We left Mysore and took yet another overnight train, this time to Cochin in Kerala. The train was full of Swamis who are the Hindu religious version of a coach load of drunken Man. U supporters. One would shout "Swamiye" and the others would shout "Awoooga", this repeated throughout the night. It was actually quite funny to see a religion in this light, not much different from sport, they even wore all the same colored clothes. I was dying to see if we would go through a station where there were rival Swamis dressed in different colors, it'd be great to have heard them shout "you're not singing anymore".
On first impressions, Kerala seems a little more touristy than I was expecting but I suppose it's one of the richest states and has had tourists coming here for years so I shouldn't be too surprised. As a point of interest I can't say I have seen one piece of evidence that the Tsunami ever hit here, despite warnings from fellow travellers that Cochin was in ruins. The speed at which the Indians have recovered and rebuilt is truly amazing.
Cochin is a wonderful and varied town, with many different cultural sights for the interested traveller. To fulfil this part of our travelling quota we went to see a Kathakali, which is a distinctly Keralan form of theater that portrays the amcient Hindu stories without the use of words. Complicated sign-language, musical rhythms and facial expression are used to tell the tales. Some of these can last from evening through till dawn, however there is an abridged version for the tourists that lasts only three hours. We opted for the latter and were blown away by the care and detail that went into this great art of the Keralans.
And on to Peryiar wildlife sanctuary in the hills....
The climate here is lovely, being up in the hills makes a real difference and we haven't seen a single mosquito.
The surrounding countryside is stunning, unfortunately the park is tied up by touts so unless you're unscrupulous and you posess a lot of cash, you aren't really going to see any animals. We did however take a three hour "Tiger trek" with a guide who showed us wild cinnamon (probably the nicest smell in India), teak wood, the silk cotton tree and showed us, from a great distance, an elephant and her calf living in the wild. at the end of the trek the guide told us that he had been working for the park for 7 years, averagind two treks a day. We asked him how many tigers he'd seen in that time, his answer? "None, tigers are a very rare animal", accompanied with a look that seemed to say 'Tigers, are you mad?'. I guess nobody told him it was a tiger trek! It was quite a memorable sight and made the 8 hour roller-coaster ride each-way worth it.
Kris
Please let me elaborate on this roller coaster: To get to Kumily we took the bus journey up a mountain which was a perfect example of the "might is right" rule of Indian driving. I got off the bus when we reached Kumily and when I stepped onto the bottom step it promptly fell out from beneath me and broke away from the bus! I'm truly surprised we hadn't left bits of the bus scattered as shrapnel all the way up the hills. I woke up in the next morning with really sore hands and realised it had been from gripping the bar on the seat in front of me so tightly for most of the journey that I had pulled muscles!
When the time came for us to leave the journey back down the hill was almost more scary as it was in daylight. We saw some truly fantastic views but all at breakneck speed. I was also sat behind a girl who was being sick out of the window (well there were no windows just bars) for most of the journey and I had to keep watching it didn't blow back into my part of the bus. Lovely! I felt for the poor girl though, I was feeling a bit nauseous myself!
Lauren
And on to Trivandrum....
Well, we're about as close to the equator as we're going to get for the next few months. We got to Trivandrum via Alappuza and Kottayam and took in a 2 hour local ferry through the backwaters. There really was some beautiful scenery. Unfortunately that will have to be our glimpse of the backwaters as, although the competition between the touts is furious to get you on to a houseboat cruise, the prices aren't exactly backpacker friendly. Well, not to worry, I think a chugging diesel engine hulk of a ferry is more Kris and I's scene than floating over lily pads in a reed boat!
Now we're awaiting our three-night 3000 mile mega journey to the North again, back to dust, hassle, touts and real good-fun travelling.
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