Southern India

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Okay, time for update 2..
This has been a bit of a mission to get up as everytime i've tried to log on the internet cafe has had issues....or i have, whichever. Here is the summary of the southern part of my journey and experience of India. I'm not a massive facts and figures person and this is really a diary of moments to remember my time in India down the track...

Enjoy

Jo
😊

Ko Chang, Thailand

Our days have been spent sleeping in, playing with the cute little black pup that belongs to the Sunflower clan along with a beautiful tortoise shell cat. Both animals eyed us up for soft touches and they weren’t disappointed as they received plenty of pats in our time at Koh Chang. Not a lot goes on here and other than walking to the beach once motivated, It’s just an effort to do anything. Nice way to spend the first few days of my new profession … professional traveler.
After spending some very lazy days at Koh Chang, Thailand we said goodbye to the animals that adopted our front porch and the owner Thomas who helped make the place feel so homely to taxi/ferry and an extremely uncomfortable bus journey back to Bangkok. All this travel took about 8 hours if not longer and after spoiling ourselves with the accommodation choice (air-con & TV) a comfortable sleep was waiting for our very early start in the morning for Delhi.

INDIA
After a grueling day of travel and about 7 riveting hours at Delhi Domestic airport we arrived in Kochin (South India) at around 10pm in the evening and with a scene that wouldn’t look out of place in the TV Series, The Amazing Race we had got our taxi voucher, our bags were one of the first off the carousel and we were off and participating in a hair-raising race into darkness to the comfort The Grand Hotel for some sleep.
It was an early start for me, I still haven’t got the sleep-in bug yet and will wait till after our tours before I try and discover it I think, so went for a wonder around to see where we were and let Jay sleep in. Dressed in ¾ pants and tank top and by myself I received all sorts of looks, touches, a few pinches to the backside and I made it back in one piece after being told by one grouchy old woman to put some clothes on!!

The rest of the day was spent wandering around until we finally found somewhere to eat brunch. Desperation and hunger pains had set in when we finally found a “bakery” that was air conditioned (yay) and opted for their board Thali special that was a selection of traditional foods and some spicy fried chicken that would put KFC to shame. We decided to eat as locals do and washed the hands and shoveled the food it into your mouth with fingers. This blog has the potential to turn into a food guide to India as we seem to be eating all the time. Jay and I have had some awesome food since landing and I am quite sure it will continue.
We met our tour group and leader this evening and we have a great mix of people. Veronica & Chris, a very lovely and gentle couple from UK, Allan & Lindsay from Victoria, both not shy of a word or two, Ian & Shirley Highland Cattle farmers from NZ who have travelled extensively and Claire from UK who is definitely not a shy wall flower.

Tour - Day 2
Starting our Intrepid tour today was a walk down to the Ferry and out to Fort Cochin to see the oldest Jewish synagogue (long pants required for entry) in Cochin, Dutch Palace and a walk around the Fort, it’s another hot day in Cochin and wearing long pants was not helping. With a short walk from the ferry stop to the Synagogue and surprise, it’s closed for viewing. Long pants no longer required….hmmm. The synagogue houses a small museum at the back and can be viewed when open.
After the Synagogue we walked to the Dutch Palace that dates back to early 1500s. Inside it has a very detailed history and timeline of the rulers of this area along with some very old Hindu artwork on the entrance walls and some of the carriages that the Maharajah’s were transported in, could have done with an extra ½ hour or so here to be able to read and absorb the information that was available.
After the Dutch Palace we were in for our first tuk tuk ride to the Church and then another out to the Fort. We walked around some of the walls and watch the fishermen go about their daily chores. Several young kids were having fun around the water’s edge having fun and the colour of their clothes was striking for a fairly grey and stark area. Something to note is the woman of India dress in jewels of colour and with it give life to their surroundings. Once we had walked a short distance we were left to explore ourselves before catching the ferry back to the mainland. This evening we meet as a group again to be treated to a traditional dance.
The dance, Kathakali dance show is a very ancient and traditional performance and whilst we all sat and endured the artist apply makeup for 1 hour, the equivalent of watching paint dry, in stifling heat where we all struggled with the attention span to have PK Devon then talk us through the process of the makeup and meaning behind it only to repeat himself several times over in the most monotonous tone. The dancing was good was good particularly the old guy when showing what the facial and hand expressions mean, however it was an extremely painful and long, drawn out performance.

