South India - Part 4 - November 2019

Tuesday 5 November

• We drove the short distance from beautiful, serene Cardamom Hοuse in the foothills of the Western Ghats to dusty Madurai — the Temple City, City of Honey, City of Jasmine, the City that Never Sleeps, the site of the wedding of Shiva and Parvati in Hindu mythology. After the natural calm of the past several days it was a shock to plunge again into the chaos of a large Indian city.
• We were welcomed with a lei of jasmine and marigolds on arrival at the Heritage Madurai hotel, formerly the British officers’ club and an oasis of calm — and mosquitos. The city is surrounded by small lakes, ponds and streams, so there is plenty of opportunity for the annoying little blighters to breed.
• We met up with our guide at the 17^th century Tirumala Nayak Palace, built by the fabulously wealthy maharaja and designed by Italian (!) architects. It was an extraordinary mixture of classical (Greek/Roman) style stone pillars, complex painted Hindu plaster figures, and Arabic-style arches.

• Our guide was an entertaining character who did not hesitate to let us know that he has become a YouTube sensation for videos demonstrating the local traditional dance style. We thought he might be exaggerating, but several people came up to him to shake his hand. Some were quite jealous that we had him as a guide. He certainly had remarkably expressive and flexible hand and facial gestures. He was a former school teacher and very good at explaining the baffling and complex stories of Hindu mythology. (Prabu, our dancing guide)

• Our next stop was a visit to the vast, astounding Meenakshi temple — a site of pilgrimage for centuries and visited by over 2 million people a year. According to our guide, the Indian government wants it to be declared an 8^th Wonder of the World — no idea what that means. After leaving behind our shoes, socks, cameras, cell phones, watches and any other electronic gear (for religious reasons) we were allowed to enter through metal detectors and a body search (for security reasons). There was so much to see and to take in inside the temple. A few highlights, but sadly no photos:

1. Five huge conical towers decorated with literally thousands of brightly colored statues of the gods. Each god has a different color and the sight is spectacularly garish.    
2. A neem tree hung with hundreds of little wooden cradles each containing a baby Krishna. Women hang them on the tree as a prayer for fertility.
3. A huge canopy and a statue of Nandi (Shiva’s bull) carved from a single piece of black granite. If you whisper in the statue’s ear, Nandi will take your message to Shiva.
4. A ceiling painting of a circular bowl with a spout that points towards to viewer from whatever direction you look at it. We walked all around and it is very puzzling.
5. A popular statue of Shiva in female form (don’t ask), discretely dressed in multiple skirts, showing the correct stance for a woman to give birth. Temples are not just for religious observations but also places for education about sex and married life.
6. The temple is unusual in having shrines to both Shiva and Parvati, who normally have separate temples. As non-Hindus, we were not allowed to enter the shrines. There was no line to visit Shiva, but Parvati had a line with a wait of over 3 hours — easy to see who was more popular.
7. A huge weighing scale designed for a person to sit on one end to measure their own weight in produce — bananas, coconuts, rice — which they donate to the temple.

• After our fascinating and educational visit to the temple it was time to return through the dusty, crowded streets to our hotel for an early night as we had to be up for a 5:30 start the next morning.

Wednesday 6 November 

House sign created new every day

• Our early morning tour of the back streets of Madurai was fascinating. We were guided down narrow alleys with fresh water pumps every few hundred yards -- no running water in the houses.
• There were cows in the street being milked by men, and the milk being delivered by women — unpasteurized and uncooled — in small metal containers to their customers. Customers get two milk deliveries a day and refrigeration is hardly needed as the milk is used within a few hours, or turned into yogurt.
• The street in front of every house was being carefully washed and the woman of the house was creating a design in chalk powder at the house entrance. Each design is unique and different, reflecting the skills and mood of the woman. Young females looking for husbands are judged for their design proficiency, as well as their cooking skills, looks, and deference to the grooms parents. A young man is judged by the bride’s father for his ability to wrestle a large bull to the ground and to lift a 100 lb stone over his shoulders.

Banana Market

• We encountered families of goats, and sellers of 6 different varieties of spinach. 
• Lin had sweet-smelling jasmine flowers woven into her hair. We were given samples of jasmine oil by a perfume maker.
• We took a welcome break at a famous tea and coffee shop where we enjoyed small glasses of tea and a delicious freshly-made, deep-fried, cardamom-flavored rice doughnut.
• The banana market was fascinating with dozens of different varieties. We tasted the red bananas of which they are very proud. The flavor is more intense than our regular bananas, and the flesh is slightly pink.

• We were amazed to see a vast pile of dried chilies being loaded into sacks by hand. Just watching made our skin feel hot and itchy. Hard to believe anyone could need that much chili.

