nets in and out of the water. They take half a dozen men to operate and we saw one in operation. We also went to an evening of local Kathakali dance. They have great costumes and musicians play and sing along as the actors act out the story. I also went to a demonstration of Kalarippayat, the local version of martial arts, which use poles, knives, swords and shields and a nasty looking weapon consisting of three or more flexible blades, three or more feet in length and whirled around ones head to lacerate and otherwise assail your opponent.

On the Wednesday we left Fort Cochin by taxi and went down to Alleppey, the backwater country as they call it. It’s an inland lake and canal waterway system running a couple of hundred km up and down the coast. Some of it is reclaimed land that is used to grow rice and other crops. The canals run around the reclaimed land that is about one or two metres below water level. Anyway this is an Ideal area for house boating. We hired a boat for three days and two nights. The boat consisted of two bedrooms (aircon) and a dinning and lounge area open at the front and an upstairs veranda and viewing platform. We had a crew of three people looking after us. Needless to say we were fed well with three meals a day plus morning and afternoon tea with fried banana. The scenery around this area is real picture book stuff, every time we turned around there was something more amazing to look at. We passed duck hearders, duck farms, men climbing coconut trees, barges which are more like big canoes loaded to the gunnels with produce or sand, building materials, you name it. Even the mundane things like washing bathing, going to school were interesting to see. This is defiantly in our top 5 things of great stuff to do.

Well all great things must come to an end and we stayed overnight in a local homestay, a bit of a letdown after the houseboat, but we managed. Saturday we moved on north and into the hills on Munnar, a hill station area now holiday spot high up in the cool of the mountains about 1500 m up. It’s also a big tea growing area. The drive up here is truly a unique sight, after the coming through the heavy jungle areas on the way up the mountain you suddenly come around a corner and there are hills as far as you can see all neatly manicured tea plantations, it’s a fabulous sight. Well more about Munnar next week.

I have made a few video of our India experience so far but have been unable to post them despite India having a big silicon valley, IT reputation, they have the worst internet facilities we have come across yet. The connections are so slow and unreliable. We also bought a sim card here for our phone, a Vodaphone card and it has also provided terrible service. I’ll post the video’s as I am able.

All the best Ric & Louise

Week 30, Bangalore to Cochin, India

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,
The first of November spells seven months on the road and also our trip to India. We flew into Bangalore on Tuesday night. I was a straight forward flight and no problems finding our accommodation. The airport in Bangalore is brand new as well as the roads in and out which leads you into a false sense of security.

First impressions of India are: It’s like Asia but much more intense, everything is more crowded, dirtier, the driving crazier. But it’s amazing in another way that there is some structure to the craziness, not that I can spot it though. All the women are dressed to beautiful saris of amazing colours. The markets are so colourful and vivid despite the squalor surrounding it. We started at the flower market where they prepare the flower offerings, threading thousands of flowers onto thread, and selling them by the strand or by weight. Then on to the spice market with huge mounds of colourful spices. Then followed by clothing, extraordinary colour and variety of Sari’s, Salwar’s and Kameez. And of course you can’t go to the markets without seeing the produce, once again colourful, exotic and with intense aromas.

Our hotel, the Cassa Picola Cottage is a small sanctuary away from the madness of the streets outside and they have a restraint attached. We ate out at a restaurant for lunch one day, at a vegetarian place. You don’t need to order as they bring you everything on the menu, but just small portions, talk about a taste sensation. It cost us $15 per person and that is an expensive place. We are told that Bangalore is a good tame introduction to India and that we should multiply our experiences by 10 for the rest of India. Bangalore is also home to all those call centres that bug you on the phone during your evening meal and also said to be the Silicon Valley of India so they are quite affluent compared to the rest of India.

Saturday we caught an overnight bus to the southern province of Kerala to Cochin, an inland waterway area. We arrived today at Fortcochin a seaside area with quaint colonial Portuguese and Dutch architecture. We intend to do a house boat trip here and also visit a Hill Station area and National park areas to wash some Elephants in the river.
All the best for now.
Ric & Louise