Tour - Day 3
Today we headed out from Cochin and to a home stay in the Karaela Backwaters. The journey was local bus then charted boat to our location. The backwaters are below sea level and are a series of approximately 653 islands that are reclaimed land and continuous maintenance is required to keep the Dyke walls high enough form the surrounding waterways.
Our host was an extremely progressive and hospitable Thomas. Thomas is a rice farmer 5th generation (?) and has opened his home to tourism to supplement the family income. With some fantastic home cooked meals and a community that opened its arms up to welcome our group this is a most relaxing location to chill out for a while, unfortunately we only have 1 afternoon and night here.
This evening we had a village tour and Thomas went through with great detail and clarity the effects on global warming to his community to the pollution of the waterways and what he is doing towards a better way of co-existing with the environment, one being “organic farming”. The highlight of the night is our canoe ride back with Thomas and fellow villagers entertaining us with some traditional songs with harmonies that would make any choir leader proud. Pity the same couldn’t be said by the group’s effort to entertain back.

Tour, Day 4
A long, tiring day that saw us travel about 60 kms by boat and then the rest of the day in private small car transfer to our hotel. Along the way stopping to visit a rubber and pineapple plantation and dinner at a spice garden after being shown the natural form of most of the spices in the cupboard at home.

Tour Day 5
Early morning start with a 3 hour walk thru the national park to hopefully see some wildlife and maybe see the elusive tiger. We were lucky enough to see an elephant wander past but the guide we had made us all run the other way before anyone got a good photo opportunity. We were to cross paths with this beast several times on our tour and our guide had the same response each time. Splitting into 2 groups we went different ways. We saw the marks of a sloth bear - about 2/3 days old along with the scratch and a pug marks of a tiger also about ¾ days old. The walk itself was good however was disappointing that we didn’t see many animals.
In the afternoon I went on an elephant ride tour and hopped on the back of Lucky who ambled around a well worn track for ½ hour and I paid extra to feed her. Having never ridden an elephant before it was an enjoyable afternoon and it was a surprise to me how soft her skin was and how gentle she was when feeding her.

Day 6
Today was a public bus transfer to Madurai was set to be an enjoyable ride but after being warned by our tour leader, Anuj, that there was not facilities to stop for the toilet for 5 hours everyone was being very frugal with fluid intake. I may mention at this time that I’ve been suffering a little from a bladder infection…2 ½ hours into the trip and I was in exquisite pain and busting for the loo. With some entertaining the fellow tour members trying to work out a way to pee into a bottle on the bus and mooning the passing traffic at least once, there was an urgent plea to the bus driver to stop….5 minutes he said ….. can I hold 5 minutes,…would give it my best effort. Well 5 minutes down the road and another desperate plea for the driver to stop to be told. 5 minutes. At this stage I was ready just to go there and then on the bus in front of everyone. I had made my way close to the door by this stage for a quick exit and the conductor told me that there was still 5 minutes to the next stop. Being beyond desperate I advised him I didn’t have 5 minutes and didn’t really have 5 seconds due to an infection. Well that stopped the bus and I am please to inform all that I had the best pee on the side of a busy road somewhere in India. The relief was unbelievable and couldn’t care less where I was at that time. In hindsight, this was quite a funny chain of events but at the time a most painful experience…. Ps I have a massive bruise on my right hip from my rushed exit to remember my bus trip for a few more days.
We finally arrived at Madurai which is a full of hustle and bustle we have an afternoon here and a walk thru a Hindu temple in the evening that is the 2nd biggest in India and the oldest remaining Hindu temple in this country. To fill in time we visit the Ghandi museum a must see recommendation and a brilliant way to spend an afternoon that covered the history of India’s struggle for independence and just how significant Gandhi’s influence on the population was.
To keep everyone up to date with the food Jay & I ate at the Taj, and again we weren’t disappointed with the fare. It’s an entertaining experience trying to order from a menu without any explanation of what is in the dish and luck of the draw when it is presented to you. We were lucky with our choices again and had yet another satisfying meal. It was so good we returned for breakie.

Day 7
Today we transferred by train to Pondicherry. This is our first train trip and travelled 2nd class sleeper. This offers more room that the normal sit up. Separated from the rest of the group we chatted with a lovely lady, Vishvishini who is a physiotherapist and ended up playing cards with another gentleman, Sami who was returning from army leave. Mental note to oneself, playing cards with military personnel means you’ll lose 80% of the time. Overall this 5 hour journey is a pleasant trip and was over before we knew it.
Pondicherry is a bustling city and wish we had a little bit more time to walk around and experience but it’s just an afternoon and morning to view. Jay and I weren’t feeling well and opted out of the group walking orientation tour for dashing out for a quick meal with the locals/ after watching someone order a meal and it being cooked on an extremely hot hot plate we decided to “have what he’s having” to have one of the best meals yet along with one of our cheapest.
The morning consisted of a wander around the city and with Jay heading for a local coffee corner where we met Nicole, a lady from Channel Islands based in Spain on a 5 month holiday thru India, where we continued to chat for a while about what we all love about India. We walked thru the “big markets” and out to the beach, a coastline of rocks, and then read the paper in one of the parks in the city. Pondicherry has a mix of French colonial architecture and the standard Indian buildings we are all getting used to.
This afternoon we are on the road again but not before visiting an Ashram with a concept of an entire community made of persons from 27 countries that is entirely self sufficient with minimal impact on the environment. In my view, a glorified hippy camp that has a great concept with 2000 persons living there now with an ambition for 50,000 in total. It will be interesting to see if their entire green system of living is capable of surviving with the forecast number of citizens. Ohh I forgot to mention that there is a massive gold ball (think golf ball for the texture) that has been built with a meditation room inside, all white that is lit by a crystal that has light directed onto is to illuminate the room. Yeah, again not my cup of tea but different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Anyway, it was back on the bus to our destination for the night, Mamallapuram.

