nutshell update - 27 oct 05

wow, can't believe it's been a week since my last posting. i think i was in ft. kochi (aka Cochin in british days) on my way to Bangalore last. Here is the itinerary:

went to Bangalore and stayed just one day. didn't see much. moved on to Hampi which was WONDERFUL, I couldn't have stayed there a week or two. but moved on to Badami (rhymes with labodamy), then Bijapur, and am now in Hyderabad. Tomorrow evening I start my trip to the north, going to Khajuraho. It will take about 33 hrs to get there I think. ~28 hrs by train then a 5 hr bus ride.

ok, details about different places in the other posts.
time is flying (but not this internet connection: here in "Cyberbad" city, it's a poor 64kbps).

Flash Flood - but i'm dry

ok, i saw on the news, and Ted (from Chennai) confirmed, that Chennai is completely flooded. I guess this is just another sign that my time here in the south is up. I have been uneffected by the rains, except for slightly cloudy skies, which my just be normal for this time in Hyderabad.

on a side note, while in Bangalore, I went to confirm my bus ticket, and while there, it began to rain like crazy. within 10 minutes, the road was a river, with water overflowing the curbs (and all sorts of stuff spewed out too. a bit yucky). the little taxis (called "autos") started taking on water, but they fearlessly continued to try to swim upstream. sadly, i had left my camera in my hotel room, thinking that i'd only be out for a minute. it was unbelievable.

that comes to 11 Rp and half a lunch

Hampi is great, but as with any tourist place in India, foreigners have to pay up to 20x what locals pay for services. for example, to enter the temple, it's 10Rp ($0.20) for locals, and 250Rp for foreigners. this is common.

well, same was true for a trip across the river in Hampi a coracle, which is basically a big shallow basket that takes on water just slowly enough to make it to still make it across the river without sinking. locals pay 3 Rp, they want 50Rp from foreigners (this is what some Americans I hung out with told me).

While on my own, i decided to walk along the river and find a good place to enjoy my simple lunch (3 bananas and a packet of cookies). while finishing my second banana, i saw a coracle coming across the river, but this wasn't a coracle crossing that was publicised (sp?). since these coracle workers weren't used to dealing with tourists, they just were charging me 3 Rp for a crossing. so we worked it out, there and back, and i'd give them 10 Rp. midway across, i gave the woman's son a banana.

when we reached the other side, to my horror, they wanted another 10 Rp to return. The smallest bill i had was a 50Rp, which i'm sure they would not provide change for. i insisted we had worked out the fare beforehand, and i already was paying more than the locals (ok, not by much). i could not (would not) pay more. they backed down (though I was completely at their mercy, seeing as I could not possible swim across and there was no other way across that i knew of), and instead asked for a banana. since i had no more, i gave them my cookies. after a brief lesson in Kanata(their local language), we headed back across.

i was glad to be dry and on the right side of the river. :)

** side note: Even Jackie Chan likes Hampi (Hampi is a small village in the Karnataka state which is truly magical, filled with ruins from from days when Hampi was a capital of Hindu ruler, but met with a quick demise when the Muslims came and destroyed much of it.). His recent movie, The Myth (pronouce Deemeeth here in india) was filmed in Hampi.

for american dollars, we DO have a seat!

I went to the Hyderabad train station this morning to buy my ticket for tomorrow's trip to the north. When I wanted to pay in Rps, there were no tickets. He asked if I had american dollars, and when i said yes, he said, "oh look, we DO have a seat!".

i was pleasantly surprised, but should have known, there was something amiss. He gave an exchange rate of 40Rp = $1 (way below the market 44Rp = $1) and then the ticket man tried to shortchange me 50Rp additional.

oh well, i lost 80 Rp in the deal, but got my ticket.

such is the way in India, apparently. Several people told me this, and one even gave me tips on how to make it work for me, if ever I were in need.

the good ol' american dollar!

holy flying suitcase!

the roads in india sometimes are not maintained well (often they are just dirt roads), making bus rides a bit bumpy.

on one trip (going from Badami to Bijapur), it was particularly bad, and we all jostled in our seats. one suitcase flew from the luggage rack on the opposite side of me and hit me in my cheek! luckily, it's just a small scrape, but i'll be on the lookout for untied luggage in the future!

one heavy spice girl

well, maybe i love the curry too much:

went to a spice preparation plant yesterday and popped onto the spice scale :(
looks like i'm 54 kg! i'm not sure exactly how much that is (2.2 lbs ?= 1 kg) but i think i'm a little bigger. maybe gravity is stronger here in india....

