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Published: March 5th 2015
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Calling the pigeons at the Jain temple
Well, I guess it is over a week since my last post. In that time, we have gone from Kollum to Allepy by ferry through the back waters. The ride took 8 hrs but took us through some very magnificent scenery, and a view of the day to day life of people that live along the backwaters. They do all their daily chores in the river, everything from bathing to washing clothes and dishes. Very interesting. The ferry stopped part way for a "coffee break" where we were able to sample some different snack foods. We had deep fried bananas and a few other things sweet things that I couldn't identify, but they tasted good!
We arrived in Allepy late in the evening and went straight to our hotel. This was the first place where we have run into a problem with a hotel, so we had to make other accomodation arrangements and move on. So we only stayed in Allepy over night and got a bus the next morning for Fort Kochi. It is great here, we arrived on Mon and plan to stay until Sat. It is a very historical town with lots of sights to see and
places to explore. There is a beautiful seaside walk-way where we go every evening to watch the sunset. We are simply enjoying the ambiance of this place and the varied food options. We are staying in a wonderful homestay and enjoying the lovely gardens and wonderful breakfast they put on in the morning.
We hired an auto-rickshaw for one morning to take us to see all the important spots in town. We had a very good driver who spoke english very well and he took us to some unusual places. First stop, the dobi ghats (laundry), which much to our surprise turned out to be very interesting. He explained all the details of what was happening. Each little laundry company has it's own stall and clothes line in the compound. Laundry is done by hand in huge tubs with men standing in the water beating the clothes on a cement block. The driver then took us to the Jain Temple and told us to wait for half an hour and we would have a surprise. Well surprised we were when a man came through beating a huge pot followed by men carrying sacks of grain. As the pot was
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random cow on the street being beaten, pigeons began to gather and the congregation of the temple began to feed them, an amazing site (see pictures). He took us to many other places and the two hour tour turned into four. The charge for the morning-100 Rupies ( $2.00) That is what he quoted at the beginning for two hours and that is what he stuck with even after four hours(but we actually paid him 300 Rupies because of the extra time, and he was so good. Still a bargain at $6.00) Labour here is very cheap and he was absolutely thrilled with the extra we gave him.)
On Sat we will move on into the hills towards Munnar. We will stop for one night in a small town on the way to stay at a homestay where we will join the family for birdwatching in the jungle. Looking forward to that and a little break from the heat.
So, till next post I wish you all well.
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