Part One - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-1.html
Part Two - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-2.html
Part Three - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-3.html
Part 2 - Full Diary of my trip backpacking around South India. Jan 2008
2008-Jan-14 Ernakulam
Arrived in Ernakulam Town Station and told this is where we should get off. We find that it
should in fact be the next bloody station - anyway too late. Quick rickshaw ride for 50rs takes
us to Ernakulam Junction station. Is approx 4:30am at this point.
There would be approx 20 people asleep outside on the station platform here ! A few beggars also.
Went they touch you they are dry and leathery, you can smell most of them nearly 20mtrs away. It
feels like death when they touch your skin and motion for food. Its horrible.
You have to tell them to bugger off and feel better lol :-!
We find hotel called Paulson Park just 10mins walk from the station. Stayed in room 507. at 920rs
(incl tax this time) - tax is 120rs. (per night) About $20NZ to stay the night. Room ok, has fan
and bathroom & two single beds all we need.
Now about that bag/box thing…
Need to post this bloody box back to Hamilton, NZ. I walk to find a post office. Walked about 35mins
and found one. They said I must wrap it in cotton (which is law here) and send it for me if I
bring it in. I walk back to the hotel and get the box, Dad decides he will send something back
also. We are sending our sleeping bags, mattress things, and some boots back. They will not be
needed here.
We catch a rickshaw the few kms to the post office. Only to find that she wont now do the cotton
wrap and we need to take it to a 'tailor' (can you believe that !). It is 9am. We find one but
they don’t open till 11am. We walk further and find one. He says he will have it done for us by
midday.
Mine costs 150rs, and dads cost 75rs to wrap in cotton.
An old guy cuts small pieces of cotton sheet and hand stitches them all together around thgr4
cardboard box with fine sticking. See photos below.
We collect them at 12 midday and walk them back to the post office.
Filled out 3 forms pasted one to the cotton, and stapled the other to the same cotton and hand one
to the attendant. We had to scribble the details with ball pen as they done have vivid markers in 3rd
world countries it seems !.
Paid my 1400rs (about 30$nz), and walk out. All up the process to send this box, we thing has
taken over 6 hours 0of admin and paper work and running around. agggh!
We had a bit of a look around saw some interesting building projects !
Lots of other sights along the harbour also.
Anyway we walk to the ferry and catch the fist one around 1:30pm to Fort Kochin. It cost 2.5rs
each. About 10-15 NZ cents for the both of us. 15min ferry ride. Here we saw the Chinese cantilever
nets, some old churches, and lots of good photos. There is also a good market over there, and I bought a jewellery box for Kerianne while there.
Hottest day we have had. I’ve probably drank about 4-5 ltrs of water so far today !. Great tan now
! - cant wait to claim my land back in NZ !
I found a dried baby snake on the beach !
That pic…yes, that is a goats bum ! – who took that picture !
Caught the ferry back from Fort Kochin ABOUT 6PM. It is Very HOT !.
We saw a cool temple on the trip back.
Now sitting in cramp Internet cafe, can barely get legs under table. This one only 20rs (.80 cents
NZ) for one hour. Will go back now for cold shower, and come out when cooler for dinner.
I plan to catch a train and ferry south and leave dad here for a few days.
I hope to do a backwater and village canoe trip. Apparently 350rs.
What is this guy doing? See photo to the right.
We are eating reasonably bravely. Using bottled water, and cleaning hands with disinfectant
OFTEN. Still farting just air - so that’s all good (so far) :-)
2008-Jan-15 Ernukulam
Woke - after a good nights sleep.
Went down for breakfast. Funny system. Handed us a menu with about 400 items in it. We ordered to be told they did not have that item. We tried again several times. Same result. Eventually asked them, “then what DO you have?”. turns out there was in fact only one item they had from this menu.
We then had a curry dosai for brekky - weird.
Saw a sign that said 'rooftop'. Walked up the stairs to find there was someone living in the
roof. Explored the roof area anyway, good views from up here. (approx 6th floor).
I plan to catch the train to Alleppey at 11:30 (Train # ??) 1 hr Journey.
Booked my ticket. cost 26rs (less that 1NZ$). Train was 40mins late, was getting a bit worried I may have missed it.
Nice trip, just leap on plenty of available seats. Good views. Lots of photos of waterways and
canals. Good look at villages on the way through. \
On this trip passed Turavur and Cherthala
Arrived in Alleppey, and hounded by rickshaw drivers. Here you don't find a cab - they find you !
More about the history of this place here
I have learned the best thing to do is to walk to the end of the station (where there are less
people and touts) looking like you know where you are going, then sit down and work out your next
step.
I decide to go to the tourist information centre (approx 4kms away). Grab a rickshaw for 50rs. (1.20NZ$)
Arrive at Tourist Information centre (Tharavad Heritage Resort). A very impressive 100 year old villa all done on nicely polished or oiled wood and fitted out with bronze and brass antiques.
It turns out that this is in fact also a homestay. Cost 500rs per night.
Rooms are best Ive seen so far - and service impeccable. Strongly recommend this place to anyone !
I book a canoe trip for in the next morning. I book for 2 nights & I learn that there is a nice
beach only a short walk away.
Then I walk into town (about as much of a main street as Raglan, NZ I guess).
Town is away from the beach in an Easterly direction.
I buy 2 ice creams - man its bloody hot here ! and 2 ltrs of water.
I take a few photos of the canal system, and turn and walk toward the beach. Bloody hot by the time
I get there. I guess I’ve walked 6 kms or so all up, close to 40deg here. Photos to the right.
Have a nice swim at the beach. Very few people here and all VERY friendly. Got some nice photos
of the really old pier which is disintegrating in the sunset. Lots of photos here.
