Was back in Arambol for 5 days before heading off on the train to Kochin. I had booked to go from the nearest station, Trivim, 12km past Mapusa. To catch the 6.18 train from Mumbai (of course it was going to be late) I left on the 4pm bus to Mapusa, then got rickshaw to take me to the station. As you will all know by now, I love the local bus ride there, through the little villages. This time the bus was full and I had to stand the first half hour. The men and boys don't stand up for young ladies, old ladies or old men, and certainly not pregnant ladies. There is always a mad rush to get into the trains and buses, its every person for him/herself, with the schoolboys getting the seats first because they can haul themselves up the very high steps more easily, then the men because they are stronger and can elbow the ladies out of the way. They don't always get their way with me though, because I have learnt to use my elbows too, and try and let the old ladies through first, but if they aren't quick enough its not successful. I asked a young teenage boy if he could give up his seat for the man in his late 70's who had to stand, but he wouldn't.
Got to the station at 5.50 to find out the train was delayed until nearly 9.00 - lucky I carry a book, so it was time to sit and relax with some chai and samosas - delicious. I always book the bottom sleeper, because I prefer to be able to sit and look out the window, and if you have the middle or upper, you are either in the middle of the seat or on the aisle until bed time. Much easier for those middle of the night toilet visits. This trip was not as peaceful as others, because some young men who did not have sleeper seats decided they would stand in vestibule area and talk loudly all night, until an older man, then me, got up and had stern words with them. I was at the point of telling them to piss off or shut up, or I'd get the guard, when I think they got the message.
We arrived in Ernakulum Junction station (Kochin) at around midday, and as I had decided to stay at Fort Kochi, headed in a rickshaw for the ferry across to the island. Its a lovely trip, about 20 mins, 3 rupees, and you get great views of the city as you cross. I was very surprised to see such modern buildings, first time in India - it looked quite western. There are a lot of apartment buildings that look like they are straight from the Gold Coast. The architecture is amazing on some of them, quite different to anything I have seen - some with a bow to the dutch heritage but absolutely 21st century. Kochi is quite flat, so you get a really good look at the layout. The port area is huge, but there are major long bridges connecting the islands that make up this city. The trip by road to the Fort area is about half an hour, or an hour in the bus, but the ferry trip is beautiful.
I didn't know where to stay, had heard it was very busy accommodation-wise, but the rickshaw driver took me to a place that was fine and affordable, after the first two I had chosen were full. I generally don't book ahead, preferring to see the places and lay of the land before I decide where I want to be, and its always worked out - except for Vrindavan, when there was the festival (of course).
Fort Kochi is a lovely blend of all the nationalities who have been there - Indian, Portuguese, Dutch, Jews, Muslims and Hindus, and it is also very Catholic. I had imagined that Fort Kochi would be a bit hilly, and there would be a fort there, but sadly, neither. I met people wandering round who asked me if I knew the way to the Fort, including the 2 architects I had met on the 650 stairs at Hampi, it was nice to see them again and catch up on each others travels.
So there are some beautiful very old churches, the Jewish Synagogue, the Palace, neither of which I got to see inside, because the 3 days I was there they were closed - Fri, Sat, and on the Sunday I did the Backwaters Tour. The first day I went to breakfast with some Australian people who were staying where I was, then walked around the town looking at all the lovely little streets with quaint old mixed architecture houses and shops, and saw lots of home-stay places, some of them very beautiful. One in particular was recommended "Divine Home stay" I think, by some people who were staying there, but around 2500 rupees a night (I was paying 450 for my room). However I did check out the one next to where I was staying, the day I left - it was 600 a night, but lovely, so - next time.
I went to the area where the Chinese fishing nets are, late in the afternoon, and they are amazing. Heavily weighted ropes are counterbalanced as the nets are lowered into the sea by half a dozen men, who after an interval haul them back up, hopefully full of fish. I watched and took photos of the process - certainly some fish were caught while I was there, and I suppose over the course of the day it would be considered a reasonable amount, but the men told me that the fishing was no where near as good as it used to be. I had wanted to take the sunset photo through the nets, but the sun was round a bit too far.
The next day I went on the Backwaters Tour, and it was fabulous. Originally I had planned to do it from Allepey, further south, but it was easy to arrange it here. It was advertised as 7 hours, but the bus to take us to the boats picked us up at 8.15, and we didn't return till around 5, so it was a really full day. Firstly we went on the big boat, looking a bit like the local houseboats and paddled by a very fit old man. We went all through the waterways, just drifting slowly and quietly, seeing the houses occasionally, then entered some narrower waters. After about one and half hours of bliss, we called in to see some of the local industries - making powder from shells, rope making, and a spice farm.
The shells are like cockle shells dredged up from the rivers - tons of them. The fish is taken from them and sold at the local markets, and the shells delivered to be processed. They are mixed with fine coal, put into a huge vat set into the ground, mixed with coconut shells and burnt. They are crushed into powder that is used to make whitewash (or later coloured wash) packed into huge cement size bags. It is quite a big industry, and all done with manual labour.