• After the tour, we checked out of our hotel and flew -- late -- to Chennai, the last stop on our tour. We were sad to say goodbye in Madurai to our driver of three weeks, Kumar (a simplification of his longer Malayalam name). He had shown admirable skill in navigating us round south India's difficult roads and undisciplined traffic, while keeping us entertained and informed with his stories and insights. His use of English was interesting if somewhat challenging as he had learned it by osmosis from his clients. He was immensely proud of his state — Kerala. He could speak Malayalam, Tamil and English, but could read only Malayalam. Interestingly, his children can speak English and Malayalam, but can only write English. He referred to his wife as "she", and his mother-in-law, who lives with his family as "she's mother", who according to him can be "shouty".

• Chennai is a huge city — over 10 million people — but much better organized and cleaner than Bangalore. We were taken quickly from the airport to our modern un-Indian Radisson hotel in central Chennai.

Thursday 7 November

• Our final day in India was occupied by two tours of Chennai - formerly called Madras.
• In the morning, we visited the main tourist sites, First, another large and complicated temple with many small shrines. Our guide tried to explain the significance of it all, but we felt a bit bamboozled. With 33 million gods, many with multiple aspects, it is easy to get lost.
• We visited the Catholic church where Jesus' disciple, (Doubting) Thomas, is buried - he reputedly came to India in 52 AD. It is a rather fine building, with an interesting statue of Jesus standing on a lotus flower (Buddhist symbol), and flanked by two peacocks (Hindu symbols). Thomas' tomb was guarded by a stern nun, who forbade all talking and shouted at anyone who had not removed their shoes, though she was wearing sandals herself.
• The road running along the huge, wide Chennai beach was impressive and lined with stately buildings from the British colonial period. Our next stop was the fort where the English had established their colony, and the museum, full of rather dusty artifacts from the colonial period and the early days of independent India.
• Our final stop on the morning tour was the Anglican Church, where Anthony's grandfather was ordained in the 1880's. Anthony tried to communicate with the church authorities to see if there were any records of his grandfather, though with limited success.
• Our afternoon tour of the old bazaar was in many ways the best tour of our holiday. Our guide spoke excellent English, had a depth of knowledge and lots of good stories and information. She showed us many interesting aspects of the wholesale market that was set up to trade with the British East India Company in the 17th century. We visited a shop that sold many different kinds of rice, another making ghee and oils, learned about the health benefits of different fruits and vegetables, tasted jaggery made from sugarcane, coffee beans and spices.
• Finally, it was time for us to prepare for the long journey home. We left 90 degree F Chennai at 11:30 on Thursday night and were back in 25 degree Philadelphia 26 hours later.

Afterword
Our trip was memorable, stimulating, exhausting, enthralling, equal parts busy cities and quiet countryside — we are still trying to take it all in. India is an endlessly fascinating country, and we loved our encounters with the friendly, welcoming people of the south. We'll post some more pictures in the next few days.

Photos

South India - October/November 2019 - Part 3

Tuesday 29 October

• After a second night in our Secret Garden hotel in Kochi, we headed a few miles south to the small town of Alleppey. It used to be a town devoted to coconut matting and coir production, but has found a new lease on life with houseboats — the reason we were there. The area is a maze of lakes, canals, rivers and waterways surrounded by rice fields and marshland — very serene and beautiful, and full of birds.
• We were delivered to our “home” for the next 24 hours by a small, in-danger-of-capsizing water taxi. Our home was a large houseboat with two sumptuous air-conditioned cabins with queen-sized four poster beds, a fine dining room and an upper deck where we could view the passing show.
• The crew was 3 smiling Keralans, who looked after the boat and the passengers. We were welcomed with fresh coconuts with the tops cut out and straws so we could drink the coco water. Meals were huge with multiple dishes of spicy vegetables and fish, with rice and various breads — far too much food for us, especially as there was little opportunity for working it off between meals. The river was crowded with houseboats — all unique, but following a standard style of barge-like metal hull and a large superstructure of wood and woven bamboo. Some are very elegant — others not so much.

• The boat proceeded at a stately pace up a wide river lined with small houses — some large and modern, and many others small and humble. The river was constantly busy with long narrow canoes filled with cargo — rice, vegetables, coconuts, school children — being ferried along the river, or from one side to the other. There had been so much rain that the level of the river water was higher than the surrounding fields.
• The boat glided along with very little sound past herons, kingfishers, bee eaters and kites, each bend in the river opening up new vistas of palm trees and rice fields. Every so often we heard the slap-slap sound of women washing their clothes by soaking them in river water and pounding them on the stone dykes.
• Our one and only stop was at the small village of Champakulam, where we visited the workshop of a skillful wood carver, who was as happy to carve a crucifix as a statue of the Hindu god Ganesh. The main purpose however, was a visit to the oldest Christian church in India, established in 427 AD! When the Portuguese arrived in India in 1497, thinking they were bringing religion to the heathens, they got a real surprise to find there had been Christians in Kerala for over 1000 years. The current church was built relatively recently and is beautifully painted inside, along with several elements we would consider Hindu — the pulpit is held by a painted lotus flower and outside is a huge golden pillar.
• Our departure from the village was witnessed by a group of teenage schoolgirls waiting on the dock for a water taxi. We were a source of great curiosity.
• Our boat anchored for the night on a quiet corner and we watched as evening fell, with herons and brahminy kites heading for their nighttime roosts, then a procession of huge bats with 3 foot wingspans.