Hakkan (the turkish) departed yesterday, and our little international troupe is disbanding, as we all head separate ways. it was quite a nice experience. Domenico, the jovial big-hearted Italian, has a way of infecting everyone with his good nature. whoever we met seemed to be a good person. i don't think he realized it was because _he_ brought it out of them. i was lucky to have met them.

quick recap

nutshell recap: my last posting was from Kollam. i stayed two nights, leaving on a boat trip to Allepey. overnighted there, and then came to Cochin. I'll stay tonight and leave tomorrow on an overnight train to Bangalore then hopefully onto Hampi.

slealth bar

despite india having it's own beers being exported internationally, it's rather difficult to find a beer here, and bars are few between too.

yesterday, we went around with a local for a bit here in Cochin and we talked about the strong behavioral line between men and women here (women don't drink, smoke, go out a night, or have access to a local medicine.) he asked if we liked beer, and then took us to this place which looked like a church with a metal picture depicting a woman pouring some water for Jesus.

but, when you enter, it's a bar, just like at home with bar stools and everything. we had a nice cold beer and then went on our merry way. it was niiiiice.

when i exited, i looked back for some sign that it was a bar and there was none to be seen. turns out, you have to look for an sign with "MTB" on it. go figure --- maybe MTB is "golden soup" in Malayaman.

house (or boat) of babel

on the boat trim from Kollam to Allepey, I met two itanlians an one turkish who were travelling together, and also two women (a German/Londoner and Brit) who are travelling together. the women deboarded early, but the others stayed for the duration and invited me to join their clan for the stay in Allepey, which i gladly accepted.

Now here in Cochin, we have all met up one, so the six of us have been doing a few things together. One of the italians, Domenico, speaks limited english, so i've pulled out my very dusty italian and have been having fun trying to speak italian again. i think he is having more fun playing jokes (as italians do). The Londoner also speaks some italian, so we manage all right. sometimes we start talking to the waiters and rickshaw drivers in italian! it's been a good time and molto confusato!

ciao! namaste!

just a little snake

as mentioned in another post, i met some travellers on the boat from Kollan to Allepey. they invited me to join their clan for the stay in Allepey, which i gladly accepted.

when we deboarded in Allepey, we were swarmed by hotel operators trying to woo us into their lair (much like what happens after deboarded ferries in Greece). Mauricio worked an excellent deal, and "andiamo!", we were off to the hotel. of course, after we got there, they didn't want to honor the 80Rp / single and 150Rp/double (43Rp = $1) price, but they gave in at last, reluctantly.

all went well for the night (ok, there was the 4AM call to prayer blasting from the nearby mosque...), but in the morning, i went to the bathroom and there was a snake in there! at first, i thought maybe i could co-exist with it and still take my shower, but that idea went quickly down the drain when it started slithering around and coiling back as if to strike. not good.

sadly, the hotel worker ended up killing the snake....but i'm cleaner for it (or rather, less skanky).

and back (con't from "back and forth")

in case you ar dying to know....Laura found the germans much more helpful and was sent to berlin to get her passport and indian visa re-issued. she should be in Dehli on Thursday, with 1 1/2 weeks more of her indian vacation. i will try to catch her last couple of days in the north.

back on the mainland

i returned from the maldives today, where the islands were picturesque. however, it is LOW LOW season, and for a good reason. the maldives is known as a world class dive place.....when the right season. right now is not the season, we found out, with visability a poor 5 ft, maybe 10ft if lucky! so i didn't go. also, since laura, my sub-in dive buddy, of course is still in berlin, diving was even less appealing.

becky (laura's cousin) and i lazed around and got dumb in the sun. amazing how the time can fritter away. we ate like queens despite it being ramadan (which just made the staff low energy). we also canoed around the sland (the canoe was half filled with water, it was like going around in an innertube).

next time, i'll have to come in season.

i'l here in Kollam now, probably heading to Alleppuzzah (Allepey (British name)) tomorrow. had trouble getting on the right bus, since when I say Kollam which is to the north, people think i say Kovalum which is south. made it though.

ciao (oh, the maldive island we chose was filled with italians! how lucky of me!)

back and forth :(

i'm off to the airport soon to head for the maldives.

unfortunately, my friend Laura, who i was supposed to meet in the maldives, lost her passport (or perhaps it was stolen?) in Germany. when she got here, immigration wouldn't let her in and she was sent back to Germany/NYC. :(

everyone, please pray to the visa / passport gods / spirits to bring Laura back to india.