The rope making is done by women, from coconut fibre that is in big bags around their waists, and held in their fingers to be spun into fine ropes, then into bigger ropes. They walk backwards from the spinner with the fibre and it is feed through their fingers - we tried it, and it is amazingly easy, and a great industry for them.
Next to the spice farm, where the family showed us the trees they were growing - green peppercorns (so fragrant on the trees) cinnamon, bay leaves that are so totally different to ours, really sweet, and of course chillies and coconut. We then were taken to have lunch on a little island in the middle of the waterway - delicious Thali served on banana leaves, and paysam (yum) for desert. We were then taken to the banks further down and transferred to small canoes, and went through even narrower waters to another spice farm and saw nutmeg, cinnamon and basil, as well as more peppers. Its a very rural area, cattle, goats - Kochin is full of little cute goats - and people bathing along the banks and working in the fields as we passed their houses. We arrived back in Fort Kochi feeling that we had had a very full day!
The next day I boarded the bus at Ernakulum to head south for Varkala, It was a long hot trip as the airconditioner on the bus kept cutting out every 5 mins, but it was nice to look at the scenery from the road this time. You can see much more of the towns and villages as you pass through - Kerala is very like Goa scenery wise, except on a bigger scale - bigger plantations, fields and buildings, and of course the famous hammer and sickle, being a communist government. Its quite a surprise when you first see the flags, a bit of a jolt in fact - can't reconcile communism with the Catholicism, let alone the Hinduism, bit it seems to work. I noticed a lot of small mosques and muslims as we passed through the towns.
There are waterways and rivers all along the way south, its very beautiful, but the larger towns are no better with the rubbish than anywhere else in India. We arrived at the place where I had to change onto a local bus for the next hour, which I wasn't expecting, and then a rickshaw for the last 10 kms, which I was. I found out after I arrived there that there is actually a train station very close to Varkala village, so if I had got that from Kochin it would have been only a short trip to the beach in the rickshaw (and much less money as well - the buses are much more expensive than the train).
As usual had not booked accommodation, but the place I had selected, although full, directed me to the house next door - a family home - and it was lovely. The houses here are all set amongst the coconut palms, on the usual narrow red dirt roads that are so typical of Goa and here. I found the beach was only a 2 minute walk to the top of the cliff road, which is lined with the usual shops and restaurants, for a least 2 klms, winding slowly down to other beaches. The view is beautiful from the top of the road - the water looks crystal clear and turquoise, but I had done my research and was aware that looks can be deceiving - its actually quite dangerous and many very experienced swimmers have been swept away and drowned. There is a small sandbar with breakers on the inside, as well as outside, and as it was only 4pm I decided to have a swim (at the edge before the sandbar) because it was still quite hot, and the beach full of people under beach umbrellas looking very chilled out. It was a bit like being in a washing machine really, the water swirled around my body in all directions, pulling me first one way and then the next, but it was a good cool off. I cant imagine how strong the currents were outside the sandbar but there were people swimming there and the lifeguards were watching, ready to race out with their lifebuoy rings to help.
The beach is lovely, surrounded by the high red cliffs with the palms and a few people paragliding, the sunset lovely with big red/orange ball slowly sinking into the Arabian Sea as I have been lucky enough to see so many times. Had dinner at one of the cliff top places then walked along the road looking at all the shops for an hour or so. They all pack up at the end of March and go back home to their states - Rajasthan, Maharastra, Karnataka, Kashmir, and Tibet, and do the summer season up north. This happens all along the coastal places in the south of India, a lot of work, but its their lifestyle.
Had a nice couple of days in Varkala, met nice people and had dinner with them, went into the village and really liked the feel of it, and the local people were friendly and relaxed. However, time to head back to Kochin, this time taking the train - ah, the delightful train - good to be back on it. I found out that Amma, one of India's most famous Gurus and whom I had seen in Sydney last year, had her Ashram quite close to where I would be passing so decided to have a little detour. I knew that the Ashram is huge, with over 2000 people living there at any one time, but didn't know it was on the coast, as well as the waterways in a very beautiful setting. On the way in the rickshaw after leaving the station, we passed some of the faculties of her university, and hospital. Its a very large organization, and she does a lot of humanitarian work, with volunteers assisting at earthquakes, the tsunami, floods and any other natural disaster - there are many in India and surrounds.
Met some people who said I was just in time for lunch - it was free and delicious. A woman from Sydney was serving some of the food, she had been there for 2 years, and just loved the life of volunteering at the Ashram, and there were many people from all over the world staying, and or studying. So after a very pleasant couple of hours, boarded the next train back to Kochin for another day to go on my elephant tour - to see them, not ride them! Unfortunately it did not eventuate - will not go into that - spent the last morning enjoying Fort Kochin before catching the ferry and then onto the train for Gokarna at 2.15pm, arriving there at 5.30am.
