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Published: December 20th 2007
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fishermen
man hunt fish with spear I did, as expected, get stuck in Varkala in my room wiht the sea view.. but when I finally escaped the timing turned out to be perfect as a couple of days down the 'kerala traveller route' (I thought i was being clever but the lonely planet subliminally forces everyone to travel in the same direction - its spooky) I found my self in the big pink sky scraper ashram of Amma 'the hugging mother', with a lot of lovely people including a mad giggling kiwi (Angela), a big hairy german (Matteus) and the legend from jersey that is Josephione Gare.. We all stuck together on and off for the next week or so, slashing hotel room and rickshaw prices to the floor with our bargaining genius. Method: set a ridiculously low price, stick to it, and be prepared to spend the night spooning 3 other people.
Kerala is very beautiful - pretty backwaters along the coast and stunning mountains inland - and rolling hills covered in tea plantations that look a bit like piles of green pillows. The people in the mountains are refreshingly NOT BOTHERED by westerners, which means you can walk down a street without the chorus
boulder
this does no justice to the crazy boulder-ness of this landscape of 'come look in my shop' rickshaw madam?' etc. We arrived at a hill station called Munnar bang in the middle of a (I think shiva?) festival. This meant that rooms were scarce, grubby and expensive but we got to enjoy lots of music and street food and vinho de goa - bought from behind a cage down a back alley to gasps of 'women! buying alcohol! get them to the front of the queue and out of here quick!'. We were also treated to our very tall and hairy german (wearing about 5 headscarves around various bits of his body) spinning bangla-style in the centre of a group of much shorter, slighter gyrating indian men. A spectacle.
It was a bit of a shock going from supremely chilled out (and cool) Munnar back to the humid coast and Fort Cochin. An ex-portuguese colony, arriving here is a little bit like stepping into a mini europe - but hotter and with rickshaws. It was a bit of a culture shock to find myself sipping tea from a white cup and saucer in a cafe with a 'feature' table and pencil drawings on the walls after a few weeks of
grubby plastic tables and strip lighting. Thankfully we were able to find the indian part of town and have our fill of egg curry and parotha in the full heat and the company of cockroaches (if they get cooked in the dish but you dont eat them - does it count as vegetarian?). That all sounds disgusting but these are by far the best places to eat.. the alternative being overpriced (and to be honest - usually tasteless) tourist restaurants. The best are quite dark with maybe one strip light, and piles of deep fried stuff at the entrance next to the big chai pot. The kitchen has a big fire and lots of blackened pots and piles of vegetables - like Cinderella's kitchen should look like. There is usually one dish on offer and it is served by a very jolly man with a lot of re-fills (I am turning into parotha). I'm never sure if they are just generally jolly people, or if the spectacle of westerners coming in and trying to look like we know what we're doing just really tickles them.
The pantomime of Amy in a restaurant goes a bit like this: walk in: stand looking confused for a bit> sit down > oh shit the menus in hindi > man comes over > do you have chappatti? no. dosa? no. this goes on for a while. Until he probably gives up trying to explain what they have and we just decide on something vegetarian. The food comes in 2 seconds flat - oops supposed to wash hands > spend about 5 minutes trying to work the tap - it doesn't work you're supposed to use the big bucket of water next to it duh! > make a complete mess of eating with your hands and probably offend a lot of people by forgetting and eating with the left, all the time sweating profusely from the temperature of the air and the food and looking very uncomfortable. it goes on and its very entertaining for everyone. But also completely delicious!
Anyway.. cochin was a bit of luxury for a couple of days - waxing and pedicures, browzing the amazIng book shop and christmas shopping. Then we had to say goodbye to matty, and jo and i headed north by train to the beaches!! We arrived by fishing boat to find Jo's three english friends we'd met in cochin hanging monkey style out of a tree and a lot of other impossibly beautiful, and mostly naked people with big welcoming smiles and hugs. Spend a very surreal two weeks(ish) of sunbathing and swimming and reading and sleeping in my hammock outside my very own bamboo hut, maybe spectating the odd naked cricket or football match, and eating a lot of very very good fish curry. Oh and bonfires and parties and a professional violinist. It was very good
I managed to pick myself up a travelling clown on the beach (hi ed!) and we overnight bus-ed it on the most ill night I've had yet. My clown was very understanding and receptive to my frequency and consistency reports and we made to Hampi in more or less one piece. Hampi is basically a load of really really old ruined temples set in the most impressive landscape I think i have seen. Imagine miles upon miles of what looks like just piles of massive orange boulders. Like massive. and precariously balanced on top of one another. It is very popular with climbers who spend days trying over and over to climb different boulders depending on difficulty. My initiation to climbing ended with holes in my hands and, quite possibly, an addiction. Uh oh.
In other news - I am off to calcutta via 30 hour train ride tomorrow for christmas. Never fear I will be looked after when I get there and have even been invited to a christmas party - very excited at the prospect of mince pies - do you think this is asking too much? Anyway, lots of love to everyone, I hope this satisfys your curiousity. Thank you for all the lovely emails Ive had so far, and keep them coming! I will endeavor to be better at replying and writing this thing but you know that when Im really good at it it will mean Im not having so much fun..
Merry Christmas to everyone, hope it is full of cheer and much chocolate!
All my love, XXX Amy
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