India with Al @indiawithal - Tumblr Blog

Day 36 - 39: Alleppey - Fort Kochi

After arriving around 5:30pm the night before, our first task of the morning was to find a house boat so we can cruise for two days in the Kerala Backwaters - a mammoth network of canals and waterways which stretch from Kochi to Kollum.

We were out looking at the boats at 8 - looking around and haggling. At first the prices were really high (40,000 rupees for one night), as the day went on and more and more boats returned from trips the night before - prices dropped.

In the end we settled for a two bedroom houseboat - The Abhinav - with two decks for 28,000 rupees for two nights. And from then we cruised - only stopping for lunch and to sleep.

We went through India’s largest lake (allegedly) and down countless canals which all began to look the same - but not in a bad way. I read a book and just lay around relaxing it was great.

On the first night we had a canoe tour though the waterways of a local village - which explains why this area is called the Venice of the East. We toyed with the idea of getting an ayruvedic massage but after spending all our rupees on the boat we could really afford it.

After the canoe - scurrying sounds in the roof alerted us to the fact we had some stowaways. April was not impressed. Unphased I went to sleep.

Day two ushered in more of the same - lying in the sun, reading and enjoying the view. There was destination but we were enjoying the ride - we actually just ended up mooring in the same place the night before.

At our lunch stop we were offered a chance to get off the boat. I attempted to get a coconut off a tree for April (its harder than it looks). But my attempts drew the attention on of an old man who came over and dislodged for coconuts for us. It was very cute.

The second major event of the day was when we realised that bats were resting outside our bedrooms. This led to some manaic screams from some as the bats flew over head. I made eye contaxt with one. I thought I would die. All very exciting. We were off the boat at 9am on the third day and immediately caught the bus to Ernakulam/Kochi. The bus took about 3 hours and we stood half of the way. But on the bright side it was our last bus in India. Once we got to Ernakulam we caught the ferry to Fort Kochi and checked into our hostel.

After some refreshments we went for a walk, Tim had a beer out of a teapot (classic flouting liquor licensing laws), and saw the Chinese fishing nets. I was pretty tired so after dinner I had an early night.

#alleppey #kochi #Kerala

Day 32 - 35: Kalpetta - Kozhikode - Ernakulam - Munnar - Alleppey

Our trip to Munnar took two days. First we caught a bus from Kalpetta to Kozhikode. The route is windy and slow with nine hairpin turns which made the journey a little more exciting. We got to Kozhikode with enough time for lunch before our 4pm train to Ernakulam. The lunch was nice and was complemented by some pink ayruvedic water. Only Tim drank it.

The train ended up taking 5 hours to travel 100km and by the time we reached our destination it was late and I was tired. At least - courtesy or Mr Hannan - I had the plush confines of the Holiday Inn to relax in.

Next morning we tried to catch the last bus to Munnar. After a lot of kerfuffle about trying to find the bus, and not realising you need a pre purchased ticket, we were on the move by 11 and got to Hotel Green Vallley Vista by 4:30.

The next day the girls wanted to do a cooking class, so Tim and I booked a guided hike up the third highest peak in South India. In parts it was less walking more scrambling up and down rock faces but it was really great. And the view from the top was amazing. The climb down was far worse the route up - and I managed to slice my leg when traversing the final rocky outcrop. The guide/every Indian we met that day approached me and tried to make sure I was ok - including a lovely man called Rajiv who reassuringly stroked my face.

On the way down the hill, we walked through the worlds highest cardamom plantation and continued our spoce education. Apparently the leaves of the cinnamon tree are bay leaves - which means that bay tree bark is cinnamon. Wow. The guide also foraged us some bush tomatoes which was nice.

Tim got some beers from tbe government shop to celebrate our hike but in reality we were too tired and both had an early night.

The next day we had breakfast - and then caught an all day bus to Alleppy and will hire a house boat in the morning.

#kalpetta #kozhikode #ernakulam #munnar #alleppey #Kerala

Day 30 - 31: Kalpetta - Wayanad Wildlife Park

Our jeep arrived at 5:05am ready to drive fifty minutes to the entry to the wildlife park. We arrived just before six and were he first people there - probably because it was still pitch black and feeezing. I volunteered to buy the tickets - which really meant standing in the cold to hold our position at the front of the line until the office opened at 7.

