Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Fort Kochi
Left the houseboat this morning and travelled up the coast (not that we could see it) to Fort Kochi which is the older coastal part of Cochin. It is an absolutely delightful place with the most amazing mixture of influences and history. There is a strong Portugese history as well as Jewish and Chinese influences as well as the colonial British stamp. The streets of Fort Kochi are small and relatively quiet (by Indian standards) and full of guesthouses, handicraft shops and cafes. There is pervasive smell of fish but our experience so far is it fresh and tasty and the Keralans certainly know how to cook it. We spent the afternoon wandering around and exploring and tomorrow (our last full day in India) we have a full day sightseeing with a guide.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Kerala
Left Madurai on Thursday and drove through increasingly green and verdant paddy fields, sugar cane and other tropical crops towards the mountains to the west of us. We climbed up to the top of the Western Ghats and into Periyar National Park. Another Tiger Reserve but completely different to Corbett in the North. Periyar is lush tropical rainforest just like you would imagine it. Every shade of green imaginable and seemingly impenetrable forest. We stayed the night in a small tourist village in the park and it was nice to go to sleep to the sound of crickets rather than traffic and be woken by birdsong rather than street speakers blaring music at four in the morning.
Didn’t do much other than recoup some strength after a few bad days for Rhiannon and myself.
Yesterday we came down the mountains into Kerala (the western side of Southern India) and the change was remarkable. Not so much the scenery (still ridiculously green) but the obvious improvement in wealth and living standards. Kerala has a very large Christian influence which has driven an appreciation of education regardless of race or caste. As a result Kerala is the only Indian State with 100% literacy and a much higher standard of living. The villages that we drove through were absent of the usual piles of fetid rubbish being grazed by cows and dogs that we had come to expect and shops and houses were clean modern and friendly on the outside as well as the inside. There also appears to be no sewerage running down the middle of the street. And would you believe in a country of over 1 billion people that Kerala actually has a labour shortage because everyone in the state is too well educated to do the crap work. This is a bizarre country!
We are staying at a wonderful home stay on a rubber plantation near the town of Pala. Ann (the owner of the house) feeds us enormous quantities of the most wonderful South Indian food. Fish Curries, spicy chicken and rice and all sorts of fruit are offered at all times of the day and thankfully Rhiannon is now the only one not fully able to appreciate it. Ally has amazed us with her acceptance of Indian food and is gobbling up everything in sight. Rhiannon is dreaming of Spaghetti bolognaise and Steak and Tammy and I are able to enjoy the food again now after a few days of sticking to as plain as possible.
It is hot and humid and walking results in torrents of sweat. We managed to gasp our way through a tour of the farm and learnt all about rubber farming as well as bananas, plantains, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, pineapples, jack fruit, papaya, avocado, cashew nut, toddy, coconuts, chillies, curry leaves, vanilla beans, coffee and about 10 other fruits and spices that I have forgotten already. This place is a veritable garden of eden. Ann picks and processes her own coffee and it is about the first decent cup I have had in India.
One thing that never ceases to amze me is the similarity in farming problems once you get away from subsistence farming. This farm is about 50 acres of rubber trees which in the past was enough to support a family or two. Now all the family members work off farm and labour issues, crop disease and government policy make it increasingly difficult. Sound familiar?
From Ann’s we maoved to the so called Backwaters of Kerala a myriad of rivers, channels and waterways surrounded by rice paddys and coconut groves. We are staying in a guest house on an island and the pace has slowed dramatically. Lots of time to read, relax and enjoy the tropical surroundings. We have ridden bikes into the local village and taken slow canoe rides along the channels. Kingfishers and other water birds dart about everywhere and the water is full of tropical fish. Today we depart on a houseboat to further explore the backwaters.
Didn’t do much other than recoup some strength after a few bad days for Rhiannon and myself.
Yesterday we came down the mountains into Kerala (the western side of Southern India) and the change was remarkable. Not so much the scenery (still ridiculously green) but the obvious improvement in wealth and living standards. Kerala has a very large Christian influence which has driven an appreciation of education regardless of race or caste. As a result Kerala is the only Indian State with 100% literacy and a much higher standard of living. The villages that we drove through were absent of the usual piles of fetid rubbish being grazed by cows and dogs that we had come to expect and shops and houses were clean modern and friendly on the outside as well as the inside. There also appears to be no sewerage running down the middle of the street. And would you believe in a country of over 1 billion people that Kerala actually has a labour shortage because everyone in the state is too well educated to do the crap work. This is a bizarre country!
We are staying at a wonderful home stay on a rubber plantation near the town of Pala. Ann (the owner of the house) feeds us enormous quantities of the most wonderful South Indian food. Fish Curries, spicy chicken and rice and all sorts of fruit are offered at all times of the day and thankfully Rhiannon is now the only one not fully able to appreciate it. Ally has amazed us with her acceptance of Indian food and is gobbling up everything in sight. Rhiannon is dreaming of Spaghetti bolognaise and Steak and Tammy and I are able to enjoy the food again now after a few days of sticking to as plain as possible.
