Kochi - the San Francisco of Southwest India.

In Trivandrum we met our group, full complement again at 12. Only two males this time, Bernie was getting anxious, especially as the second guy was a bit late turning up! Once again we represent all sectors of the Western world plus one girl from Hong Kong, and a girl from Calgary too. Four of them had just completed the north tour so were already good friends.I have been driving them all crazy, I'm sure, with a persistent post-nasal drip cough. I'm certainly driving myself crazy.

Our first stop was at a very laid back beach resort called Varkala which was just like any Caribbean or central American hangout beach, with stalls and restaurants and "sunset view" balconies strung out along a cliff and a big beach below covered with tourist in various stages of acquiring tans or burns!

The waves were wonderful but the temperature a few degrees above refreshing. Immensely strong, it was really hard to keep your feet so body surfing was almost a survival technique......also gave you a good nasal flush! The beach, unfortunately has a bad reputation for rip tides so it was constantly policed by lifeguards trying to keep swimmers within certain bounds, some people chose to swim out beyond the wave break zone but this was also fraught with the danger of being unseen by the constant flow of fishing boats that motored up the coast and drifted back further out. They fished with nets and the catch was pretty varied : swordfish, snapper (red and black), squid, octopus, prawns, barracuda. These were then displayed on ice outside the tourist restaurants in the evening for you to select you own dinner. Delicious.

Still struggling with the cough I decided to have another ayurvedic massage and a treatment called Nasyam. The massage was relaxing except for the fact that the oil smelt like mutton stew, not my favourite odour all over my body! The Nasyam, as the name implies is a nasal and catarrh flush/purge. That was a mistake. The oils up the nose tasted horrid and purged nothing (thanks perhaps to the wave action yesterday) and the smoke I had to inhale for the cough was acrid and foul and burnt the inside of the mouth, also to no avail. So back to a cough bottle with codeine.

To get away from the "resort" we did go for a walk out beyond the beach area and that was lovely. No buildings or shops, just fishing boats wherever there was a little beach they could be launched from. They are all wooden boats with woven/plaited coir (made from the fibres of coconut palm leaves) as a caulking in the joints. When new they are then soaked for 6weeks to swell the wood and the coir and then stapled together with iron staples. They are a little bigger than a dory but shaped more like a currach and rowed with oars made from poles, bamboo, with round discs tied on at the end. Looks like hard work especially when hauling home dinner for the tourists. I won't say fat tourists, because I have never seen so many skinny young women in my life.

Now we are in Kochi a former Dutch and Portuguese town. Shaped like San Francisco Bay and similar in layout with the bridges etc, it has also the more valuable properties on the peninsula. Vasco da Gama was first buried here but later reburied in Portugal. The Church of St Francis had tombs all around in Dutch from the mid 1600s, mostly ships commanders of course. The rest of the sailors and lower classes are long forgotten. This town is very clean, orderly and uncrowded, this south trip is much more like a holiday and closer to a European feel than the North. It is easy to feel you are not in India at all.

Yesterday was a day off for me until one of our fellow travellers who is an osteopath came to my assistance. Wonderful and Whew.
Whew on two counts, first I can enjoy myself again and whew it is very hot. We will not be coming home tanned since we spend all our time seeking shade. Now Bernie is going for another cooking class ( we are expecting great things!) and I'm going to walk around the coast at the tip of the peninsula where they have a huge number of weird "chinese" fishing contraptions very like those in StPalais on the Atlantic coast of France, or those used by the native salmon fisheries on the BC coast.


Love, Mary

Holy Cow

"Holy Cow" is one of the books doing the reading round in our North India group, and certainly they are everywhere. Mostly the common grey kind, scrawny with a hump, but also water buffalo type, black with downward pointing foldable ears and shiny black horns and a few more familiar ordinary black cows. They are not only sacred but also provide and important service since dairy products are an essential source of protein, along with pulses for the millions of vegetarians.It is great, for me anyway, to be in a place where "veg" is the norm and "non-veg" always a separate menu item. (mind you the book was not about cows....)
Pretty self important these cows won't disturb themselves for anyone or anything. The bulls can be a bit aggressive at times and in a narrow alley who gives way?? Some of us had close encounters of the less than pleasant kind. How does a cow get onto a train platform in the middle of a station? there to piss copiously and splashingly close to the waiting passengers and their luggage.

