Cochin,
India
Friday, November 2, 2007
After a wonderful 3 days in Munnar, we sadly waved goodbye to Manoj and the boys and headed down a very winding road to get back to reality. It was a four hour journey and this Alan decides to stop on the way to buy Toddy. Okay so I don't drink anymore these days, but if I still did - I would not dream of stopping by the dirty looking make-shift bottle shops that sell the stuff! Alamak! First Alan got the driver to order a bottle of the stuff. The driver looked so proud as he told Alan that he would get the 'original' version. (huh?) Then the man in a dirty white dhoti comes out and handed over this disgusting, recycled plastic bottle with a cap that was full of black stuff and stains. I as it was, was already feeling queasy from the winding journey. I wanted to vomit - seriously. The driver nicely opened up the bottle and the smell of toddy wafted thru the car. He explained, wagging his head that every 30 minutes this process of opening the cap had to be repeated. The stuff was fermenting and giving off gasses! Eeeuwww!!! I told Alan in Portuguese "Don't you drink that ... throw the bloody dirty thing away." God alone knows where they picked up the filthy bottle from.
Cochin. So far I've not been impressed. The food service for both lunch and dinner was terribly slow and everything taste of basik (off) coconut oil. The prawns are cooked until they are rubbery and the crabs are not even cleaned of the yucky bits. The hotel has lovely rooms but we had to move out of ours as the aircon was not working! Quasak! Plus they are adding more rooms and so the garden is a mess with construction stuff.
The only good thing we have come across so far is this lovely mother and son who run a shop. We had a nice chat with them for about half an hour.
Okay the thunder is rumbling overhead so we better get back to our hotel. Bye for now.
Comments
Manoj
Dear Judi,
Was just wondering if Manoj has some Gurka blood. I used to lecture to an international student from Singapore who is a Gurka and his father is a Gurka guard in Singapore.
Called Donovan over for lunch on Sunday (4 Nov). Had a good time.
Love
Brendon