Day 102 - Colombo to Marawila, Sri Lanka

Day 102 – Hers.

I awoke after a terrific night’s sleep at around 8 and Rob an hour later.  We had a leisurely breakfast with the oddest interpretation of bacon I have seen to date, (I would have rather had a Sri Lankan breakfast whatever that may be, but it wasn’t offered.....) then packed and asked the hotel to arrange a taxi to take us to what our Gecko invoice listed as our new hotel.  Our driver didn’t know where he was going, so we had an hour long tour of the backwaters, fishing villages, industrial estates and residential areas of the north Colombo suburbs along roads that will be great when they have finished building them......  It was all very interesting but we were glad to finally arrive at the Palm Village Hotel - which we thought was our destination for the night.  We were given a cool flannel, welcome drink and flower...and then informed very politely that the information we had been given was incorrect and we should be at a hotel an hour in the opposite direction from the airport than we had just come.

The receptionist rang the local Gecko office and transport was arranged – along with the promise of a refund for the second taxi fare – so off we went for another driving tour.  We really feel we have seen the Sri Lankan coast from Colombo past Negromb to Marawila now; our impressions are that it is clean, there are many beautiful houses surrounded by palm trees and a mix of types of shopping – from palm leaf covered roadside shacks, to modern strip malls including a Pizza Hut.  I must say that everyone has been extremely polite and friendly and we have decided to look on our latest adventure as an ‘optional tour’.

We arrived at the Sanmali Beach Hotel at around half past one – another cool flannel, another welcome drink, but this time a room key as well.  We have a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the sea.  There is a lovely swimming pool, a kettle and even a hair dryer!

We went for a long walk into what village there is.  There is a small market and the National Shrine of the Holy Cross, which was lovely and full of worshippers – attesting to the fact that a large percentage of the people who live along this coast are Christians – the legacy of the original Portuguese colonial settlers.  We then went down to the shoreline, which has huge granite boulders protecting it from further erosion.  There was some evidence that cyclones (and perhaps the Boxing Day tsunami?) have ravaged bits of this coast – and much evidence of human effort to prevent devastation in case of future storms.

We returned to our room to just chill for a while until heading downstairs to meet our new group.  I went down a bit early and ran into Caroline, the Texan girl who had also been in our India group.  She has been staying with friends in Colombo  - an American expat who works for USAID,  his Sri Lankan born wife and their 2 ½ year old son.   We chatted for a while on the terrace and were eventually joined by Rob, Deva (our Sri Lankan guide) and the other 9 in our group for the pre-trip briefing.

Day 102 – His.

The briefing dissolved into evening dinner at the hotel. One of the negatives of this tour is that we are so far out of the way that the only place to eat is at the hotel. That in itself isn’t so bad but the hotel owners have cottoned on to the fact that we are a captive audience and the buffet dinner on offer was $12 and not that brilliant – so, we opted for a la carte which turned out to be half the price. To drink we had a lime soda which the hotel tried to charge us $5 each – more than the price of our dinner. Half an hour’s wrangling brought the price down to $1.50 – still pretty high but what can you do? We are due to set off at 6 in the morning so after dinner meant off to bed. Yet another early start. Have these people got the idea that this is meant to be a holiday?

Day 101 - Cochin (Kochi), India to Colombo, Sri Lanka

Day 101 – His.

Today we go to Sri Lanka. It has been a place that Patti has wanted to go since she was a girl. Apparently, she once saw some Sri Lankan writing and thought it looked so beautiful that the country must be beautiful too and since that time has wanted to come here. Not a bad theory and not a bad reason to want to go somewhere. So, we were up at four and off by five. That early in the morning even the roads in India are quiet so it didn’t take that long to get to the airport. It did, however, take ages to get through the security checks. I think I have said before, the Indians are obsessed with security. We had to pass two checks just to get into the terminal building. Several checks later, a grilling from the emigration officials and a couple of hours saw us sitting in the airport waiting for our plane. I consider any airport with a smoking area past the security checks to be a civilised place. Cochin airport goes one better and has rather a pleasant garden right in the centre of the terminal building where you can get a coffee and smoke a cigarette as you wait. Oddly enough though, they don’t sell cigarettes in the duty free. This may have something to do with the fact that  Sri Lanka has no duty free allowance on cigarettes. All very strange.

