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Published: April 3rd 2006
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Foremost a big Hello to everyone reading this and thanks to all! Emma and I are astounded by the interest so many people have shown in response to this little blog.
Since the last entry we ditched the idea of the 24 luxuriant hours on the houseboat 'cause a) it costs a fortune, and b) the reality of 24 hours on a small open air boat (insects!) & no A/C set in and so we opted for another option to get from Varkala to Allepey which involved a taxi to Kollam and taking the Tourist Ferry Cruise upriver. It follows the exact same path as the expensive tour but is with other travellers (in our case about 25 others), only takes 8 hours (in daylight, i.e. no insects!), and is a tenth of the price! The cruise passed out of Kollam into open water where we passed by local fisherman, rows of Chinese fishing nets, and mussel divers before entering the smaller canals whose banks were sparsly populated with little houses nestled among the endless coconuts palms. We also passed by numerous statues of Christ, palms open welcoming, a product of St. Thomas the Apostle coming here in 52 AD and
centuries of spice trade with Catholic countries. The cruise was relaxing but the novelty of the surroundings wore off after the first couple of hours and as we swiftly passed by the numerous semi-regal/semi-squalid privately hired houseboats Emma & i knew we'd made the right decision.
We arrived in Allepey shortly after dusk and went straight to a little hotel we'd arranged a night's stay at onboard the cruise. Not much to report about Allepey -a nice enough little market town on the canal, adequate for a night's stay. Up at 6am the following morning and onto another ferry. This one a local ferry bound for Kottayam where we'd arranged to share a taxi to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary with an Australian couple we'd met up with on the cruise, John and Kerrie. After we'd crammed all our luggage into a smallish car like university freshers cramming as many people as possible in a phone booth we headed into the hills of the Western Ghats; our destination just outside of Periyar, Kumily.
A 6 hour ride later of hairpin turns, suicidal oncoming buses, stunning vistas, and tea plantations we arrived at the wonderfull homestay John&Kerrie had arranged for us all. After
being somewhat cramped for so long we decided it was time to test out an Ayruvedic Indian massage. Lead from the reception of the massage centre to a big room with little partitioned rooms i was shown a cubicle and Ravi, the massuer, told to remove my clothes -all my clothes. Ravi then tied a string around my waist from which dangled a loin cloth of the measliest fabric in the front and tucked said cloth from the front, under and up(!), tied it in the back to make me look like a pathetic excuse for Tarzan. I was sat upon a stool and given a headmassage which consisted of pouring stinking herbal oil in my hair, hitting my head continuously like a barrage of falling coconuts, then yanking my hair till i yelped. Then i was told to lay upon the massage table on my front, Ravi undid my loin cloth, and there i lay bare-assed on the table with mounting fears of whether this was normal procedure or whether i was getting a special massage! I was then completely dosed in stinking herbal oil from head to toe and was soon sliding around the massage table as Ravi's
hands ran up and down my body....this did absolutely nothing to subdue my concern of that i was being put through some sort of sadistic Soho initiation ritual!! Much rubbing and painfull slapping later (cheeks and all) i was done with, told to shower off, and supposedly was meant to feel the better for it...if anything i felt used, violated and degraded. As a big fan of Thai massages i do not recommend the Indian massage for anyone.
The following morning up before dawn for a nice 7am stroll through the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Covering 777km2 and boasting between 36-80 tigers (depending who you ask), herds of elephants numbering in the hundreds, ox, bison, deer, leopards, monkeys, etc...Periyar is a beautiful tranquil tropical forest which was the inspiration for Kipling's Jungle Book. Though we didn't see any tigers (few people ever do) we saw courting elephants in the distance, monkeys, deer, and walked through grasses carpeted with thousands of frogs underfoot. Our guide pointed out some wonderful flora such as cinnamon and frankencense trees, elegana flowers....too much to mention. Following the morning walk we relaxed for the afternoon before taking a boat ride on the lake in the Sanctuary, then
had a delicious home cooked meal prepared by our host Babu and his wife Maria. Keralan cuisine is nothing like the Indian cooking we've all come to know and has Syrian influences and makes great use of the spices which the area is reknowned for: mustard seed, cardamon, all spice, tumeric, pepper.
Next day it was time to pack up and head back to the coast to Cochin. We had a pleasant journey through endless rubber tree plantations (despite being famous for its spices due to globalization the only cash crop which is a real money earner nowadays is rubber) in the back of an Ambassador car which is India's answer to London's black cabs. We arrived after dark in Cochin and sorted out a night's accomodation before bidding farewell to our driver who was turning around and making the same 7 hour journey back that night -a normal day's work for an Indian cabbie. The original port of call for European explorers on the Spice Route, Cochin has a colonial feel with European still 2 storey homes and communal greens to relax in and is quieter than most Indian cities we've seen so far...but it's hot and stiflingly humid!
Apparently we've been fortunate enough to come to India during an unusually hot spell and so we are evacuating Cochin asap and are hopefully headed 600kms north to the beaches of Goa -i say hopefully 'cause we're also fortunate enough to have arrived right at the beginning of summer holidays and most trains are completely sold out; lucky us, i hope our luck runs out soon!
Travelling with John&Kerrie has been fabulous. They're at the last week of a 6 week tour which started in the North. John a seasoned reported having been sent to Rwanda for the genocide and Indonesia for the Tsunami and this being his third trip to India was used to such conditions as India presents, Kerrie however, was having a bit of difficulty adjusting. We were told tales of disgust and revolt, of tear ridden days of exhaustion, and ultimately of resignation and humour prevailing. Emma found solace in Kerrie's experiences and is now feeling better armed to tackle the tests which Northern India has to offer; we can't wait to visit Fuckwittapur! We were fortunate to have met up with such like minded, like spirited people who both possess wonderful intellect and great senses
of humour.
Off to see if we indeed are able to evacuate from Cochin or if we're bound to be stuck here indefinitely. As we begin to head northwards our romantic notions of India have begun to be tempered with a dose of reality...it's hot&humid, poverty abounds, and there's 1 billiion people living here! India doesn't have the subtle luxuries, the tranquility and serenity, or the elegance of other destinations we've been to such as, say, Thailand...but then again India isn't really a vacation destination as such; the enjoyment of India is derived moreso from the love of travellin' than from India itself -so far.
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