Tuesday, September 28, 2010

After 42 hours of transit time I arrived in Portland around 3 p.m. yesterday. I am tired, stiff and spacey. The lack of noise is a little eerie.

Steven and I rode downtown so I could run a few errands and then stopped at a food cart for some Indian food:)

In the next week or two I hope to post either a photo album or slide show of some of my pictures so check in from time to time to delight your eyes.

I hope you enjoyed the blog.
Thank you for keeping me company and keeping me writing!
Jen

Photo: View of Mount St. Helen's above the clouds.

Sunday, September 26, 2010 The Big Journey Ahead

Tara and I began the big journey home with a South Indian breakfast of idli, sambar and coconut chutney – compliments of our home stay. They were thrilled the other day when we asked about having a South Indian breakfast and we easily finished off the plate of 10 idli. Bags packed and taxi loaded, we set off for the airport with the windows down. At 8:30 it was already hot and humid, though the traffic was somewhat light. There was a 10 K walk for the heart association taking place on the streets of Ernakulum and many of its participants ran barefoot. Our taxi driver said there was a prize of 1 Lakh Rupees- that is 100,000 Rs. (~$2000 USD).

We managed to check in at the airport with minimal confusion and when the plane arrived in Mumbai I got off and Tara continued on to Delhi. The International Airport would not let me into the terminal to check my bags early, the new law only allows ticketed passengers in as soon as three hours before a flight. As I made my way to the pre-paid taxi stand I was aggressively pursued by a Sikh tout who offered to take my in his auto-rickshaw for a ‘good price’. Signs all over the airport including the area I was walking announced that this activity was illegal though I’d be surprised to see it enforced. One taxi ride later I arrived at the Leela, a high end hotel near the airport. I checked my bags with the bell boy and found a comfy seat to sit down and read for a while. I arranged for some spa services during my layover and thought I would treat myself to a tasty meal before the long journey home.

Photo: Waiting Area in Cochin Airport

Saturday September 25, 2010 Last Day in India

This morning we took a taxi to Allepey, the home of backwater tours to rent a canoe and spend a little more time on the water. The ride was bumpy and the diesel fumes intoxicating during the journey from Fort Cochin to Allepey. We found one canoe to rent and negotiated the rate. We thought we would be canoeing ourselves but the canoe came with a man who did most of the power work. We rode around the backwaters and saw the lovely rattan houseboats and were able to get closer to people who live at the water’s edge.

After two hours of canoeing we were famished and the driver took us to a nice vegetarian restaurant for a quick Keralan bite: two meals, a bottle of water and chai for a mere 66 Rupees (~$1.45). We returned to our home stay in late afternoon, rested a while then set to packing our luggage. I laid everything out on my bed and impressed Tara with my ability to condense it all and make it fit into two small bags. I would have only required one had I not gone on a shopping spree the last week; at least my Christmas shopping is now finished!

We went to Hotel Fort Cochin one last time and ordered a Pomfred cooked in Banana leaf with Gobi Manchurian (spicy cauliflower) and Keralan rice. When we walked into the open air restaurant the waiter ran to meet us “Welcome my friends!” he greeted. We were regulars now- our third time in one week. After dinner we went to a high end hotel for dessert and tea. I did not make it through one paragraph in my book before my eyelids collapsed.

Friday, September 24, 2010 Another Rainy Day

There were thunderstorms and hard rain again last night though it was less intense than earlier in the week. We spent a mellow day around Fort Cochin. I had mehndi applied again and Tara had a henna treatment applied to her hair. In the evening we wandered around – there was a special service at the Catholic Church and it was decorated with bright lights in the shape of Mary and the baby Jesus. We discovered that the little shop with delicious pastries had a garden restaurant where they served Indian food at Indian prices…delicious.

