A higher place

Eravikulam National Park is a must if you want to see the endangered Nilgiri tahr. Half the worlds remaining population is found here. The Tahr is the evolutionary link between primitive goat antelopes and true goats. Today was the last day the park is open before it shuts for the breeding season. The mountain these little fellas leap around is still part of the Western Ghats its called Anamudi, at 2695 meters it is the highest peak south of the Himalayas and we climbed it!



So off we set, Joseph at the wheel, honking away at each bend. He drops us at the gate and we get our tickets - 465Rs including the bus and camera for both of us which is about £6.50. Indian Nationals pay less, we were suprised at how popular it was. There really is a big home tourist market. We board the National Park bus and roar 4ks up an even steeper section to walk the final leg to the top. You have to keep strictly to the tarmac path, Rangers are placed at strategic intervals to ensure you do. Then there they are, right in front of you, some of the friendliest endangered animals you could wish to meet.






Back down we go, honking madly. Past the Tea Factory Museum - we are 'doing' that tomorrow as it is closed on Mondays - to pull up outside a smart looking building with the most fabulous garden in front that incorporated strawberries and vegetables with a riot of flowers many of which you would see in an English garden - sweet williams, sunflowers, antirrhinums, marigolds, roses, and so on. We have arrived at Srishti Nullatanni Estate, part of the vast Tata conglomerate. This particular project was initially started as occupational therapy for the physically and mentally challenged youngsters of tea workers many of whom have intermarried in their small communities over the years. It has three main sections, a preserves unit that makes strawberry jam, hence the strawberry patch outside! A paper making unit that manufactures different varieties of paper, when we looked round they were fulfilling a huge order for carrier bags and assembling envelopes with transparent windows, they also make wonderful hand made papers with all sorts of natural ingredients including elephant dung! The final section was the natural dye unit Aranya Naturals, where they were making the most beautiful tie dye, wax resist fabrics using natural local dye stuffs like Eucalyptus, Lemon Grass, tea waste, Cashew, amongst many others. Cameras weren't allowed so I can't show you the processes but there was a fabulous level of skill displayed by these young people, some 36 youngsters working with fabrics and 28 in the paper department.

A quick visit to the ATM at Munnar on the way back which is quite a palaver as there is an armed guard outside and he will only let you in when the previous customer leaves. Withdrawal accomplished we make a quick phone call to book an Ayurvedic massage for me tomorrow. Back to base camp. That is our Monday here in the Western Ghats.

A Trip in The Western Ghats

Breakfast at 7.00 am on the balcony in the cool morning air. What a relief from the humid coast. we set off for Top Station half an hour later, some 6,000 ft up the twisting hairpin bends mercifully empty early on a Sunday morning, through Munnar town itself still asleep, all the while surrounded by tea. It looks as though some crazed topiarist has been let loose in the mountains and has carved out a patchwork quilt to soften its outlines.





Most of the tea is owned by Tata (the company that bought out Tetley a few years ago) who are rated as good employers locally. They wanted to raise the workers wages but other nearby plantation owners disagreed so instead they give them extra benefits such as health cover and a share in the profits (but not a very big one I would think). We see a few pickers out today, both men and women, usually they work six days a week 8am to 5pm.



We pass Mattupetty, a large lake with a hydro electricity dam that provides electric for the tea factories, Munnar and outlying areas. Its feeder lake, Kundala is higher up, its dam is about 100 years old but reassuringly solid looking.

Top Station straddles Kerala and Tamil Nadu so we stroll in each. On the Kerala side you can see tea, on the Tamil side it is all slopes of lemon grass. Tamil Nadu is much drier, because of the rain shadow with all the rain falling on Kerala's side of the mountains.

On our way down we stop at Kundala and take a rowing boat out, it is gorgeous, like a good summers day and if you half close your eyes the surrounding mountains could be Scotland or the Lakes. Its good to listen to the bird song, watch the kingfishers at work while idly wondering how fish get into a lake that high up a mountain!



