Blink
Blink
Blink, blink, blink
Still dark, don't need to wake up yet
A gentle rocking motion lulls me back to sleep.
Blink, Blink
Hmmm, stickier then I remember
Better peel my face off this vinnyl matrre. . . off this vinyl.
Ahh it's all coming back now
Sleeper cart number one, seat/bed number 33. The train, Madurai to Ernakulum.
It's all making sense now. William and I left the clinic 12:30 and got a long cramped bus ride to Madurai followed by a less cramped more stressfull auto ride to the train station. We found old faces from last weekend and a couple new. A nursing student from Kansas, and an American living in Paris (cheesey teen movie?) The seven of us boarded the train at 5:30 (an hour late) and startd the 11 hour train ride to Ernakulum (mainland of Kochi/Cochin.)
The sun wasn't out but I stayed up anyway, it was 3:00am and the train was due to reach Ernakulum at 3:30. A few shaddowed faces hear me rustling around searching for a headlamp and a book.
Are we there?
Don't think so
OK
Don't worry their is signs in English for each city
Oh, good
Ernakulum arrived an hour late (as did the train) at 4:30 am. The seven weary travelers unloaded and made our way past the naggy auto drivers and out of the train station. But not before asking which way to the Kochi ferry.
How far is it to the Kochi ferry?
?????
Which way to the Kochi ferry?
???????
Friends, Friends where you coming?
(our turn)??????
Where you coming?
Ummm Kochi ferry?
No, no, no where you coming?
Ohhhhhh, uhhh US
US
US
France
Italy
France
UK
Ohhhh I see friends
Ummm which way to the Kochi ferry?
A, thanks
Nandri
This is Kerala dipshit they don't speak Tamila
So we left, the night pitchblack and no one really knowing where to go. The first road out of the train station seemed big and bright so we stayed on that untill we saw a couple of cops. We asked them and they pointed us down a dark narrow street.
Their till the end then right.
Ok, thanks
Seems sketchy
It's India, everything is kinda sketchy
Good point
We make our way through the narrow road my self being the only one with a flashlight and it puts onto another large bright street.
Well this looks promissing
Yeah, sure.
Well I guess we go right then
Yeah
Hey
*whistle
Guys this sign says ferry right
Oh good catch
We head down what looks like a small alley and are greated by a small Chai and snack stand. We order 7 cups of Chai and 7 bottles of water and take our places on the concrete cubes that cover the sewage system. An hour later we're on the ferry our Rs14 payed and on our way to Kochi, still pitch black still no plan.
I think this is the Kochi stop
Hmmm I guess no signs though
screw we're getting off sounds good
Excuse me sir
Sir
Is this Kochi?
???
This? Kochi?
Kochi, Kochi
I think that means yes
good enough for me
where are we staying?
A place called Oy's homestay
We make our way through narrow street and alleys as the sunrises being navigated by my Brunton and William's Lonely Planet's map of Kochi. We finally find Oy's as the sun is just starting to jut above the highrise apartments of Ernakulum. A young man stumbles to the door, eyes still blood shot. He tells us this is just Oy's cafe and he'll take us to the homestay(it's Oy's brother, literally) We get checked in. Three rooms Rs350 ($6.00) each. They have a gueen sized bed, a balcony some, wicker furniture, and most importantly a western toilet. The room is bright and clean, no complaints from anyone. Oy's brother informs us that we should eat at the Kashi cafe' and that he will book us a backwaters houseboat for the day. We make our way to Kashi only to find it is closed and we sneak next door where we eat honey and banana crepes and fresh mango, banana, jack fruit, papaya, pineapple, and watermellon (all grown in the outdoor garden we are dining in) The meal costs about Rs900 (~$20) , that is for all seven of us. We make our way back to Oy's and cram 10 people into a TATA SUV and make our way to an old rice boat converted into a house boat.
The Backwaters:
The kerala (care-a-la) backwaters are often described as the Venice of India. I say, hell wouldn't know never been to Venice. We spend the day lounding around the rice barge snapping photos, doing a small hike through the jungle to a spice plantation and then getting in small cannoes and paddling through narrow corridors lines with palm trees and littered with kingfishers. It is the most relaxing journey. For seven hours you can forget about the dirt, the grim, the horns, the sick kids, the sick dogs, the sick toilets. Nothing really matters. To describe the backwaters is like trying to describe any beautiful and surreal. The Times New Roman cannot transform into dense folliage and hand made canoes. So I will not try to, just look at the pictures and imagine you're there. (for the full effect cut up a mango dump every spice in your cabinet on it and then start a fire and let the concoction marinate in the smoke. It's almost what India smells like)
Friday night:
William and have a great discussion about our motivation for wanting to enter the medical field over a couple (2 each) bottles of Kingfisher beer.
