Finding Peace and Harmony in a Country With Over 1.2 Billion People

We left Havelia Island well rested. It was a lovely three day stopover and we hope the new owner, a young Austrian lady, prospers. She seems to be on the right track.
Our next stop was further north up the coast at Trivandrum, the capital city of the Kerala state in the south-west region of India. We spent the afternoon at their renowned zoo where the highlights were the tigers, lions and leopards. They were confined in some spots but at least they were safe from poachers and human encroachment which has become a big issue over here. The nearby Art Museum was also interesting. Trivandrum (pop. 750K) was the cleanest city we have visited so far, consistent with other capital cities that we have been to (extra government money spent to beautify their surroundings).

Next we took a bus to Kollam, the start of more backwater adventures. After having heard and read so may positive reviews about Munroe Island, we decided to spend all of our time there, travelling the extra 25 km's via a short ferry. We spent two nights at a Homestay with a really special family.......a father and mother (Vimelon and Serrasa), and their two twenty-something children (Vijeesh and Aderra). The ladies were both excellent cooks and the men were great guides and advisors. They all took excellent care of us and ensured that we were enjoying our time with them. They welcomed us into their dining room for our meals and the recently built guest rooms were very clean and much bigger than their tiny bedrooms. Vimelon gave us a 3 hour backwaters canoe tour that was peaceful and informative. Rhonda learned how to make rope (coir) from dried coconut husk fibres at one neighbours home. We paddled by inland tiger prawn farms and had to practice 'water yoga' when our canoe passed under many of the low bridges in the spread out village. It was a fabulous diversion and we would highly recommend their Homestay for an authentic and genuine experience.

At the conclusion of our visit, we took a tuk tuk back to Kollam where we boarded a full day ferry trip (10:30 - 19:30) north along the Intercoastal Waterway (similar to the SE U.S) to Alleppey, where we are right now. We only had to go through one hand-cranked lock on our journey which is also a popular area for houseboat travel and fishing boats returning from the Arabian Sea with massive volumes of small fish. Many other locals did their fishing right in the waterway, using unique Chinese fishing nets which resembled large spider webs. Many huge jellyfish were spotted from our coveted shaded rooftop seats but that didn’t stop the locals from swimming, bathing and washing clothes and dishes while immersed in the water. It was yet another pleasant and relaxing trip, distant from the busy traffic noise that permeates India.

After our lengthy voyage yesterday we decided to take it easy today rather than take another backwater trip that we had originally planned to do while in this region. It turned out to be another brilliant (or lucky) decision. It seems the people of Kerala decided to strike today to show the national government their displeasure with the way things are going (one of the opposition parties is popular in this state). As a result, all transportation services (even tuk tuks) were not operating and all stores were closed, including the many street vendors. We spent the morning walking around the Alleppey waterfront (lake and canal) and the city seemed like a ghost town for a day with everything closed and very little traffic and noise. Fortunately our guest house serves meals otherwise we would have had to survive on locally grown cashew nuts which we purchased yesterday.

Tomorrow we will board a 2 hour train to Cochin where we will spend a couple of days in the historic Fort Kochi area near the Arabian Sea.

Trivandrum Zoo - the large and endangered Bengal Tiger was our prime reason for going. Less than 2,000 of them left in India and still declining mostly due to human encroachment of their habitat.

Our bus ride to Kollam was interrupted by a local parade celebrating the upcoming National Games in the Kerala state. The students led the way while the teachers (above) followed.

Our first dinner at our Munroe Island Homestay. This was Serassa's tasty thali meal served on a banana leaf. Note the absence of eating utensils. Aderra's valsan breakfast (rice flour, shredded coconut, jaggery - sugar cane) the next morning was also delicious.

The start of our backwaters trip. Tree carved canoes were standard issue.

Rhonda learning how to make rope (coir) from dried coconut husk fibres.

My first ever selfie while in the backwaters. Vimelon was our pilot and guide.

The full-day tourist ferry we took from Kollam to get to Alleppey. Picture was taken when we arrived allowing us to get excellent viewing roof-top seats under cover. The boat filled up shortly after and some people 'fried' themselves on the front deck.

Just a few of the many waves we got from young children along the waterway.

A Chinese Fishing Net being lowered into the water.

Some of the many fishing boats that venture out into the Arabian Sea early in the morning.

Time to do the dishes.

 

Travelling Never Gets Old

One of the joys of travelling to new places all the time is not only the different cultures and attractions that we set out to embrace, but also the totally unexpected things that we experience along the way. Over the past week we have been confronted with quite a few 'surprises'.

Our week started off in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy). When we were travelling there by train, my dear wife was 'boob slapped' by a 30-something Indian lady who then ran away. It was intentional and only startled her (no pain) but we have no idea what that was all about. Perhaps some friends or family with some previous experience can provide some insight. Trichy's two major attractions were the Sri Ranganathaswammy Temple (49 shrines over a very large area) and the Rock Fort Temple (6th century, 400+ rock-cut steps up to the top, great views) were both impressive. Unfortunately the first temple was on it's 12 year renovation cycle, so the 7 large gopurams (gateway towers) with their many colourful sculpted figures were all covered up, hiding most of the lovely architecture. However, I did receive a blessing from the friendly temple elephant (trunk pat on the head), so all is forgiven.