Back at base camp Keith goes for a walk with Amil, his daughter and Anna a Swedish woman who is out here setting up a project to provide work for women, she is leaving tomorrow. They walk round the block, and encounter a snake along the way which reared up at them preparing to strike, a woman comes along and saves them by knocking it on the head with a very big stick! Meanwhile I'm safely sorting out my photos and mulling over this blog but hear all about the excitement on their return.

The Backwaters of Kerala

One of the main features and attractions of Kerala are its famous backwaters comprising some 900 kms of waterways/canals that fringe the coast and extend inland. Aleppey from which we started our trip is known as the 'Venice of the East'.



We have spent 3 days and nights exploring the backwaters on a houseboat designed like a Kettuvallam, the traditional rice barge of the area, albeit with lots of mod-cons supposedly, however our boat was so new it was unfinished and lacked these mod cons but we did have a fine crew with Captain Suda and chef Benedict! The traditional Kerelan food produced by Bendict has been truly sumptuous, there is no chance of losing weight in India!



Most of the canals are bordered by small strips of land similar to levees, with paths lined by coconut palms that are tapped for toddy, the local tipple, and whose coconut fibre is used for coir production and behind which are large rice paddy fields lower than sea level. The tiny farmers houses are also sited on these thin strips of land many of which are accessible only by water - either ferry, or canoes paddled or poled along like a gondola. Occasionally the land widens and small villages appear.



The main occupations apart from farming and now tourism is fishing and mussel collecting using the traditional methods of diving and scooping them up by hand, sifting them out underwater through a basket tied to the waist or by standing in a canoe using a pole with a metal rake and net attached and dragging that along the river bed.



Our overall impression of the backwaters was of peaceful calm compared with nearby towns such as Cochin and Alleppey and the area retains many of the traditional ways of living although larger grander homes are starting to encroach. Life revolves around the water, the constant whack of washing clothes lifted high over the shoulders and brought crashing down onto large flat stones can be heard everywhere and we see people bathing themselves, their children and their metal plates and pans in the water that is all around.

Day 1

Crossed Vembanod Lake and view Kerala snake boat 110 feet long that races with 100 men rowing some standing in the middle chanting the oarsman's beat and others guiding the boat. 16 villages take part every year and the competition is an important annual community focus.

Visited Chavara Bhavan - the birthplace of the St Elias Chavara where we saw his old wooden house where he was born beautifully preserved in a building attached to a church that houses his relics (hand) and had a Pelican and her young depicted in silver relief on the altar. Chavara Bhavan was sainted by Pope John Paul. He was an early proponent of education for all.

Overnight at C Block East by paddy fields.

Day 2

Started early viewing sunrise and mussel fishermen, followed by the ladies who arrived to work in the paddy, they work from 8-1 after that it is too hot.





We take a backwater south from Vembanod Lake towards Kollom.

Stop at village and visit a family who demonstrated traditional methods of making coir first totally by hand rubbing the coconut fibre which has been soaked in water for six months, dried and fluffed up, then by using a spinning wheel comprising old bicycle wheels and what look like enormous crochet hooks. Ann had a go and successfully made two lengths of coir which were twisted together into 2 ply, which form a strong string.



We pass old Buddhist images of Karumandaikutton

Stop overnight just outside Thattapally

Day 3

Walk to Thattapully beach and watch fisherman using hand thrown nets in the narrow race where the high tide comes into the lake and the lake waters rush out to meet the sea. All five fishermen threw their nets in at roughly the same time and covered most of the narrow inlet. They caught one or two small fish each time and had collected perhaps half a bucket full each by the time we came across them. The area is also used for drying shrimp shells which will be added to cattle feed.



We pause to sit in the shade at a bus stop where there are schoolgirls waiting to catch the bus, they start school at 10 and finish at 4.00. All the school children we have seen look immaculately turned out in their pristine uniforms and bright hair ribbons.



Go east then north through canals.

Visit wood carving artist who was in the process of carving a statue of Saint Alphonsa India's newest and only female saint. We walk on to nearby Saint Mary's at Champakulam, one of the most ancient churches in India.

