Blogs from Kollam, Kerala, India, Asia - page 4

I am getting a bit bored here.. it could very well be the lack of company... but also, I realized the south is not the India I wanted to see.. Given 6 months- 1 year.. I would relax and visit everything.. But I have 2 weeks left and need to prioritize what I want.. Kerala is beautiful.. coastal tropical area.. Many many beautiful temples.. all green, slow pace life, straw huts.. beach living.... which is all fine and dandy, but it's not what IM looking for. I am going to book a plane right to Varanassi to see the Ganges River for a few days.. the oldest city in history.. known also for the daily burning corpse.. and am advised not to be surprised if you see a dead body floating around... many old people come ... read more

I left Varkala early morning to catch the train just 30 minutes to the hectic little city of Kollam. I decided to leave as my shoulder pain is getting better. I travelled on the lowest class, squeezing on a bench with 5 people on it, even though it was meant for 3. This carriage is more crowded and has beggars jumping on and off at each station. Travelling in this class is a great way to experience how the majority of ndians travel. As I sat on my seat, beside an Indian family I had someone come up and sing to me, looking for a few spare rupees. I just gave all my rupees to the last little beggar girl so this guy is out of luck. He was a short man, just under 5 feet ... read more

That is exactly many signs say all over the state of Kerala...."God's Own Country". At first I was thinking it meant the same thing we do when we say we live in "God's Country"...meaning it is a wonderful place to stay. But, here it has multiple meanings, at least to me. First, it is like one might expect the Garden of Eden to be like, luscious, with tropical trees and flowers. Second, in some places you can see a church on one corner, a shrine on another and a mosque right there too. Third, if you take it to mean the Christian God, well there are plenty of them here and they 'ain't' doing bad. I would say this may be the most prosperous state I have been in (although some of the cities, especially Bangalore, ... read more

After the our last, long-winded blog we thought that we would give you a nice relaxing cruise along the Kerala Backwaters. We stayed the night in Allepy which bills itself as the Venice of India. While the place holds a higher esteem for itself than we did, it was not entirely without charm. The real purpose of an Allepy visit is to get out on the backwaters in a special houseboat with a cook and captain (bathroom too). Some of the boats are huge and have four bedrooms and satellite tv. Ours, named Moonshine, was more humble but did the trick. The cruise is slow and relaxing with little to do but look out at the occasional village, read and dip one's feet in the water. A nice swim would have been great, but we weren't ... read more

Benvenuti ad Amritapuri, due palazzoni di cemento da 15 piani nel mezzo di una laguna con palme a perdita d'occhio, uno scempio edilizio per far posto al famoso ashram di Amma, la unica guru femminile dellIndia, quella che abbraccia anche 2000 persone in un giorno solo!!! Spinti dalla curiosita' di sapere cosa si fa in un ashram (o piu' che altro cosa ci fanno cosi' tanti occidentali), ci siamo fermati una notte, lungo il tragitto per Kollam dove abbiamo esplorato gli splendidi canali delle backwaters. Subito abbiamo capito che non faceva per noi, ma ci abbiamo provato lo stesso... Un ashram e' una specie di monastero moderno, ce ne sono tanti in India, piu' o meno "rigidi", dove si studiano gli antichi testi filosofici indiani, si canta, si medita, si prega e si fa yoga.In questo ... read more