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Published: January 28th 2015
Thursday the 8th of January and I am on my way to India, a quick taxi ride to the airport in Dubai, fast track through check in and into the Duty Free to find my new camera. I had bought a GoPro which I had thought might be all I needed, but having tested it out in Dubai, I realised that while it was great for little videos it just wasn't good enough for stills. So I looked up the email I got from Jack Hardy, a photographer I know, with his advice on what I should get. I bought myself a Sony RX100III, not exactly the model Jack suggested but close enough, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, it takes great shots....I love it, thanks Jack.
After a very pleasant 31/2 hour flight I touched down in Kochi, Kerala South India. First stop ATM, to get some Rupees, then a taxi to the hotel booked for me by Intrepid, the Australian tour company I was to travel with. Into the taxi I get, I hand the driver the hotel name and address and with a, shake, or was it a nod, or maybe a wobble
of his head we are on are way.
Holy Mother of God, without using unwritable expletives that is the only way I can begin talking about traveling by road in India. It is terrifying. The first thing you notice is the almost constant horn blowing, all drivers blow their horns every 10 to 20 seconds or so, always as they are overtaking, as they approach every junction, bend, cyclist, pedestrian etc. etc. Rules of the Road there seems to be very few, for example at junctions you just nudge your way forward and the most aggressive about goes first. There is motor bikes and mopeds every where with whole families on them, really 4,5 and even 6 people, little toddlers on the fuel tank and the mother on the pillion seat is usually side saddle. Helmets....your having a laugh, sometimes the driver has one but rarely anyone else. I have just Googled India's road death toll, these are the first three headlines that I read;
Crash: India's Roads Are The Deadliest In The World,
Indian road toll soars to world high - Sydney Morning Herald. I have decided not to research this any further as I have my last 4-5 hour trip in two days time.
The White Rose Hotel, Fort Kochi, was where I spent
my first night. Much as I expected really, pretty basic, shower, loo and wash hand basin all in the one small area, no shower tray, no curtain but clean so no problem there. Thankfully, it turned out to be, by a very long chalk, the worst place we stayed for my whole 3 weeks in India. All of the other hotels were much better, some even had shower curtains and one had a proper shower cubicle....happy days!!!!!
Next morning I move on by TucTuc, those little motorised rickshaws, to the tour hotel, where we would stay for 2 nights and to meet the group. It was a mixed little group from Australia, USA, UK, Sweden and Holland. Much to my relief I was not the oldest, and I suspected not the only gay chap in the village.
Fort Kochi, a small port, which has been governed in the past by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and of course the Indian Rajas. The colonial links while there to see in the architecture are pretty tenuous these days, I feel, although pushed greatly by the tourist authorities.
So after 2 days it was time to move on. A 3.5hr train
ride followed by a 4.5hr, hair raising mountainous road trip up to Ootacamund or Ooty for short, a former British hill station where the game of snooker was allegedly invented. Ooty is 2,250m above sea level so once the sun went down it was cold. Hence in all the pictures from our 2 days there I am sporting that orange jumper, as it was the only one I had! Ooty was an interesting place, especially the tea gardens, thousands of acres of manicured tea plantations. Only the top leaves of the plants are picked, by ladies, some of whom looked well into there 60s maybe more. Our guide said it was only ladies, because they were more delicate with the plants and didn't have to bend too much. Yeah right, its just a shit job and the guys traditionally wouldn't do it. It was in Ooty that I celebrated my 50th birthday with little party organised by the folks in the group. It was a great evening so thanks everyone for that.
From Ooty we dropped down that 2000m is a minibus via 36 consecutive hairpin bends. Stomach churning but fantastic views and then onwards to Mudamalai national Park.
The Local Brew
Think I will do one of these in each country!!!Fantastic little nature reserve, we went on a safari at dusk saw some deer, bison and boar but alas no tigers. This was our one night of dormitory type accommodation, thankfully it was only one night.....enough said.
Next day a 3 hour drive to Mysore, suddenly we are in the India I expected, the sights sounds and smells were full on. It was Pongele, a 3 day festival in which Hindus honour their animals, in particular the cows, they get washed and scrubbed, then their white bits are died yellow or orange and their horns are painted various colours. You think I am exaggerating, check out the pics. The highlight of Mysore for me was the market, bright vibrant colours and smells of spices and flowers, it was hard to take it all in.
Just 1 day in Mysore so at 8pm we find ourself boarding the overnight train to Chennai. The journey would take 11 hours, we had a bunk each, well a shelf really, but with the help of my first ever sleeping tablet I slept for 8 hours of it. Unfortunately it was on the train that one of our number was the first to
go down with a stomach bug.....not the place you want this to happen. The toilet facilities, well briefly its a squat toilet with an 8" diameter hole and the track racing by below you. Chennai, formerly Madras and India's 4th most populated city was as expected crowded, lots of poverty and squalor but we just passed through there en route to Mamallapuram, a coastal town on India's eastern coast, one night there and on to Pondicherry, a coastal town again with fairly tenuous links to a french colonial past but again which the tourist board milk to the last. Pretty unremarkable both these places.
We are on to day 10 now and after a long daytime train Journey we arrive in Madurai, home to one of the most famous temples in India. Pongele the festival was still on, outside most of the houses and the temple are ornate designs, made by placing the coloured dyes that we saw for sale in the markets. The Temple was clearly a very sacred place to the believers that were there. I am not sure it felt right to be there just to observe.
Still on the move and we are crossing
Bad Ass Monkey
Not really the one in my room....but one just like him! back from east to west in Southern India, I am exhausted just thinking back on all the travel. Our next stop a wildlife sanctuary where we had an daly morning walk in the jungle....still no tigers. Then on to the beautiful, Kerala backwaters. These are a series of inlets that have been made into canals, they use these for transport and to irrigate the rice fields. We stayed in a family Homestay; a bit like a BB or guesthouse at home. Finally back to Kochi, where it all began.
The monkey business well, in our penultimate stop, Periyar Nature Sanctuary, there were lots of monkeys around, to be precise Nigiri Langurs. Little guys look very cute when you see them in the trees or svn nicking a bit of food from you terrace. Anyway its our last morning in Periyar and I am packing my bags, there is a few monkeys knocking about on the hotel roof so I tried to get some pictures from my terrace. Having had no success I come back into my room and do one last check in the bathroom to make sure I had not forgotten anything. I come back into the room
and there is this, big, now not so cute, looking monkey sitting on my bed!!!! I think, he's probably more scared of me than I am of him, so I let a bit of a shout at him, thinking he would exit the way he came, in through the terrace door. Well, he didn't, no he reared up, he didn't look so small now, he stripped his very large teeth and let an unmerciful roar at me. What did I do, you are right, I turned on my heals and legged it out the door, as quick 'as me legs could carry me'!!!!
Well that is it for now, it may have occurred to you that I haven't mentioned food at all, strange for me in a place so famous for its food. Well thats because I am going to do a special blog on just that and my last week in Varkala, I even have a few recipes for you.
Cheers for now.
P.S. Make sure you scroll and see the rest of the pictures!!
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Louise Truelove
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Recipes
Great blog, Damo! Fab stories, great photos. Can't wait for the recipes though! Love you xxx