The safari was a forty-five minute jeep ride through Indian bush. The park is home to elephants and tigers and a whole host of other major fauna and expectations were high.

The safari got off to a great start - literally right through the gates we saw two elephants - but this was it . The rest of the bumpy ride was spent looking at not much - a bush hen, a monkey, a peacock and a lot of deer.

After we were driven around various sights in the Wayanad District - a Jain temple, look out points, the Edakal Caves with 3000 year old petroglyphs. We also did a fair amount of walking - up a hill to a lookout point and sampling coffee beans and pepper seeds on the way. We also trekked to see a waterfall with lots of Indians frolicking in its waters. We didn’t swim because the water looked yuck but also I wasn’t that keen to swim in my long pants as signs required us to be modest at all times. I also didn’t want my beach body ending up as someones WhatsApp picture.

Lunch/breakfast was at an interesting resturant where Harriet ordered the best meal on the trip so far - a bread omelet, which was four pieces of bread cooked into egg. It was a culinary masterstroke and Harriet was very happy with her order.

Also the owner of the resturant used stand over tatics to force me to leave a review on TripAdvisor - he literally stood next to me until I left a comment. So when you read the reviews for Hotel Wilton in Kalpetta please keep this in mind. By 3pm we were fading so were dropped back at the homestay for some chill out time. The homestay was run by Mr Livingston - a lovely man who ensured we got everything we wanted albeit, as the jeep driver put it, was slightly assertive.

The next day was slow still a bit tired from the day before. We only leaving to visit a neat bamboo craft factory. Tim bought three bamboo pens.

Tomorrow we begin our two day journey to Munnar - via Kozhikode and Ernakulam.

#kalpetta #wayanad #Kerala

Day 27 - 29: Mysuru - Srirangapatnam - Mysuru - Kalpetta

We arrived in Mysuru just after 9 and quickly hustled a taxi to our hostel and a shower. I had slept most of the way but was feeling far from refreshed. The main attraction was the massive palace completed in 1912 (after the previous one burnt down). No photos were allowed inside a fact I learnt quite quickly after a short tussel with a security guard for my camera. The palace was very impressive with stained glass, frescos and mosaics. Also included was a free audio guide which waxed lyrical about the royal family and all thier accomplishments. Side note - the current Maharaja looks like he was second runner-up in a Ghadafi lookalike competition. After lunch we visted the Devaraja Market which still specialises in selling traditional products. We saw inscense being made, piles of kumkum (coloured power) and mounds of fragrant spices and flower garlands. In the evening we went back to the palace to see it lit up with thousands of lights. It was almost a more impressive than seeing it during the day. For dinner we were lucky enough to stumble across one of Mysore's best kept secrets. Not in the lonely planet, but apparently frequented by Bollywood stars and Prime Ministers, we found a small resturant with only one thing on the menu - masala dosa. They were delicous and only 30 rupees. Next day - seriously running low on cash, Tim and I visited many ATMs. The cash crisis has begun to ease and it is a lot easier to get money (no lines). After we met up with the others to go by bus to Srirangapatnam - now a small town - but formally the capital of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan's empire in the 18th century. The town houses a massive domed mausoleum to the two rulers (father and son), a palace with floor to ceiling paintings depicting Tipu Sultan's victories over the British, a mosque and a dungeon. It was all very impressive, but the British still took control by storming the city in 1799 and killing Tipu Sultan with a bullet to the head. Back on the bus and thali for dinner. The next day we needed to exchange a little bit more money, so we went to a bank and sat there patentially ad the man meticulously filled out three forms and tapped away at his computer. At the 35min mark they offered us chai - that's when you know that this is going to take a while. We were done just after an hour and with just enough time to catch the bus to Kalpetta a town by the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctury (5 hours). We got to Kalpetta just before sunset, had a nice veg dinner and went to bed - we are going on safari at 5am tomorrow.

