Coconut heroics

---

Hi Everyone,

Well here we are again, wrestling with yet another emotionally challenged Indian computer - in a way, it is good to know that even machines each have their own little quirks and unpredictability.

Having sat in Alleppy bored out of our brains for a couple of days and unable to make any friends who would be prepared to be stuck on a boat with us for 24 hours (I know, I know, it IS hard to believe - even the couple we asked who were on their honeymoon couldn't see the extent to which we would have enhanced their post wedding blissful boat ride), we decided to give up and head to Kollam, the other backwater hub town. We got an 8 hour tourist cruise, despite the Lonely Planet's tantalising description of it, where they said it could get a bit boring. I ended up really enjoying just relaxing on the boat, seeing some of the backwaters and also had a small sense of triumph that this relaxing trip meant one less encounter with the Indian local bus system.

In Kollam, we stayed at a seriously uncharming hotel which, ridiculously, had a balcony from which you could watch the wondrous rubbish and traffic. The bonus was the tv (hurrah) which had BBC World (hurrah hurrah), which has been keeping me in touch with what is going on in the world (although i don't recall many mentions of Britain, so i haven't got a clue what's going on there....). Kollam was pretty unpleasant, but we had fun when a kiosk owner insisted we came right into his shop and had a good look at everything in there and then proceeded to wave at us manically every time we walked past. We also had an entertaining time in the 'Alukkas Wedding Centre', where some rather bemused assistants happily and enthusiastically showed us all the wedding bling which Indians sport for special occasions, before threatening to dress us up in Sarees!!!

The main event in Kollam was a wonderful canoe boat trip in the backwaters. We were driven about 15km into the countryside and got out at a seriously unpromising looking place amid some palm trees. We were led off by our guide and shown to a big wooden canoe. There was a half-sunk canoe next to the one we got into, but sadly my incredibly witty joke about hoping that wasn't our canoe, ha ha ha, was lost in the language barrier (at least I think that was why no one laughed...). The boat went through really narrow channels, past people's houses, cows etc and was really peaceful and relaxing. We saw lots of things growing: tamarind, ginger, turmeric, coconuts, jackfruit, cashew nuts, cotton, pineapples, and the guides told us some really interesting things about the local area and life. We stopped at a couple of houses where they gave us jackfruit and we stopped on an Island where one family live for our boatman to shimmy up a palm tree and get us each a coconut and chuck it down. It's amazing to see someone just climbing up like that and we ensured he was suitably embarrassed by copious applause afterwards. Sadly, the peace of drnking / eating my coconut and chai was slightly dented by a bird choosing that moment to poo on my leg from on high. This did seem to cause a lot of amusement among the old couple who had given us tea, so it was probably worth it for their entertainment. Before I had a chance to notice what was going on she had drowned my leg in a bucket of water, which didn't necessarily improve the situation, but just left my trouser leg pooed on and dripping wet... Altogether, a wonderful afternoon.

We are now in Varkala, where one could kindly describe the sea as invigorating, and less kindly as bloody scary. There are quite massive waves here and the number of lifeguards is more worrying than reassuring! It's got a lovely laid back feel though and is a good place to be for a few days before we head to Sri Lanka.

love to all and thanks for all your emails
lots of love, fran xxxxx

---