Delhi, India
- 7th Nov 2011
We
returned to Delhi on a Volvo AC coach. White knuckle ride in places
– best not to look. The driver did some quite scary things –
especially when an elephant was on the highway crossing in front of
us. That caused a bit of a sudden halt! Although Indians supposedly
drive on the left everybody seems to do their own thing and anything
goes as long as they keep moving. This gets interesting on the main
dual and 3 lane roads, where cars and trucks and coaches travel at
speed negotiating hazards such as animals, pedestrians, bikes and
vehicles travelling the wrong way, with the horn employed by all as a
sonic force field – thank goodness for Immodium. We
arrived in one piece and felt a lot more confident this time in Delhi
and took an alarming but well bargained and direct auto-rickshaw to
our lovely homestay at Sham Nath Villas and a delicious dinner.
Cochin,
Kerala, India - 8th Nov 2011
 |
| Ambassador Car |
Smooth
flight to Cochin, stopping in Hyderabad to drop off and pick up
passengers. Arrived at dusk and came out of the airport to see clean
floors and an orderly desk for pre-paid taxis and not a single person
begging or selling anything. Welcome to Kerala! The ride to Fort
Cochin took around 40 minutes through the modern city of Ernakulam –
bustling and prosperous looking.
Arrived
in Fort Cochin at a nice homestay run by a lady called Leelu and went
out to eat dinner. Fish curry, wonderful tea and lovely calm
atmosphere at a place called The Teapot. Particularly good tea from
the Nilgiri Hills. This is a gently crumbling old port with a small
tourist contingent and it is very charming and slow moving. You
really notice it after the intensity of north India – plus it is
cleaner.
 |
| Fishing Nets, Fort Cochin |
In
the morning went to to see the famous fishing nets on the edge of the
beach that are raised and lowered with timber masts and stone
balances to catch fish in the tidal currents as they have done for a
thousand years.
The
Synagogue was absolutely fascinating. Run by the small remaining
Jewish community here. It was lovely to see it and read it's history
in Jew Town, a very small section of Fort Cochin
 |
| Unhygenix's Stall, Fort Cochin |
Went
to the Dutch royal palace, unusual architecture – Indo-European and
wondered at the exquisite murals of scenes from Hindu mythology and
religion. Wandered down some steps to a lower ground floor room and
there were more murals – all showing love scenes. A group of
French women tourists arrived as we ascended the stairs and we could
just hear “Ooh La La” wafting up to us.
Varkala
Beach, Kerala - 10th Nov - 4th Dec 2011
 |
| Varkala Beach |
Took
a lovely train journey down to Varkala, passing lagoons and rivers
with scenes of waterside life everywhere. Huge long houses, up on
stilts, open on all sides with high and steep coconut palm roofs to
give shade and catch all the breeze. Stayed
in a slightly naff hotel on the South Cliff for two nights which we
had booked via the internet. So we looked around and moved to the
slightly busier North Cliff and a much better hotel called Green
Palace. We have sea view, fan, mosquito screen, deep covered
balcony, overlooking a garden with fan palms, coconut palms and
hibiscus bushes. We are a few yards from the steps to the beach and
all the cafes and shops along a cliff that stands 40 ft above the
sea, with the jungle behind. The perfect antidote after our weeks of
rushing round and moving every one or two days.
 |
| Sundowner, Varkala |
 |
| Later . . . |
It's
a typical beach scene for backpackers mixed in with older people like
us. Definitely not as open as the scene in Goa and really small in
comparison. I go to sleep with the sound of the surf and John dreams
of the fish he will choose for supper the next day (snapper, shark,
tuna, pomfrey, butter fish, king fish, calamari, prawns - the list
goes on) and which way to have it cooked.
 |
| Bag Travellers & Minders |
We
were enjoying a drink at the Rock N Roll Cafe when we were joined at
our table by Joy and John from Vancouver Island. We quickly became
pals for the few days they were here. We thought that bringing a
small plastic toy character called Sully with us to take pictures of
him in different situations and give him a parallel journey with us
was fairly unusual – not so. John and Joy produced two hand made,
hand painted garden gnomes, decorated in the colours of the Indian
flag, complete with turbans and other clothing. One of them was
called Gnome Gegi and they certainly knew how to party! It now
appears that what John has dubbed 'Bag Travellers' are far more
common than we imagined. One night the Gnomes and Sully were joined
by a monkey called Joe from Norway and many other people have said
they too have bag-travellers.
 |
| It's Only Rock & Roll |
Wandered
up to the People Cafe at the Helipad end of North cliff and had a
fish supper that couldn't be beat, when suddenly a girl started
playing the accordian and singing – really well. Her name is Kim
and she's from St Werbergh's originally. A guitar was produced and
she and John were jamming in no time. We were joined by another
guitarist – Nikita and his girlfriend Britt, she's Belgian and he's
Belgian/Russian. Everyone was in good voice and it was a good night
all round.
Next
day Nikita and John do an impromoptu session at the Rock n Roll.
Nikita plays fantastic lead breaks – it's all good fun. They are
quite the most glamorous couple I have met in years – positively
gorgeous – so having dinner with them meant we always had great
service!