Wednesday 30 October

• The next day was more of the same, gliding along in the early morning, eating a delicious breakfast before reaching the dock. Our pond society members would have been jealous of the huge rafts of brightly colored tropical water lilies growing by the edges of the canals. 
• We were lucky on the boat to have mostly dry weather, but that was to change as we headed up into the Western Ghat hills where they grow all the wonderful spices used in Ayurvedic medicine and Indian and western cooking.
• We ended up at a modest and lovely hotel — Dewalokam — which was built by a 4th generation spice farmer, and was one of the highlights of our trip so far. The owner, Jose (short for Joseph) and his wife Sinta were charming hosts and provided employment for an army of ladies who did the housework, colorfully dressed in matching dresses, and men who did the cooking, serving and handyman jobs. All meals were provided and were delicious and mostly vegetarian. 
• After a thunderous downpour, we managed to fit in a lengthy walking tour of the spice farm before the next downpour. It is amazing the variety of spices they grow, and we tasted tiny pieces of each. In their raw uncooked state most are bitter and highly aromatic — cloves, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cardamom and many others. We were also introduced to many of the strange gourds and beans that are used in the local cuisine, and learned about pineapple cultivation.
• In the evening we attended a cooking demonstration in the kitchen, given by their talented chef, who rustled up two delicious dishes which we later ate at dinner. He also presented us with a copy of a cookbook he has written so we can try out some of his recipes at home.

Thursday 31 October

Rubber tree seedlings among pineapples

• Today we took a highly educational walk through a rubber and pineapple plantation to the local village. Both require the same climate and soil. Rubber trees only last about 30 years before they die and are cut down. The cleared land is planted with rows of pineapples with little rubber tree seedlings between. The pineapple plants last for about 5 years, by which time the rubber trees have grown large and create too much shade for the pineapples. 

• Every mature rubber tree has a diagonal slash along the trunk with a little cup at the bottom to collect the latex as it drips out. People were pouring the cups into buckets that they hauled back to a collecting shack where their contribution was weighed and added to barrels that are shipped to the rubber factory, where it is used for rubber sheet, aircraft tires etc. What a lot of work.
• The village we reached at the end of our trek was small and busy. A ladies’ cooperative with a dozen sewing machines was producing thousands of reusable shopping bags — Kerala wants to stop the use of disposable plastic bags. A small spice processing plant smelled wonderful, but we felt sorry for the young woman working on the chili grinding machine. Being in the same room made our noses itch and eyes water. There were several very fancy houses in the village, built by locals who had gone to work in the Persian Gulf for a few years and come back very well off. A jolting bus ride, then a tuk-tuk took us back to our hotel for a typical Kerala meal eaten with fingers off a banana leaf.

Kerala feast on a banana leaf

• The afternoon was very wet but we did get out to visit the animals on the farm — cows, buffalo, chickens and some very characterful goats. The buffalo provide milk that is made into the most delicious yogurt and cheese, the chickens provided eggs (and often end up in the tandoori oven), and all the animals provide manure that goes into a large underground digester, that creates all the methane that is used for cooking.
• We got such a surprise in the evening when our host and hostess unveiled a board with “Jubilee Greetings, Linda and Sandy”, and presented us with bouquets of flowers and a cake — somehow they had heard it was our 50th wedding anniversary this year.

Friday 1 November

• We were sad to leave Dewalokam on Friday, especially as the sun was shining for the first time during our visit. Now we traveled further up into the hills towards the huge national park of Periyar — over 1100 square kilometers.
• It was a long drive but ended at an elephant sanctuary, where formerly working elephants are kept and looked after. Elephants are no longer allowed to work on forestry or circuses in India, so there are many elephants that still need to be looked after. First up was an elephant ride — two of us sitting astride the giant 7,700 pound animals. They were so sweet and well trained and their mahouts (trainers) had real empathy with their animals. 
• Next they demonstrated some of the tasks that they used to perform in the forests — hauling huge logs. They were amazingly nimble at finding the balance point to pick up a log with their trunks and carrying it in their mouths.
• Then Sandy and Brenda gave one of the elephants a scrub in a large pool. They need to be wetted down regularly to stay cool. Then...