We moor up for the night just off Lake Vembanod ready for an early start back to the
boatyard and our taxi to Munnar. Tonight we had contact from Anil the owner of the
homestay we are headed for, his driver needed instructions on how to find the boatyard which is outside of Alleppey. Tomorrow we climb high into the hills of the Western Ghats.

more photos to add when I have the time

moving on

We've had a really fab time here in Marari Beach just chilling out and doing not a lot but eat, swim and read and not necessarily in that order. We move on tomorrow to a houseboat, no internet for a few days! I'm uploading a few photos from our time here, they are fairly self explanatory!

Apam & the Renaissance

Apam was the most delicious start to the day, it was a pretty pancake, thick at the bottom with filigree scalloped sides rather like a decorative doily. It came with a vegetable korma which was a milky mix of carrots, beans, sultanas, cashews, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and goodness knows what else but it worked for me!

Although we are in the Muslim fisherman's area of the coast we were treated to a long Christian service from a nearby church this morning which Keith informs me started at 6.00 am and went on till around midday. It was broadcast throughout the area on loud speakers. The Lords Prayer is very poetic in Malayalam, the local language of Kerala - which is a palindrome by the way, MalayalaM that is!



I tried to make a start on my Open University course today, its a bit incongruous sitting in a tropical garden trying to get to grips with the Renaissance which was all happening around the time Vasco da Gama was visiting these shores for the first time. While I was hard at it Keith was filling in the gaps in our itinerary, towards the end of our trip we are now visiting Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and staying in a heritage hotel at Alleppey, whose previous guests include Gandhi and Nehru.

Lovely walk along the beach this evening - no dang photos though as I had the camera on the wrong setting and they are all incredibly grainy! You'll just have to imagine the fishermen, the empty silver sands, coconut trees, sunset and so on! I'll try to do better tomorrow!



There are bikes everywhere, I'm starting a spot the bike slot!

PS the wine last night was just the job, no hangover and it was exceedingly quaffable!

Idli &Wine!

This morning it was Idli for breakfast which were very nice. They are steamed savoury cakes made with rice and white dhal flour and served with a coconut chutney. They certainly set me up for the day.



We nibbled a few cashew nuts on the beach at lunch time and tonight I'm cooking pasta with a jar of tomato and basil sauce, part of the basic easy cook provisions we stocked up with in Cochin - Keith thinks it is to give his stomach a break from hot and spicy for a day but I know I'm doing it for the wine! As I'm cooking and therefore there are no real food costs we're going to throw caution to the wind and indulge in the hideously expensive alcohol here. Kerala is basically a dry state, alcohol is not readily available as you have to have a licence to sell it and that is a very expensive business. We are going to have our first bottle of wine since we got here and it is going to be an Indian wine - Grover Vineyards in Nandi Hills their La Réserve 2006. Should I be worried about the warning on the label in big letters - 'ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH'? - I'll let you know tomorrow!



We are marveling at technology today, we can keep up with everyone's news on Facebook; through the good internet connection here Keith has just downloaded the Saturday Telegraph to his Christmas Kindle; while I read in the hardcopy of The Hindu newspaper left outside our door each day along with the Indian Express that the spice market is being revolutionised with the introduction of e-auctions for Cardamoms. It is claimed to stop the secret deals in the traditional a nod is as good as a wink system, or as they call it the 'outcry system'. It is cutting out the middleman, the farmers are selling direct to the traders and are getting a much better price. It is said to be fast too with over 500 lots a day being auctioned. Between August and December they shifted 5,955 tonnes of the stuff @ an average of Rs 1,090 kg - about £15.

Oh yes the beach was fab, there was a nice breeze today. The undertow is quite strong so we don't bother with the warm sea, we save our hippo like soaking for the pool. There were loads of the ubiquitous squawking black crows which chunter away to themselves all day but on the odd occasion they quietened down a little and we look up to see what we think was a Fish Eagle going overhead, it was too big to be a Brahminy Kite, it might have been a Long Legged Buzzard but Fish Eagle makes more sense - and the pictures in the book in our cottage match better!



Anyway its nearly time to cook!

