Advertisement
When I finally got back up to Ernakaulam, 3 hours after I was originally there!!! I finally lucked out that day and the bus going to the ferry to get to Fort Cochin was the first one I bumped into! ok it was a 10 minute journey but simple pleasures n all that.
Arrived and strudged with my backpack to the town...all in an effort to save money and get a bit of excercise.
Was met by a bloke who did the usual look at this hotel line, after taking me to a few that were full we finally got to another homestay. Despite the viscious dog experience last time I had still enjoyed the experience and decided that the room wasn't bad for the price, bathroom actually had a bath...bit ropey but still it had a bath!!
Can't remember the blokes name, but he then took me off to find a gym in town! Once every two weeks...not bad! Visited a couple and opted for the government run one as it was semi open air and free as I only wanted to use it for a couple of days.
Blokey then took us down to the
Malaytor
Dodgy day turned good! locals bar where I bought him a few beers to say cheers and we arranged to go off to an elephant training camp the next day. He was spinning the usual yarn about being mates, was a little concerned it would end up costing me a fortune. Had to broach the subject, so said to him that I'd love to go, but that I couldn't afford to pay for both of us. Had no idea how much this trip was going to cost...to which he was pretty cool, just said I could shout him lunch...cool!
Later I went back to my room and he invited himself in...got a bit worried as he sat on the bed with two beers inside of him, looking a bit pissed I decided it was time for him to leave, yawned and told him to bugger off!
He turned up dead on 10 as agreed and we headed out to the bus stand....5 buses later and me having paid for both fares all the way we get to the elephant training centre!! I can see a pattern emerging here! Elephant centre was crap...I don't know what I expected but it wasn't elephants tied
up with chains only a foot long and rocking backwards and forwards in frustration. So after about 5 mins I looked round...got thouroughly pissed off at the conditions the animals were in and made to leave...can't believe that place is on a proper tourist trip.
In an attempt to hold true to our agreement I suggested he pay for the return journey's...which he obviously pulled a face at. Got to the next town and he suggested that we go to a place called Malyatoor where there was a festival taking place. Another 5 buses later we arrived and made the massive trek up the hill, this place was obviously a Catholic shrine as all the way up there were loads of icons from the bible. Apparently Jacob had been on the hill...Turned out at the top of the hill we were just in time for the culmination of the festival, where loads of people ran down the hill with ruppees on their head wrapped in cloth...don't understand why, but they did it.
Headed back down after the masses had gone first, lost blokey for a bit and then found him again...another mass of buses back at which point
I decided I best pay for as 1) it was bugger all anyway and 2) the bloke had taken me there!! Ok I was being tight, but the caution was with good reason as you end up getting ripped off so often, especially by those who suggest hotels to stay in. Finally got back about 9.00pm, think he got a bit pissed off though as he wasn't the fittest of guys and we ended up running for the last ferry and he was trailing behind. Plus, despite the festival being a real find, the day was marred by the number of buses we had to catch.
Walked back to the guest house as it wasn't that far especially this time without a backpack, again strop was evident as I think he wanted me to pay for a rickshaw for him....at which point I lost him as I was chatting away with a copper who was coming over to the fort to play 5 a side footy for the forces team.
Despite a bad morning, a bit of a strained day conversation wise, and the shed load of buss, the day didn't turn out too bad. Seeing the festival
was wicked and it didn't cost too much even when paying for both of us...not least that he took the time to take me out there!
Next day left the guesthouse early to have a look at the Chinese fishing nets and to make sure blokey didn't come round to make another day of it. First set of nets I came to the fishermen offered me to pull the nets up with them...a little suspect, but still I thought sod it maybe this time.....wrong...ruppees were requested and handed over...still the photos not bad.
The afternoon was spent wandering around the shops in Jew Town...back to the old pressure of the shop keepers in the north...Some of the stuff was amazing, shame I've no house to put it in...plus keepsake shopping is planned for Delhi.
In the evening I decided to take in a bit of culture and watch a Kathakali performance, which is performed by only men and takes years of training to learn all the different hand movements, there's no dialogue as such, all the moods are expressed by facial and hand expressions. I arrived early for the makeup session, it takes an 1.5 hours to get ready! The performances normally last hours or so, so they only perform a section of the show for tourists. Pretty cool, although an hour was enough...filerstein!!
After some deliberation I decided that I wanted to head toward the beach again, via the backwaters so off to Allepey I went...dimwit mode came into effect again...went all the way to Ernakulum bus stand...so that's a rickshaw journey to the jetty, a ferry ride and another rickshaw journey...to then go through fort cochin bus stand on the way out...about 5 mins from the guest house...doh!
Met a lovely French couple on the bus down...they cleverly asked at their hotel and got on at Cochin bus stand instead of the trek into town.
Arrived in Allepey about 2 hours later and got a room sorted through the Tourist office for the 1st time, which turned out pretty good. In the evening I headed down to the beach...packed with indian tourists. Bumped into the French couple on the beach and headed back into town for something to eat.
Next day headed off on the tourist cruise to Kollam (8 hours through the backwaters), didn't fancy doing the houseboat cruise on my own, instead I decided to visit the hugging mothers ashram....Amma! Now that was an experience!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0462s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb