Friday, October 24, 2003
Arriving in Kerala on the 20th at about midnight, we opted to stay in a hotel near the train station instead of driving around town. Mosquito's. I swear there were more mosquito's inside the room than outside the room! It was warm, but I opted to put on my thermals because I was already tired of getting bitten by the one's I didn't see. After broiling in my 15 degree F rated sleeping bag I decided that I was just going to have to take my chances with the mosquitos. Miraculously I wasn't bitten, I think... Perhaps it's all the indian food I've been eating. I'm beginning to smell indian too. Well, that's what I've been told at least. Anyway, after waking, Nina and I walked towards the ferry and had a bite to eat at this Indian Coffee House where everyone was starring at us. I think it was because we were carrying our huge backpacks with us. We bought tickets for a leisurely cruise of Kerala's backwaters (waterways) from this guy who was actually listed in our lonely planet book, and he was quite helpful like the book said too! We then took the ferry to Fort Cochin just across the harbor to stay in this nice family's house who gave us a discount because we wouldn't spend more than 300 rps for one night. We're trying to stick to a budget. That afternoon we walked around Mattencherry, the old Portuguese fort town area to this really old synagogue, and the Dutch palace where there were really old murals of hindu gods. Pretty explicit. The area was pretty much a merchant town. Tons of trading companies. Everyone was really nice there. Kids waved at us on their way home from school, but a few asked for a rupee. It was pretty clean there too. I have noticed that south of Bombay things are much cleaner than in the north. I'm not sure why...
The Kerala Backwater Cruise
The 425 rps cruise started early in the morning when we were picked up at our hotel to meet with the rest of the tour group, which included some Swiss girls we saw at the train station the previous night on our way into town. The cruise of 9 people started out on this house boat that sputtered through several canals, passing many home on the waters edge, some cement houses and others bamboo huts. There were a number of chinese fishing nets, but weren't in the water since it wasn't in season for catching fish. There were lots of men pulling sand out of the bottom of the canals which were only a few feet deep. They all had huge muscles from doing this for a living. The sand is used to make cement, and it seems like they make good money for digging the sand. We got a tour of the native vegetation, which was quite diverse. Lots of vegetables, fruits, and spices were available. We also visited a rubber plantation. This is where natural rubber is extracted from the trees, then made into sheets and sold to make products. We then had a traditional Keralan lunch of fried fish, rice, coconut chutney, curry, n'stuff as the Keralan sky poured rain down on the house boat. The meal was really delicious. Nina really liked it and had a lot more than me. Subsequently I attempted to climb a coconut tree with little success. There were these cool plants too, "touch me not's." When you touched the leaves, they closed up, only to open back up minutes later. Very cool. I drove the boat back the dock after lunch. Well for a few minutes at least. We then took a canoe ride through some canals. This was quite uneventful, but nice nevertheless. Overall the day was quite calm and relaxing, and much appreciated. On our way home we decided to go to Munnar the next day, a 5 hour bus ride to the mountains.
The next day we awoke very very early to catch the 6:30 am bus to Munnar. I still hear the sound of horns ringing in my head (they honk like every five seconds, and over 5 hours...). The bus was a "super fast." It was passing every car on the road. I swear drivers here are hella crazy, especially on such crappy roads with lots of blind turns. And I must re-iterate, everyone has a little gig here. The bus driver convinced us to stay at his guest house. A great way to fill the rooms. Talk to tourists on their way up, call his wife while on the way to have her meet us, and have an autorickshaw ready to take us around. We got a reduced rate because we again wouldn't budge on our budget of 300 rps per night. The drive was quite scenic. Very lush forest, reminded me of Yosemite. Once we got closer, the tea fields could be seen for miles. They covered almost every hill. I think it's the highest tea farm in the world. And the tea farm is enormous. I don't know how to describe how far the tea fields extended, but let's just say there were as many fields, as there were mountains there. We took a ride up to the national park, where we had to pay the foriegner price, which was 10 times more than what the natives have to pay. I really dislike that. There were some mountain goats, and a few waterfalls, but it wasn't all that. Our national parks are much better. Nina got puked on by a kid in a passing car. LOL... It was quite funny. I saw the kid spewing, and then saw Nina in his path, and all was history. After that we went to the hotel and rested before going out to dinner around the bazaar area, where Nina shopped even more. We retired to come back to Cochin the next day to catch our train here, Bangalore...
The Kerala Backwater Cruise
The 425 rps cruise started early in the morning when we were picked up at our hotel to meet with the rest of the tour group, which included some Swiss girls we saw at the train station the previous night on our way into town. The cruise of 9 people started out on this house boat that sputtered through several canals, passing many home on the waters edge, some cement houses and others bamboo huts. There were a number of chinese fishing nets, but weren't in the water since it wasn't in season for catching fish. There were lots of men pulling sand out of the bottom of the canals which were only a few feet deep. They all had huge muscles from doing this for a living. The sand is used to make cement, and it seems like they make good money for digging the sand. We got a tour of the native vegetation, which was quite diverse. Lots of vegetables, fruits, and spices were available. We also visited a rubber plantation. This is where natural rubber is extracted from the trees, then made into sheets and sold to make products. We then had a traditional Keralan lunch of fried fish, rice, coconut chutney, curry, n'stuff as the Keralan sky poured rain down on the house boat. The meal was really delicious. Nina really liked it and had a lot more than me. Subsequently I attempted to climb a coconut tree with little success. There were these cool plants too, "touch me not's." When you touched the leaves, they closed up, only to open back up minutes later. Very cool. I drove the boat back the dock after lunch. Well for a few minutes at least. We then took a canoe ride through some canals. This was quite uneventful, but nice nevertheless. Overall the day was quite calm and relaxing, and much appreciated. On our way home we decided to go to Munnar the next day, a 5 hour bus ride to the mountains.
The next day we awoke very very early to catch the 6:30 am bus to Munnar. I still hear the sound of horns ringing in my head (they honk like every five seconds, and over 5 hours...). The bus was a "super fast." It was passing every car on the road. I swear drivers here are hella crazy, especially on such crappy roads with lots of blind turns. And I must re-iterate, everyone has a little gig here. The bus driver convinced us to stay at his guest house. A great way to fill the rooms. Talk to tourists on their way up, call his wife while on the way to have her meet us, and have an autorickshaw ready to take us around. We got a reduced rate because we again wouldn't budge on our budget of 300 rps per night. The drive was quite scenic. Very lush forest, reminded me of Yosemite. Once we got closer, the tea fields could be seen for miles. They covered almost every hill. I think it's the highest tea farm in the world. And the tea farm is enormous. I don't know how to describe how far the tea fields extended, but let's just say there were as many fields, as there were mountains there. We took a ride up to the national park, where we had to pay the foriegner price, which was 10 times more than what the natives have to pay. I really dislike that. There were some mountain goats, and a few waterfalls, but it wasn't all that. Our national parks are much better. Nina got puked on by a kid in a passing car. LOL... It was quite funny. I saw the kid spewing, and then saw Nina in his path, and all was history. After that we went to the hotel and rested before going out to dinner around the bazaar area, where Nina shopped even more. We retired to come back to Cochin the next day to catch our train here, Bangalore...