It is hot and humid and walking results in torrents of sweat. We managed to gasp our way through a tour of the farm and learnt all about rubber farming as well as bananas, plantains, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, pineapples, jack fruit, papaya, avocado, cashew nut, toddy, coconuts, chillies, curry leaves, vanilla beans, coffee and about 10 other fruits and spices that I have forgotten already. This place is a veritable garden of eden. Ann picks and processes her own coffee and it is about the first decent cup I have had in India.
One thing that never ceases to amze me is the similarity in farming problems once you get away from subsistence farming. This farm is about 50 acres of rubber trees which in the past was enough to support a family or two. Now all the family members work off farm and labour issues, crop disease and government policy make it increasingly difficult. Sound familiar?
From Ann’s we maoved to the so called Backwaters of Kerala a myriad of rivers, channels and waterways surrounded by rice paddys and coconut groves. We are staying in a guest house on an island and the pace has slowed dramatically. Lots of time to read, relax and enjoy the tropical surroundings. We have ridden bikes into the local village and taken slow canoe rides along the channels. Kingfishers and other water birds dart about everywhere and the water is full of tropical fish. Today we depart on a houseboat to further explore the backwaters.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Udaipur to Madurai
So the last time I posted was at Mumbai Airport 3 days ago and it was not a good day. Since then there has been sickness and too much time at Madurai (not the most exciting city in India) so tensions have been a little fraught in the Heath camp the last few days. But all is well now and tomorrow we head over the hills into Kerala which we are very much looking forward too.
Our day in Udaipur turned out to be a real highlight of the trip. The city palace is fantastic and the Jagdish Temple quite magnificent. What we enjoyed most of all about Udaipur however was that it was a more enjoyable city to just wander around in. While we have never felt unsafe anywhere in India there is none the less the suffocating presence of hawkers, touts and a million eyes looking at you wherever you go. Udaipur was really not that much less busy and the streets around the temple and palace are tiny and cramped and full of motorbikes and cars (and cows) but somehow we all just felt more comfortable being there. Perhaps we are just getting used to India!
While on a tour of the city palace we spotted our cousin Lindy who was in India with a different travel group and who I had thought was not going to be in the same places at the same time as us so it was a great surprise to catch up with her and compare notes. We had dinner at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant (there’s only so much Indian food you can have night after night) and compared photos and stories of Delhi Belly.
Saturday was a full day of travel that turned out to be fuller than it was supposed to be. The whole of India was in flight chaos as thick fog in the North resulted in cancelled and delayed flights and the inevitable flow on effects throughout the rest of the country. A five hour transit in the lovely (not) domestic terminal of Mumbai gave us plenty of time to learn new card games. Good family bonding time I suppose to be positive about it.
We eventually got to the home stay out in the countryside which was our next accommodation at midnight but did enjoy a very relaxing time the next day going for walks and soaking up the quietness (a precious commodity in India I have discovered).
The last couple of days have been spent in Madurai which is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu. The main claim to fame for this city is the quite surreal Meenakshi Temple or Temple complex to be accurate. The temple grounds cover 6 Ha and feature several 50m tall towers adorned with brightly painted figurines. The interior of the temple is just as impressive with no less than 1000 intricately carved pillars. Thousands and thousands of people come to Meenakshi to worship every day so the place is full of colour, movement and activity. It is a maze of corridors and halls all of which have a statue of one of the many Hindu gods or some other significant meaning.
More pictures on Picasaweb.
Our day in Udaipur turned out to be a real highlight of the trip. The city palace is fantastic and the Jagdish Temple quite magnificent. What we enjoyed most of all about Udaipur however was that it was a more enjoyable city to just wander around in. While we have never felt unsafe anywhere in India there is none the less the suffocating presence of hawkers, touts and a million eyes looking at you wherever you go. Udaipur was really not that much less busy and the streets around the temple and palace are tiny and cramped and full of motorbikes and cars (and cows) but somehow we all just felt more comfortable being there. Perhaps we are just getting used to India!
While on a tour of the city palace we spotted our cousin Lindy who was in India with a different travel group and who I had thought was not going to be in the same places at the same time as us so it was a great surprise to catch up with her and compare notes. We had dinner at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant (there’s only so much Indian food you can have night after night) and compared photos and stories of Delhi Belly.
Saturday was a full day of travel that turned out to be fuller than it was supposed to be. The whole of India was in flight chaos as thick fog in the North resulted in cancelled and delayed flights and the inevitable flow on effects throughout the rest of the country. A five hour transit in the lovely (not) domestic terminal of Mumbai gave us plenty of time to learn new card games. Good family bonding time I suppose to be positive about it.
We eventually got to the home stay out in the countryside which was our next accommodation at midnight but did enjoy a very relaxing time the next day going for walks and soaking up the quietness (a precious commodity in India I have discovered).