Kolkata ( formerly Calcutta) was a very pleasant surprise and change from anywhere we had been. All along we had been told how busy, dirty etc it was so our expectations were low. Our hotel was well placed in easy enough walking distance of more of the city centre, and though the essentials were clean and comfortable (bed and bathroom) the walls and furniture were horribly grubby. Only one other hotel was less than good in all the 22 days so not bad for a "budget-basic" trip.
In Kolkata there were pedestrian lights and we could rely on them. There were street name signs, you don't miss them until you don't have them! The streets also had trees planted along them and green flowering medians high enough that you couldn't cross the road, altogether an attractive addition.  Not being a tourist city there were no touts trying to entice us to buy stuff we didn't want until the last day when we went to the New Market with Sylvia and Paul to get their last minute souvenirs, then they descended in force.
Large parts of central Kolcata are taken up by  "The Maidan" like a cross between Central Park NY and Phoenix Park (Dublin). Part of it is a military zone but still green, of course. The rest houses the Victoria Memorial a beautiful marble building, never designed to be a palace, it now houses a museum, surrounded by ornamental pools and magnificent flowerbeds. Obviously well respected and loved by locals who are very proud of their city, this place was immaculate.
There is also a cathedral with glorious stained-glass but such a stink of mothballs/petroleum based furniture polish that we had to get out of their fast...and a Gallery of contemporary Indian Art which was an oasis of calm and no smells! and some very interesting pieces, not angst ridden unlike some western contemporary stuff.
For our last night we went to a upscale restaurant in the fancy part of the city, frequented by wealthy Calcuttans, there was a queue for tables even on a Tuesday night. After that we went to a very loud bar/nightclub where a friend of Guru, our leader/guide was playing with his band. It was a total cultural shock for us, even the prices were western and more. The most expensive Mojitos we have ever had. It was kind of sad to say goodbye to a group we had been travelling constantly with for three weeks. we had got to know each other well and though there were smaller groups within the larger, there were no divisions or animosities. Guru workied hard to keep everyone interested and to cater to what was of special interest.

Chand Baori . One unscheduled trip was to a stepped well which one of the group, and then all of us, wanted to see.  http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/10/chand-baori-step-well-in-rajasthan-india.html
(This site has the best photos.)

This side trip was well worth it, not only was this another highlight of the trip but it and also provided the chance to see village life which we had only done for an hour or so before. We saw potters at work making the tiny clay chai drinking cups. These are just air dried and when you have finished your tea you throw them on the ground where they break up easily back to clay. It is very clean and sustainable. There definitely seems to be a move here away from plastic. Containers and plastic items are very expensive and there is a charge for bags.

Now we are down south close to the southern tip in Trivandrum. Where it was cool, even cold at times, in the north, here it is definitely hot and humid.We swam in the pool before breakfast. Lovely. The advantages of an upscale, if boring, hotel.
Here the architecture is completely different, strangely like Victorian England though the influences are Mediteranean too. Lots of Christian churches and an ornate Public Library in a lovely garden. Our first stop was the zoo where it was feeding time which was great because all the animals were visible and active. A lovely spacious zoo where the animals looked very well cared for and the enclosures were generous sized. All the animals were native to this type of climate - no polar bears suffering here.The rhino was amazing! Waiting for his dinner he was charging around and the ground was shaking and his armour flaps were flapping and he was so enjoying himself. I got it on video but this would be too long to download.

Bernie is just back with neat beard and short back and sides after a trip to the barbour. I could do with a trim myself but all the Indian women have lovely long hair so I daren't risk how they might handle the short style! Even if there were hair salons for women....
 Across from us as we type is a Mum helping her son with long-division homework. He obviously has loads to do. Actually sounds like he doesn't need her help.... He's about 9 I'd say. Oops a smack has just been administered!
Yesterday afternoon we happened upon a girls voice competition/exam? Anyway there were clusters of young girls, all dressed to the nines, being led through their pieces in the garden at the hall. It was one of those serendipitous lovely moments. A small group of four girls, who had finished their performance and were hanging around, sang for us.

