On the backwaters

From Madurai we took another overnight train back to Varkala; washed, changed, ate and said our final goodbyes; and loaded up into Babu's taxi for our six-day package tour of Kerala. First stop, an overnight stay on a houseboat on the backwaters.

 

 

 

 

 

     

We were fed on board and slept in comfortable, if very hot bedrooms on the water. I got to steer us up a wide canal and across a huge lake at one point - very relaxing.

We took the public ferry from Allephuzha (Allepey) to Kottayam - a noisy three-hour trip (glad we avoided the seat by the engine!) which was worth it for the glimpse of the backwaters as the living transport backbone of the communities alongside - many of which have no road to them. There are a lot of backwaters: a three or five day tour wouldn't be too long.

 

Over the engine noise we chatted with Allon and Alma from Tel Aviv - embedded systems programmer/designers, like Paul Campbell, as it happens. They've been out of Israel for nearly two years, the last year in India, and are heading back home in the next couple of weeks.

- Mark

what's happening - Melissa

Hi everyone, missing you loads. I have just been to Varkala, a nice beach place - it was SO nice. I have also met some American friends, called Max and Myra (they were the kids, the adults were called Lisa and Paul), they were so nice and friendly. They are moving from California to New Zealand (Paul is from there)and they have been travelling through some countries on their way there. They are going to Vietnam now, so they are going to tell us about it and if it sounds good we might go there. We may go and visit them in New Zealand - we are going to look at the cost and see if we can do that - that would be so cool wouldn't it?

We are in Allepeley and have been in a houseboat for a night, that was so cool and peaceful. We are catching a ferry in half and hour and so we are in an internet cafe quickly catching up. We are going to a wildlife park later today where we hope to see wild elephants and maybe even tigers. In a couple of days we are going to a place called Moonah - a hill area where they grow spices and tea and the weather will be cool (but not as cool as England - ha ha!

- Melissa

Notes to self

1) Write blog entries, and/or put up photos, about:

• The Halloween Party we organised at the Funky Art Cafe - watermelon carving, an altar de los muertos, fireworks and a giant fish
• Getting to know the Levitt-Campbell family: a little geeky, a little lefty, a little unconventional, a little Jewish: we like them a lot
• Drifting on the Kerala back-waters: next time we'll do this for a week, not 24 hours
• Rocio y Carlos, de Yucatan, Mexico, y de Madrid: nuevos amigos muy simpaticos
• The Tamil temple town of Madurai: amazing Dravidian temples; amazingly persistent tailors; amazingly friendly and relaxed traders in the flower and vegetable markets; amazing numbers of cows wandering the streets
• What a hopeful sign it is that nearly half the terrified, misinformed, bamboozled and isolated voters of the USA still dare to vote against the Emperor's policies (even though it would have been a great cause for celebration for a while if Kerry had got to be Emperor instead)

2) Catch up with emails to everyone, once we reach Bangalore for Diwali, if not before

- Mark

Madurai

Nice temple. Great chicken biriani. Nice cows. Lovely people in the flower, fruit and vegatable market and great to hang out more with Paul, Lisa, Max and Myra. Nice air-con hotel rooms: shame about the US election results on the telly ...

Tamil Nadu is dirtier than Kerala, at least on the evidence of our Madurai visit. Heather thought it more like Dehli 20 years ago than anywhere else we've yet been. We did get all-we-could-eat great food for 50p each though!

 

 

The wall panels in the Ghandi Museum tell the story of Indian independence well, despite a somewhat pro-Hindu/anti-Muslim slant to the Partition part. The details of Britain's role were saddening: it's too easy to fall for some version of the picture of the British as "the civilised colonisers," especially with Indians liking you in all directions. We weren't. Through the panels, you could see how we set up Hindu against Muslim - it was a shame this had resulted in such a partial account of Partition: though the local Muslim family who preceded us through the exhibition said they though it "very nice".

 

 

Leaving, we succumbed to the pestering of two pedal rickshaw operators who claimed that four in a rickshaw was no problem. Returning from the Ghandi Museum pulled by the copious sweat of two men who looked liable to die at any minute by the time we were halfway back - this was not good. Eventually we did find another rickshaw to spread some of the load out into.

 

The temple's amazing - huge and detailed and full of pilgrims; although we got followed so persistently by one man, offering to be our guide and not taking no for an answer, that I lost my rag with him. Shouting in a temple seemed to work where nothing else had - I think crying might have been just as effective ...

  

 

 

The fruit, vegetable and flower markets show a completely different side to Madurai life. Noone's trying to sell you tailoring services or rugs, and it's worth skirting the mud and the fishy smells on the way in to see a much more relaxed side to the city. Our camera became a great way to make contact with people here: at several points I was being beckoned from stall to stall by people eager to see a picture of themselves on the little screen. Scroll down to the next post for a gallery of photos from there.

- Mark

Madurai Markets Gallery

The Fruit and Veg Market

 

 

 

The Flower Market

 

 

 

 

Neighbouring Streets

 

 

 

  

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