Puttu and Alleppey

I've started to work my way through the Keralan breakfast menu. This morning it was Puttu which is a steamed rice cake. What I hadn't cottoned onto was that it was served with milk, which I sloshed into my coffee; honey, which Keith had on his toast; but the banana and papadum did go nicely with it! I thought at the time it was lovely and light and fluffy but a little dry! A bit like having your cereals with no milk in fact! Better luck tomorrow.



Today we went into Alleppey which is not far but it took an age as the single track coastal railway crossing barriers were down and seemed to be stuck down. Eventually they were manhandled up and we were able to start our organising day - Keith got his glasses fixed, the screw had come out of the arm, we went to an ATM and then we went to a book a houseboat trip which involved inspecting the boats first! It looks lovely so we are committed to three days afloat on Kerala's backwaters after we leave here.

We sent a long time in the cool pool when we got back!

Life's a beach

A busy day with our feet up!

Marari Beach

We've moved on to the beach and we are semi self catering - we have a small kitchen but we also have the services of a private chef if we want, hmmm what a difficult decision!

The pool you can see just outside our bedroom is our very own private one but the beach is not far away. We took a walk to have a look - white sand, fringed with coconut trees, lapped by the warm Arabian Sea. I think we'll managed to occupy ourselves here for a week!

Photos of beach tomorrow ...

Magic

I thought I had taken some movie of the musicians last night but apparently not! The guy on the right is playing a tabla, the guy in the middle is playing a flat box like stringed instrument that is plucked, when I asked the waiter what it was he said it was a bul bul (no idea about the spelling)and rare in Kerala. Whatever it sounded beautiful and the whole evening under the stars was magical.



Today we've got a few provisions in for our next stop which is self catering on the beach. We also got a couple of the right adapter plugs now so we wont have to steal the one the hotel kindly lent us! We've sent a few postcards - even went to the Post Office for the stamps because they are cheaper!



Fort Cochin has been a really fabulous gentle introduction to India, we could not have had better. Hotel is out of this world, here is the view to our bedroom - you can just spot the old chap sitting outside. All the four windows on the ground floor are ours, bathroom, study/dressing area and then the two big windows in the bedroom. The lotus flowers in the pool are out in the morning and have finished by lunchtime, very Indian meditation sort of thing!



Well there is packing to do before the dressing drinks!

Synagogue, Temple, some Police and a bit of washing !

Pardesi Synagogue was originally built in 1568, partially destroyed by the Portugese in 1662 and rebuilt when the Dutch took Kochi a couple of years later. It has fabulous hand painted blue and white willow pattern floor tiles from China, a golden pulpit, and loads of Belgian glass chandeliers for candles which must make the building really hot if they were all lit - specially nice for the women who have to sit separately upstairs. There are hardly any Cochin Jews left and to keep this, the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth, operational Jews from outlying areas come in to worship. Salman Rushdie incorporates it in his novel The Moors Last Sigh which I must re-read again now I've seen it. The usual no photo, no shoes applied so all I've got is the entrance guarded by a mustached man on the left and the clock tower which was built in 18th century.



There have been Jews in Cochin from around 52AD, the first settlers arrived from Yemen and Babylon. We had a wander around the narrow lanes turning down the many kind offers to come into various shops. We did dip into a narrow, cool, dark 'Mall' called The Ethnic Passage (got to be a better name than the back passage!) which has been beautifully restored and has an interesting selection of shops and nice loos upstairs, keys from the cafe. I bought a bloody book - can you imagine, as if I'm not lugging enough around with me already!

Our next stop was the most innovative museum I've seen for ages. The International Tourism Police Station & Police Museum has an interesting collection of uniforms through the ages, handcuffs, weapons, pictures of vehicles used, old town pictures etc etc. You get given a leaflet that sets out their objectives and duties as well as giving tourist tips for safety and some useful numbers - I had no idea the emergency number for police was 100 - I do now! Best of all you could take photos - although it has to be said it is not the most photogenic subject in the world!



Then onto the Jain Temple which is adorned with swastikas an ancient symbol for good luck before it was expropriated by the Nazis. It was also adorned by pigeons - safe in the knowledge that Janism, an Indian religion, believes in non-violence towards all living beings!