The choice was English or Malayalam so we chose Malayalam of course. They were charming and one of them had excellent English, we had a rather embarrassing moment when they wanted us to sing to them. Teddy Bears Picnic was all we could manage.
Tonight we meet our new group and new leader. It will be interesting. A whole new start.
Love, Mary and Bernie

Ps we haven't really turned pudgy! the camera angle is odd!

Sublime to crazy

Namaste.

Jaipur was a fascinating city with an entire area painted pink for the visit of one of the Edward VII. It has remained the law that pink is the only colour you can use. Mind you very few of the houses had been repainted since then! The streets and alleys are particularily narrow and all manufacturing life goes on in the street. Travels through the old city are adventures all of their own. The changing smells alone are a guessing game.
Fascinating was the Jantar Mantar, an observatory built in the early 1700s. One if five and the biggest of those it was the site used to do the observations and measurements for all five. Unfortunately the day was cloudy so we could only imagine how impressive it is. The world's largest sundial is accurate to 4 seconds. There were all sorts of other "sundials" to calculate time elsewhere in the world according to longitude etc all the measuring scales were carved in marble and the lot were set in a beautiful garden full of flowers. Yet outside the walls were the tiny grimy shops and stalls of the bazaar area where smithies were beating rebar and tailors stitching clothing amid cows and dung and dogs and motorbikes and people dodging the nasties underfoot and tuktuks polluting the place even further. A scarf over the mouth is a necessity while negotiating these areas. The smells, which we had expected to be of biological matter are in fact mainly vehicle pollution.

One thing that has, unexpectedly, stood out has been the lack of flies or other insects, it seems the dogs, cows and pigs eat all the food waste on the streets so the flies don't have time to hatch(?).
Speaking of dung, it is a vital commodity as fuel. As we travelled through the country-side and smaller cities we saw stacks of it dried and made into ricks with thatch covers to keep it dry. Sometimes we saw cakes of it stuck on walls to dry with the imprint of the hu
man hand visible. It is not smelly at all.Stoves are very efficient, made as cylinders about 16" high maybe 12" wide hollow with a hole at the bottom for ventilation. Sometimes they are free-formed from clay others are concrete poured into metal oil cans, whether fired by charcoal or dung they are smokeless.

The Taj Mahal - closed on Valentine's Day -dang! Closed every Friday for worship at the mosque. Agra the city where the Taj is has to be the worst city we visited by a long shot. No redeeming factors at all in the city itself, even the hotel was the worst, smelly internal rooms and jack-hammering on the roof and grubby. Ugh. The Taj is every bit as glorious as all the pictures, we were unlucky enough to hit it in the pouring rain but it was still lovely. They give you shoe covers to wear as an alternative to leaving the millions of shoes outside and the resulting mayhem trying to find your own later.(Not to mention the people who take the good ones and leave you to go home barefoot, though security for theft and the feeling of being safe has not been an issue at all). I was glad of the shoe covers and put the on right away because the pretty sandals I bought were lethally slippery in the rain! So all our photos feature this elegant footwear!
Next day we went to the Red fort and the Baby Taj (the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal's grandfather) these were both among the most pleasant tours we had done. Lovely buildings, few tourists, gardens and calm.








Jaipur area was also special for hand-carved woodblocks used for patterning fabric. This is a very labour intensive job involving washing drying and applying dyes and fixing chemicals for each layer of colour and of course each colour has it's own specific woodblock, the process involves about 8-12 steps. But they certainly are works of art.We watched a carver making a flower pattern block in teak wood using a drill operated by a bow and string. All the work done is sitting in the lotus pose with knees flat on the ground and legs crossed over. Either that or crouched, I don't know how they do it. Even the elderly are so flexible and the posture of the people of all ages is perfect. The Indians are a beautiful looking people but lots of them have rotten teeth, either that or perfect pearlies!
Speaking of which, we went to the latest Bollywood release in Jaipur. The cinema was amazing. Huge of course, but also built like a cupcake with swirls of neapolitan ice-cream style all over the walls and ceiling. The lobby was an extravaganza of pink, white and blue with huge chandeliers and even more elaborate swirls. Inside all the seats were recliners in silver! The movie was ....well....Bollywood.

