South Africans in India - Part 5: Through Kerala to Kochi
KovalamDay 51 - Nov 30 |
We had until 2pm to catch our bus, but we woke at noon, and spent an hour making sure it left at 2pm, so, we didn't have time for breakfast, and just got Horlicks biscuits and lots of chips for the ride. Aurora was incensed that we didn't have time for breakfast, so we stopped somewhere quickly, but they only had paratha, which Aurora didn't want. So I called her bluff. A hungry person would have settled for paratha. The seats on the ride were so small I couldn't even fit our 2 bags on one seat. So half of it rested on my lap, and I felt claustrophobic or something. The ride took a few more hours than it should have, and we got off at nightfall. We took a Rs60 rickshaw to Hotel Holiday Inn, but on the way checked out Hotel Samudra Tara. It said Rs850/night, but I said Rs500 was what I wanted to pay, and they agreed. The room had a picture of a beach with a boat on it and the words 'To enjoy life, one should give up the lure of life'. I puzzled over its meanings for a few minutes. So we put our bags down and walked to the beach front, which was close. It looked like a nice tourist trap. Aurora still didn't want Indian food for some reason, so I said Ok, let's eat wherever. 'The Book' recommended Waves, and they had nice menus. Impractically large menus. We had pasta and veg burger and beer shandys. We got pretty tipsy for a beer. We were getting worried about booking accommodation for Goa, so we went to the internet and booked Silver Moon Guest House in Anjuna, for Dec 23-27, using my Paypal account. It cost Rs1750/night, which was the best I could find after substantial searching. Ten minutes walk from the beach, next to a resort, a good review, so at least a base camp for operation. 
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Day 52 -- Halfway! |
It was raining, and we went down to the beachfront and ate at the Crab Club. Old Brits were already slogging back the pints. We ate Jaffels and eggs, and took a walk to the end of the beach. We had a beer at Leo's and then walked the entire way up and around Kovalam to find an ATM. We had some nice coffee at Gallery Cafe (which had some art of questionable value), and umbrella'd through rain forest back to the hotel. Some 4km at least.
We went to the Beatles restaurant for supper. "Since 1973" i think. We had some OK Indian food, and light-alcohol cocktails with an Eric Clapton soundtrack. My Bloody Mary tasted like beer and salty tomato sauce. We decided to go out one more time, to have some drinks, and went to Volga, which didn't have a definite closing time. "1,2 maybe" said the front man. It would be our latest night out since Mumbai. We sat near one guy who had his feet on the table and spoke some fast English dialect to no one in particular, and I don't think he ever finished a sentence. People were clearly avoiding him, but we sat behind him for amusement's sake. But he fell asleep. So I was watching these other guys, all in their twenties. The oldest guy hit the youngest guy, almost like a slap, and the guy wasn't really expecting it, and I went closer to listen. The older one was saying 'What's the problem? What's the problem?' and making a face, so I leant in and said the poor kid hasn't had as many drugs as you. The others at the table laughed. It turns out the old guy, Nasser, worked nearby as a hotel manager. The other 3, Yusuf, Vikram and Nasser were attending the International School in Kodaikanal, and were on a school break. Nasser the elder had black rings under his eyes, and seemed a bit hardcore. The kid he was slapping was only 17 years old, and as teenagers do, they sit around not talking much. Nasser thought the kid had a problem, but Aurora figures that all 17 year olds are pretty reserved among older people. We all went to Nasser's lodge. It turns out Yusuf is Ethiopian, and a funny guy. Almost like Chris Tucker the way he talked. Nasser was spouting prejudices about 'You Europeans', and Yusuf said "hey man hey man what the hell? I'm African. These two are African. And these two are Indian. We're 3 Africans and 2 Indians. We're not European". But Nasser was starting to slur his words. The kids brought a bankie from Kodai and rolled a monster of a joint. They told us Kodaikanal was like heaven. Magic Mushrooms grew everywhere and farmers just gave away bags of them. We wanted to go, but it would have involved backtracking, which we weren't too happy about. Nasser was not handling his alcohol and weed and was soon stark raving mad. We all convinced him to rather sleep in the lodge, tell his boss sorry in the morning, and