Tuesday Feb 18- still at Citrus. Good news is housekeeping did our laundry for only $4, bad news, whites came back pink...lol. Took a water taxi to town of Alleppey where we walked the spice market. Smells were incredible, but streets were very crowded and was too hot, thank goodness we were wearing our hats :). Then back to Citrus for a swim. In evening we sat outside with our neighbours, a retired Indian couple .. We now have a place to stay in Bangalore. Next morning. off for a 3 hour canoe type ride up backwaters where big boats can't travel because of narrow canals. We got up close with locals living along the banks. They all work hard, doing everything by hand. Washing, shoring up banks with mixture of mud and mussel shells, making wooden boats with crude hand tools and all the time willing to smile as we paddled by....we weren't actually doing the paddling, we reclined under a tarped roof, relaxed and content like a young couple on their honeymoon. At dinner that night we ate with mother and daughter from Zimbabwe taking 28 day Ayurveda treatments for arthritis and daughter for a number of problems. They raved about Ayurveda, mother has been coming to India for years. They also get direction and advice from their dead father/husband of 20 years and believe if you talk to your food your body will tell you if it's good or bad for you by leaning into it or away from it.....she leans away from chocolate so I figure something's not right here!
In the morning at breakfast we ate with a very normal family from Sweden. Then taxi ride to Fort Cochin, Kochi and Heritage Ballard Bungalow. On the way we stopped at a beach and watched a man climb up a palm tree, whack the heck out of the trunk to extract Toddy to sell for drinking, we didn't try it. In Fort Cochin we went to an old Kerala theatrical performance called Kathakali, where they paint their faces, wear large head dresses and use mime to express a story. Other than the fact the 2 men pounding on drums made us loose hearing for several hours, it was quite entertaining. Fort Cochin is our favourite town so far. Lots of tourists, shops, restaurants, narrow streets, goats walking down the middle of the street being narrowly misses by drivers and an antique dealer with 25 stores of old wooden doors, ceilings, carved wooden figures and tons of stuff.
The most fun was walking through Jewtown, where in the morning it was alive with trucks full of sacks of different spices, teas and products being unloaded and transferred on the heads of men or by large push carts to the docks for export. It was as if we were transported back in time to 1920's. On Saturday morning we lined up for tickets to take a fairy to city Cochin (Kochi). Ladies in one line, Gents in the other. We then sat in a holding area waiting for ferry to arrive, ladies in one area, Gents in another. Sat on the ferry, Gents up front, ladies and tourists in back . We met a lady from Japan who is travelling around the world with a backpack and 1 suitcase. What an adventurer. We visited the Kerala Folkart Museum (prince Charles and the Duchess had been there). It is owned by a man who has been collecting for 25 years and reminded us of Ed's Warehouse in Toronto. We decided to try taking a public bus back to the ferry but we needed help from 3 local young ladies to get on the right bus and then to get off at right stop! Cost of tuk-tuk had been 160R, bus ride 12R (22cents)...gotta save somewhere!! Again on bus, Ladies and Gents sat separate from each other. Except us, we were stuck like glue, afraid of losing each other in the crowd. Next day, Bill had arranged a driver to stay with us for 3 days. We drove 141 km to Munnar, took us 5-1/2 hours. Our destination was a resort high in the middle of the tea plantations and the roads although paved, were narrow, steep and very windy. There were no guard rails and it would have been impossible to drive at night as the edge of the cliff was only metres from the pavement. But the views were breathtaking. Everywhere you looked was spectacular, you can't imagine the number of fields of tea plants. We spent the next day relaxing at Moutainside Resort then today our driver brought us to Coimbatore, 160 km, 6 hours. Gas is $1.30 litre, no savings there! Tomorrow we jump on a bus (Volvo bus) to Mysore and the start of another great week.
Hope you enjoy hearing our adventures,
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