Pondicherry - "Bonjour"

Pondicherry is a pretty coastal French flavoured town where most of the Indians speak French and Tamil and some English. So we have gotten by but found it a bit strange to start with. Our usual Hindi "Namaste" greeting is met with bewildered stares here so we have kind of had to start again! It's been fun though. There are French and Italian food shops everywhere and the prettiest little French lanes. We went for a big walk along the beach and under the pier where we watched some local fishermen playing cards and then found ourselves in the midst of a local Indian village where we were received excitedly by the girls who thought that we were quite funny.








These are some cyclo drivers who yell "Hello Madammm..." when they see you - "Rickshawww??". They sit around relaxing under shady trees with their mates until potential customers come along.
This is the beach - it's not good for swimming but is nice nonetheless...

We caught a tuk tuk to nearby Auroville which is a community established to promote unity of cultures and countries and is a social experiment on group dynamics, community involvement and sustainability which turned out to be quite an unfriendly place. We were greeted by signs saying 'only residents and their visitors allowed entry' to which we ignored and strolled on through and we left shortly after arriving after being snobbed by the women working in the cafe.

Madurai - When in India

We arrived in Madurai after a 7 hour bus ride from Munnar which was interesting to say the least. It was actually quite fun!
It's amazing travelling with the locals - you get on an empty bus and get comfortable thinking that it may not be very busy this time and are proven wrong each and every time as the trip goes on and the bus gets fuller and fuller until the whole aisle is full and there are about 5 people pretty much sitting on your lap!
Kristen held someones little baby almost the whole way - he played for a bit and then slept in her lap. Sooooo cute... Before the baby a mysterious package was brutally dumped in the vacant seat next to her whilst the owner had stern dicussions with the rest of the passengers and we think swore black and blue that the seat is already occupied and not to move the bag!
Nicky and Clare were sitting opposite overlooking the whole ordeal. Nicky said "umm, Clare did that bag just move?". Kristen peered in and found a startled chook staring up at her! "My god it's a chook!" she exclaimed.
After a while the chook was removed and a human passenger put in it's place and we stopped for what we guessed was a toilet stop (you can really only guess in situations like this). So we wandered around asking people left, right and centre as politely as possible - "toilet??" and were ushered around a corner behind a building with some other Indian women and soon found ourselves with no choice but to "when in India" - do as they do - so here we (Clare, Kristen, Nicky and some unnamed Indian women in Saris) were all lined up squatting over a gutter together admiring the view of palm trees and trying to avoid the row of interested onlookers. It was much easier for those who apparently don't wear underwear (yes you learn something everyday!). Not that we were looking.

Madurai is the weirdest city - a lot like Delhi - it's bustling at 10pm at night as people and cows alike are settling in everywhere for the night on the streets. It's very strange when you think that you freak when you see one person sleeping on the streets at home. There is a huge display of light and music that's purpose we can't figure out and there is an old cyclo driver outside waiting for us to finish so that he can peddle us home. His price is 'as you wish' which is always a tricky one. He is nice though and pointed out a great place for dinner - masala dosas (thin crunchy savoury pancake rolled up with potato masala curry in the middle and a selection of different chutneys & sauces to dip in) off a banana leaf, drinks and chai all for a meager sum of 90 Australian cents each. We love India.

Look at this arrangement of wires - 'safety always comes first'! Click on it to zoom in

Munnar - Up Before Sunrise - 2200 metres up

By 5.30am this morning we were trekking up the third biggest mountain in South India on a 6 hour trek. We watched the sun rise on the way and had breakfast above the clouds on the peak, overlooking amazing tea plantations and other scenery which was pretty cool.
We had a guide with us and went in a group of 6. It was a definate test of fitness and one that we are ashamed to say we only just passed... It was amazing.
We are in Munnar in Kerala, a gorgeous little mountainous town absolutely surrounded by tea plantations - it's so pretty and the temperature is quite cool which is a welcome relief after the heat of Kochi. We actually used blankets last night and wore jeans and jumpers out for dinner! We had forgotten what that felt like!

We are going swimming in a waterfall swimming hole this afternoon and just finished an amazing meal off a banana leaf in an awesome restaurant here.

You would think that we were getting emotional or something in this last photo - we do love each other... ;)

We spent the next few days exploring the tea plantations and meeting the local workers who recieve 80 rupees for an 8 hour day in the fields cutting the tea.