it would all be ok. Nasser was an interesting character, to say the least. It was a bit scary seeing into his world, and it was one of the cultural shocks of my trip. He professed that he didn't care about money, and that he was always happy. But he had a drug history of heroine and cocaine, and he was worried about what his mother and sister would think if he didn't go home. And he did care if he lost this job, and he was sad about his brother emigrating. This was all said in half sentences, with everyone else saying 'Pass the joint!', since he seemed to forget about it for minutes at a time. I'd respond to other threads of conversation, and then Nasser would snap "Why you not listening?" and I snapped back "Your brother went to Australia. And? Is there more? You stopped talking a minute ago, man." and the others would explain to him that we're all listening, but that he's not finishing his sentences. That is all fairly understandable. Chalk it up to the crunk! But he had trouble relating to people in an informal unIslamic way, which was the real shocker. Everyone else was having a great time. Vikram was in hysterics, telling the 17 year old they would never forget this night ever. They all thought Nasser was just batshit crazy. But I sensed this deeper, scarier quality to the guy. Anyway, the kids gave us a small bankie, and we went home and couldn't sleep.
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Day 53 |
We woke late and went to the German bakery, Waves, again. We saw Nasser on the way, and he seemed happy and jovial, and paying attention to customers, so we worried no more about strange, strange Nasser.
I had the "English" breakfast, but it wasn't breakfast time any more. But I argued that the constituent parts of "English" breakfast cost less than the whole, so he obliged to make it. We went swimming, and I rented a body board. We spent an hour in the water, under overcast sky. It felt great. We came back and the hotel had no water. There was a big ordeal of getting our passports copied for the guy, and doing a big laundry, since everything had sand in it. And we went out for supper. We went to a place called 'Pizzeria' and it was the worst pizza ever made. It made Aurora sick. It was doughy and all the toppings were burnt. Not only that, but a 12 person table in front of us meant we just sat around forever waiting for a horrible pizza. My grilled fish though, was excellent. I think it was my first non-veg meal in India. Aurora ate some french fries, and was too sick to eat more. We walked in the rain back to the hotel.
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Varkala- Day 54 |
We ate at the Crab Club again, and then walked on with our bags, all the way to the bus stop, past incredulous taxi drivers. Rs10! We'll take you for Rs10! But it was 500m. We would just walk it. Some close-talking weirdo mumbled something to me, and I made out every fourth word, and kept up a small but useless conversation with him. You know sometimes it's just better to humour the crazies, rather than ignore them like their parents did. We got on the bus, and seeing the weirdo come on, four women got off the bus. Luckily, another bus came in the meantime and the weirdo went on that bus instead. We got to Trivandrum (The Brits shortened it from Thiruvanathrapuram, and it stuck). I asked around and was told to go to Platform 6. We found it, but everything was in Tamil, so I looked for enquiries and they said 3pm, platform 5. Some Austrian couple appeared, and I asked 'Varkala?' Yes, and they were told Platform 6. We all hopped a nice bus to Attingal, 15km from Varkala. The Austrians didn't like India proper much, but said Goa was the bomb. The girl had not travelled before, and the guy had sort of wished in hindsight that they'd gone to Thailand instead. We took the next bus to Varkala, and they had been before, so we just followed them. They said it was much nicer than Kovalam, and they were right. I had made a booking at Hill Palace, at Rs700, which was a mistake, I guess. It was good for laundry, at least. But we decided to move the next day. We went to Clafouti's for supper. It was Rs110 for anything, so we had Thai and Pasta and lots of cocktails. We invited the Austrians to join us, and we chatted a while. We couldn't sleep.
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Day 55 |
We woke up too late for checkout, so we stayed another day, but found a cheaper place for tomorrow. We had breakfast in the Kerala Coffee Hut, an interesting tree house cafe. Baked beans and egg for Aurora, Uttapam and sauce for Dan. We returned immediately so I could use the toilet.