Saturday:
A lazy 10:00am wake up starts the day, a nice cool shower follwed by the use of a nice clean toilet (go give yours a hug, or I'll sneak in to your house at night and install squats) We make it to Kashi which is small european style cafe. They have two choices for breakfast French Toast or a tomato and cheese omelet. Both cost Rs90 (~$1.50) both are or course served with: one whole mango, sliced; a single banana, whole; three slices of watermelon; three slices of pineapple; and two slices of papaya. All fresh of course. We eat, we jok,e we talk, and its great, but its not India (as is a theme in Kochi.) Unfortunatelly at this point filippo becomes very ill and long story short goes the hospital due to dehydration (humidity is a lot higher in Kerala then Tamil Nadu) Connor accompanies him and they both insist that the remaining five have a good day, so we do.
The fishing wharff:
After the ordeal we make our way to the fishing wharff which is a beach covered with old Chinese style fishing nets. The girls quickly made friends with a young indian man about our age. He invited all out on to his uncles fishing dock. We talk and joke and they let us have a hand at pulling in the net*. We catch one large snapper and it its off to the street market to be sold. We then hire two autos take us to the spice market.
Spice Market:
If you didn't know, a lot of the worlds spices come from India especially Kerala. We got a tour of what was essentially a distrubtion center for Keralan spices for local sale in Kochi. The smell of the area is amazing (dont say you can imagine, cause unless you've been I doubt you can) we get to see large burlap sack filled to the top with every spice available. Then (of course) are offered to by some spices. They had raw vanilla beans and safron (both fresh) for sale at around a dollar or two. Would have got some spice but I didn't see the bag containing the Johnny's, Lowry's, or Montreal Steak (oh well.)
Leaving:
Another verry long story short. We take autos around Kochi back to Oy's collect our bellongings pay our bill take Connor and Filip their stuff and take Autos to Pizza Hut. Yes I ate Pizza Hut in India. Why you probably want to know. Well if you had been eating traditional Indian cuisine for three weeks straight anything from the west would start to sound good.
Going home:
(cluster F**K)
It turns out that we were waitlisted for the train. The ticket checkers (who cary pistols) tell us to just got on and eventually seats/beds will free up. So thats what we do. Which also mean we spend a good 30 minutes wandering around the sleeper carts getting pushed around by angry Indians (dots, not feathers) The train finally gets moving and we settle into that cozzy spot between the beds and toilets. I know you're familiar with it. Its diamond plated steel, about 3 feet wide with doors on either side. We "settle" in and I start reading. 5 hours later I'm delirious my book makes no sense, maybe my mind makes no sense, can't remember which. Well we finally got to Trivandrum where most the passengers got off and we all snagged some beds and slept the remaining 6 hours of the journey. Finally home, one more destinatino under the belt.
Next weekend Thekkady and the Periyar animal reserve: Lions and Tigers and Elephants OH MY!
Sorry it's long I hope you liked it. If you asked questions in the comments go back and read the comments I answered the questions in the comments part.
I just spent a ton of time uploading all these so you better enjoy them!
Top:Kerala backwaters Bottom: Our houseboat converted from an old rice boat
Top: Similar to the canoes we rode around in Bottom: pushing a barge full of sand
Top: Self photo in the jungle Bottom: Some flower
Top: Not mangos, can anyone guess what they are Bottom: Another self photo at the fishing wharffs
Top: spices also used in Ayurvedic medicine Bottom: Bags and bags of spices
Top: More spices Bottom: Kerala is known for their monsoons and we were lucky to experiance some it. verry amazing.
Top: Captain at the fihing dog we visited.
Bottom: * so here is how these work. Pictured the net is obviously out of the water. their is a large boom extending back to the hut in the back. Several men left the boom up which has lots of large rocks attached as counter balance. this dips the net in to the water. then you pull on large ropes hanging down from the large boom this brings the net back up out of the water.
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