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Published: March 4th 2013
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J:
Mumbai is huge. Twice the size of London and with people absolutely everywhere. It felt like every space large enough to occupy a person contained one.
We had two days in Mumbai so we walked around the city and took in local cricket matches at Maiden Oval, admired Mumbai harbour from athe Gateway of India and had lunch at the famous Leopald's. We sneaked into the regal Taj Palace hotel for a look around and watched the sun go down over Chowpatty Beach.
An endearing quality of Mumbai was that the most impressive architecture was found not in museums or private residences, but in public service buildings. The Post Office and Mumbai University were both very grand and the main train terminal, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, was spectacular.
Mumbai to Goa was twelve hours by train and a world away. Goa was perfect. Lush green palm trees fringed a soft, pale beach which arced between headlands. Gentle waves lapped against the sand underneath a sunny and cloudless sky. We arrived in late afternoon and were treated to a mellow pink sunset before cocktails as the evening arrived.
We stayed in a quietish beach in south Goa
called Palolem. Although small, it had a great beach, several decent restaurants and bars and even a Café Coffee Day – the Indian Stackbucks Holly had developed a minor addiction to. (H: In my defence, the coffee was nothing like Starbucks but magical and delicious).
We spent most of our days reading or napping on the beach or at many of the beachside cafés. In fact, although we spent longer in Goa than anywhere else in India we probably did less exploring.
After about five days of inactivity we raised ourselves enough to kayak to Patnem, the next beach along from Palolem, with Ben and Elaine, a Kiwi/Irish couple we met on our train from Mumbai to Goa. Patnem was another postcard beach, although quieter than Palolem. We headed back then met up again for dinner and in the interim Ben had got his first tattoo. Only after finishing did the tattooist told Ben he had to avoid contact with sand and water – ideal for a place like Goa. We ate and drank and released lanterns for our last night in Palolem.
We're now about nine-tenths through our Asia travels, and at about the same point
through our trip through South America Holly managed to injure a toe badly enough to require medical treatment. True to form, on our last day in Goa she broke a toe on her left foot and spent the next week in some pain hobbling from place to place.
We took the train down to Cochin in Kerala. Kerala is hotter still than Goa and is fragmented into several large interconnected islands. We stayed at a homestay inside a mini-jungle. The couple who run it treated us as they would their own children and looked out for us, make us breakfast and teas and generally offered Holly lot of sympathy for her broken toe. When we eventually left, Holly hugged Sheeba, the landlady, and I thought they were both about to burst into tears.
We met countless other people in Kerala who went out of their way to help. For example, we tried to buy water from a shop but didn't have small enough change so the shop keeper suggested we take it and pay him back when we could, which was remarkably trusting for transient visitors he'd never seen before.
On the waterfront of Fort Cochin peninsula
sit an emblem of old time Kerala – huge lever operated Chinese fishing nets which required teams of several men to operate. The fish they caught was brought up and carried all of ten metres where fishmongers crowded around and auctioned each catch. These fishmongers then took their purchases another 15 metres to their stalls where they were sold on again to consumers. One lunchtime I bought a red snapper from one of these stalls and took it across the road to a BBQ stand where they cooked it and served it. All in all my dinner was only dead for a matter of hours and travelled less than 50 metres from sea to stomach. Talking of food, I don't think we had a single meal in Fort Cochin that wasn't excellent. From chicken kati wraps, mango fish curries and chicken lucknowi to masala dosas and banana and coconut pancakes it was all delicious.
In Cochin I was surprised to see a learner driver practising. Partly because it dawned on me that he was the first learner driver I'd seen in all of Asia, but mostly that the manic vehicular free-for-all that occupied the roads was actually taught at
all.
Whilst the majority of India is Hindu, Fort Cochin is very Christian for the most part. Churches abound and images of Jesus are everywhere. Our homestay was even called Green Woods Bethlehem. There was even a Jewish community in nearby Mattancherry. On afternoon we headed over to Mattancherry and spent an afternoon exploring the Dutch Palace, the Synagogue in Jew Town and wandered around the markets in stifling heat. We found a nearby art display housed in a characterful dilapidated building containing some interesting exhibits from India's Biennale show which happened to be on in Kerala while we were passing.
We next took a boat trip through Kerala's backwaters to see more of the rural side of the state. Kerala is much greener than anywhere we've been in India so far, and gently punting down the serene natural canals was the height of relaxation. So much so that we both fell asleep. Once we awoke the boat stopped several times - for lunch, at a coconut rope making shop and a spice plantation.
From our cruise we saw many local villagers and fishermen going about their daily lives. Most men were bare-chested and wore a sheet
wrapped around their waist. I couldn't help but think that they had all just jumped out of the shower as we floated by.
Our guide pointed out a fruit called Mangoa which contains a deadly dose of cyanide, and is used locally for herbicide, pesticide and suicide. I made a mental note not to confuse Mango with Mangoa next time I was in Tesco's. On our way back Holly was gently trailing her fingers in the water until we saw a river snake swim across us – it seems the serene backwaters have a dangerous side to them as well.
Madurai wasn't on our original itinerary and in truth we only went there as it was the cheapest place to fly into Sri Lanka from, but when we arrived we found out the city was as old as Ancient Rome and was centred around the Sri Meenakshi Temple – possibly the finest we'd seen in India so far. The temple was surrounded by a imposing wall topped by four impressive towers carved with people, animals and gods in magnificent detail and colour. It was so good we walked the perimeter twice in one day.
Our travels in
India have come to an end and whilst it's sad to say goodbye I'm sure we'll be back again someday. Next stop Sri Lanka!
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