Hello! Pen!!!! Hello Room!! Goodbye Asia....

  Varkala, India
Monday, October 11, 2004

C... As we start to get excited (and occasionally panic) about the fact we will be in Africa next week, our minds have not been too sharp as late to have any exciting reading material for you all. After nearly eight months in Asia we are starting to get a bit rusty, but I guess the sand, sea and other stuff is too blame.

After the shock of Delhi we decided that we were going to be brave and see as much of Mumbai (Bombay) as possible and growl back at all the touts that get in our way. The one day we had there was surprisingly pleasant and trouble free. It was like walking around a mad version of London, with Double Decker busses whizzing around old English buildings all bearing a resemblance to the Natural History Museum back home.





Mumbai is a happening place, with great shops, amazing restaurants, about the only place with a night life in India and of course plenty of cinemas. We missed out on the Bollywood film as our local was only showing some rubbish from Hollywood, so visited Tendulkars Bar and restaurant (owned by the famous Indian cricketer) and had dinner for 20 rupees on Chowpatty beach, then some of the best Kulfi (ice cream) in India.



As planned we were to end our time in India just relaxing. We headed to Candolim in Northern Goa. Normally set up for the package tour groups who start to appear in October, we were a few weeks early, so found ourselves a long empty beach, a lovely empty resort with bargain price rooms and a couple of local restaurants (the only ones that were open), with very nice, very cheap food. It was bliss, and stayed for a week doing absolutely nothing apart from a days pilgrimage to Old Goa to see some of Indias oldest and finest churches.






Candolim beach has a resident oil tanker that ran aground a few years ago.

Wondering where all the backpackers had got too, we headed to Palolem Beach in the far south, where we found them all on a lovely beach which seemed to be packed with rickety old bamboo huts, covered in blue plastic. It looked a bit like a refugee camp for those that decide to leave India for a few weeks. And with lots of food, booze and cheap hippy clothes that turn your skin green, why not!







Ready now for some culture again and quick, we grabbed the first train we could get on, to Fort Cochin.

A... We did not get up to much in Cochin, as a result of some pretty mad non-stop rain. Some places had as much as about 20cm's in one day. So to keep ourselves busy, we had tasty pancakes next door where we met a few people, including some dancers who seemed to be on a big educational trip learning Yoga, wood carving and cookery among others, making us feel like right wasters. This was when we decided to make the effort and see the Kathakali performance...



Kathakali is a traditional dance dating back to ancient times in Kerala. As instructed we arrived early to witness the performers putting on the make-up. Which is for some reason considered an important part of the show to see. Once the performers had covered themselves in paint and various cardboard add-ons, they reappeard dressed in voluminous skirts and proceeded to wave their hands about, wiggle their eyebrows and perform various facial gymnastics in an utterly uncomprehensable fashion. This was all accompanied by a bunch of blokes trying to batter their drums and our ear drums into submission. This went on for a good hour or so until the majority of us were allowed to go, leaving behind a poor unfortunate few who first had to try and come up with something nice to write about it in the comments book.



Our last day, after learning about the ancient Jewish civilisation that came to Southern India and Cochin, we decided to visit the local Jewish quarter, which boasted a fairly un-impressive synagogue, some interesting antique shops and an over-priced cafe, serving some of the worst food that we have had so far in India.

A... Hello Pen!! Hello Pen!! Screams the child on the river bank. Seems to be the only two words of English that Indian kids seem to know. Just a small interuption though to an otherwise pretty much unbroken calm as we are punted around the Keralan backwaters on an old house boat. Our special treat for India, we could only afford one of the rustic versions however, but some of the houseboats look more like cruise ships, not quite an authentic experience. We did however sample some of the best food in India, prepared by our own chef!







A... Periyar is a wildlife sanctuary up in the hills, which apparently has tigers somewhere, but they must have been tucking into their Frosties somewhere else when we went there. As with most places in the Indian hills, getting there is half the fun. The journey started with a 3 hour boat trip through the palm fringed Keralan backwaters, which at 10 rupees each has to be one of the cheapest pleasure cruises ever. From there a 4 hour bus ride was to take us the rest of the way. We didn't get a very good feeling for the journey ahead when a guy came through the bus while we were waiting for it to leave selling tubes of glue! My mind started to conjure up possible explanations; was the only way to get through the journey with your sanity intact by regular inhalation of solvents? Or were the seats so precariously attached to the floor of the bus that each passenger needed to possess his own repair kit in order not to end the journey staring up at the driver from underneath his pedals?

As the journey went on with no more swerving, horn blaring and bouncing than usual, and as we climbed through picturesque tea and spice plantations, it became apparent that there must have been an even stranger explanation. It appears that the bloke just had a few tubes of glue to flog, and so made a beeline for his local bus station.

The next morning we took a cruise on the beautiful lake, and despite the lack of tigers we got to see a family of elephants at the lakeside, as well as otters, bison, deer, wild dogs and pigs, and of course cows! Caroline wants to point out that there was also a scorpion, though that was lurking under the bed in our room. Guess who had to deal with it though?







C... We are now back on the beach, well almost, there happens to be a cliff and a sheer drop in the way. But we do have a comfortable room, a bath (hoorah), a turbo speed rotor blade on the ceiling to keep us cool and gorgeous views of a big blue ocean. Our clothes have finally given up however on our last laundry exercise in India, but luckily we will be passing through Hong Kong for a day on our way to Nairobi, as well as Sri Lanka, Bangkok and Johanesberg. So hopefully we might be able to pick up a few bits along the way on our very long trip to join an even longer one in Africa.