Mon 21st Nov
 |
| "Smooth John" |
We attended a pub quiz at the Rock N Roll and
gained an honourable 4th place with only us two and Susy Wild, who
has been working at the Hay Festival in Trivandrum – did you know
that the Keralan language is called Malayalam? By the end of the
night John seemed to have a loose arrangement to go and play the next
evening at the Open Mike.
 |
| Varkala Cliff Fish Delivery |
Next
afternoon whilst coming up from the beach John noticed a poster
advertising “Smooth John” that evening at the Rock N Roll bar.
“Sounds fun, let's go: I wonder who he is?” said John. So we
sauntered down – Celia saying “I think they are expecting you as
a definite arrangement”. John saying “No, I don't think so, it was just a possibility - I just said that I'd turn up and play”. On arrival there was the flyer saying
'Smooth John” who will be performing and running an Open Mic
tonight. John enquiring “Who's smooth John”. Celia saying “I
think that's you”. John is spotted by the owner, who indeed has
billed him as 'Smooth John', and he's straight up on stage. Only one
other musician is around plus one singer, so it mostly falls to John
to play. What? That poor shy retiring wall flower having to perform
lots of songs in front of a big international, crowd who don't know
him? Of course it was a great evening.
Thiruvananthapuram - 25th Nov 2011
This is where the days start to blur what with all
the relaxing.
 |
| Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple |
Took
a trip to Thiruvananthapuram (pronounced locally as "Trivandrum") with two charming Hamburgers called Roland and
Nina, both journalists. It is a bustling city with traffic to match.
First stop the huge main temple – very strict dress code for
pilgrims and us non Hindus are not allowed in but we had a look
through the door and admired the fantastic sculpture covering the
whole building. Watching the comings and goings was fantastic. This
is the temple where they recently opened a vault and discovered a
vast treasure that is currently being audited. The fight over who it
belongs to i.e. the Central Government, State Government, Temple, The
ex royal family of Trivanduram (who run the trust for the temple and
palace site). Then the debate about what should be done with it –
the priests say it belongs to the temple Gods it was originally
offered to and should just stay in the vault.
 |
| Temple Carvings |
Next
stop the old royal palace – a series of beautiful old buildings
with red tiled roofs, carved ceilings and highly polished floors.
The contents started well with 19th century full size
carvings of all the main Kathakali dance/theatre characters but the
contents after that are poorly maintained but the building made up
for it. The guide was completely mad – and you were not allowed
round without one (they said), barking orders and shouting and going
so fast that you couldn't linger for a moment. However, it was so
hot we were fairly compliant – except when he complained that the voluntary tip he demanded was not enough. It
started raining so off to the Napier museum – a completely mad
architectural blend of arts and crafts, Indo European and high
Victorian – but very charming for all that – containing some
exquisite Chola bronzes.
 |
| Spicemonger |
We
took two auto rickshaws to the Botanical gardens and zoo across town.
The drivers decided they would take different routes and it was a
race in which we definitely had to hang on to our hats what with the
swerving and mad acceleration. We won because although the others
were in front they had to do a sudden halt as cars just pull out
without looking all the time, and we were able to take
advantage and overtake – victory was ours – albeit with a few
more grey hairs. The zoo had bears, tigers, lions and elephants.
All had large enclosures to roam in.
 |
| Trivandrum Florist |
Next
it was the Bazaar area – very, very busy with traffic, hawkers,
delivery boys and general shoppers. Not as busy as Old Delhi but
nevertheless you have to take a deep breath and plunge in. Our
German friend Nina had not experienced an Indian city before and she
looked a bit shocked and said to John “I just need to sit somewhere
for 5 minutes and take it all in”. India does this to you at first
– the senses get assaulted when you leave your hotel and step into
real life here. As we moved away from the main drag we passed
through different areas like coir sellers, basket weavers, rope
merchants, onion sellers, potato merchants and everything in between.
All the shops are open fronted and raised up so you can easily see
what they have for sale.
Detail
of the Day: A small spice merchants shop, the usual wares
on display and then behind the shop keeper a very old wooden spice
chest, with about twenty drawers, simply but beautifully carved –
it had been there a long time - what stories it could tell!
 |
| Diners at The Nosebag Cafe |
Stepped
into a Thali Cafe that has been there since the 1940s (unfortunately
this included the toilets). However, you could get a full meal for
80 Rupees (that's about £1) so John and Roland ordered one each –
Nina and I just watched and had a bottle of water. Roland and John
were both sorry they'd eaten it later that night – but that's
another story!
We
finished with a visit to a branch of the Indian Coffee House chain in
a drunken tower that has a spiral walkway with seats on one side as
you walk up and slightly eccentric waiting staff.
Fundamental
error with our return train trip; it's the rush hour and it's Friday
– Oh Boy! We squeezed onto an already packed train and just when
you thought no one else could possibly fit in a few more piled in
just before the train left -so it was wedged upright room only.
 |
| Beach |
 |
| Varkala |
However, it was only a 45 minute journey and we were back in Varkala
Beach with the sound of the sea and the bubble of semi-tourist haven
that exists here.
