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| Hooray for travelling again! |
Malaysians used to say if one can drive in Kuala Lumpur, one can definitely drive anywhere in the world. I think this no longer stands. Not after I’ve seen the traffic in Myanmar, Egypt, and more recently, Kerala, India.
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| Stuck in traffic |
One thing’s for sure though, God was definitely looking out for us when we were traveling on the roads in Kerala. Imagine a two-lane road that’s a mere seven feet wide. You overtake another tuk tuk that is overtaking a truck and there’s an oncoming convertible on the other lane coming at you as a couple of pedestrians attempts to very slowly, at a grandma's hobble pace, cross the road. Everyone honks and flashes their vehicle lights. And miraculously, everyone makes it safely to where they need to be. This, is the traffic situation in all of Kerala.
To drive on Kerala’s cramp, small roads requires a lot of patience, concentration, extremely good judgement, and a smidgen of road-hog attitude. As a passenger, the ride involves long naps - a 200km car ride takes six butt-numbing hours – intermittent rushes of adrenaline, and new shoes (“The front half of my right Timberland are all worn down because I helped slam on the [invisible] breaks [on my side of the car] every time we came too close to hitting a car.” – Dad.)
When I picture India, I think dancing maidens clad in colourful saris bursting into song. The Taj Mahal. Ganges River. Then I think pollution. Dusty air. Dirty, bacteria-filled tap water you wouldn’t even risk to rinse your mouth with. Bustling crowds (if I have to name one pet peeve, it would be invasion of personal space.) And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t exactly ecstatic about the prospect of spending nine days in a place where (I thought) my personal space would be invaded. What can I say? Canada morphed me into a gazelle. I love my wide open spaces. Did I mention I loathe crowds?
My perception couldn’t be more skewed: Crisp, fresh air. Abundance of clean water (while we didn't drink directly from the tap, we did wash our hands and rinse our mouths using tap water). In fact, if I were a herd of gazelle, I’d have more than enough empty space to run about in the rolling hills of Munnar with its beautiful tea plantations.
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| Tea plantations as far as the eyes can see |
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| Spot the teeny-tiny tea pickers |
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That one goat.
(The bus jerked around the corner
as the camera snapped) |
While we didn't see any gazelles, we did chance upon Nilgiri Tahr, an endangered species of mountain goat. To spot these goats required an eight-minute, heart pumping, teeth-rattling, five-mile bus ride through the narrow winding roads into Eravikulam National Park. We glimpsed one goat peeking over on the way in. My thoughts at that point was, "Man, it would totally suck if this was the one goat I see after all this way." (Signs at the park entrance had warned "Sighting of goats by chance.") We truly thought this was the case having hiked all the way to the end of the trail and only spotting herds of these goats - looking itty-bity - up the hills far far away. Lady Luck was with us however, on our way down. We hit the mother of Nilgiri Tahr jackpots when one by one, goats started to slowly make their way down the hill towards us.
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| Nilgiri Tahr look more like deer |
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Our accommodation
perched atop a tree |
Words that spring to mind if I were asked to describe Munnar: Green. Serene. Peaceful. Mind-blowingly gorgeous. Mother.Effing.Cold. Who would have thought to associate cold with India? We didn't. To say we came unprepared would be an understatement. Dad, in charge of looking up the weather said the lowest temperatures we'd endure would be 18°C. Was he even close? Nah uh. Try 0°C. (Ba, you're officially fired from weather research duties.) Top that off with a faulty water-heater in a heat-less bamboo hut perched atop a tree at 6,900 feet above sea level for the night, we froze our butts off. Layering up (in my case, four shirts and three pairs of pants - all cotton-made, which was pretty much everything in my luggage) didn't help much with heat retention. Dad resorted to wearing a wind-proof, water-proof, plastic raincoat to bed. The people at the resort had to drop a match into their diesel tank to melt the frozen diesel in order to start the jeep the next morning. How they didn't blow themselves up is a wonder. We laugh about it now, but it was a pretty torturous night.
Alleppey - Venice of the East
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| How does one transport a goat if one lives in the backwaters? By boat, of course! |
While I can't honestly say that it reminds me of Venice, staying on a houseboat was quite cool. I could sit back and relax, with a camera at the ready for photo moments to drift by. Plus, I could bust out in capris and not worry about people staring at me. (Yes, people do literally stand long minutes in close proximity and gawk at foreign women wearing shorts. I had a crowd gathering three feet away from me having arrive at Cochin Airport in a snug fitting 3/4-sleeved shirt and 3/4 length pants. It was unnerving and not in the least bit flattering to have men leering and pointing at you. If there's one tip I can impart having traveled so many places, it'll be to do your homework on what (not) to wear in a foreign country.)
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Clockwise from top two pictures: Women doing laundry,
bathing with daddy, old man fishing |
Kovalam
Having spent six days in Kerala, this was the first place in India we came across another (yep, just one) fellow Asian of the yellow-skin variety. He looked as surprised to see us as we were him. He kept gaping at us and looked very much like he wanted to come over to say hello just to make sure we weren't an illusion. Poor guy, must have been totally weird not seeing another yellow-being for days and then greeted with the sight of four enjoying the sights.
Oh, funny story. This was a conversation between myself and a cigarette seller ("CS") by the beach.
CS: Cigarettes?
Me: Shakes Head
CS: No cigarettes?
Me: No, thank you.
CS: You no smoke?
Me: No, I don't.
CS: Good. Smoking is bad for health.
Two things I won't ever get bored of: the sounds of pounding waves and sunsets.
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| Gorgeous sunset in Kovalam |
Selected Pictures from Cochin
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| Chinese fishing nets still used by the Indians |
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| School children waiting for / boarding the bus |
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| Cute lil' Indian girl pulling a face at the camera |
Some of you might think it weird that we flew all the way to India only to immerse ourselves in nature and all its glory. Yea, I'm a tad gutted I didn't get see the Taj Mahal, but India, if you didn't know already, is a friggin' huge country. One of these days, Taj Mahal will happen. In the meantime, visit Swan's blog for her take on Northern India. (errr...she's not there yet, but she will be :P! Update: Swan's in India right now and her experiences are drastically different from the family's. Check out her adventures here.)
Travel Agency: Travel Bug India (Agent Name: Pratheesh)
Accommodations:
Alleppey: Houseboat