Day 9
A bright and early start to do a 3 hour walking tour of this old city. We covered about 8 historic areas and it was an interesting day. The rock carvings and stone temple are all protected by the Indian Historical commission to help preserve these sites. The temples are carved out of 1 piece of rock/granite and the intricate detail is amazing. These temples are stretched out through the city and each fascinating.
Tonight it’s overnight aircon sleeper train to Mysore. All was going good till our stop just out of the Chennai CBD on their beach when I had a wave of nausea wash over me. And yes I was in for another long period of travel. There was a long ½ hour trip from the beach to the train journey that was made longer with incense burning and all I wanted to do was be sick..by the time we made it to the train station I was hot and sweaty with excruciating stomach pains and nausea washing over me every time I moved. Well Jay has been a legend and made sure that I was kept as comfortable as can be in the waiting area and it on the train. I am sitting here at the moment writing my blog update at 3.30 am as have slept as much as I can and am please to say that I am feeling a bit better.

Day 10
Mysore is a pretty town. Upon arrival into the hotel I opted out of the day’s activities to rest my body for a while and to have the energy to attend the afternoon’s tour of the Grand Palace. The tour of the Palace was a highlight. It is still occupied by the prince in one of the towers closed off to public and this place is massive. No photos permitted of the inside as a lot of the paintings have been done with vegetable dye and the constant flashes of cameras will jeopardize the quality of colour, to tell you about the artwork, in a word, amazing. The pictures on the wall are very detailed and you can look at them from any angle and they appear to be facing you. So you can stand on the far left of the painting and look at it and all the shadows and angles of the characters in the pictures are facing you but you and go the far right side of the picture and again all the characters in the pictures are facing you. Awesome!
Of a night time, the palace is light up by thousands of light bulbs. It is spectacular of a daytime however when all lit up it is astounding. We were lucky enough to have time to take several photos before it started pelting down with rain.

Day 11
Back onto our bus and out to Masinagudi with a maniac driver with no regard for anyone’s safety, his or the passengers we headed out to the second of our wildlife retreats on the southern part of this tour. ..We stay the night at a jungle retreat just out from Bandipur National Park and ripe for sightseeing. We were lucky enough this time to see wild elephants, up close,,,,,very close with the stamp of the feet and below from the trunk our driver decided that 10m was probably not enough space between us and drove off enough to put a safe distance between us but not to the extreme of our other guide. We continued on and briefly saw wild dogs, 3 “tuskers” having a disagreement on a river bank and water buffalo and various breads of monkeys. The whole experience was exhilarating and one that I will remember for a while.
The jungle retreat is a reason in itself to return with great food and relaxed ambience of the place was a welcome overnight break.

Day 12
We travelled up to Ooty today located in the mountains. There is a massively windy roads ahead and a bus that took about 4 hours to negotiate before coming to the town of Ooty. The people here don’t seem as open and friendly as they are in the “low lands” and everything is predictably more expensive. It’s also refreshingly cold of an evening here and everyone had to dig deep into packs for the jumpers that we weren’t expecting to need given the heat and humidity we have endured for the past 12 or so days.

Day 13
We took a toy train ride, (and to Claire’s and My disappointment it wasn’t painted bright blue with red trim) it’s called a toy train as the carriages are smaller and there are not many of them. Well the scenery was nice for about 5 minutes of the hour long journey so Claire and I entertained ourselves by taking random photos and as we hadn’t had breakfast we nearly dragged the poor guy offering food through the window to get whatever he was selling.
Once the never ending train journey finally finished we were met by our bus and taken up to a tea plantation and shown the different stages of tea manufacture and this was the highlight of the day. Our guide had a great sense of humor and we were able to get hands on with the different stages of processing.

Day 14
Well what can I say. This was the last day on the South India tour and we spent it in transport getting from Ooty to Kochin. Saying our goodbyes to all our new found friends it was a quick meal and earlish night on order. With an overnight stay at the Grand Hotel it was an early morning departure to start our North India tour.

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