Then we travelled to Madurai, a larger city with over one million inhabitants (not including the stray dogs and wandering cows and goats). The Meenakshi Amman Temple was our main target there, so we found a hotel close to there, and it did not disappoint. The temple is a 6 hectare complex with 12 tall gopurams, each of them with a vast array of gods, goddesses, demons and heroes, each colourfully painted. There were apparently 1511 of them on the South Gopuram, which we took their word for, rather than try to count them all. We also had a fabulous lunch, at a place recommended by our hotel manager. It was not very crowded when we arrived but within 20 minutes the restaurant was packed with people standing beside most tables waiting to secure a spot. Perhaps word had quickly spread that we were dining there. It turned out to be a hands only eating experience, one we had expected but not encountered yet. Fortunately, our meal choices did not involve rice this time, which saved us some embarrassment although the locals were probably still entertained with our ineptitude at eating with only our right hand (since your left hand is for sanitary purposes only!). Early the next morning when a tuk tuk cold not be found for our one kilometre trip to the bus station, a tiny elderly man wanted to take us in his rickshaw (bicycle powered). With less than 30 minutes before our bus was departing we accepted his offer but it quickly became apparent that he was no match for the task at hand.......2 people and 2 backpacks......so rather than be responsible for an impending heart attack, I jumped off and helped him by pushing the rickshaw from behind, which sped up our pace. Many locals smiled along the way and two of them even offered to take me on their vehicles (tuk tuk and a motorcycle) at no charge but I just smiled back and we persevered. Our bicycle man shook my hand at the end and smiled. It was a good start to the day.

Our next stop was in Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) which is located at the southern tip of India. It is one of the few places in the world where three oceans come together...the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. There were a couple of more "firsts" here. Our morning A/C bus from Madurai (3.5 hours) was never crowded and by the time we arrived in Nagercoil, we were the only two remaining passengers. The driver and ticket manager decided to pull into their nearby office and called a bus company 'friend' who then drove us the rest of the way (20 km's) in his car. No cost for us, and it made good business sense, so we were fine with the changeover. After checking into our hotel we visited the Kumari Amman Temple where we were "bindi'd" (red dot on the forehead) and I was asked to take off my shirt, as all men are, for this particular temple (no such rule for the ladies which didn't seem right to me). Later that day we took a ferry to a tiny island, 400 metres offshore, to visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial (shrine to a Hindu apostle who meditated there 125 years ago) and the Thiruvalluvar Statue (133 feet high, depicting his famous 133 chapter poetry book), on the rock island beside it. We lined up with at least one thousand people for one hour to catch one of the three 100 passenger ferries, only to find out at the last minute that there was an empty 'fast track' line where for $3 (instead of .75 cents) you could go to the front of the line.....oh well.

We have now turned the corner and will be heading north along the south-west coast of India. Our first stop could be heaven on earth, or at least heaven in India. We are staying in a cabin at Havelia Island Resort near Poovar. It is only accessible by boat with a short trip through the backwaters. There are no vehicles on the island, and very few people other than the ones catering to the tourists that are staying here. We have a beautiful pool right outside our cabin deck and we are spending three days here to just relax and enjoy the solitude.....it is our kind of ashram.

Trichy - Elephant blessing outside of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.

Inside one of the largest temples in India - one of the 49 shrines dedicated to Vishnu (the Preserver and Restorer).

The Rock Fort Temple - looking down at just a few of the 400+ steps to the bottom.

Madurai - one of the 12 tall gopurams at the Meenakshi Amman Temple. It was difficult (for us) to see the difference between the heroes and the demons.

Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) - I'm sure I could have swam out there faster then it took to line-up for the ferry out to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial (left) and the Thiruvalluvar Statue (right).

Vivekananda Rock Temple - built right on top of the rock.

Poovar and the Havelia Island Resort - arriving via our backwater boat.

Our lovely cabin for 3 nights

The pool area right in front of our deck. Wonderful place to cool off with the 30C temperatures.

 

Bonus Thanksgiving

Following our brief stopover in busy Chennai (8 million people), we spent more relaxed time in Mamallapuram and Ponducherry (Pondy), both further south along the Bay of Bengal. Mamallapuram, a small walkable town, featured seaside temples and some beautiful rock-cut shrines, including the Five Rathas from the 7th century. Five separate carvings from the same large rock, buried in the sand, were found 200 years ago and as a result, are still in remarkable shape. An Indian Dance Festival was going on while we were there and we walked down to the seashore both nights to watch folk and classical dancers (from all over India) perform. We also had a nice hotel pool that provided wonderful relief from the sunny,  30C weather we are experiencing each day.