Last stop - at the rickshaw drivers insistence was the public laundry. He was right, it was interesting, but I'm certainly not sending my clothes to the laundry here - so it was back to the hotel to do a bit of hand washing!

We've just had a knock at the door and it was one of the guys from the front desk telling us our dinner tonight is complimentary - in view of the fact that we are staying here 5 nights. I think most people just charge through doing Cochin in a day type of thing. We are so lucky to have the time to enjoy this laid back elegant place. Dinner tonight will be in the garden with twinkly lights and live music which is out of this world. I do have night shots but on the little camera and as usual I'm not organised enough to upload them just yet. Its going to be hard leaving ....

Mattancherry Palace

We had a Keralan breakfast today - a Marsala Dosa which is a sort of pancake filled with potato curry and very delicious it was too - you don't need coffee after that to wake you up! Then it was time to jump in a rickshaw for our bout of sightseeing for the day. We were headed for the Dutch Palace but first we had to stop at a souvenir shop as a favour to the rickshaw driver so he could collect a fuel voucher for introducing us, we didn't have to buy anything - although we were shown everything! It was nice and cool with full a/c but we weren't tempted - I think its the thought of lugging it around for several weeks that is preventing me from even thinking about shopping!

Mattancherry Palace was built by the Portuguese in the 1550s and presented to the Rajas. The Dutch renovated it in 1663 and it then became known as the Dutch Palace. It was heaving, full of Indian families all in their Sunday best. There were large portraits of the Rajas of Cochin displayed in what used to be the Coronation Hall, rule by the Rajas ended with Independence and today India is a Republic and Kerala is the first democratically elected Communist State.

Also on display in the Palace and what it is renown for, were fabulous murals illustrating the Ramayana, an epic tale of the God Krishna and his wife Sita. They were highly stylized in fabulous earthy colours, very juicy in parts culminating with not one but five pictures of gods being born in gory graphic detail! Probably just as well that no photos were allowed inside!

Its not a particularly photogenic building either but here it is!




Grabbed a shot of this group waiting for their transport - the little boy in the foreground spotted me and rushed up to place himself slap bang in the centre so I'm not sure if those smiles are for me or at his antics! Either way it looks as though they had a good day out.




On the way back we passed this old guy ironing. It looks like he is a mobile ironing service. The base of the iron was filled with hot embers and he was doing a great job.




Finally back at the hotel and straight in the pool! Perfect!



It is Sunday here, don't know what date blogger is going to set for this as I haven't adjusted any timings.

Walking tour of Fort Cochin!

A leisurely start to the day, it was 10ish before we got out and about, so much for my determination to sight see early before it gets too hot! Today was a walking day in spite of the persistent tuk tuk drivers touting for business.



First stop was St Francis Church, where Vasco da Gama was buried for 14 years before being dug up and taken back to Portugal. Vasco da Gama first arrived in Kerala in 1498 via the Cape of Good Hope in his search for a sea route from Europe to the East. He achieved what Christopher Columbus failed to because America was in the way! He was interested in trading with the Zamorin dynasty of Calicut which was then a major trading centre for pepper and spices in the north of Kerala. However his gifts did not impress and established trading ties with the Arabs and Chinese meant his lengthy discussions with the Zamorin came to nothing and he left Calicut with no trading agreement. It was Pedro Alvarez Cabral who established friendly relations with the Raja of Cochin in 1500 which kickstarted the whole European Colonial episode in India. Vasco da Gama returned in 1502 and after fighting the Zamorin and plundering Calicut he moved to Cochin and hammered out a free trade agreement with the Raja in return for Portugal's protection from skirmishes and raids by the Zamorin. Vasco da Gama's third visit to Cochin was to be his last. In 1524 he was brought out of retirement and sent to India as Viceroy for Portugal. He died of malaria in Cochin on Christmas Eve that same year. We are glad there is no malaria here today!



Next was the Santa Cruz Basilica - a Catholic church originally built of wood in 1506 but rebuilt several times, this reincarnation was 1902. Pastel colours for flamboyant murals and ceramics, interesting aisle floor.