• ...Sandy got a shower, too. Finally, Lin and Brenda fed the elephant a tasty treat of pumpkin slices.
• After all this elephant excitement we went to our hotel close by. What a strange place. Obviously a lot of money had been spent, but the design was awkward and, although new, it was crumbling in places. You could only reach the cabins by climbing a rusting and unsafe staircase, taking a golf cart that struggled to get up the hill, or taking a long walk. We mostly chose the last option. In the evening we were the only guests in a vast dining room the size of an aircraft hangar, and were looked after by half a dozen over-attentive waiters.

Saturday 2 November

• A very early rise (5:20 AM) to take a long bumpy ride in a Jeep into the Periyar wildlife sanctuary. Our early rise was somewhat rewarded by the sight of a large wild bison, but we arrived at our destination reeling from the uncomfortable ride and diesel fumes.
• The destination — the lake at Gavi — was, thankfully, delightful. We were signed up for their ‘day program’ which turned out to be very enjoyable and just what we needed. The entrance was beautiful with an arbor of hanging wisteria-like red flowers, thronged with multicolored sunbirds.
• First on our program was a delicious and unexpected Kerala breakfast, with no concessions to western tastes. Idli (small flying saucer-shaped rice flour balls which are everywhere), sambar (fiery hot vegetable sauce), veg curry, chapatis and omelet.
• We then met our very knowledgeable and charming guide for the day who took us on a 3-hour hike over hills and through the forest. The highlight was spotting a family of elephants — one large male, two females and two calves of different sizes. A few minutes after we spotted them they made their way into the cool forest to escape the heat of the day. Although we did not see any tigers we spotted traces of them and learned much from our guide.

• After an excellent vegetarian lunch, we took a rowing boat ride on the lake to see the waterfall that feeds the lake, and to see the birds and monkeys that live on the banks.That turned out to be a rather wet experience as the heavens opened half way across the lake. The sun was out a few minutes later and we quickly dried off.
• Our final stop was a little museum with skeletons of local animals, before our bumpy descent of the mountain back to our hotel. We were so discouraged by our dining experience the night before, and well fed in the park that we decided to forgo dinner in favor of of cookies and chocolates we had gathered on our travels.

Sunday 3 November

• The next morning we drove out of the state of Kerala down the mountains into Tamil Nadu, where they speak a different language and write in a different script. We have now been in three different states each with a different language.

• After the mountains we drove across a flat, dry plain, dotted with ponds and rivers and large farms. We passed through several villages and small towns with many very well dressed people coming in from the country to do their shopping. There also seemed to be many weddings, with ladies dressed in even more exotic finery and their hair garlanded with jasmine.
• Our destination was Cardamom House, a lovely small retreat in the foothills overlooking a lake, with unspoiled countryside all around, and abundant with birds. 

Monday 4 November

• This is our final stop in the countryside before we visit Madurai and Chennai and head for home, so we are making the most of it, which means doing very little. The staff is kind, dedicated and attentive and the food is excellent. We have all become “pure veg” as they say here.
• A morning walk in the increasing heat took us down to the lake, past a very strange Hindu shrine, where women who are unable to have children and men who need wives come to pray. There were large herds of sheep and goats, some of which will be sacrificed to the gods then served up to the pilgrims.
• The afternoon passed listening to the songs of birds, the hooting of monkeys and swimming in the pool. We could happily stay here for a month.

Part 4            Photos

South India - October 2019 - Part 2

Tuesday 22 October

• A day in Ooty - also known as Udhagamandalam. You can see why they call it Ooty.
• Our rather silent guide first took us to the botanic garden, where the damp, but never very hot or cold, climate allows plants from all over the world to grow. As a result the garden is full of trees and shrubs from Australia, Europe, and the Far East. Oddly, though the garden was full of colorful flowers, few of them are growing in the ground. Everything is in pots artfully arranged. There was an army of workers unloading a truck full of fresh pots — more like a flower show than a botanic garden. A crew was shooting photos for a fashion catalog
• Our next stop after a steep drive was the top of the highest mountain in the area. We felt a little breathless at over 10,000 feet, but the views of the blue, cloud-shrouded Nilgiri hills were breathtaking.
• An exciting sight on the way down was a pack of “dhole” — very rare and beautiful wild dogs of which only a few thousand still exist. They quietly watched us for a few moments then padded off into the undergrowth.

• Ooty was founded by the Brits as a convalescent retreat for sick soldiers and for people escaping the heat of the lowlands. As a result there are signs of the British everywhere, including an English public (=private) school, and an Anglican church that would not be out of place in an English village. There were many graves and memorial plaques of long-forgotten Brits, including one plaque commemorating the death of a young British officer who drowned in a local river while out fox hunting.
• After our morning’s sight-seeing we retired to our cavernous suites in the hotel — now thankfully free of 200 school kids — and watched the rain pour down.

