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The homestay experience was excellent...despite being bitten by the bloody dog! Bit of stress after that...frantically looked through LP and my medical kit to see what it said about rabies. LP pretty much said I'd have to go home...and the medical kit told me I needed to get jabs straight away before the symptons came on as when they start to show it's too late Quickly got all the jabs, however I was assured by Anoop, the homestay owner that he had been bitten many times (and recently) and there was nothing to worry about! Not foaming at the mouth yet. Bloody dog was a spoilt little git. It was Anoops mums dog and it was very pampered....I saw her picking the fleas out of it's hair!
Met a few girls from Henley and a lad from Slough, who were all travelling together pre uni. We all went on a walk with Anoop, it was a bit pricey but it was going to a good cause. Anoop is a eccentric, dope smoking eco warrior, who is setting up an elephant sanctury on his families land, so we didn't mind paying a bit more. He even showed us the account where
all the money was going.
The storey goes that he was a bit of a waster...tended to smoke a lot of dope and didn't really do much work. He gained a lot of experience in tribal ways living out in the villages for a couple of years. In that time, the rest of the family had sold off their land, however as he wasn't really in communicardo with them he never signed the papers and as the eldest son he therefore still has rights over the land...which has now been returned to him! His luck didn't end there...a American friend of his unfortunately died of Malaria...he knew the guy as he had worked for him doing tours in Rajesthan for tourists. In the guys will he had left him the tour business and all the assets. So now he was set up to really go places. 9 jeeps and a good company rep to his name he's got some big plans...but all with an eco slant.
From Madikeri I headed off to the Tibetan Settlements on the reccomondation of the guys I'd met. They were right...it was like being in a different country. Loads of Tibetan Monks around.
Was a bit weird though as I didn't expect to see Monks with mobiles, especially not the Motorola Razr, that and the internet cafe was packed full of Monks, I waited 45 mins for a PC!...the guy running it was watching the cricket live on his PC...he was more a techy than some of the guys I seen in the rest of India....weird....but why not!?! Met a Tibetan Monk and chatted to him about what life was like in the Monastery, which as he was only 19 wasn't much different to normal school. They don't start to learn the Budhist philosophy until they are 20/21 so I knew more about it than him. He'd been sent there by his parents at the age of 8, I asked him if he minded leaving home so young and without knowing what he was going to, obviously he said he didn't want to go...but he really likes it now and he wants to go back to Tibet to teach.
Next day in some attempt to catch another festival...I'd got in the spirit of it all since Hampi....I headed off to Trichur, with the plan to go to a festival about 40K outside of the town. This all seemed like too much hassle after arriving early morning...still I headed down to the Tourist office and scoped out a plan...which I then decided to sack off as it was all too much effort, too hot and no guarantee of a big festival. Spent the afternoon at the archaeological museum, which was pretty interesting and with free guides...bonus! Then got myself a hair cut with the usual head massage and as I had been growing a bit of beard after the hair cut my beard was longer than my hair...so out came the clippers and a trim of the face was had! A first!
As non hindu's aren't allowed in the temple in Trichur, and there's not much else to do in the town...I had some time to kill and decided another gym visit would be good....crazy..but good. Usual rough and ready gym..but it does the job. Once again the novelty of a foreigner in the gym caused a bit of a stir, I was even challenged to an arm wrestle. I lost...but it was right at the end of my workout...well that's my excuse.
Decided that if I was still in Kerela I might head back up to Trichur for the Pooram, which is on the 7th May. Stayed that night and next day I caught the train to Cochin. Missed the stop...went another hour south and arrived 3 hours later than planned...brilliant!
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