A neighbour at home, Dom, told us about the Teapot cafe he frequented on his gap year so we did a welcome pit stop there. It was lovely, very quirky, with lots of tea pots all shapes and sizes and tables with bases of tea chests. We each had a refreshing lime juice soda and I had a healthy green tea. Just the job for temperatures getting on for 30C

Onwards to the Indo-Portuguese Museum - which was a bit of a misnomer as it consisted of church regalia. Only to be expected I suppose as it was set in the gardens of the Bishop of Cochin's sumptuous house and preserves one of the earliest of India's Catholic communities.

I was more interested in the resurfacing of the road outside. Really hot work. The tar was delivered in an oil drum and melted in situ into a tank with a tap (on the end nearest us) that filled a bucket which was transported by hand to the orange machine behind which mixed it with aggregate ready for spreading, or at least I think that was what was going on....



As I have got men at work it seems only right I have a photo of women at work. This is a very snatched shot as we passed an open doorway near the Parade Ground in Cochin, the women were washing clothes, I heard the thwack of the washing hit the stone first then spotted them away deep inside the house. I hope its not too dark, I may need to adjust my camera settings or take my sunnies off while shooting!




Back to the hotel, to the pool, to swim and cool off and then snooze on the loungers. All the Europeans here do this, none of us are quite right on the time difference and I have to say it does look rather like an old peoples home while we are all taking a nap lined up by the side of the pool ! No photos of that needless to say!

Chinese Fishing Nets

To keep ourselves awake on our first day we had a stroll by the river and watched the Chinese fishing nets in action. These nets date from 1400, and were introduced by the traders of Kublai Khan. Nets of this size are only found in Cochin, they rely on a system of counterweights to raise and lower the enormous net into the water. We did see them catch fish and we saw the raucous black crows pinch the wriggling slivers of silver.

We were asked onto one of the rickety, spindly structures to help pull on the ropes to raise the net but being weedy we have put it off till another day. There was a fish market there and a lot of you buy we cook type of stalls. We thought it easier to eat at the hotel that night.

At last - we are here!

I needed a medicinal champagne or three in the Emirates Business Lounge after negotiating the chaos and shambles that is Heathrow.

We flew to Cochin via Dubai and the London Dubai leg was on a new A380. We were in the upstairs bit. We had mucked up the on-line seat choice and had misread the seating plans which were a bit twirly and vague. We ended up sitting in single seats which flank each window, one behind the other, a la tandem bike! So beware, the seating plan on an A380 is one-two-one. We'll have to alter our reservations already made for the homebound journey in March as we missed yelling at each other with our headphones on about some inane bit in the film! There were lots of silly points in the one I watched - Facebook, very underwhelming, can't think why I stuck with it!

Can't you tell I've not had much sleep in the last 30 hours? Moan, moan, moan! However all is not doom and gloom, there was one excellent discovery. In the Emirates vast in flight music entertainment they do a time line of musical development and there was a great section on Renaissance music. Really appropriate as I am lugging a lot of heavy art books around India with me as I have just started an Open University course, Renaissance Art Reconsidered.
Dubai airport was heaving at 2.00am - no night flight problems here! To connect to our flight to Cochin we had to negotiate our way from one side of the airport to the other - it had doubled or even tripled in size from when we were here last.

Cochin airport was a paragon of decorum after Heathrow and we arrived at our lovely hotel after a hair raising taxi drive. We were picked up by a white cab, an old Ambassador car, specially for the tourists I expect, solid, comfortable and picturesque. A lot of the way into town we were on the main dual carriageway, this dual carriageway becomes three or four lanes at times, particularly behind lorries or buses when two cars seem to have a pact that they are the same width as one lorry and vie for pole position while hurtling along, drivers on mobiles, avoiding the horde of motorbikes weaving in and out at will. In a brief jam our driver had a chat to an adjacent taxi driver while we nodded greetings to the occupants in the back! What a relief to arrive in one piece!


The hotel is an oasis of cool charm. We've sort of settled in and we've had a look around the immediate vicinity. We know its going to be good.