We are flying Sri Lankan air – which to my mind is one of the better airlines. Despite the flight being only an hour the cabin crew rushed up and down serving us a sandwich and cake snack and coffee. They had just enough time to do it and we landed.

Getting in and out of India has been perhaps, the most tiresome, time consuming and frustrating border crossing we have yet done (With maybe the exception of our arrival in Nepal). Sri Lanka is a different story – we breezed through – though there were quite a lot of signs warning us that smuggling drugs was punishable by death – a little intimidating to say the least though obviously not a problem for us.

As far as travel is concerned i have a single pet hate. That is taxi drivers at airports – I have said this before. Patti, in her infinite wisdom had booked us into a hotel not 10 minutes -but a whole world - away from the airport. The upshot of this is that if the driver is indeed over charging it can’t be by much as the journey is so short. We are staying at the Full Moon Garden Hotel just off the Colombo road. To get to it you turn down a little gated lane and drive a few hundred yards to a very sweet little place that is a quiet, pleasant and tucked away. I was expecting just a hotel room – but it turns out the place we have is a whole clutch of rooms, there’s a living room, a dining room and a bedroom with en-suite in a kind of little cottage amidst other suites that centre around the garden and swimming pool. We are only spending the night here before we join out tour tomorrow but it is really nice to be away from everything. We got a little sleep, took a short walk and lazed by the pool. A little later we are going to see what the hotel restaurant is like. I know it doesn’t seem like much – but even little things are adventures when you are in Sri Lanka.

Day 101 – Hers.

Dinner was certainly an adventure – both culinary and cultural.  I ordered traditional Sri Lankan rice with curry, the vegetarian version to start with.  When it arrived, it was easily enough for three people: a huge serving bowl of rice with six different types of curry, a salad spicy enough to blow even my head off, pickled cabbage and a delicious spiced fruit dish.  Rob ordered a south Indian chicken masala that was also very spicy – not at all altered for Western tastes as they had been when we were actually in southern India.  I enjoyed the heat – I had been asking for my food to be served spicy in India without much success.....Rob couldn’t manage to eat much of his despite having built up his tolerance for spicy food as we have gone along. So much for the culinary adventure......

As we finished eating, a young Chinese woman at the table next to us began a conversation.  She is in Sri Lanka on business – as is her companion who spoke no English.  We told them how much we had enjoyed travelling in China.  The man (using the young woman as a translator) told us how much he wanted to learn English, insisted that we get in touch with him if/when we return to China and posed with us for a photo on his camera.  He really wanted to join up with us to explore Colombo tomorrow, but we explained that we are joining a tour.  It turned out that a good part of his excitement was that he had never met any native English speakers before.  The whole incident just reminded us of how much we enjoyed the Chinese part of our trip – particularly the people; we really must return there to spend more time......

Day 100 - Cochin (Kochi), Kerala, India

Day 100 – Hers.

 A really nice day.  We didn’t get up until after 8, then said our goodbyes to those who were leaving this morning and went out for a lovely breakfast.  We have done very little actual shopping up to now, not wanting to carry more than was necessary for longer than necessary – but we had seen some very nice things here - and heard that Sri Lanka does not have nearly the selection of India - so we decided to spend the morning present buying.  Honing our haggling skills on the first couple of shops to be sure of reasonable prices, we set off for the market.  We bought six presents at one stall, pushing the stall holder on price to the point where he had to go check with his father.  A shop owner later told us that it was the best deal he had heard of any tourist getting, only 20 rupees over the wholesale price for each item – quite an accolade.

We also went into a shop that has been in business since 1947 – with actual antiques as well as tourist tat at very reasonable fixed prices.  Unfortunately, it is illegal to take anything over 50 years old out of the country, so antiques were out – but we did buy a few nice trinkets and had a lovely chat with the owners who know the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury – rather the ex-Archbishop as the new one was appointed today.  In the end, we managed to buy all but 4 of the 26 presents required....not bad going!