Overnight train to the holy city of Varanasi. this is where all the photos of people bathing in the sacred Ganges come from. Sorry to all you guys who had bets on.....neither of us took a dip. The pollution, though not actually visible, must be diabolical, not for our bacterially sensitive western bodies!!

The trains are not first class but they are comfortable enough and provide clean sheets, pillows and blankets and this particular one was really clean. Someone came by washing the floor and collecting garbage, others sold food, juice boxes, cookies or tea. Even the loo had paper and soap. The tracks are really smooth for the most part and the trains leave on time (or at least they can tell you if there is a delay). Mind you we were close to 1st class compared with the even cheaper tickets where the poorer people are crowded in sitting up all night. They aren't hanging off the roof, however, in fact even the lowest "class' has assigned seat numbers.

We walked along the "ghats" along the river. A ghat is where steps meet a body of water. Varanasi has a ghat for each major religious group and is about 3kms long. There are two "burning ghats" where funerals are conducted. These were fascinating of course, but we had to be sensitive about it and especially since women do not attend, we women in the group were not able to get too close and no-one really took too many photos. Our leader/guide is a Hindu so Varanasi is special to him. For us this was great because he was so good at explaining all the various gods, rituals and do's and don'ts for westerners. Varanasi is a place of pilgrimage for Hindu's.
 

The funeral rites are fascinating. When a person dies, male or female (except unnamed babies less than ?days old or "priests" who have attained special status and done their suffering here in life (?)) the astrologers will decide when is the most auspicious time for them to be removed from the home. The body is prepared by the untouchable caste, some of whom have become very wealthy indeed in the process. The pyre is built of five layers of wood stacked at right angles then the body is laid on covered in a sheet. Then spices, incense, food stuffs and cooking oils are sprinkled on and two more layers built. The eldest son or male relative will light a taper from a fire that has been kept eternally burning in the Shiva Temple. He walks around three times while ritual chants are read/sung and lights the fire. It can take 24 hrs to fully consume a body. The sons then have to shave their heads and wear clothes that are not stitched, so like a saree for men, usually orange. This is for around two weeks and then they sprinkle the ashes on the river and return to normal life.
We went on a boat on the river at sunset and saw maybe 15 fires from the water along with a huge number of other tourists, mostly Indian. There were also 7 more bodies covered in sparkly cloth and flowers awaiting burning. The whole thing seen at dusk is smoky and ashy and somewhat macabre.

Headlights to light the groom's route.

Getting ready for bed we were deafened by firecrackers and fireworks outside our hotel. Then came the parade. Preceded by drums, bells and cymbals a groom was on his way to the bride's house. All dressed to the nines in crazy coloured clothes, all the male friends and family escorted the lucky man. You might think that was enough but then came maybe 40 men each with two 48" flourescent light tubes sticking out of their heads like horns. We thought they each had a battery pack or something but no.....apparently their was a generator on a bicycle cart up front and wires connecting all these headlight guys. It was unbelievable and so absurd looking and also they changed colour as they went along. Only in India. Sadly no photo!

Outside Varanasi is a place called Sarnath where Buddha first spoke to his disciples. Three are now very few Buddhists in India but here there were pilgrims from other ares. There is also the outlines of at least 11 monasteries that grew up around the sacred tree (long gone and replaced by a huge brick stuppa, like flat topped cone, inverted.)The gardens were glorious with flowers and fountains everywhere and a museum with some magnificent statues and reliefs.

Next stop Kolkata (Calcutta).... next blog tomorrow.

