Keep those reports coming, Clare & McTag! Especially about the food! :wink:
Any more news... Fiona or Walter u may be knowing....
I hope they were far away from the floods.
Nothing here (I'm getting all via this thread, too), Fiona might have got some messades, though.
Hi guys
I had a very quick call from McTag today but I don't have much to tell! He said he was at the coast after a 6 hour journey by car and bus and was staying in a beach hotel which was a former officers club, then was travelling to Kochin.
It looks like we shall have to wait for the travellers to plug in to a cybercafe before we get any more of the really juicy details such as the 'flavour, colour and spice' of their travels.
So far no upset stomachs I am told which has to be good news!
Fiona
Thanks, Fiona - glad to here this.
Walter Hinteler wrote:Thanks, Fiona - glad to here this.
.... and certainly I wanted to write 'hear'
Hi here we are in Kochi (Cochin) and it's really great, in a nice quirky and rustic small hotel by the waterfront.
We took the train down here from Calicut, through the sunlit coconut groves of Kerala. What a lot of contrasta we have seen so far, from the terrible slums surrounding Mumbai Airport, to the wonderful Nilgiri Hiills country, and down to the lovely coastline where we are now. Have travelled by plane, taxi, auto-rickshaw (many times) bus (more of thst later) and Indian Railways.
Good old Indian Railways.
The food here is marvellous, the best curries I have ever tasted!
Had a long sail around the harbour/ estuary this evening, and it was really lovely. More from Clary later I'm sure- her computer is not working at the moment, so I'll give her this one.
See ya
McTag
Thanks McT for handing over, I had a nice fresh lime and water while waiting but in Kochi it seems you can only have beer if you call it special tea and it comes in a teapot surreptitouslike...
I have emails I must answer and this connection is s-l-o-w so I hope can add more tomorrow!
Brilliant McT, Clary.
Have a special tea on me, and here's to old Vasco D.
(Who are they supporting in the cricket btw?)
Mc just talked about Calicut... that is the legendery place in India, Vasco Da Gama reached to, on May 20, 1498.
After having some special teas, I'm sure, McTag will talk to Vasco :wink:
Ohhhhhhh, Kochi. You finally made it to God's country. ahhhh, the memories....
how's the old port. still there? did you go for a swim? did you know kochi was the northernmost point hit by tsunami? 6 people died, but a lot of property was destroyed - mostly fishermens' huts - all sweapt away.
The chinese nets are still standing though. So are you guys headed out for those ayurvedic centers now?
That's interesting about the special tea business. We used to get special tea in a vietnamese restaurant that we eventually became friends with the owner of (now there's a sentence..).
His special tea was a small stainless steel tea pot filled with remy martin cognac. One poured it over ice. Very nice with many plates of vietnamese food...
Anyway, we thought that was his unique handling of the matter of a liquor license.
That sounds a deal more special than Kingfisher beer, Osso... McT disapproves of my drinking, I can tell! I had 3 cuba libres one day at the Mudumalai jungle retreat... well it was quite cold and damp...
Kochi is almost unrecognisable from my visit here in 1975. But when we got to the Fort area it started to look familiar, and we found the perfect location for a hotel, just near the nets pictured above, Indonesian style low huts around a courtyard, and a jetty to sit and have breakfast on. And lunch, under a large palm tree. Divine prawn and tuna and seer fish in gentle spices with coconut milk... the amazing rice milk dessert which tastes like condensed milk out of a tin over rice (probably is!), fresh lime...
Tonight there is an especial treat, a festival a few miles away with vast numbers of elephants and drummers - McT found a scooterwala, or autorickshaw driver, offering to take and fetch us for some reasonable amount like a dollar! Even in this very touristy city, some things are cheap. 2 rupees for a ferry crossing - and it's 79 rupees to the pound.
I have arranged to go to Lakshadweep, a dream of mine for many years, because of its name partly. Foreigners are only allowed on one of the 100 000 islands (the name Lakshadweep means this) and have to go on a boat overnight with no lying down facilities, only aircraft seats, for 2 days only, coming back not to Kochi but to Calicut - not what I really had in mind but hell, why not? As far as I can see, it is the journey that is all important in India, life, etc., and so extra journeying can only be good!
McT is going to be allowed off the leash to make his own arrangements... luckily there are lots of nice things to do, the waterways (which were untouristy in '75 so I will go with the memory) being one.
Good to know you're all rooting for us out there! Watch this space...
Lakshadweep looks wonderful. Have good trip Clary. And enjoy the festival. Are you driving McT? Rephrase, are you being driven by McT?
That all sounds phantastic (even if McTag is driving).
I'm certainly not driving, I am on a steepish leaning curve.
Some things I don't understand...bananas 10 Rs for 10, apples and oranges 75 Rs for 8...maybe I paid a tourist price, but it's still less that a pound (sorry no pound symbol on this keyboard)
We went to the hindu extravaganza this evening, fifteen painted elephants and lots of drummers and musicians, sounding just like George Harrison in the 60s
(with Ravi Shankar, not Roll Over, Beethoven)
Had to leave our sandals outside! Masses of folks inside, very nice occasion.
Marvellous! It was hot this morning (Fiona says there's snow back home) and I sat and sipped a lime juice with soda, under a coconut palm, and watched the ships sail by.
Wow. Looks like you are having a lot of fun! Enjoy!