We ran into Sam, Lisle and Kylie several times during the morning – also out shopping (it’s not a very big town) and arranged to meet Sam and Lisle for an early dinner before Sam’s taxi to the airport at 6:30.  We also went back to St Francis Church – and actually went in this time to see the tomb of Vasco da Gama.  Quite good timing really, a huge tour group was just going in as we were coming out.

Mid-afternoon saw us back at the hotel, grateful for the air conditioning as we completely repacked our bags to fit in our purchases and chilled (literally) until dinner.  We had hoped to go to the Oceanus Restaurant this evening – Tripadvisor #1 and Sam’s requested salad available – but it didn’t open until 7, so we went back to the Masala Fort where we had eaten lunch our first day here.  I had a delicious crab curry and Rob showed off his newly acquired ability to handle spicy food by ordering a chilli chicken dish, pokara and a coconut sandwich.  Sam got the salad he wanted – coconut, mango and a few greens of some sort – and Lisle had a chicken curry, her last for a while as she has requested a real Aussie meal as soon as she gets home.

After dinner, we said a fond farewell to Sam and Lisle and then went for dessert (blueberry cheesecake, sort of) and coffee.  We showered and read for an hour – early to bed, though – the taxi arrives at 5am.  Off to Sri Lanka in the morning.

Day 99 - Cochin (Kochi), Kerala, India

Day 99 – His.

 

Today is the last day of our tour and Dennis, our guide, really picked up the pace. After breakfast he took us on a town tour and excelled himself. We walked down to the beach to look at the Chinese nets, we wandered through the small markets and grabbed tuk tuks to the Dutch palace.

The palace is tiny in comparison to the North Indian piles we have seen and has a real parochial feel but the wooden ceiling and murals are well worth seeing as is the history display of the Jewish influence in this corner of the world. As well as visiting the palace we went to the synagogue – to be honest I have never been in a synagogue before so it was quite fascinating for me. Patti says she has been in several – but still found it interesting – particularly the 500 year old hand painted Chinese tiles, apparently.

Oh, I didn’t mention before but we are staying at a hotel called the Gama Heritage Hotel near the Bishop’s house. It’s one of the nicest hotels we have been in. Clean rooms, air conditioning and HBO on the telly – so what more can you ask for. Well, Patti fancied a swimming pool – which it doesn’t have – but at three stars you can’t have everything. I love it here.

After our walk around the town we had a little time to shop for presents which was very like going to an Arabian suk and as hassle-y for the haggling. It all depends on my frame of mind as to whether I enjoy haggling or not. At the moment I don’t really feel like it so shopping was a bit of a chore. After an hour or so looking at silk scarves, carved wooden boxes and various trinkets in brass we jumped on the local ferry for a tour of the bay and harbour. It cost three rupees. How much is that in real money – about 4 pence – for a half hour tour of the bay – you can’t do much better than that.

After the boat trip we walked up the town in the Fort Kochi area to a small cafe called The Teapot. Here we had an enormous pot of coffee for 40 rupees – which poured around 4 and a half cups – 15 pence a cup. Southern India really is amazing value for money.

All of this took until half two so we returned to our hotel for a shower and rest before going out for something to eat.

 

Day 99 – Hers.

It was the traditional end of tour meal this evening – minus three of the Australian girls who have already left for Goa.  We went to the restaurant at one of the luxury hotels in town – no alcohol served, so everyone was on his or her best behaviour and it was quite a pleasant meal.  Sam, the young Kiwi, made the thank you speech to Dennis and gave him the group’s tip.  We exchanged email addresses and then walked back to the hotel in light rain – nothing like last night’s deluge – quite refreshing after the sticky heat of the day.  Several of the group are up early tomorrow for flights to wherever, so we said our goodbyes and headed to our room to settle in for the night.

Day 98 - Alleppey to Cochin (Kochi), Kerala, India

Day 98 – Hers.

 

Another travel day and a very early start.  By 6:00 we had washed, packed, eaten rice noodles and steamed bananas and boarded the motor cruiser for the return trip to Alleppey.  Another mad tuk tuk race delivered us to the station for our train to Cochin (or Kochi – the names seem to be completely interchangeable....).