Love Mary and Bernie

Apparently it is common, though always traumatic.
This morning I deleted all my photos without backing them up,**** (expletive deleted too). Much to my relief I have found that it is possible to retrieve them but not until I get home, so photos for today are from Bernie's collection. Last few hours were depressed!!
Cameli Safari
Riding on camels is a major workout for the hips and abs. Getting up on them in the first place is a challenge. Climb on and lean right back because they get up back legs first, then quick flip forward for the front. Very impolite animals, they snort and belch and do this weird regurgitation thing with their stored water which they swill up into their tongues and swallow, for some this involves a big swollen bladder of tongue slurping noisily and ugly out of the side of their mouths. Quite disgusting, plus they suffer from loud and stinky flatulence. But their feet on rough ground are things of beauty, they look like gel pads moulding to the terrain, a bit mesmerising to watch. My camel was called Balloo, and was a docile creature, unlike some. Bernie's camel kept biting the ass of the one in front...
The camp was great, spent on camp cots under the stars with tons of blankets and lovely colourful sheets. We had a campfire (not up to Shawn's standards but wood was a bit scarce) and music. Our guide brought his guitar and one of the camel herders sang severl songs some traditional and some very tongue in cheek. His rendition of "cameli safari" made fun of us all. Several people recorded it so we will have it for posterity. At the camp we were in sanddunes and they glowed golden in the deep red sunset, but en route we followed the line of a windfarm and had to look the other way to feel we were away from it all! There are hundreds and hundreds of windmills and more being built on the Thar desert.They supply most of the power for the province of Rajasthan.

Next town was Romantic Udaipur. On Lake Pichola it is the seat of one of the Maharanas of Rajasthan and the location for most of the 007 film "Octopussy". There are two stunning Palaces and multi star hotels both on the lakeshores or right in the middle and accessed only by boat -or helicopter if you have one, and no doubt many of the guests do. Our hotel was in the old city and almost on the water, the rooftop restaurant overlooked the lake at least. Our room was vast and had ornate pillars and painted friezes all around.

Bernie went to see the Maharana's classic car collection which had several old Morris Minors and a magnificent, perfect Rolls Royce. I went to visit various local artists and potters with a local guide who was himself a contemporary artist and ran the best cafe in the city. His brother and sisters painted miniatures which the city is famous for. They are very stylised and intricate. Everyone seems to be self employed somehow and everyone has a product or service they are trying to flog you. Walking is constantly running the gauntlet of salesmen and beggars. 

Speaking of beggars, and of crowds, they are fewer than we expected. The traffic is wilder than we expected though, in fact it is bedlam. Frequently where there is a median for example the gaps will not line up with the turn opposite so you end up driving the wrong way on the road until you can turn. Scary.

Our group are an interesting and varied bunch of people. Our leader Nivan"Guru is terrific and works hard to accommodate the various interests among us. We need a bit of flexibility and that obviously can necessitate some logistical changes which he is expert at. He is also very knowledgeable and has a huge love for his country which comes across all the time.

Pushkar was a town with only 15,000 population this allowed a relaxing pace after the rather frenetic time in Jodhpur. One of the holiest cities in India it was full of temples and had 42 ghats where people bathed in the little lake or strew flowers on the water. We climbed to a high temple on an isolated knoll. This ancient landscape looked like it was formed by retreating glaciers and old riverbeds, so there were high steep hills like islands in a flat plain. The steps up were steep and worn to slippery over the centuries, ok for me in pants but quite a struggle for the beautifully dressed Indian women in saris. Here there are no strollers so all the babies are carried in arms (unlike central America they do not even wrap them in blankets or slings) so along with many of the women were puffing men with sleeping kids on their shoulders. The babies are all invariably adorable.

Now we are in Jaipur, another big busy city. Bernie is fighting a cold so we are taking it a bit easy. He is the 6th one to go down with it.....half the group. Fingers crossed I avoid it.

Last night we went to the cinema. Like a cupcake with meringue swirls all pink and pale blue and white it is worth a visit just for the building. Over the top.... the Bollywood movie was confusing with no subtitles but the basic idea, one guy, two sisters, etc was enough to get the jist.

Love, 

Mary and Bernie

Holy Cowsh!
Wow where do I start. travelling in india is not a laze on the beach or a walk in the park. Surrounded by colour and noise and people and motorbikes and cows and dogs and the consequent underfoot landmines and Tuk-tuks and smells and flavours, it is an assault on the senses that most Westerners find overwhelming, and I'm no exception. I got a mosquito sting on the eyelid last night, and with eye half- closed, I was tempted to hang a sign around my neck and go begging for money for an operation. However, I would be competing with all the others with a lifetime of experience, and wouldn't have a chance. So I, and Paul and Niall and Lucy, headed out to cooking classes, and we all learnt a lot. Our teacher was multi-tasking, taking calls every few minutes relating to his probably multiple other businesses, but still kept us learning and cooking for 2hrs, AND we had an excellent lunch into the bargain. There was a girl's school nearby and we were serenaded with chants and prayers in the background. Then we were led down to his Spice Shop and offered a selection of spice related items, with a surprisingly soft-sell approach. Cynics might remark  that it was after a good lunch, but most traders here are just trying to make a living in the face of huge competition. Fools will be exploited mercilessly, but sent on their way with a prayer to get smarter. I am constantly reminded in this country they do more with less.

