Tangerine trees and marmalade skies...
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2007
1
16
18
Trip End
Dec 30, 2007
Alleppey,
India
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Boat on the waterways
. It was really fun for about the first two hours and then the novelty wore right off. This time, I don't know who was the tourist.. I mean obviously I was, but I was as much of an attraction (and have been so before, but not to SUCH an extreme level) as what it was I came there to see. I arrived late at night; took a bus from Trivandrum (public / government; you know the ones where people are clinging on and basically leaking out of the windows?? The one with the bumper falling off and the open windows behind iron bars? ..That one.) and some three or so hours later got dropped in Alapah..... blahblah, that one above, and hired a rickshaw (the owner of the 'resort' told me that 50 rupees should do it; at first they asked for 200, I just laughed and said.. No, sir, no... fifty, only...) and he took me down this little path (like Amazon trail- except full of holes and next to a starlit waterway) to where I was dropped off about 20 minutes later at this place, the Riverside Retreat- good spot. I was served dinner after being shown my room- perfect- fan, clean, SO QUIET, comfortable, took a nice cool shower to rinse off my bus sweat, and sat down to eat. Now, this is my first exposure (after Trivandrum which was less a dining experience than a "how the f*ck am I going to get out of here" experience).. And.. It was so-so. I wanted to love it, but I didn't. So far, N. Indian cuisine wins out big-time
Keralan Oarsman
. I've heard (Kunal prepped me) that S. Indian language is totally different, and it is, and far less people speak English, and that's true; he said that the food, I would love, because it's a tad spicier, and I like spicy (he doesn't. Don't get it), but it's not that great. So far, anyway, I'll give it another few tries- have to anyway. It's just not great. The curries aren't milky (thus the no-weight-loss trip for me) and there's little or no paneer in anything, again so far.. I don't know. I'll reserve judgment for now. Anyway. Enough about food. So I ate some, headed to bed, finally finished that book that's been keeping me away from actually DOING stuff when I should be out doing it (The Kite Runner.. An excellent read, recommend when you are not trying to do something else, like go outside). The next morning- the host of the place gave me a map, and I went out, after a so-so breakfast, to the Buddha temple- apparently the only one standing in Kerala. I don't know why- yet. There's only half a buddha sitting there, and when I asked, I was told that it was destroyed by a mad elephant. Not sure I'm buying that. The other very interesting thing about Kerala, or at least Al...ph..z, is that it's mostly Christian. VERY weird. There are churches, people have donned crosses 'round their necks.. and they are Christian in the way that northern Indians are Hindu- avidly. I don't mind, or whatever, it was just really, really weird. Again, I am reserving judgment as I've only been to a very small (and extremely isolated) part of Kerala, nay, South India, but wow.. There are multiple churches, there is a.. Oh yeah, it's called a convent, on and on.. The missionaries did their job down there, big time. So back to it- I was on my walk to the half-buddha, and I was stopped along the way by a woman (Shea-Mi; that's how her name is pronounced- I have it written somewhere) and I ended up going in to their family home, being served tea, five almonds, and one candy, while they- through the help of the man in the house as interpreter- told me about their whole family, and of course (as is customary...) asked me about mine..
Keralan Roadway
. They were lovely. I have to say that I was on guard upon entering.. Oh, no, what do they want... But they just wanted to talk. It was fantastic. I spent about an hour there, and turned down offers of juice and water (no water.. Nothing with water..) and then said yes to tea as I knew it would be boiled, and despite the heat of the sun, hot tea would be fine. They wanted to offer something so badly and I had to accept something... Tea will just make me hotter, not sick..! So, chatted with them. Got their address. Ended up taking family photos of everyone, and they photos of me with all of them, and big hugs (from the ladies), and I was off again. Nice, nice.. .Great interlude. I want to send them their family photo when I get home. I think I have two now that I need to send; one to Madhu as a thank you for Amritsar, and one to them; it may well be the only family photo they'll ever have....Continued down the road to the statue; found another church, a shiva temple, and then the buddha. Long walk for half a statue, but I needed to stretch my legs, and the tea on the way was worth all of it. I hurried back as I had my boat trip at 2:00; canoe down and around the backwaters. It was great.. The first two hours were fantastic. Waving, waving, children screeching and waving, women and men, smiling and waving, on and on... Through magical glassy water, bright red and orange flowers as big as your head, what looked like pansies floating on lilypads..
Pretty Things
. Music floating in from temples around the village... It felt like I was in a movie. Steps from houses went down in to the water, most homes had a canoe shored in front. These are their streets, and the birds and the frogs are the street noise. Just gorgeous.The ride went on for four hours, though.. And I enjoyed saying hello to everyone and waving, smiling, calling out to everyone for about the first two hours, as they are bathing, or doing laundry, or coming home from school, or whatever.. But then I got kind of tired, and wanted to tell the oarsman that I was cool- REALLY cool- with just heading back and skipping the (another) church... but he didn't speak any English, and I certainly don't speak whatever language it is they speak down there (it's not Hindi- the difference in the flow of words is palpable- the language spoken here really sounds like it's some kid's language that they have invented together to fool the adults, throwing in extra consonants and syllables so that you can't understand... Seriously, it's strange). So he didn't understand that I wanted to cut it short, and if he did, I know he wanted the four hours' work, so my trying to explain that I'd pay the same either way of course was a conversation WAY over either of our heads.. So 6:00 it was. Saw the sun going down, and it all was amazingly beautiful... But I was totally beat by the time we pulled back up to shore
Why Not?
.So.. The whole fam-dam was visiting now, of the Riverside folks, and I was greeted by all of them. I am pretty tired of making conversation by now.. But okay, hello, hello... Hello... and then I scoot off to my room to take another cold shower- it's hot.
Came out for dinner when it was ready- decent- still not loving it, and then the brothers'-in-law all camped out around me while I was eating, and basically gave me another twenty-question session... One of them I actually actively did not like. He was just kind of a jerk. Bullish. Neither of them much care for Northern Indians nor Hinduism, which was sort of weird and uncomfortable, and made no secret of it. Also, I was tired, and tired of entertaining people, so I'm sure some of that had something to do with my patience. I was asked why I was a vegetarian; I said that it was personal. I'm not about to get into a philosophical discussion with someone that clearly doesn't really care anyway. That's the interesting thing, too- even vegetarians in the north (far fewer in the south) don't eat meat because it's the religious thing to do.. Still, nobody regards an animal as having intrinsic worth, or spirit, or whatever. A Hindu will not eat meat, but he'll kick a dog for eating his garbage- and god forbid (?) he should actually feed the dog
Around the other corner
. I've also seen a (holy!) cow whipped on the rear with a stick in the holy streets of Varanasi for munching on a discarded flower offering piece in front of his store- therefore blocking the view (cows also not fed, per se). Pretty weird, if you think about it. I guess you have to take the good for the good, and discard the bad as the bad. And educate the educable along the way if you can. Kunal said he'll feed the dogs from now on. One down... How many billion to go?
Anyway! Left today on a train; writing from Cochi, where I will get a plane (the trains were full, full, full) to Goa tomorrow. Landing in Goa then, will try to make immediate arrangements to spend a couple of days in Hampi, back in Goa for Christmas, and then a train up to Mumbai for the flight home! yow! Went so fast. But I still have 12 days, and a lot can happen...
OK, I'm going to try to upload some photos. This place where I'm at is also a shop.. and this place (Cochi) is sooo OOO ooo touristy.. I am witnessing a girl lose her pants while "bargaining" for some tapestry or something. 3000 rp?! Are you freaking NUTS? She's not been here long. Or, she hasn't had some Indian friends show her the light...!