Wednesday 23 October

The big excitement today was to have been a ride on the famous (UN World Heritage Site) toy train from Ooty to Coonoor. Regrettably, with all the heavy rain there had been  landslides and the railway was closed for 4 days. So...we drove to Coonoor instead. However, we did stop at the Victorian station in Coonoor and saw the 70-year-old steam engine starting off up the long hill to check out the track.

Macaque with stolen banana

• Coonoor is another British “hill station”, and again full of reminders of India’s colonial past. Our hotel was a bizarre unplanned conglomeration of rooms, courtyards, passageways and staircases and our four room suite was built on 4 levels with awkward steps and angles between the rooms. There was a fireplace full of dryish firewood that we were informed someone would light in the evening on request.
• The botanic garden in Coonoor was huge and beautiful, and full of birds. We got our first glimpse of a Malabar giant squirrel — the size of a small dog with shiny red, black and orange fur— eating in a tree.
• We ate lunch in the garden of the hotel and watched monkeys — Nilgiri macaques — eyeing our food. The staff warned us to makes sure we kept the doors and windows closed as they like exploring guest rooms and snatching anything that takes their fancy.

Thursday 24 October

• On Thursday, we drove from Coonoor, in Tamil Nadu state, where they speak Tamil, to Wayanad in Kerala state, where they speak Malayalam — two mutually incomprehensible languages.
• On the way out of Coonoor we were stopped by the “plastic police”, who searched the car for plastic water bottles and bags, and fined our driver 50 rupees (about 80 cents) for one of each. The hill stations of Tamil Nadu are vigilant in their efforts to decrease the use of — and pollution from — plastic.
• After a long and twisty ride we arrived in the small town of Lakkidi, where we transferred to a Jeep for a 20-minute hair raising journey up a rough dirt track to a remarkable and beautiful nature resort in the hills. The rooms were comfortable and modern with no TV or A/C, the staff very friendly, and the food excellent.
• The hotel ran interesting programs — bird walks in the morning, Kerala cooking demonstrations in the afternoon and nature lectures by professional naturalists in the evenings. 
• There was also plentiful tasty food, from European/British (porridge, boiled eggs) to curries, pickles and other Indian dishes. The first night we were the only guests in the hotel and had about 15 staff looking after us, but it filled up over the next couple of days, as Diwali brought guests enjoying a long weekend break from work.
• The dining room was open on two sides to the elements — and to the monkeys. One of the staff stood guard with a heavy bamboo stick to keep them at bay during lunch.
• There was one unpleasant downside to walking around in the cool damp climate — leeches! They are 1 inch long threadlike black animals that loop along quite speedily and insinuate themselves over your shoes and up your trouser legs. When they reach bare flesh, they attach themselves and quietly suck blood until they are fat little blobs, when they drop off. Anthony and Sandy both got “leeched” a couple of times and didn’t feel a thing. They use an anesthetic and an anticoagulant to do their work, leave little trace, and luckily do not spread any diseases. Lin and Brenda escaped — maybe attributable to wearing tight leggings and socks.

 

• The trees around the resort were filled with birds new to us — woodpeckers, hornbills, nuthatches and others. Also several Malabar giant squirrels.

Friday 25 October

• Today was a bit of a bust, for two reasons. There was a huge cyclone parked off the west coast of India that brought regular and frequent downpours. Secondly, we were signed up for some less than successful visits to various local ”attractions”.
• A wildlife safari sounded exciting and interesting with promises of a guide who would show us the local wildlife. However, it involved getting up very early (5:00 AM), driving for an hour to the Nature Reserve, then charging noisily along a narrow bumpy dirt road in the forest in an uncomfortable Jeep with no views and no animal or bird sightings...and the guide spoke not a word of English. Not recommended. 
• Next stop was the Eddakal caves. A long walk up a steep road then an even steeper set of metal steps to a huge cave with interesting Neolithic carvings on the walls. Lin and Sandy were the first of the day to visit the caves so we had a quiet time to look at the carvings, some of which are over 8000 years old. Brenda and Anthony came up a little behind and encountered busloads of Indian children with cell phones who were fascinated to see old white people and wanted to take selfies. One even tugged Lin’s hair (to see if it was real??). Still, it was an interesting place to visit.
• On the road we stopped in a town to buy some beer for Sandy and Anthony. Alcohol sale and consumption is strictly regulated in India, and especially in Kerala, as many Hindus and all Muslims are anti-alcohol. Our driver, Kumar, took us to a Government Brandy Shop, which was divided into three sections. Each had a wire cattle chute only wide enough for one person at a time to approach the sales window, where you gave a verbal order and a few minutes later your order was delivered — payment in cash only. Many of the other clients were impatiently waiting and appeared to have serious alcohol problems. The strict regulation is reminiscent of Pennsylvania State Stores.
• Our final stop of the day came after a long twisty drive to see the largest earth dam in India (!) We were planning to hike up to the top of the dam to see the huge lake, but the heavy rain turned torrential. So, we turned around and got back to the hotel for some much needed lunch.

