Down to South India - Kochi, India
Kochi, India
Following the experience of Varanasi, we took the 15 hour overnight train to Delhi where we spent the next four days. Whilst at Delhi we rested, watched lots of tv, so much that we can sing and recite the ads, we shopped at the Monday markets, at big shopping malls and visited the Gandhi museum. We ate at Puntjabs sweet corner each night for dinner, and I ordered the same thing each night: shahi paneer with butter nan, because it's to die for. On Tuesday the 29th of October, court and I were heading to South India and Liv was heading home to Australia. It was incredibly sad to say goodbye to Liv, we had travelled together and basically lived in each other's pockets for five months, the memories and times we shared will stay with us for the rest of our lives, we were family to each other overseas when our families were back home. I managed to hold it together through our goodbyes, our group hugs and last few chats, but as court and I were sitting in our taxi out the front of the hotel and looking at Liv who was standing outside the taxi about a metre away with tears rolling down her face, I lost it. We were all in tears, and flashes of our beachy days in Greece, our food in Bosnia and our nights in Turkey and all our unforgettable experiences were pictures through my mind. It's hard to believe that she's gone, and it's weird not waking up each morning and seeing her sleeping next to us. Court and I were hoping to spend the five days we had free in Goa at Pololem beach, however that was over 700km from Kochi where we were flying into so we decided to try our luck and see if we could change our flight to go to Goa instead of Kochi, however it didn't work out for us so we had to change our plans. Our flight from Delhi to Kochi took about four hours, stopping in Chennai on the way and we were fed two meals so we were happy about that. We arrived into Kochi at about 8 pm and as didn't know at the start of the day whether we would end up in Goa or Kochi, we had no accommodation booked. We took ourselves to the tourist information desk and chatted with a very friendly older Indian man who showed us a map of the area and pointed out the options available to us. We decided it would be best for us to make our way to the city and find a room for the night and then make a plan the next day. As he knew we were budget travelling, he suggested we take the local bus which ran every half hour from the airport to the city. He said not to worry as he would also be taking the bus with his son home. It was much cheaper than a taxi, the bus which took around 25 minutes cost us only 54 rupees each ($1). The friendly man taught us some things in his language, as they don't speak Hindi here in Kerala, they have their own language, and he wrote our names in my little notebook in his language. We got off the bus at the last stop and from there took a rickshaw to cannon shed road where he told us there were numerous budget hotels. After asking around at two others, we stayed at maple guest house which cost 485 rupees for a double room (so $4 each). It was basic and we showered via bucket and tap but it was all we needed. Without any wifi access, we woke up the next morning and decided to just go with the information the man told us the previous evening and after eating a masala dosa for breakfast and court having poori bhaji we walked to the main jetty and enquired about ferry and bus options. These were very local forms of transport and the bus which would take around an hour cost only 18 rupees (less than 50 cents). We decided we would brave this and as we sat waiting with our now super heavy bags, a rickshaw driver came over and tried to offer his rickshaw to take us there for 450 rupees. We explained we were on a budget and wanted to try the local bus. However, we were sick of waiting for the bus, and the heat in South India is extreme, the humidity is out of control and we were absolutely sweating, making the non air conditioned bus journey less appealing despite its economical benefits. So we walked over the the rickshaw, and bargained with him to take us there for 300 rupees ($3 each). So worth it! Around 1pm, we were on Vypeen island at a place called Cherai Beach. The pictures of the beach of course looked so much more idyllic than it was in real life, however, it was great to see a very different kind of India. There were quite a few westerners here yet they all were staying in one of the two resorts and they were all older wealthy business people who seemed to be there for some kind of conference. As we walked the one street which lined the beach, the restaurants were quite empty and the choices wasn't huge. Deciding against a small and affordable guesthouse, we checked ourselves into the most expensive accomodation yet, paying 3500 rupees for a 'Doctors Villa' at Cherai beach resort (paying around $35 each for the night). The room was lovely however, with air conditioning and the resort was beautiful with hammocks and backwaters running through it. For lunch, we went to a street shack on the beach. This was a little difficult as