Glorious, mad Rajasthan.
So far so good, no Delhi Belly, no holy cow, lots of crazy new experiences.
Day one on our own we very bravely took on the amazing Delhi Metro. Installed in 2002 it is fast, efficient, easy to navigate and very very crowded. I cannot imagine the disruption to an already chaotic city when they were building it. Like many things it is difficult to see the patterns and order and how things are working but slowly it is emerging....I think.
Arriving in the middle of the night meant we missed seeing the Himalayas from the plane but had the huge advantage that we arrived when the city was asleep and getting through the streets to the hotel was painless. At night the heavy deliveries are moved so the taxi was occasionally sandwiched between one truck ahead and one on each side but he swiftly nipped and tucked and we got therein , by Delhi standards, warp speed.

First stop the centre of New Delhi, designed by Lutyens, Connaught Place is all big white colonnaded buildings, all the same, in two concentric circles around a park. The touts were out in force. This is Delhi's preeminent shopping area with all the big international shops from MacD's to Gucchi. Having walked the circle avoiding touts at every step we retreated to a Costa (like Starbuck's) to catch our breathe.....at the price too, gasp.
Next stop the Red Fort, altogether more crazy. Chandi Chowk is aptly named. The people, vehicles, dogs, and pollution was amazing. Our rickshaw cyclist must have lungs of iron. The fort itself was a haven of peace thankfully and the highlight for me was actually an exhibition of contemporary Korean arts. Stunning pieces of ceramic, wood, metal and fabric arts.
By the time we finally mad contact with our group we felt like seasoned Indian travellers.

Our group of twelve come from all over and are a diverse mix. No doubt the next blogs will have more on the various characters but for now I will just say that they are a fun and interesting crowd thrown together with a somewhat common objective. Our guide is a rum-loving Indian of Nepali extraction, called Nivan or "Guru".

The first day was to include several stops around Delhi but by the time we got going and negotiated rush-hour traffic (beyond imagination!!) we actually only toured one area. The spice market, though actually we didn't see much spice for sale was full of men apparently working though it was hard to see what was being done. At the red mosque (red sandstone) we saw nothing much but a huge square able to hold 25,000 worshippers on holy days. Oh well the views were terrific. Much more interesting was the Sikkh Gurdwara. Here they had a very ornate prayer room with singers chanting and people moving in and out, loads of flowers, coloured carpets, and light, and behind a whole complex of immaculate housing for pilgrims and visitors and kitchen all full of volunteers preparing food for all comers. We "helped" with some chapati rolling. The enormous cooking pots all bubbling like cauldrons were almost scary. Like hell's kitchen all steam and giant ladles and people standing on platforms to stir.
The train for 19 hours overnight was a small squash as you can imagine. 8 berths per section was fine but luggage storage was difficult. I spent he time fighting a migraine and throwing up so cannot say it was a fun experience.
Jaisalmer is glorious though and well worth the journey. Our room in the fort looks over the

battlements and is semi-circular so has windows on three sides. Built of yellow sandstone it is the last inhabited fort in India and glows in the desert sun. Just exactly like something out of the Arabian Nights. The buildings are extremely ornate and haven't suffered from erosion at all, it is a Muslim area 150 kms from the Pakistan border and the buildings are airy and full of stone latticework to catch the desert breezes. There are also hundreds of wind turbines on the horizon. 20% of the power consumed locally and the rest sent east to the bigger cities. The seven Jain temples have sculpted towers and are magnificent inside. They have no taboos against using humans and nature as objects of art and one temple had the entire Kama Sutra on a frieze around the central prayer area. Apparently it was a form of education so the children who were to be married could understand the "birds and the bees".
Now we are about to
go on our camel safari, so more anon.

Namaste, Mary and Bernie