Saturday 26 October 

• A day of rest — no driving, no sightseeing, no stress, but more intense rainstorms. Sandy went out for a bird watching walk, but mostly we stayed indoors and took part in the various organized activities.
• Afternoon tea at Wayanad Wild consisted of the ever-present masala chai (milky tea with spices) and banana slices dipped in millet batter and deep fried — delicious.
• The evening nature talks were all fascinating. One on butterflies and their complex co-evolution with plants and parasitic wasps; one on snakes and strange local superstitions concerning them; one on local indigenous tribes that still exist in some of the remote mountainous areas of India. Interestingly, all the local tribes are matriarchies ruled by some pretty strong-looking women.

Sunday 27 October - Diwali

• Diwali is one of the most important Hindu festivals, but less important in Kerala so we did not see much in the way of celebrations.
• We started the day with a visit to a shrine that is very important to local people. One of the leaders of an indigenous tribe had shown the British the best route to build a road from the mountains down to the coast, but for obscure reasons the British had killed him. So, his ghost started haunting the road and causing accidents. A priest then exorcized the road and chained the ghost to a tree, and now the road has no accidents (according to local beliefs). Every day people visit the tree with the chain and leave offerings so that the ghost will remain chained. The chain, the tree and the offerings, and presumably the ghost are still there.
• After this we had an interminably long and tedious journey of over 8 hours and 160 miles through town after town, many with diversions for unknown reasons into the countryside along narrow back roads, until we reached the outskirts of Kochi, formerly known as Cochin. We drove through a delta area with many fish farms — prawns, crabs and cuttlefish, and the attendant fish-eating birds. Our final step on this arduous journey was a ferry across the wide river into the old town of Kochi, a fascinating place with old buildings dating back to the Portuguese and Vasco da Gama, who “discovered” Kochi in 1497. 
• Our hotel, the “Secret Garden” was a gem of a building on a back street off a back street. Beautiful old wooden balconies, elegant rooms, charming staff.
• The Diwali celebration in Kochi was a muted affair with only a few loud fire crackers, but no big parade and celebrations.

Monday 28 October

• We daringly told Kumar, our driver, that we did not want to be driven around Kochi, but preferred to walk. A guide had been arranged for us but we also told him we were going solo.
• We set off to walk round the old city which is compact and easily navigated (with Google). First stop — the St Francis Church — the oldest church in India — where Vasco da Gama was first buried. (He’s now back in Lisbon)
• It was initially a Catholic church then the Dutch arrived. They kicked out the Portuguese and converted it to Protestanism. The church still had many grave stones with difficult-to-read Dutch inscriptions. Then the English arrived, kicked out the Dutch and converted the church to Anglicanism, as it remains today. It seemed to be well patronized but needs some serious repair work.
• Next stop: the Chinese fishing nets. The Chinese explored this coast in the 14th century and left behind a style of fishing that involves huge square nets being lowered into the sea by a wooden crane-like structure, counter-weighted with huge boulders and controlled by four strong men. After a while they raise the nets, to find the catch and sell the fish at stalls along the wharf. We watched them operating these primitive but effective structures for quite some time, and catching many small fish.
• A long walk took us round the coast where the rice merchants and spice merchants sell their goods wholesale — their businesses seem to be thriving, with huge sacks being loaded onto trucks for delivery, barrows moving up and down the street, and steely eyed men with large stacks of cash at the entrances to the warehouses. 
• We also spotted a film crew shooting street scenes for a Malayalam film — great excitement. Also many small families of cute goats.
• We stopped on the way to buy a few things in various stores, before ending up at the Cochin synagogue, built in 1568, and still serving a small Jewish community. There have been Jews in Cochin for centuries and they were under the protection of the local Rajah when the prejudiced Portuguese arrived.
• We stopped in a cool arcade for a delicious honey lassi (drink of thin yogurt mixed with local honey) then walked for many more miles through streets bustling with commerce back to our hotel for a refreshing swim in the pool.
• In the evening we went to a performance of Kathakali dance and were awed by the extraordinary physical control and gestures of the dancers in their extravagant costumes. Every gesture and facial expression is formalized and meaningful and each dance tells a complex story. Our performance lasted only one hour compared with the usual religious festival where they can last 12 or more, telling the stories of the Hindu scriptures.

Part 3             Photos

South India - October 2019 - Part 1

Here is part one of a diary of our South India holiday. We are traveling with Brenda and Anthony Atkinson on a trip arranged by Trinetra Tours — the wonderful company we traveled with in north India in 2012.