Then out for a swim. We climbed down to the beach, swam a bit, dried off, and this crazy woman selling pineapples walked towards us wielding a machete, saying 'Eat eat! cut cut! nom nom nom!, flailing this knife in our faces. Aurora ducks. It rains so we leave. We continue our neverending laundry task, and go out to Abba cafe for their cocktails special. The cocktails were useless, but they had Haloumi and Avo, so we enjoyed it. Some guy is selling newspapers. I have Rs4 in my pocket, and he says Rs10. I say 'It costs Rs4. There, see? Rs4'. He says he has to make a living, I say well, never mind then. I don't have Rs10 on me, so I'll just go buy it for Rs4 next door later. He hangs on for minutes, staring at me, wanders away and comes back, 'Ok, Rs10' No! WTF! Rs4! FUCK OFF! Eventually I get it for its wholesale price. Apparently USA lost the 2022 World Cup bid to Qatar. Huh. We went looking for the 'Secret garden party', which was hard to find. It was ok, with a range of music and cocktails, but no party. So we went to Clafoutis again, and ate Thai and Pasta, yum, again. And cocktails. We were spending lots of money in Varkala. At 10, we went to Rock n Roll cafe, and had more drinks, and spoke with Russians sitting next to us. The one guy lived in Moscow and saved people from wrecks. The other guy did something in St. Petersburg. Apparently, Moscow is the real financial hub, and St. Petersburg is the cultural capital, with lots of bridges and mafia. They were here studying a famous Keralan martial art. And they were total racists. Aurora was cringing the whole time. This was the conversation we had: D: "We're South African" R: "Ah, your parents must be so upset about how you've lost a great country" D: "Oh no, we think it was right to end Apartheid. I mean, you do know it was only great for 10% of the people?" R: "Yes, with a strong minority, anything is possible!" D: "Um. But it wasn't good for the majority" R: "So? 10% have it good. 90% eat bananas, they are happy, no problem." D: "Ooh. It wasn't like that. Er, gosh. Anyway..." The guy was born in Tajikistan, and was kicked out when the USSR collapsed. We danced with Swiss, Irish and Indian people in the back of the club, where there was an Ipod hooked up to a sound system.
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Day 56 |
We walked over to find a new place to stay. "Rs250" place was full, but we found a guy who asked "What's your budget?" I said "Rs400", and he took us to a nice room, at least better than Hill Palace. We had our own hammock, and mosquito net that works. He says "Shhh, I charge you Rs400, and Rs500 for the neighbours. Don't tell them!" We had breakfast at Cafe Del Mar. Lots of food, lots of drinks. We went to the beach, because it was sunny. We bought a sarong to sit on for Rs100. The beach was full of Westerners, and a few Indian gawkers. I swam for 30 mins, then hired a boogie board, though this time it was Rs100 per hour, twice Kovalam's price. Aurora sunbathed, and I was getting into very rough, but fun waves. Some guy told these Norwegian hotties next to us that he was glad they didn't have tattoos. Everyone was at the beach. It was a nice day. We went back to the hammock for a bit, showered, and returned to the cafe for milkshakes and cakes. This all sounded just about perfect, so we went back to the hammock, and lied around all day, reading Sci-fi books. The mosquitoes were the only thing keeping it from being perfect, so we retired to the mosquito net bed. We went to Clafouti's again, because they were so reliable. And we were rewarded for our loyalty. Thai and Burrito. Spot on. Though the burrito was actually a torta, technically. We spoke with the neighbours, an English couple who turned out to be father and daughter, Tony and Anoushka. There was a Hagrid look-alike and other North English people (Natalie and Andy) at the other table. We were informed about the origin of the word 'Limousine' which we could hardly believe. Apparently, it's named after French cows that are longer than most. Tony was a dead ringer for Colin Jackson, the silver medalist hurdler. We recommended drinking lots of cocktails and they all obliged. Tony had a lumo-radioactive margherita. Anoushka was only 16, and she bought an ankle bracelet from a 10 yr old business-girl. We said we paid Rs50 each for ours, and she angrily told us she couldn't make them as cheap as in Rajastan, so stop asking for such low prices. Her dad paid because he doesn't want to estrange his daughter by enduring child labour money pangs. Hagrid was very sexist, by Aurora's standards, but we followed him to the Chillout bar. A guy there made a great Hannibal Lector impression, and I replied with my Patrick Bateman. A girl played TLC's Waterfalls, and Cash's Ring of Fire on the guitar. Andy had been to Cape Town and seen the baboons. We had a strange conversation about how most Natalies are the wrong Natalie, but this one was probably the right wrong Nat. So we called her Wrong-Nat after that. An Australian guy had been living there, in Varkala, for 18 months, but he was considering leaving because of the sexist Indian men. He had heard too many stories, about hotel managers trying to rape the foreign guests. Andy said we must go on some House boat when we get to Alleppey. We probably drank too much, judging by the money left in my wallet. We said we'd meet at Clafouti's tomorrow.