The last couple of days have been spent in Madurai which is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu. The main claim to fame for this city is the quite surreal Meenakshi Temple or Temple complex to be accurate. The temple grounds cover 6 Ha and feature several 50m tall towers adorned with brightly painted figurines. The interior of the temple is just as impressive with no less than 1000 intricately carved pillars. Thousands and thousands of people come to Meenakshi to worship every day so the place is full of colour, movement and activity. It is a maze of corridors and halls all of which have a statue of one of the many Hindu gods or some other significant meaning.
More pictures on Picasaweb.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Still in Mumbai
Still in Mumbai airport. We are up to a five hour delay now on our flight. Three hour drive when we get to the other end so its going to be a long day.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Mumbai Airport
Typing this in an internet kiosk at Mumbai airport as we wait for our plane which has been delayed four hours. Udaipur was great and as an added bonus we caought up with our cousin Lindy who was travelling with another group. Amazing who you run into overseas!
Will post more detail and photos when we get to the South.
Hope everyone is well.
Will post more detail and photos when we get to the South.
Hope everyone is well.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Fort Barli New Years Eve
As we drove out of Jaipur towards Udaipur we gradually entered the desert of Rajastan. It was surprisingly like the country around Lightning Ridge apart from the millions of Indians that seemed to be sustained on nothing as far as I could see. Every now and then we would pass a few small irrigation fields of wheat, mustard and chick peas however there was obviously a much much larger area that had been irrigated in the past but did not have any water now. The monsoon has been bad here for the last few years and groundwater supplies have not been replenished. It is a major problem for India but a good thing for chickpea growers in Australia!
For the last two nights we have stayed at a small village half way between Jaipur and Udaipur in a Fort that has ben converted into a hotel. Fort Bali, until last year was still the family home of the people that had occupied the fort for the last 350 years. Until 1947 (independence) they owned all the surrounding land (about 40 villages) however as part of the changes that came with independence there land was all taken back and distributed to the local villagers. The family still lives there but has converted most of the fort into quite a spectacular but small (only 7 rooms) hotel. It is jam packed with antiques and beautiful authentic local artifacts.
The fort is in the middle of a small and quite rural rajastani village which we took a bullock cart ride around the morning after we arrived. Half the village kids ended up following the cart around and it was fantastic to see so many smiling and laughing faces that loved having their photo taken. What I really appreciated about the village was that there was none of the filth that we had got so used to in the cities. There was still the open sewers and the pigs, cattle and goats roaming the streets but there was none of the piled up rubbish lining absolutely everything that you see everywhere else.
The owners of the Fort had gone to a great deal of effort to organize a new years eve function for the guests (all 10 of us!). There was us, a French group of four and two really nice guys from Sydney. The evening included dressing in traditional Rajistani clothes (see new photos), lots of dancing – traditional and western, games, treasure hunts and a fireworks display at midnight to cap it off. All in all a new years eve that none of us will forget for quite some time.
This morning we drove another four hours to Udaipur which more than a few people had told us would be the highlight of Northern India. So far we are not disappointed. We arrived just after lunch and have spent the afternoon wandering around the shops and streets. It is refreshingly free of the halkers that besiege you at every other major attraction we have been to so far although the shopkeepers are still masters of the hard sell. Our hotel has a nice rooftop terrace overlooking Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace.
For the last two nights we have stayed at a small village half way between Jaipur and Udaipur in a Fort that has ben converted into a hotel. Fort Bali, until last year was still the family home of the people that had occupied the fort for the last 350 years. Until 1947 (independence) they owned all the surrounding land (about 40 villages) however as part of the changes that came with independence there land was all taken back and distributed to the local villagers. The family still lives there but has converted most of the fort into quite a spectacular but small (only 7 rooms) hotel. It is jam packed with antiques and beautiful authentic local artifacts.
The fort is in the middle of a small and quite rural rajastani village which we took a bullock cart ride around the morning after we arrived. Half the village kids ended up following the cart around and it was fantastic to see so many smiling and laughing faces that loved having their photo taken. What I really appreciated about the village was that there was none of the filth that we had got so used to in the cities. There was still the open sewers and the pigs, cattle and goats roaming the streets but there was none of the piled up rubbish lining absolutely everything that you see everywhere else.
The owners of the Fort had gone to a great deal of effort to organize a new years eve function for the guests (all 10 of us!). There was us, a French group of four and two really nice guys from Sydney. The evening included dressing in traditional Rajistani clothes (see new photos), lots of dancing – traditional and western, games, treasure hunts and a fireworks display at midnight to cap it off. All in all a new years eve that none of us will forget for quite some time.
This morning we drove another four hours to Udaipur which more than a few people had told us would be the highlight of Northern India. So far we are not disappointed. We arrived just after lunch and have spent the afternoon wandering around the shops and streets. It is refreshingly free of the halkers that besiege you at every other major attraction we have been to so far although the shopkeepers are still masters of the hard sell. Our hotel has a nice rooftop terrace overlooking Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace.
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