Tuesday 15

• 9:15 PM take-off from Philadelphia for a 12 hour flight to Doha, Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Very full plane with people going everywhere in Africa, India and the Far East.
• Meals on the plane are chicken or vegetarian – no pork (Muslims) or beef (Hindus).
• Video screens show various reminders including “Please stay in your seat when praying”
• Flight info maps always show the direction to Mecca, so you know what direction to face when you are praying in your seat.

Wednesday 16

• Arrived in Doha at 4:15 PM after 12 hour flight plus 7 hour time difference.
• When flying over the Turkish-Syrian border the plane took a big detour to avoid the zone of conflict between the Kurds and the Turks.
• Doha Airport is huge and modern with really interesting design and artwork, including a giant yellow teddy bear that is a major landmark. We were lucky to have access to a very comfortable premium lounge. 
• Took off from Doha at 7:30 for Bangalore. It was already dark. Where did Wednesday go?
• The plane had to make another detour to avoid United Arab Emirates airspace, as they are in a dispute with Qatar at present. 

Thursday 17

• Arrived in Bangalore at 2:30 AM, found our driver, who was holding up a “Mr and Mrs Atkinson” sign, and got to our swanky hotel a bit before 4:00 AM….crashed out immediately
• Got up half an hour before the end of breakfast at 10 AM and met up with Brenda and Anthony, who had arrived at 6:00 AM. 
• Spent the rest of the day loafing around.
• The hotel was modern and zealously guarded. They examined the underside of the car for bombs with a mirror, and put all our bags through a scanner. They want to avoid a recurrence of the Bombay hotel attacks in 2008.
• Sandy went out to find an ATM. Bangalore has the worst imaginable traffic, with drivers turning two or three lane roads into 10 or 12 lanes of honking cars, scooters, bikes and tuk-tuks. Sidewalks are almost impassable with broken concrete, trash, low hanging trees, and dangling electric wires. This made any expedition on foot somewhat hazardous and noisy. 
• We had to enter the local mall through a metal detector and each submit to a wand scanner, females in a curtained off area. The McDonald’s has veggie burgers and spicy burgers on its menu — no beef.

Friday 18

• After a splendid breakfast of western and Indian food, we started our tour of the city. We were surprised that our tour company had provided two cars, each with its own driver and guide, but we went along with it.
• Bangalore is a city of over 10 million, and displays all the contrasts you would expect in a huge city, with both glistening high-rises and grinding poverty.
• We visited several of the main sights, including the extensive and beautiful Botanic Gardens with impressive trees, sculptured tree trunks, beautiful flowers and birds…and monkeys!
• We are re-acquainting ourselves with Indian food, though South India has many of its own specialities including a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and fish. They have a delicious crispy crepe called a dosa, which comes with various fillings, and is accompanied by spicy chutneys and a small bowl of a fiery soup called sambar.
• One really nice feature of Bangalore is the large number of trees, which are encouraged by the mild climate and the regular rainfall, including huge rain-trees from Brazil. 
• The weather is pleasant — mild and not too hot, with occasional heavy showers. We are at the end of the rainy season.

Saturday 19

• Today we drove from Bangalore to Mysore – still in two cars. Hours of driving out of the sprawling city through new suburbs and navigating past interminable construction sites for a new metro-rail system which will mainly be above-ground on raised pillars. Bangalore will have to improve its roads and railways soon or it will choke on its own success.
• After the city, the road took us past fields of rice, sugar cane, and other unidentifiable crops. At one point the road was so congested with trucks (over)loaded with sugar cane that the police directed us along a narrow single-lane country road that soon degenerated into a gravel track.
• In the big city all the signs were in English and the local language, Kannada, plus sometimes Hindi. Out in the country everything is in the strange complex loopy script of Kannada only.

 