they didn't speak much English and we couldn't explain what we wanted so we pointed to what an Indian family had next to us and said can we have the same. They brought us a big bowl of rice, a fish curry, chilli prawns and vegetables. The food wasn't the best and was extremely authentic. I think we were just a little put off eating seafood in India, however we were sitting by the ocean and Kerala is renowned for its fish curries and seafood. Ultimately, we are always happy to just go with it in regards to food, being adventurous is fun and in the end if the meal is really terrible, it will only put you out $2 maximum. That night, we walked along the beach and saw all the locals swimming and hanging by the beach. The majority of men were swimming and some women were in the water but they were still wearing saris or puntjabis so we decided we wouldn't whip out our bikinis and join them. It was cool seeing a different kind of Indian culture who literally all live off this beach, as a food source and for social gathering purposes. I took a photo of a group of older boys who had buried one of their friends in the sand, they were happy to see themselves back on the camera screen. We found a beer parlour by the water which looked like a kind of beach pub you find on the Gold Coast, but maybe in the 60s. There were a group of guys having beers and one older western man eating dinner. Without many other options, we decided to have dinner here and I had a delicious vegetable curry which was great, had fresh whole pieces of cauliflower, carrot and beans. The next morning we took the rickshaw back to the ferry jetty, and caught the two minute ferry over to Fort Kochi which is the old part of Kochi. The ferry cost us 5 rupees (10 cents). From here we checked into Vedanta Hostel which is great, feels so good to be back in a hostel, seeing fellow travellers. We are in a six bed dorm and so far we have only shared with boys, from England and South Africa. It costs 400 rupees a night ($8) but it's very nice with wifi and air conditioning - the shower however is probably the worst we have had all year, hardly works and takes ages to fill the bucket with water, but hey it's all good. It's a strange area, the architecture is different, the streets are so much cleaner and theirs heaps of little shop fronts specialising in ripping off westerners with beautiful Indian nick nacks. Lots of tourists are staying around in this area but the streets are still very quiet. The weather here is pretty disgusting, the humidity is extremely difficult to bear, especially with our modest clothing. We took ourselves to a cafe which had air conditioning to have a coffee and egg wrap for an early dinner. Here we met two young Indian guys who started up a conversation with us. They run and own a restaurant near by so we went back to their restaurant to have a drink. We talked further with them about everything, I asked all the interesting questions that I wanted to know about regarding to their lifestyle as a teenager, their beliefs of marriage and the duty they have to their families. I was so happy to have this opportunity because there's a huge cultural difference between us and it's not easy to get this information off just anyone you meet. They were very honest and told us about what they look for in a wife, the dealings of the dowry and how men usually get married at 25 years old and they marry a girl that must be quite significantly younger so usually an 18 year old girl. They were very friendly and kind, we talked until around 11pm, at which time we asked them to walk with us up the street back to our hostel, choosing not to walk the 800 or so metres back by ourselves. The people in South India feel much friendlier than in the North and I get the impression that they are more educated as a whole. The next morning we slept in until 10am, and then caught the ferry over to the city. It took around 10 minutes on the ferry and we were planning on walking around the market area which was set up on broadway street but due to the extremely uncomfortable amounts of sweat dripping down my legs from inside my pants from the humidity, we quickly decided to find a shopping mall with air-conditioning and then walk through the markets in the afternoon. We headed to M.G road and found a mall with a super market and a few shops. We spent about an hour looking in the supermarket and being shocked at how cheap everything was, especially some brands we have at home like shampoos and face washes. If only I had room in my bag I would stock up in the cheap things, but my suitcase is already 20kg. It was a good day shopping and walking through the market area, we returned on the ferry which cost 4 rupees at around 6.30pm from which we just stayed in our hostel. We had some noodles at the restaurant next to our hostel at around 10pm as we had a late lunch of McDonalds at 4pm and then went to sleep. We are just hanging around the hostel today, will maybe have lunch at the restaurant our friends own and we head to the school tomorrow for the beginning of our volunteer program on the Monday, we are looking forward to it.