Thursday September 23, 2010 Indian Morning

It rained all night and it was raining so hard that I woke up several times during the night and early this morning. A little before nine it was still raining heavily but Tara and I wanted to get to Krishna’s Vegetarian Restaurant for a South Indian breakfast of idli, upma and dosas. At the intersection we tried to get an auto-rickshaw but the driver said he couldn’t take us there due to the amount of water in the road, across the intersection we could see another street completely covered in water. We decided to go to Kashi’s where they serve delicious breakfast but found ourselves trapped in a puzzle as each time we turned a corner the street rushed a river of water or was blocked by a massive puddle that became a lake and prevented us from progressing towards Kashi’s. After a lot of back-tracking we arrived in front of a hotel and decided to have breakfast there since we were unable to make it anywhere else. From the rooftop restaurant we could see all of Fort Cochin and to our delight the menu listed a few Indian breakfast items. From breakfast we went to the Ayurvedic Clinic to have our doshas diagnosed. I was surprised to learn that my constitution is Vata, air and the doctor gave me a few dietary principles to follow. By the time we were finished at the clinic, it had stopped raining and the sun shone bright and hard above us. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day so we decided to take the ferry to Vypeen Island and see if we could make it to the beach there. On our way out of the Home Stay we were intercepted by a rickshaw driver and agreed on a price for him to transport us to the jetty. He tried to sell us tours of Jew Town and the Bazaar but we said we would be doing that tomorrow. “Tomorrow Bazaar closed. Holiday,” he informed us.
“Which holiday?” I inquired.
“Friday holiday,” he replied then added matter-of-factly,” many Muslim people have shop in Bazaar.”

Tara and I consulted with each other and decided to forego the beach as we both had a few items we wanted to pick up at the Bazaar. We set a new rate with our driver Chaky (pronounced: Shakey) and he took us to all the places we requested and some that he suggested – a perfume shop for essential oils, a restaurant to pick up some local, organic coffee beans, a supermarket for all sorts of spices and Indian treats, and a couple of shops where he gets a commission or fuel vouchers.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Tourist Day

Since I missed out on Monday’s tourist activities we went across town today to visit the synagogue, bazaar and palace. The synagogue was closed because it was a holiday so we explored Jew Town a little bit before heading to the bazaar. Jew Town was filled with Kashmiri shops and aggressive sales people who would jump out into the street and block our path to get us to come in to their shop. We arrived at the bazaar just before lunch and some of the warehouses were still open. There were warehouses that sold several varieties of rice, others that sold only tea and others still for chili, potato and onion. After the warehouses we came across several perfume shops and entered one to sample the smells. We walked around for nearly eight hours and once we arrived home we decided to take the ferry into Ernakulum to watch Kathakali. Tara wanted to see the performance in Ernakulum because it took place in one of the oldest theaters in Kerala. The dilapidated state of the building shocked Tara and the tiny concrete stage and rows of red plastic chairs made us chuckle. The performance was good but it was not nearly as impressive or thorough as the performance I attended in Fort Cochin. A short rickshaw and ferry ride later we returned home…exhausted.

Tuesday, September 21 Backwater Tour

The weather was good this morning and I was feeling much better so at 7:30 we booked a backwater tour for that morning and out of the house by eight o’clock. The tour we booked was eco-friendly which meant that the boat was powered by two men who used long sticks of bamboo to thrust the boat forward instead of a motor. Twenty of us piled into a small van and traveled for a little over an hour to arrive at the boat. It was peaceful on the water – both the experience of the movement and the surrounding sounds. Our local guide identified the various plant life and birds that we saw. The tour included a few stops – one to observe coir making (rope making), another for lunch and short trip in a smaller boat and a third to a clam shell plant. It was a holiday so the workers at the clam shell plant were did not work and we were able to walk around the plant and see the various processes. After the meat is removed from the shells, the clam shells are mixed with coal and cooked for several days. The cooked shells are then treated with hot water and steam is released. Finally the shells are stirred with a shovel until it a fine white powder is formed. The chemical process is turning calcium carbonate into calcium oxide and then calcium hydroxide. The calcium hydroxide is sold to a variety of industries and is used in concrete (to make it white), toothpaste, applied to stagnant water among other things.

The rain started as we made our way back to the car and it rained heavily on the drive home. Tara and I enjoyed an early dinner and watched the nine o’clock special feature on HBO.