• We stopped at a shack in the countryside where they process sugar cane into jaggery - unrefined sugar blocks used in Indian cooking. They squeeze the sugar cane to release the juice, which is then boiled down in a huge vat until it is semi-solid. The fire is stoked with dried sugar cane fiber from the squeezing process, and the ash from the fire is used as fertilizer — nothing is wasted. It Is hard, back-breaking work, especially on a hot day. The semi-solid boiled sugar is dyed orange and poured into wooden molds to create square blocks of jaggery that are sold in the market.
• There are many ponds and muddy patches with water birds – ibises, herons, cormorants and kingfishers.
• On the way we also visited an extraordinary ancient temple of Kesava made of intricately carved soapstone with wonderfully expressive statues of gods, goddesses, people, animals and birds, all telling traditional stories for people who could not read.
• We eventually reached the well-ordered city of Mysore, once the home of a dynasty of Maharajas who were some of the richest people in the world. They owned a local goldmine, and a silk factory built specially for the Maharani. Our hotel was over 100 years old and modestly restored, which means early 20^thcentury “luxury”, a slightly damp feeling, antiquated plumbing, WiFi, antique furniture and many, many uniformed flunkies. It was charming, if a little in need of further updating.
• Problem solved — our tour company had made a mistake and had confused Brenda and Anthony Atkinson with another family called Atkinson who are doing a tour of South India at about the same time as us. Somehow their driver and car had been assigned to us — hence the two vehicles. From now on we will have only one car and driver.
• At 6 PM we met our delightful and educated guide for an evening walk round the city, where she introduced us to some of the complex history, the Maharaja’s palace, and a very old coffee house with delicious coffee made with added chicory and sweetened milk. Our enthusiastic guide was a young Muslim woman who has a degree in engineering, has started her own fashion business, but is, in the opinion of her mother, already on the shelf at 23 years old. Her mother is anxious to find her a suitable husband, but has a divergent view of suitable characteristics from her daughter. We had a long and interesting conversation over our coffee and masala chai.
• When trying to cross the chaotic and crowded streets safely we are advised to “walk like a cow”, oblivious to the risks.
• We were pleasantly surprised by the hotel restaurant where we had dinner: the food was excellent with many imaginative vegetarian dishes, and the prices were ridiculously low — $22 for two with drinks and tips.
• Sunday 20
• A day for the sights of Mysore, with an interesting guide.   
• First, up the local mountain to visit a huge granite statue of Nandi —the bull ridden by the god Shiva and very popular with Hindus. The statue is in immaculate condition and looks almost new, although it is over 350 years old. There was a great view over the city.
• Next, to the Mysore Palace, which is apparently the most visited monument in India. The $1.00 entrance fee helps. The palace is a bizarre and gigantic structure that has a lot in common with a Victorian railway station. Not surprising as it was designed by a British architect in the 1890’s. The palace was full of art depicting a famous annual parade held in Mysore with thousands of participants including the Maharajah sitting on an elephant in a 350 kilo pure gold howdah, also on display. There was a portrait gallery of many of the well-fed Maharajahs and their consorts — they were a miserable looking lot, despite their unimaginable wealth.

• There are still active elephant stables at the palace, and we could see several of the female elephants at a distance.
• Next, we drove out of town to see the fort where the British fought and killed Tipu Sultan in 1799. He was an upstart who had ousted the Maharajah for a while and had formed an alliance with Napoleon. Our guide gave us a detailed account of the complex history of alliances, betrayals, kidnappings, murder and battles — too many names, dates, and facts to remember.
• Our last stop of the day was at the grave of Tipu Sultan, who is still a hero to local Muslims. His grave is quite impressive with a miniature replica of the Taj Mahal built over his tomb.
• It was a long day, but not over yet. In the evening we went on a guided walk round the well-organized market which had sections devoted to beautifully arranged fruit of many varieties and  a separate section devoted to bananas, which come in many shapes, sizes and flavors. Also eco-friendly banana leaf plates and cups. There are also sections for flower garlands, and for vegetables. The final stop of the night was back at the palace, which is lit up every Sunday night with 68,000 old-style light bulbs. It is an astounding sight — Disney on steroids.

Monday 21

• We drove from Mysore to the old British hill station of Ooty. The name is an anglicized abbreviation of a long and complicated Tamil name.    
• The journey there was wonderful as much of it was in a large national park completely protected from hunting or forestry. We saw many lovely birds, large herds of spotted deer, and, best of all, a beautiful brown elephant munching contentedly a few yards from the road. Tigers also inhabit the forest, preying on the deer, but we saw no sign of them.
• The final approach to Ooty was up a steep twisting road with 36 hairpin bends, thoughtfully numbered so you can keep track of your progress. Unfortunately it started to rain heavily so we could not see much, though we did spot quite a lot of elephant droppings on the road.
• Ooty is a typically chaotic Indian town, but with brightly colored houses, and small fields of vegetables everywhere. One of the main industries is growing vegetables, especially carrots, cabbages and other cool weather crops.
• Our hotel is at the top of the town, with impressive views. We were slightly perturbed to see several large buses of school children arrive soon after we did. It is a holiday week here, with Diwali next Sunday, and the 200 children were on a school trip and staying one night at the hotel — 4 to a room. However, we were upgraded to two huge suites on the top floor of the hotel, well separated from the other rooms. Our suites have a large bedroom, an even larger living room with fireplace, tables and chairs, a walk-in closet, 2 TV sets, and a large bathroom. We rattle around.
• The downpour stopped at about 4 PM and we went for a walk to a famous award-winning government rose garden run by the Indian Department of Agriculture, with over 3000 varieties of roses. The roses were a bit sad looking after the beating they had taken from the rain, but it is nevertheless worth a visit with well laid out terraces on the steep hillside.

Part 2             Photos