#mysuru #Srirangapatnam #Karnataka #Kalpetta #Kerala

Day 25 - 26: Hospete - Hampi - Mysuru

We arrived in Hampi on the morning of the 5th after a one night stopover in the neighbouring service town of Hospete. Our accommodation for the night - Padma Guesthouse - pretended they had not recieved our booking (apparently a common scam to try to get us to pay more). Not buying this we walked next door to the nicer Rajesh Guesthouse and got a better rate.

The guesthouse had views of the Virupaksha Temple - Hampi’s only remaining working temple and our first stop. The temple also helpfully housed the tourist office so we were harassed by tour guides and rickshaw drivers telling us we were wasting our time if we didn’t take advantage of thier services.

The temple built in 1442 - was an impressive sight with its 50m high gateway and a maze of temples and stone chambers. The temple was busy with people worshiping, ringing bells and feeding monkeys. A small child was accosted by a monkey who wanted her chips - I felt her pain.

The temple also had an elephant Lakshmi, who if you put some rupees in her trunk would bless you by bopping you on the head with her trunk.

Hampi was the site of Vijayanagar - the capital city of one of the largest Hindu empires in history. From 1336 to 1565, the city had about 500,000 people and was home to a large bazaar which attracted merchants from all over the world. This ended when the city was sacked by Deccan Sultans after which the city fell into ruin. The effect of this is that Hampi is home to large amount of ruins spread across a huge area. The other attraction in Hampi is the geography which is made up of large mounds of boulders across miles of undulating landscape. It is quite a sight to behold.

There are two main clusters of ruins - the sacred and the royal centres. We start off looking at the ruined temples of the sacred centre. We walk past a monolithic carving of a bull and find the beautiful Achyutaraya Temple.

From there we walk with no particular direction until we come across a river crossing where you can pay to be rowed upstream in a coracle (essentially a bamboo raft). The ride was expensive (300 rupees pp) but for some reason none of us bothered to bargain.

The trip was a great time - floating past abandoned temples. The guide waited until the halfway point to tell us the river was crocodile infested. I stopped dangling my hand in the water after that. The trip took about 30 mins and was capped off with the guide turning the raft into a centrifuge and “giving us a spin”.

Off the boat at yet another ruined temple. Feeling pretty ruined myself, I sit under a tree and eat a packet of Balaji sour cream and onion chips (my second favourite chip flavour of the trip so far).

We crossed the river to try and locate Anjandari Hill - the birthplace of the monkey god Hanuman. But - we were lost. Instead we saw a goat give birth and almost instincutually we followed the trail of placenta and after birth to a bare bones eco retreat where we could grab some lunch - coconut curry. They helpfully directions and we reached the foot of the hill an hour before sunset. The 850-step climb was easy enough and when we reached the top we were rewarded by 360-degree views of the landscape. The walk down the hill was followed by a incredibly bumpy rickshaw ride and an after dark coracle ride back across the river.

Our second day was a cycle tour around the royal complex with our euthusiastic but less than knowledgeable tour guide - Huliya. My bike had no gears and was too small for me which made it very difficult to travel up Hampi’s hills.

The tour visited a Ganesh statue, Krishna and Rama temples, and the remains of the royal palaces and baths (i.e. ruins, ruins and more ruins). Throughout our stops, we were fortunate enough to hear Huliya’s unique take on Hampi’s history which made the place seem like an utopian-communist paradise where the king ensured that noone went hungry - “Hampi is for everyone”. Although this I have a rudimentary understanding of the operation of the caste system in the 14th century - I thought this was highly unlikely. He also informed us in great detail about how the “musliman” came and destroyed the great socialist empire of Hampi - including sacking all the royal palaces which the monarchy earned by “giving so much the people” by building a lot of temples. Such selflessness.

Huliya took us for a nice lunch on the grass off banana leaves. And after about 6 hours the tour finished. At last.

Tim and I cycled to visit the Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables. Which were so much more impressive than anything we saw on the cycle tour. As a final act for the day, Tim and I visited Vithala Temple which housed a Vishnu’s chariot carved out of stone. As we began our walk back to Hampi Bazaar, the setting sun turned the boulders a firey orange.

Tonight we are catching an 12 hour train to Mysuru. Great fun.

#hampi #hospete #karnataka