Kochi - Keralan Kathakali Dancing

We missed seeing the infamous Kathakali dancing whilst in Kochi last time and so coming back was a good opportunity to fulfill this. It really was amazing - first you watch them apply their intricate makeup with a tiny hand-held mirror mixing the paints as they go - the idea is that the dancer goes into some sort of meditative state whilst applying the makeup which makes the process really important. They could make it much easier and at least use a larger wall mirror and pre-mixed paint but that is not the idea.

The main idea of the dancing is the movement of the face so that the face becomes a stage and it was quite amusing as the dancers (very old Indian men) demonstrated the rolling of their eyes, twitching of their mouth and head wobbles (we happened to be sitting smack bang in the middle of the theatre at the front and so it made it even weirder as they was staring straight into our eyes - freaky!).

The actors went behind a curtain and came out looking like massively oversized chinese dolls with big skirts and hair! The narrator explained that the Hindu gods are just representations of people's imagination of god, as Hinduism just like any religion worships one god that has no form or figure. Hence all the different Hindu 'gods'. It made for a good evening.

Backtracking to Kochi (Cochin)

We left Varkala yesterday and decided to come back to Kochi (Cochin) to have a bit more of a look around the Ernakalum area as last time we stayed in Fort Cochin which is much quieter (where the chinese fishing nets were) and then head to Munnar. Munnar is meant to be beautiful and there are wildlife sanctuaries & tea plantations that we are going to check out which will be awesome. It's also meant to be quite cool there which will be a nice change from the stinking heat. One of the guys from Funky Art Cafe where we were staying in Varkala took little Ozzie the kitten under his wing so we believe that she'll be ok - he kissed her little head as he walked away and promptly organised her some warm milk so we think that he'll be a good dad - at least we are telling ourselves that!

Here are some pics of the bustling part of Kochi - Ernakalum:

We are off to see a Kathakali performance (traditional Keralan dancing) tonight which should be fun.

Varkala - Mothering and Being Mothered

We have been hanging out in an awesome little town called Varkala that looks out over a cliff edge to the beach down below. We said goodbye to a few mates and as we waved them fairwell we heard this tiny little bleating voice crying for help and looked down to find a tiny tiny tiny little kitten who had been abandoned by it's mother and was on the verge of dying. She would have only been about 1-2 days old and so was absolutely miniature and soooo cute as you can see in the photos!

We vowed to look after her for the next few days while we found her a suitable home - this was quite the chore in India as there are stray and mangey animals everywhere and people struggle for survival let alone animals. Some animals however are pets in areas like Kerala and get treated quite well. So we became mothers for about 3 days feeding tiny Ozzie every 4 hours and giving her as much attention as was possible. We used a makeshift nipple that we made by poking a tiny hole in the corner of a plastic bag and bought a seringue to make things easier for feeding.

This is our makeshift nipple...

Whilst on an outing from being a mother we got mothered by a charasmatic Indian women who called herself 'Mama' and fed us in a group of 15 at her home a banquet of the most amazing Keralan food. We arrived and found her husband cutting banana leaves from the banana trees in the backyard to be used as our plates.

This was something we always wanted to master - eating like the Indians do with their hands off a banana leaf. Kristen kept elbowing the girl next to her as she tried to conquer shovelling the food into her mouth with her right hand (the left is reserved for wiping after other bodily functions - you do not dare EVER use your left hand in India for eating!). It was an amazing experience yet was quite scary at the same time as Mama was very forthcoming at showing her disappointment with us for not finishing the whole 15 massive dishes of Keralan rice, curries and pappadams. We normally share one between the two of us and are left short of breath with extremely full stomachs. It was quite the feast! Dessert was Masala tea and a huge amount of amazing fresh pinapple. Sooo good. We didn't need breakfast the next day! It was nice to be mothered for a night.

Alleppey - Backwaters Cruise

This was one of the most amazing things that we have done in India so far! We caught the train from Cochin - a nice 1.5 hour train and spent the night in Alleppey where we organised to go with a group of people on an overnight cruise through Keralan backwaters. We must say that it would not be the worst place to live! It was beautiful.
Look at this meal!