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Day 57 |
We were being drawn into our sci-fi worlds. We had a nice breakfast at Cafe del Mar. Smoothie, coffee, wraps, and fucking hummus! We walked all the way to an uninspiring temple, because there was an ATM next to it. Aurora was feeling weak, but the rickshaw drivers were now saying 'Rs5 to go to the temple' so we knew it had to be close. The ATM only shelled out Rs5000, which was annoying. It was called the "Catholic Syrian Bank" though, so what did I expect. We took a rickshaw back. I haggled over a useless Tibetan scroll holder, which nonetheless looks really cool, I think. He wanted Rs1200. No way. I asked for Rs300. So, we left to get beach gear and headed to the beach again. I told a guy to stop asking us to look at his store. "If we want to go in, we'll go in. Ok? Stop asking us." I could have been ruder. But it was sufficient. He stopped asking. Aurora read her book while I went bodyboarding again. I got a really crap board, which practically snapped in half. I was embarrassed, but came back saying 'This board is dangerous. It could kill someone' and traded it for another one which was almost as bad. I scraped my back on the sea floor while doing an accidental somersault under water. We walked along the beach to other, more Indian beaches. Crows pecked at beached fish, and hawks flew the thermals, gliding upwards. Beautiful sunset. We walked back, and went to Clafoutis. We said bye to the Austrians, and hi to Andy and Nat. I had the red snapper, which was really tender, but not really flavourful. Aurora had a veg burger. We spoke with a French Canadian next to us. He was a very loud man, who was going to rent a Royal Enfield tomorrow. He was very conscientious, and purified his own water. We were just knocking back bottled water the whole time. We'd tried the water purifier drops once, and it tasted so awful that we just decided to destroy the environment instead. I bought the Tibetan scroll holder, which the guy claims is at least 80 years old, for Rs750. The guy said Rs800. I said Rs700. He said Ok, I give it for Rs700, and you give me Rs50. Don't tell the boss!
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Day 58 |
We woke at 1:30pm. and ate at Abba cafe. Avo sandwich and falafel. We sat on the beach readin out books. The pineapple lady taunted us briefly. It rained, so we stopped in at 'Coffee Temple' and had some really strong coffee, and a cinnamon chai latte. We shared a really gooey cheese sarmie. I had 100 pages left, and Aurora went to the internet cafe, while I washed clothes. We went out to Clafouti's, yet again! We met Marko, a Finnish guy, upstairs, and ate with him. We took him downstairs to our Tony and Noushka English pals. They had some new Australians who were fun. They were vegan, and the guy was lactose intolerant, so they knew when they had veered off course, because he would writhe in pain and fart a lot. We mentioned the other Clafouti regulars, wondering if the two german guys were gay, and if anyone had seen the 'sexually frustrated Scandinavian couple' (The Aussie girl chirped 'Orgasm? What's that??') We drank plenty and moved on to Rock n Roll, where we commandeered the dance floor. There were twice as many people as before! There was also a Swiss guy and two Danish girls. I sat outside with some Spaniards playing Jenga and practicing my Spanish. They were impressed. I lost the Jenga though. Aurora felt sick, so I escorted her back to the room, and locked her in, and came back to the party. Tony said the Danish girls wanted to 'Fuck Cubans'. Just Cuban people, like 18 of them. I said it is usually exciting when Danish girls say things like that, but Tony insisted they had scared him. I came back after an hour, and Aurora was listening to her headphones. She was unhappy that I didn't like Indie music.