Got up to leave and many of the locals had come out to meet me.
Sat and talked with various people for a
good 2 hours on the beach in the dark. Its very safe here (I guess).
All the stories you here about India being unsafe and very unfounded. I was able to leave my bag
on the beach and swim with people walking on the beach here no problems. I had about 4-5 swims at
this beach.
The water is even warmer here than in Colva. Literally like bath water and very clean
here also. Will make the most of the beaches before heading inland.
2008-Jan-16 Alappuzha (Alleppey) Woke - awesome sleep. No Mozzies. Have seen a few but not been bitten yet. This is Malaria country. Perhaps to day in the backwaters.
Had breakfast with two families of wealthy indians on holiday (from Hydrabad). Yesterday they hired a house boat and paid 9000rs for 5 hours = phew !. I plan on heading down to Thiruvanthapuram maybe tomorrow. Anyway, its now about 9am and time to send my diary (they have let me use the office computer and internet for free) and go on the canoe trip (9:30am)
Finding that as a general rule prices have nearly doubled from those in the lonely planet book.
Other tourists we talk to agree. But still very cheap holiday. Pick your spots tho :-). Very strange had no NZ news all week except about Edmund Hillary dying.
Seems to be no TXT coverage here with Telecom.
I got some amazing photos of sunsets here.
8pm. Did dugout Canoe trip into backwaters - recommend this to anyone (cost 300rs per hr) (10NZ$/hr).
Paddled myself a lot of the way and had a guide who also paddled some. Was 5 hours long. I paddled over
10km into the jungle apparently. Stopped at a few villages but mostly saw the action on the
banks. Lots of people washing clothes etc. Karilians are the cleanest Indians Ive met so far.
I stopped as a guy claimed a coconut tree to get me a fresh coconut, sliced a hole in it and poked a
straw into it - now where the hell do they get boxes of plastic straws in the jungle ! - anyway drank the whole
thing - quite tasty and refreshing. Then they sliced open the coconut and scraped some of the
soft jelly like inners out which I ate. Very nice (cost 12rs) !
Stopped at a jungle pub for a beer(made from crushed coconuts and swamp water!) - yum ! 22rs for
a bottle >10% alc apparently. Tastes like shit !, but knocked it all back (except half a glass - i
just couldn’t bring myself to do it !. See Photo
Saw a small water snake. Few birds. Wildlife other than buffalo are very hard to find. Im told you must visit the sanctuaries to see anything.
On the canoe trip I saw where the snake boat races are held (during August), and many of the boats tied up. Some fisherman pulled in their nets just to show me how much they catch. One had been there all day and had the equivalent to two sardines - he was rapt ! lol
A coconut fell in the bush from a tree and hit the ground about 2mtrs away. It scared the shit out of me - which
currently I can report would still be solid -we will see a day or so after that beer !!
Approx 3pm. I came back into town, and caught a rickshaw back to the Hotel. Grabbed a towel and walked to the beach again. It was so hot and the beach here is irritable !. Nagged by many rickshaw drivers on the way offering a ride. They just cant understand a white guy carrying a bag !
Walked about 3 km along beach had a couple of swims and caught some sun.
Walking back and saw a pod of dolphins leaping about 50mtrs off shore. Tried to get photos, they are very quick. Got more sunset photos. Found a shop that sells 250g tubs of ice cream (very rare in india). Accidentally bought one and scoffed in in 3 seconds by the beach.
Walked home in the dark. Met more people. Its funny the questions you ALWAYS are asked are the same and in the same order by every Indian you meet.
- Where are you from
- What is your name
- What is your profession (a status thing)
- Are you married (they are surprised to see a white guy travelling alone). I just told them my wife was too expensive to bring lol
- How long are you in India and what is your programme.
Paid the bill for the room (1000rs for the two nights), and for the Canoe trip (1500rs for the 5
hours). As usual in India the room includes breakfast - a good selection here.
Will head to the train station in the morning and see if I can get a ticket to Thiruvanthapuram
(which despite saying to people a thousand times I still can't pronounce!)
2008-Jan-17 Alappuzha (Alleppey)
Woke and checked out of Hotel at about 9am. Was to catch train, but first train south is not until later arvo. Decided to catch ferry @10:30am from Alleppey (8HR trip) to Kollam for 300rs. Had a great trip. This has been the best trip since being here.
I caught a ferry ride through coconut groves and backwaters for hours toward Kollam.
We Stopped and had Tali in jungle. Met some backpackers. Drunk a lot of rum. Got to Kollam about 6:30pm
Great sunset..
Whole town had been shutdown by a massive demonstration and a march of 10's of thousands of Musi(?) supporters.
Very loud and looking violent and dangeous actually. We needed to cross through the group of marchers (I guess about 150 people wide). We bunched up and put the two girls into the middle and went through ...
- Joel had a large bongo drum so we pretended to join in by beating it - the marchers were amused
- luckily !. We got dragged along for nearly a KM, but got through just near the railway station.
Teamed up with Joel, Lucy and Coco and Dan to find the railway station so we could all catch a
train to Varkala.
Caught the train about 7:30pm for the 26km to Varkala beach.
Arrived no accommodation anywhere – very late - considered sleeping on beach. Tried attaching a hammock, but
banana trees to week and coconut trees too far apart.
Headed to the cliff top bungalows for a few bottles of Kingfisher Beer. Nice cold beer - first I’ve
found so far !
Found a room with two single beds (200rs shared 3 ways very cheap) Several cockroaches, so
moved beds away from walls. Old Indian woman not keen on two guys and a girl sharing same room, so
we told here there is only two of us :-) Pushed beds together and three of us slept across the bed. Only got about 3 hrs sleep. Very hot here.
Thats the end of this PART. Read the next part in this journey
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