(oh, found out, there IS a Navarathri festival going on here, so will be able to catch some dance / music when i return on the 15th).

another festival

made it to Trivandrum where there is either a festival that just ended a week ago, or it just started today - Navarathri. depends on who you ask. if there is a festival, it's very underground.

i'm off to the maldives tomorrow, where i'll meet up with my friend laura and her cousin, becky.

here in trivandrum, everything was closed. i just went to the store and got some Tiger coconut biscuits. i'm hooked.

sorry, boring post.

update

Kanniyakumari is very relaxing. i've taken to doing things in the morning, and then resting for the afternoon siesta, then heading out just bfore sunset.

on my way down from Chennai, my eagle eyes spotted a fellow backpacker dashing for the train. i was determined to stalk him down when we arrived in Kanniyakumari. I found Toko at the train station, wondering if it were indeed the last stop, so it was easy to stalk him.

we went to the elephant festival, and yesterday we went off to the Suchipram Temple. these temples are enormous, enough to house whole villages. it's a shame that no pictures are allowed inside. a real shame.

this morning, i went out to Thukkalay (40km northwest of here) to see the Pabmanabapuram. nice piece of architecture with fine fine Chinese influences :)

i spy an elephant (again)

I made it to Kanniyakumari (or Kanyakumari, depending on which billboard you are looking at), the southern most part of India, where the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay on Bengal meet. it is gorgeous here. very relaxing.
turns out there is a festival of sorts here. it is pretty tame, and not many people seem to know about it. i asked some people on the train if there was a festival in town (seems to be festival season for much of India), but no one had heard of anything.

but, while walking around the big temple in town, i spotted an elephant! someone came up and started up a friendly conversation (key signal for someone wanting money) and told me the 4th night of a 9 day celebration was happening that evening. the elephant would come out and there would be festival-ing.

i wandered down to the temple around 10pm but the elephant was no where to be seen. but INSIDE the temple, there was much rejoicing. i peeked in and saw the elephant in decoration, leading a parade of people, fire, and flowers around the inner perimeter of the temple. as they walked, a holy many threw flower petals on the Kanyakumari statue that was in the parade. in the middle of each hallway, they would all stop, music would be played very loudly, and a huge basket of petals was thrown onto the statue, handful by handful. we followed the elephant for one round of the temple (this took about 40 minutes).

it was quite amazing...the first time.

we thought something different would happen after we completed one round, but the parade just proceeded exactly as before. around the temple. then we thought maybe something big would happen when all the flower petals had been thrown in which case, we'd stay. we asked a holy man, and he said they go around three times and that's the end. it would finish as 1:30am. no, 1am. no 11pm. no 11:30pm. we didn't stay for all three rounds, but the round that we witnessed was a splendid enough of the experience.

off to the cape

heading to Kanniyakumari tonight. it's the southerm most tip of India, where one can see the sun rise and set the same day.

caught a spectacular sunset a few days back in Pollachi. words and pictures cannot possibly describe (but i'll try anyway). bright red sky with mountain ranges one could just descry in the background. swaying palm trees gracing the foreground. i fear my pictures are equally inadequate, but you will have to look at them anyway!

"tomorrow is elephant day"

I decided to head to the Indira Ghandi Wildlife Preserve in pursuit of elephants. (in retrospect, going back to Mudumalai or Bandipur would have been better I think).

but still, i managed to get a night stay at the preserve, and after the smog in Ooty, the fresh air was very welcome. i arrived on Monday evening andi was hoping that i avoided the crowds, but to my surprise, the reception center was bustling with activity and busses of people were arriving. upon inquiring, i learned that "tomorrow is elephant day". sounded pretty fine to me!

turns elephant day is when they bring out their 23 forest (tamed) elephants and let people meet them (at least this seemed to be the case). it wasn't the same as seeing them in the wild, but it was great to be so close to them.

i've decided to relax my pace (i'm spending many hours on busses it seems) and heading down to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) tonight or tomorrow night and relaxing with the sunrise and sunsets (can see them both there) until i head off to the maldives on the 11th.

that's it. pretty tame. thanks for tuning in.

happy birthday Ghandi

it's Ghandi's b-day today. nobody here seems to care.

they also eat beef here!

coincidence?

Ooty is a bit sooty

after a 11 hr bone jarring bus ride, i made it from Madikeri to Ooty. it's not that it's far, but Ooty is in the hills, and it took us 4 hours to travel the last 67 km. yep. cows were passing us.

ooty itself is a big town with lots of visitors (and smog). i've seen a few whities but not many. i've gotten my picture taken with a clan of boys travling from the neighboring state of Karela. i felt like giving out autographs too but refrained.

on the way here, we passed through a few national parks (called "forests" here) - Bandipur and Madularai (sp?). just inside of Madularai i saw an elephant grazing by the road, just like the cows, but bigger and grey. they are such beautiful animals. i am tampted to backtrack and stay a night in the park, but the 4 hr bus ride back and then return is making me hesitate.....

soon, there will be celebrations all over india to celebrated the decorated elephants, called Desara Elephants. the big shbang happens on Oct 12 or 13 (after 9 - 10 days of festivities), with a big one in nearby Mysore. I will be in the Maldives, so will miss it. can't complain, though, as i'll be diving in warm clear waters with my friend, Laura. yeah!