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Published: January 2nd 2014
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27th December
A longish journey today though Bala had several things to show us on the way which added to the time. We had only been on the van for a few minutes and the we stopped at a small temple which had some huge statues, 2 huge horses guarded the entrance which wouldn't have looked out of place on a fairground carousel.
We came to a place making bricks, a tiny lady was mixing up and handling the clay into moulds which held 4 at a time then removing the mould and moving on to repeat, they stayed in the sun for a while to harden and then taken to this tall barn where they were fired, the tiny lady seemed to be the only one working, Bala made sure we gave this lady some money rather than the men who would probably use it for drink. We passed fields full of jasmine which they use a lot in garlands and oils though 5000 tons are exported daily for perfume making mainly. There were lots of paddy fields, sometimes lines of women planting... Back breaking.
We crossed the border into Kerala, as always there are forms for
the driver and tolls to be paid, we have lost count of the tolls we have been through, sometimes it looks like a toll booth at home and sometimes it's a little shack and sometimes a little man appears from nowhere demanding payment.
Kerala is known for spices and we visited a spice garden which was interesting though the lady taking us round was a bit bossy, you had to give her your full attention, you were not allowed to use the camera when she was speaking. They had lotions and potions made out of all sorts of herbs to cure everything you can imagine and she went into great detail of how much you should take, how to take it and for how long and then you would be cured, funny our GPs don't use it!
For the first time we saw tea plantations, acres and acres of it making pretty patterns with the shapes of the bushes on the sides of the mountains. In one field they were being trimmed with special cutters that didn't cut too much away and most of the workers were wearing umbrella hats for shade. Opposite was an attractive church, a
place of pilgrimage. There was a poor elephant on the back of a truck looking so sad. Kerala have many elephants that are trained and used for festivals and celebrations and the festival season was just getting under way so we saw a few being transport, his m......, handler, was sleeping on the floor beside him. Next we drove through a huge rubber plantation, nobody about as apparently they are all on strike.
Our hotel tonight was on an island in the Kerala backwaters, we knew it was a boat transfer and when we got there we could see a long thin rowing boat and a long thin motor cruiser..... Please let it be the motor cruiser...... It wasn't though our particular boat did have an engine. Us 4 and luggage get in and with the aid of Tom our boatman, we get to the other side. The hotel is a family home and has been in the family for 7 generations. There was only 5 bedrooms, Jane and Pete had the deluxe suite, Sal and Col had the old granary and had to climb up 3 big steps to crawl into bed..... That was fun in the night
when nature was calling and another first we had outdoor bathrooms, again, that was interesting in the night when nature called, nothing like sitting there and looking at the stars. After our dinner 2 local men came and sang which was lovely.
28th December
The next day and night we were on a houseboat which collected us from our hotel and sailed around the backwaters, sounds so lovely and tranquil but half of the time it was like the M25 on a bad day, far too many boats doing the same thing, however, we had a chance to do NOTHING! Our mantra on this holiday has become, we can sleep in January! We sat and watched the world go by, trying to spot birds, we had some really good food served up and though the accommodation had seen better days, it was fine and we enjoyed it, it was over too quick and Bala was there to take us on our way. There were 3 crew and one of them brought his 7 year old grandson on board and sang us a couple of songs which was sweet.
29th December
Next stop was Cochin. We stopped
to have a look at the laundry, people slogging away at washing, drying, ironing, folding. We got talking to a man working here who spoke such good English, he said he spoke 4 languages and always kept a smile on his face, he brought a lump to our throats.
Our hotel was very nice, modern and new with a lovely pool which we took advantage of before meeting our guide Anwar. There are many thin people in India but this guy was tall and extremely thin. We were staying In the old town and most of the tourist sites were nearby. We visited a church that still had large fabric fans that would have been wafted over the congregation, then on to the Dutch Palace and synagogue, India really does embrace every religion. We then went to the seafront where the Chinese fishing nets are, these are a big draw for crowds though sadly they really are just for tourists today as there are few fish in what is now a busy port, the area was full of hawkers and also full of rubbish, our guide said it got washed up here but much of it was just litter,
we watched people just drop their rubbish when they have finished with it, such a shame not to clean it up.
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Hilary
non-member comment
Kerala...
Did you have the 'special' tea in Kerala, aka the 'dry' state? The m....word you're after is mahoot! We're off tomorrow, Friday, but will be in touch. Gave a good journey homeward bound- can't wait to catch up! XX