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Day 59 |
It rained all night, so we waited until it was dying down. We wanted to leave, but we were too tired. We had a totally lazy day. Cafe Del Mar, cash advance on my credit card, um, internet for like 2 hours, um, Clafouti's, but I was a bit gloomy, not really wanting to chat with the Canadian man. We got new books, but seriously we had too many books now. That was all for the day.
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Alleppey-Day 60 |
It was our last day of Varkala holiday. We were getting fat, white, and forgetting about India proper. We paid for the 4 nights, and had a last Cafe del Mar breakfast. Aurora wanted to do the buffet, but I reckoned it would cost the same to get their set breakfast. Aurora cried when we got in the rickshaw. I guess Varkala was really nice. :/ We got on a full bus to Alleppey, sitting in the stair well. We got nice normal seats, and Aurora felt better. In Alleppey, a guy at the bus stop took us to "Ice Heritage Home". We walked to Cullen rd, ate at Kream Corner, a real hole in the wall, and bought some rum for the house boat. We arranged to see a house boat in the morning. This was a Government price-fixed Rs5250 boat. We slept early, with no water coming out of the tap or toilet, and no TP. We decided to move elsewhere the next day.
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Day 61 |
There was still no water coming out of the wall, and there was no staff there whatsoever, from morning til noon, so we checked into Springs Inn, formerly Holiday Inn, after looking at the boat. The boat was a bit basic, but only available tomorrow and not today as agreed. We said Ok, maybe tomorrow. The man asked if I'd pay the rickshaw man, so I gave him Rs12 in coins, and when they pouted, I looked at the man and said in as nasty a voice as I could, "You have wasted our day". But it was good that we didn't go with them. The conversation the man was having on his phone was like "No, yes I know today, but the outboard motor is broken, you need to find another boat. Yes, I know you say yesterday, but sorry. Not today". Springs Inn was really nice. Rs750, but probably the nicest room yet. The Inn keeper stuttered that they have a house boat. We looked at the pics, and it cost Rs7000. It was a double, but we'd be the only ones on it. They claimed it was 'deluxury', and all the reviews were Good or Excellent, so we went for it. Aurora's parents paid Rs5000, and I put in Rs2000. Aurora's papapa agreed to gift us a night of boaty vesche. We had sup sup as close to the room as possible, and being a malenky bit sick in the gulliver, had a rest and watched TV and finished our books. You can probably guess what I was reading.
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Day 62 |
We decided to skip breakfast and watch CSI instead. We went to the jetty before noon, and saw the incredible number of boats we could have taken. Hundreds. People are asking left and right if we want a houseboat. Some of these things are mansion boats as long as a frigate. Some have hammock chairs, double deckers, mermaids on the front, you name it. Our boat arrives and it is a shite sight more deluxe than yesterday's.
It was a good thing we decided not to eat breakfast, because after an hour on the water, past some huge lake, and houses, we stopped and they fed us more than we could eat.
Near sunset, we approached a big lake that was where houseboats seemed to park off for the night, dotting the perimiter. Some kids canoed up and we agreed to take a canoe ride through the village's canal neighbourhood. Kids on bridges asked us for pens. But there were houses with bicycles everywhere. Why not just buy a pen? Rs300 was a bit of a ripoff, but it was cool. I rowed occasionally, but it was mostly sweet sweet child labour.