Cochin is spread out over several peninsulas, connected by ferries and a few bridges.  The area around the train station and airport is very modern – chain stores, neon lights, etc. etc.  The tourist area is two peninsulas along in the historic colonial fort area.  We are staying in a Heritage hotel (This one, however, is well refurbished, scrupulously clean and has satellite TV and wifi – much better, thank you....) within a couple of blocks of all the major sights.

We checked in, showered, answered our email and found out the results of the US election courtesy of the BBC, then went out for a walk to explore the Western part of the peninsula.  We saw the Dutch cemetery and St Francis Church – reportedly the first European Christian church in India (1503, I think....) and where Vasco da Gama was buried until his body was repatriated to Portugal.  We left going inside for another day – we got distracted by all the colourful market stalls just down the block.....We saw the Chinese fishing nets and the fish stalls where you can buy fresh prawns, crabs, snapper and some other identified fish that you then take to a corner cooking stall where they will cook it for you.  We wandered through the streets a bit, as usual getting a little lost and then finding our way again, visiting little shops and admiring the gracious colonial buildings – and a brightly coloured Bollywood film set, currently under construction.  We lunched in a balcony restaurant – lime soda and prawn curry, a different kind than I have ever seen before and strolled back to the hotel for a short nap before meeting up with the group for the evening.

 

Day 98 – His.

The drunks of the trip were quiet today. Several of them were moaning about food poisoning and headaches. They seemed intent on blaming the fish they had last night – which seems reasonable – after all it couldn’t be anything to do with the four litres of vodka they stuffed down. Still, at least it kept them quiet and meant the day was actually very pleasant. In the evening we went to see some Kathakali dance.

Actually it was a bit more than that. We were allowed in early to see the actors put on their make up and don their costumes. Then we had a half hour introduction to the elements of the art form (The meaning of the facial expressions and the hand movements) then we had the actual performance. All in all it was superb. However we seem to be caught in another tropical storm. The lightning is making the night almost as bright as the day and it is tipping down – so the walk back to the hotel was a soggy affair. Ah well – a fun day and a nice hotel so the next couple of days here should be quite pleasant.

Day 97 - Alleppey, Kerala, India

Day 97 – His.

 

Today’s big adventure was a cruise around the canals, rivers and lakes around Alleppey on a big old house boat built from bamboo and palm wood. One of the girls in the group organised it and to be honest she did a superb job. We had originally been quoted 17,000 rupees for the boat and she got it for 11,000 rupees – good job.

Included in the trip was a 5 hour cruise, snacks and lunch. Drinks weren’t included. Patti and I stocked up on two litres of Fanta and two litres of water. Most other people bought a couple of beers. One of the group – the British girl I have mentioned before saw fit to bring four litres of vodka.

The trip was pretty good and we sailed around in a leisurely way enjoying the scenery and the lunch time curry. It was only marred by the Brit getting pissed – again! She thought she was being great fun – actually she was being a royal pain. She stuffed a bit of curried food up the nose of a guy who was supposed to be her buddy – he was most upset – as i would be. I know I am going on a bit about this girl but she depresses me. I don’t mind her getting drunk, nor do i mind her flashing her boobs at passersby, nor hanging her bare arse off the boat. What I do mind is the sheer cultural insensitivity of it all. We are in quite a religious country where the showing of shoulders and knees are frowned upon yet this girl thinks it’s okay to behave the way she is behaving – my own thought is that if she wants to behave like this maybe she should be on an 18-30 holiday not a cultural tour of India.

I have taken to ignoring her – unfortunately it’s a little difficult to do that here as we have been forced to spend four days in close company with her. Ah well, only two days to go and we are rid if her.

