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Published: November 5th 2012
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So with the first afternoon in India under our belts and a relief to get here... Alexis, seemed to have a taste of what I liked to call 'revenge of Sri Lanka', this basically started with her mentioning a bit of sore stomach then a rapid advance to the scenic view of the toilet. I felt terrible for her because there really wasn't much I could do as she yelled at me to leave her alone. I tried to provide moral support but the only support she required was holding onto the porcelain and maybe using a towel on the floor as a pillow. Graphic, I know. I made sure she rested and was fast asleep by the time I thought it was safe to maybe do a little exploring and eat myself. The city of Fort Cochin is very interesting with lots of crazy roads seemingly leading to peoples shops and houses, or well both as most live in their shops. I had probably one of the tastiest meals in a very long time at a roadside locals restaurant. I was greeted kindly and given a menu and, surprisingly it even had an English translation! Since I figured I might as well try the oddest thing possible I spun the wheel of fate and went with the mutton thali (your guess is as good as mine). Delicious though!! The other bonus was that the stomach Gods must have been shining down upon me because I have yet to end up with any sort of illness (knock on wood). I then just walked around the city, catching a few stares from the locals who seemed surprised to see a white fella around some rather dingy looking areas. At no time did I feel unsafe or unwanted though. Also, despite what most people say, this part of India does not smell. Okay, a few places did, but this appeared to be from some street lots being designated as the diaper dump of the town. Hey even parts of the Market in Ottawa smell worse
The next morning with Alexis feeling more hungry and actually able to eat something we hit the road again this time on our way to the famous backwaters located outside of Alleppey.The backwaters are simply mind blowing with beauty and pampering. We had to walk down a half washed out mud trodden 'path' to the pier which was a long stretch along the river embankment with about fifty of the backwater house boats. Now, after staying in some already pretty fantastic homestays and some not so good hotels on this trip we felt overwhelmed on the houseboats here (seriously, Google Kerala backwaters) we had three really nice fellas, one being the Captain, another the cook and Sami our not so English speaking server. Anything we wanted they had for us. The tea, even though it was +32 was tthhee best tea I've ever had, and I still can't get enough of it here. Our berth had a king sized bed with dark wood accents all around the room. We hadn't even cast off and we were already floored. But again, as the ropes were thrown aboard and we set off down the river for our 30km journey, we were amazed at how beautiful and peaceful our surroundings were. The many local houses lining the shores were not made up of Indias socail elite by any means, most are farmers in the rice paddies that back their houses or fisherman tending the rivers daily. This seems like such a simple and wonderful life. It's shared by everyone here as the rich live in the cities and the 'not so rich' are working here. The backwater trip lasted just shy of 24 hrs, and from our docking we arranged a tuk-tuk (three wheeled auto rickshaw) to take us where I am now writing you from. A very small, nearly devoid of tourists, beach town known as Marari Beach. We are at one incredible homestay here a stones throw to the beach (we just finished a home cooked massive curry with fish and prawn dinner while listening to the waves which are just past the palm trees). The owner and host here is also the equivalent to the M.P of this area. He's well versed in some of the politics in Canada as well as the US so it was really amazing to talk with him about the upcoming election.
This place is beautiful and Lex and I are going to try and come back again! This country is so mysterious, friendly and this area at least is very laid back. Which reminds me as we were laying on the beach today we saw two seperate pods of dolphins! About 3 in each pod which were no more than 150 feet from shore! Just incredible!
This is definitely the land of dreams, and those that have come true for the both of us.
Sorry for such a long post, it's been a few days and we are leaving here to head back to Cochin before heading to Malaysia.
Keeping it easy in India,
Justin
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sam
non-member comment
Amazing
Just did as I was told and did a google search. Honestly where do you tro find out about these places???. Also I have a book about an Indian man who moved to Canada and was then charged with multiple murders, in both countries, its pretty interesting and you'll most likely better understand the geographical desciptions better then I, let me know if you wuld like to borrow it.