The boat parked for the night, and closed up the land-side so we just had a view of the ships across the lake/river. They asked if we wanted to hear English music, and so we said ok, and they put on a pirated pop music DVD. We drank our brandy with 2 cokes and ate a huge meal again. The cooked banana plantains were interesting.
Aurora and I argued about Akon's 'Sexy Bitch' song and 'Genie in a bottle'. I thought I'd give Akon the benefit of the doubt, and take his word that in spite of the song's lack of explanation for why she's a bitch, that she gave him some reason to believe so. Aurora thought the song was just blatantly sexist. Yeah, I guess so. I was right about the provocative nature of Aguilera's song at least, which Aurora had thought was an innocent song about genies. We went to bed early, but didn't sleep much because my nose was blocked. We woke up for sunrise and took pics. Very beautiful. At 8, food was served and we began to return to 'harbour'. There was a strange rush hour phenomenon. Aurora was not too happy with her banana and coconut crepes, being a very picky eater. So she picked at the toast and some pieces of fruit and I ate the rest.
We passed strange prayer locations on the river. Hindi blasting out of speakers in trees. The previous night we had the Muslim Allaaaaah'u'akbar blasting out of speakers too. I think they are competing for best sound rigs.
Back on land, a bit dazed and swaying, i got in line to buy some water. Some guy pushes in front of me, but he has such a scowl on his face that I don't mind. Yeah buddy, I just got off a houseboat. Enjoy your position in the queue. We took a rickshaw and a bus to Kochi. We arrived in Ernakulam, and then, we were not sure whether to take a bus or a boat to Kochi. We walked towards the other bus stop, but on the way stopped at some 'Chicago Tower' revolving restaurant. A real shmancy joint. This guy pours your water every 2 minutes. Aurora says I am a neanderthal for eating like an American (i.e. fork in right hand). I call her a snob. The restaurant turns really slowly.
We got a rickshaw to the boat jetty, and luckily the ladies line is short, and we get tickets to Fort Kochin. The line for men was about 50 long. We arrive and walk to some Royal Blah Hotel, which is really podunk basics, so we walk back to Fort Inn, which we passed along the way. We see a nice Rs600 room, and we take it. Later I realise there are rats in the ceiling pooping on us, and cockroaches the size of dogs.
We wandered on empty streets to the oldest church in India and listened to a guy who would rickshaw us 7km for Rs25. He told a heartbreaking story of how he couldn't feed his family, but I guess neither of us really gave a shit. Gosh, you probably shouldn't have two children if you can't even afford to feed them, man. We were hungry, and stopped at the 'beach' front, where the Chinese set up fishing nets in 1490 or so, and then ate some cake and tea at Tea Pot. We went to a Sitar & Tabla concert, all improvisation, though obviously somewhat practiced. We got out afraid that everything would be closed, but there were some diners across the road from Xmas carols and bingo at the Basilica Cathedral. We watched the new XXX with Ice Cube before falling asleep.
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Kochi- Day 63 - Dec 13 - Mon |
We slept late, and signed a peace treaty. I can't tell from my notes, but I think we were fighting. We had breakfast at Tea Pot, with notoriously slow service.
We took a rickshaw to 'Jew Town'. It is actually called that. There were stalls everywhere. The synagogue was interesting. I bought a book on the Indian Jews. Few people know India took in one of the lost tribes of Israel.