Fortunately we are being housed in three separate houses and the aforementioned girl is in another house so we don’t have to suffer her for the evening. The upshot of that is that the evening was actually very pleasant. We had dinner with the family, toured the rice fields and the gardens – the family grows their own coffee, bananas, chillies, coconuts, rice, and just about every type of spice you can find in the spice shelves of any supermarket but here they are growing in their back yard. It is truly fantastic. I could quite happily live in any country where you can grow your own coffee and where you don’t have to look at fat drunken British girls’ boobs – and we played some kind of table top pool game with counters from a draughts set and a big piece of formica. The girl of the house taught us and it was huge fun. As we did that Patti and the other two girls we are staying with dressed up in our house mother’s saris and giggled a lot as we oohed and aaahed and took photos – all in all a lot of fun.

Day 96 - Alleppey, Kerala, India

Day 96 – Hers.

 

We were up at 5 for a 5:30 start.  A quick journey by tuk tuk to the train station had us there in plenty of time for the 6:30 train from Varkala to Alleppey.  We had seats this time – very comfortable, if a bit cold from the air conditioning.  After our splurges in Varkala, many of us needed to stop at an ATM before arriving at our home stay village.  The machines weren’t working at either train station – so we had to stop in Alleppey on the way to our breakfast buffet.  Of course, our tuk tuk driver didn’t stop – so Rob had to go back into town.  Apparently the first three machines in town weren’t working either – eventually the fourth machine allowed him to withdraw enough money to get us through the last five days of our India trip.....whew!  We could always change dollars – but presumably finding a place to do that would be even more of a challenge.

Our guide, Dennis, had told us that lunch would be at our homestay – so Rob and I just had coffee at the 10:00 stop.  I didn’t want to be rude and refuse our homestay family’s hospitality because I had just filled up on breakfast – however nice it looked.

We waited at the restaurant a bit while several of our group went to negotiate a houseboat tour of the canals for tomorrow.  They seem to have done an admirable job – getting over 300 rupees each off the original price we had been quoted.  A houseboat tour is the main thing to do here – we have also been offered fishing and cricket.....it’s a quiet but beautiful place.

Our homestay families live about an hour by boat from Alleppey.  We took a motor cruiser past brightly coloured houses, temples and Christian churches, coconut palms, tropical flowers and concrete ferry docks along the shore, passing a variety of houseboats, fishing canoes and motor craft – as well as water hyacinths and the odd egret or cormorant – even a bright blur kingfisher sunning himself on an electricity wire across the river.  In many ways, it was quite reminiscent of the Mekong delta – but cleaner and more prosperous looking.  Apparently there are turtles, crocodiles and eels, catfish and other fish that didn’t sound familiar.

We arrived and settled into our home for two nights – it is a lovely place, right on the river, that has been in our host’s family for several generations. (Apparently it’s sinking – our host father, Matthew,  told us that you had to go up 4 steps to get in when he was a child and now it’s just 1) Matthew showed us his rice paddies and fruit trees, and his little canoe – over a hundred years old – hollowed out from one tree, and his neighbour’s – made from split logs, bound together with coir rope and fibre, waterproofed annually with fish oil.

Lunch was fantastic – a coconut curry fish dish with three different vegetable dishes (One was cabbage and coconut, not ingredients one would immediately think of combining, but delicious all the same), home grown rice and home grown bananas.  We just chilled for an hour after lunch before joining the rest of the group for a boat tour of the local village.

 

Day 96 – His.

The afternoon boat tour was pretty much a repeat of our arrival here, but pretty cool for all that. The boat was smaller and not fancying the cramped sweaty cabin a few of us sat on the roof to watch the riverbanks slide past. This is a quiet undisturbed part of the country and a very pleasant place to spend a bit of time. Not a lot of tourists make it here so we are something of an oddity but it is one of the oldest Christian communities in India being first a Portuguese colony and then French and finally British. The church here is over a thousand years old – though recently rebuilt and here is one of the few places you can eat beef without feeling guilty. All in all Alleppey has a quiet rural charm that really shows off the beauty of southern India.

After the boat trip we walked around the village and back to our host family’s house where their daughter showed us card tricks and taught us card games until the dinner was ready. Dinner was an egg curry – one of the girls in our group liked it so much she had 3 eggs and contemplated a fourth. Mostly because of our early start we are tired and pretty much after dinner we went to bed. At least we won’t have such an early start tomorrow.