Advertisement
Published: December 18th 2008
Edit Blog Post
After experiencing our first Indian overnight train (a surprisingly ok sleep, though as cleanliness was extremely questionable, we may have contracted some diseases) we arrived in Varkala which is in the state of Kerala. Interestingly, Kerala has one of the highest literacy rates in a 3rd world country with 97% of the population literate. Kerala is also very tropical, humid and hot... we have yet to be able to get out of the shower and stay dry for more than 10 minutes, as a result the fact we haven’t had hot water for over a week is not that bad.
Varkala is pretty much a tourist resort town full of wannabe hippies and apparent ‘yoga gurus’. It really did not feel like we were in India at all. Despite this, it was good to relax for a few days. Our days in Varkala were spent at the beach, browsing stores and generally eating and drinking too much. Varkala lies on top of a giant cliff face with the beach below making for amazing sunsets, often accompanied by cheap cocktails. One night we even had a dance off with the local Indians. Their dance moves were far better than ours and
we lost tragically. Apparently at this time of year Varkala is packed with package tourists, however due to recent activities in Mumbai it was a lot quieter. This was probably a good thing as I could see myself hating it if it was packed full of fat European tourists . One night we decided to see a traditional Keralan Kathakali dance. I don’t know how traditional it was, but they dress in elaborate costumes and makeup with most of the movements focused on the face.
After a couple of days in Varkala I was eager to escape and see more of India. Next stop was the Kerala Backwaters. Amazing. We sailed through palm tree fringed canals where the villagers went about their daily activities bathing and washing clothes in the river, carrying almost anything on small boats and going to church. The villagers of the backwaters seem to be primarily Christians as reflected in the names of our hosts (Matthew, Thomas Zachariah and Phillip). We stayed overnight at a house overlooking the backwaters and spent the afternoon walking through the village and canoeing through the backwaters at sunset.
That night we had the life scaring experience of drinking
toddy, an alcoholic drink made for the fermented flower of the coconut tree. The less said about it the better, it was truly disgusting. Apparently the locals drink at least 2 bottles in a session at a ‘toddy shop’. We shared one with our Danish friends Jeanett and Lussa. By the end of it I felt physically ill.
Our last stop in Kerala was Kochi (Cochin) which is where we are now. After cruising back to Alleppey through the backwaters we jumped on a public bus to Kochi, famous for its fort and Chinese fishing nets. That afternoon we got the ferry to the fort, and on the way Merric made a special friend who was extremely touchy feely even for an Indian. Not only did he try and pull some moves on Merric, but also managed to get his hands down the back pockets of his pants. Whether he was feeling for a wallet or for something more he spent the rest of the boat journey trying to tell us ‘its ok, it’s ok, we family’. Now we have met many people in India, and most of them just want to have a friendly chat or lure us
into their shops. This guy however was just plain weird.
The rest of our time in Kochi was spent wandering around through Jew town which has an active synagogue open for the 12 Jews living in the city (previously many Jewish people lived in the area) as well as watching the sunset over the big Chinese fishing nets.
After over a week of Indian food for almost 3 meals a day we cracked and went to Pizza Hut with the Danes. I won’t deny it... it was wonderful. We got our food in under 45 minutes and the place was sparkling clean.
We are now in Mysore in Karnataka and are very tired after 21 hours on continuous travelling by foot, an overnight train to Bangalore then bus to Mysore.
Hope you are all well
Xx Kate
Advertisement
Tot: 0.193s; Tpl: 0.026s; cc: 8; qc: 57; dbt: 0.1519s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
James Waller
non-member comment
Still Jealous
Don't know if my last comment went through as I can't see it on your blog yet, but rest assured I am still reading and fascinated so keep up the good work. The colour of Indian is arguably the most breath-taking yet, the contrasting tones perhaps only rivalled by Africa. I am also glad to hear that you've haven't forgotten to wear your alcoholism like a badge of honour. Keep "sampling" all that local flavour (Toddy and all).