It's a pretty interesting tale. A group of Jews fled Israel during the Roman invasion of 70 CE, and landed near Mumbai. The Maharana of the area let the Rabbi build his synagogue right next to his palace, and they lived in peace and prosperity for like 40 generations, until the Portuguese came in the 1500s. Of course at that time, the Portuguese had banned Jews from their country, and were generally a bunch of murderous assholes. To escape the genocide, the Jews fled and swam, and the survivors were taken in by the Maharana of Kochi. The population of Jews rose to 15,000 and then dwindled, and today there are only 3 families, or about 20 Indian Jews left. In the north there are Baghdadi Jews from another era, but they were not as interesting. I bought stamps from India's past, and we went to the Dutch Palace. We read about Rama Varda and the 40 Rama Vardas. For some reason, the leaders were all called Rama Varda, so the genealogical tree was pretty amusing. There was an interesting article about the evolution of the sari from European light jackets. I was very surprised by that. The Dutch Palace was not very impressive. It was a big stone and wood building, not nearly as impressive as most Indian palaces. We went straight to the Kathakali centre for the 5pm show. We watched the guys put on make-up, and perform a bizarre play. It is essentially Drag Queen Mimes. But you need to study for 6 years to become one, because it's all prescribed movements, and the stories are almost Shakespearean in length, though ridiculously drawn out. Proper Kathakali takes a full day and night to perform.
We ate at the Mango House, then watched Surrogates on TV. Then we watched Public Enemies, about John Dillinger, the most awesome man of 1933.
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Day 64 |
We decided to make today an administration day, as there was not much time to do something and still make the cooking class we signed up for. We booked a tour for the next day. A 7 hour backwater eco-trip with 12 others. I think it cost Rs550 each. We had breakfast at the internet cafe. I have no recollection of today, but at 6pm, we went to Leelu's cooking class, and were very lucky to be only 3 people, since there are usually 12 people.
She was a fun lady, laughing a lot, though she slipped in that her eldest son when to the US, the other one to the UK, and her youngest son died, so a bit tragic. She showed us pumpkin, dhal, fish, okra curries and chiapati. She said the Lonely Planet guy didn't even take the course. Hmm. She got famous because a Google employee came and asked her if she wanted to be. He put it on his blog, and then Lonely Planet and Rough Guide both put her in their books. She says she prefers Kochi to living in Dubai with her husband, because there she can't leave the house, and it is boring. We ate with the English girl who was travelling Kerala alone.
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Day 65 |
Got on the tour van at 8am, which picked up a ragtag group just like in the book, Haunted, and drove 40km, while we slept. There, we got on 2 canoes, and went in side canals to see coir twisting (i.e. rope made from coconut twine, 6 months after soaking the husks in water. A bicycle wheel twists while a woman finds straw in her bag, to increase the length).
Then we saw coconut oil is made from the shells, and by drying the white part in the sun, it comes out easier. We saw all the native flora, nutmeg, allspice, mint, a poisonous mango, pineapple, lemon curry, etc. Then I bought a litre of toddy, a coconut beer.
We had lunch on an island. They slopped food onto banana leaves. There were lots of bland accompaniments to the rice. But there was Kingfisher, so it was ok.
The houseboat ride was like 3-4 hours I reckon. We both slept for most of it, while one of two guys pushed us along the river with a giant bamboo stick. The german guy was studying Economics at Ahmadabad, and had a lecture with Prof. Kalam, the scientist. We got home, and I went and picked up our train tickets. We thought it was at 8am, but it was 8pm. So we had another day in Kochi. We ate at Salt n Pepper. A really strong pasta, salad, and the most deep fried chips ever. They played trance music, and then pop on a skipping cd. We went for a long walk to the pier, and it was kind of scary, with 4 dogs almost attacking. But it was just muttsy and fluffy guarding their lawn. We got to Cafe Coffee Day and had cake and gourmet ice coffee drinks.
When I got home, I opened the toddy, and it exploded. I tasted what was left, and was not sorry that it exploded.
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Day 66 |
We had breakfast at Kashi, a really nice place with a limited menu. Omelette, french toast and salad. Yum. We went to the internet cafe, cause what else is there to do? We spent 3 hours there, and it started raining. We thought it made sense to try book our train to Gokarna, and we got lucky, as there were only 2 emergency 'tatkal' seats left. We left on the ferry at 6:30, and got to Ernakulam in the rain. We took a rickshaw to Hotel Abad Plaza for supper. A couchsurfer, Jifri, didn't arrive, so we left to the KSRTC bus stand and found our Mangalore bus after asking around. The seats were not very big.
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