Cochin

Well for once we decided to get organised and actually try to book some accommodation in our next destination as the overnight train arrival time was 4am! We made some phone calls to recommended hostels from Bangalore and Kristen spoke to a cheery man who said "which country?" followed by "ok then you will bring a bat and ball then?" when she replied Australia. You see they are obsessed with cricket over here and you simply cannot stop a conversation about the Aussie cricket team when they get started no matter how much of a hurry you are in - "Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, alright Vegemite..."
Anyhow, we organised some accommodation with this man who said "yes you be bold enough to come at 4am and I will have some rooms awaiting"...

So 4am the next day we arrive in a tuk tuk packed full with backpacks and other luggage and go around the back as instucted and meet a not so cheery man with an inflated price in hand (3 times what we had arranged via phone) and tude to match. On principal we decided not to stay here anymore and sat with at least 2 hours of waiting in mind at the front of the guest house while the stupid cranky man steamed past walking his poor dog...
...And around the corner screeches another tuk tuk with a pep in his step after the sight of 5 weary tourists with a load of luggage obviously looking for somewhere to stay! Commission here I come! Anyhow he was nice and cheuffered us to his friends guesthouse which turned out to be really nice and within our price range.

It's stinking hot here at the moment and our skin is constantly wet! They have these massive Chinese fishing nets here and yesterday we all had a go at reeling them in. It would be such hard work - we were stuffed after one go!

Last night the boys bought some fish from the fish stalls on the beach and had it cooked in the Tandoori oven at a restaurant. It looked amazing! We are off to Allepey this arvo on the train - it's only a 1.5 hour ride this time which will be welcome.

They have really trippy Indian music on in this Internet cafe and I can hear a group of Indian men outside laughing like a bunch of women - there is one with a laugh like a chipmunk I swear! Because there are no public displays of affection between man and women here all the men hold hands, put their arms around each other and cuddle - they are generally very touchy feely with each other which is something so different from home... there is definatley no meaning to the word homophobe in India.

Bangalore - oh what a night

Well we arrived in Bangalore after a night of rolling around on the over-night bus. It's nice here and we're with a great group of people. We have been shopping around and stopping at the golden arches and breathing in a lot of pollution as you do in these big cities.

We went to the supermarket here and bought a whole lot of goodies (in Indian standards only) and had a picnic in the park which was full on bamboo trees as you can see in the photo. As usual there were a few little kids and beggars hovering around awaiting our generosity - we gave the little boy in the photo a few sandwiches and gave another lady some food in which she prompty threw away and demanded money. "No no - 10 rupees". "Ok you're not getting anything then!"

We also wandered around for about an hour holding our starving bellies searching for a renowned Chinese restaurant - each of us swearing that it was 'this way' or 'that way' until the girls finally dug their heels in and got us there... ;)

Nice... We had an amazing meal - if you zoom in you will note the layer of sweat, swollen lips, runny nose and bloodshot eyes we were all sporting as the Indians had once again spiced it up!
We stumbled upon an enormous shopping centre full of items that we can't even afford and had a meal in the food court which was interesting to say the least! We went to the movies and saw 'The pursuit of happiness'. For a few hours it was like we were at home!

Hampi - Bikey Chicks

We are leaving Hampi tonight on an overnight bus to Bangalore which should be interesting to say the least! Today we all rented motorbikes and cruised around the villages of Hampi checking out the scenery which was so amazing and so much fun!


Lots of tourists travel by moped in India but we have been real 'stick in the muds' up until this point but we decided to give it a go as there is no traffic in Hampi and the roads are very safe. We went in a group and were celebreties with the local village kids when we stopped for a drink...We had a ball!

Hampi - back into the real India

Well we caught a 6 hour train to Hampi which turned out to be a 10 or so hour train which was typical but quite enjoyable as the scenery was amazing. This is 5 of us packed in a tuk tuk...





We did a day of temples and sight seeing and then walked up about 500 steep steps to a temple called the Monkey Temple which is inhabited with a huge amount of monkeys and watched the sunset. The view was absolutely amazing. You can see a part of it from these photos.

Note the pink and purple hair. The Holi festival has seemed to stick with us... just wash out!!!




We then watched a movie in the guest house and all fell asleep exhausted. We went to see a 'waterfall' today which turned out to be nothing more than some water flowing over a rock in a river but the walk was good nonetheless. It's good to be getting some excersize after so much lazing in Palolem beach.

It's also nice to get back into the thick of India - it is really getting hot here now.