Our next stop was Pondy, a larger city (pop. 250K) and former French colony. We found a hotel near the quiet, clean and shady French Quarter, which had lots to see and not much traffic allowing us to walk everywhere we wanted to go. A sacred temple, ashram, seaside promenade and the busy market area were the highlights. We also stopped in to watch a National Table Tennis tournament that was underway, where I quickly realized that I have work to do on my game. We were also fortunate to experience the start of the Pongal Festival, a state-wide 4 day harvest celebration, similar to our Thanksgiving where families spend time together (and the turkeys get to enjoy it as well in this mainly vegetarian region). There were well-lit street processions at night, lots of pretty home front chalk art during the day and lots of happy people, which will apparently spread to the revered, street-walking cows who will be honoured at the close of the festival.

We are now in Tiruchivappalli (Trichy), further south and inland. With no direct public transportation route from Pondy to Trichy, we decided to experience the trip the way locals would. We took a common passenger train (no reserved seating) from Pondy to Villuparam (45 minutes, .20 cents) and then another train on to Trichy (2.5 hours, $1.40 p.p.). The first train was not very busy but the second train (originating in Chennai) was packed when we joined in. We both managed to squeeze into already occupied bench seats (different rows) while many others either stood or sat on the coach floor. While I struck up an interesting conversation with an Indian fellow sitting on one side of me, and Rhonda was 'entertained' by some young children in her row, I'm not sure we will take too many more train trips in this fashion during the rest of our Indian adventure. In fact, some of you may have already noticed that in this series of blogs, I have been mentioning 'hotels' rather than 'hostels'.........my better half has taken charge of accommodation bookings for the time being :-)

Today is Pongal Day so most places are closed for the day and any restaurants that are open, are not allowed to serve alcohol. "We" will hopefully survive this unexpected ordeal.

Chennai traffic on one of the less-busy 2 lane streets. Very few traffic lights so pedestrians must wisely choose their path and timing.

Mamallapuram - morning walk to the seaside. The fishermen were cleaning up while the cattle were settling into the prime beach spots.

Five Rathas site - wonderful rock carvings from the 7th century.

Pongal street art - in front of many homes during the festival.

Ajuna's Penance - more 7th century rock carvings found in Mamallapuram.

Folk and Classical Dance Festival held at an outdoor stage near the seashore every night for a month.

Ponducherry - National Table Tennis tournament at the Sports Complex. I arrived too late to enter the competition which was already on the third day.

Grand Bazaar market in Pondy. Note the unrefridgerated 'fresh' seafood for sale.

More Pongal Festival street art in Pondy.

 

Expect the Unexpected

The title was the warning that had been passed along to us before arriving in India, and 24 hours later we can see why. While we thought driving in traffic was a bit wild in Sri Lanka, it was a trip through the suburbs compared to driving and walking around Chennai, our first stop in India. The main roads usually have 3 lanes but that seems to be only a suggestion since every spot of pavement seems occupied, with no particular lines observed. There is plenty of honking going on but it would be difficult to know who is in the right lane at any point in time with motorcycles, bicycles and tuk tuks slipping into any available space whenever traffic slowed down. Fortunately, we do not plan to drive at any point in this adventure. The poverty is also confronting, but if we gave a bit of money to everyone who asked, we would having nothing left ourselves, and our preference is to support those who seem to be helping themselves or at least trying. On the other hand, there is so much history here, and a growing population (1.3 billion now, expected to surpass China by 2025). It is a difficult country to ignore since 25% of their total population is under 25 years of age, growing quickly, 80% very caring Hindu people and technologically savvy to ensure rapid economic growth while still proud and maintaining their incredible historical sites, many of which lie ahead on our path. We will need to "go with the flow" as we move ahead on our journey.

Our final few days in Sri Lanka went well. We spent a day walking around Nuwara Eliya on their Presidential Election day. Although there was a heavily armed police profile, it was a very calm atmosphere (including the day after), in spite of an extremely tight election in which the opposition candidate won by  a 2 % margin. We wandered through the local market, over to the 1889 established golf course (one of very few in the country) and through the lovely Victoria Park, old horserace course and over to Gregory Lake where we enjoyed a nice lunch. The next day we drove through the Ella Gap mountain pass to Yala National Park where we did a late afternoon safari. It was a good outing (Elephants, Crocodiles, Wild Boar, Water Buffalo and a distant sighting of a retreating leopard) but not comparable to our previous experiences in Africa. Yesterday we drove along the southern coast and back inland to a new highway taking us to Colombo where we said goodbye to Rachel and our nice driver / guide Patrick before flying to Chennai.

Tomorrow we will take a bus to Mamallapuram (2 hours) as we continue our journey south along the eastern coast of India.

Nuwara Eliya - Victoria Park walk-thru, two months before most of the flowers start to bloom in the mountain city. Similar elevation to home (3500 feet above sea level) but 20C and no sign of snow!

The old race course with a 2 mile track. Someone forgot to tell the ponies that there wasn't any racing anymore.

Gregory Lake - we walked along the lake to a restaurant near the other end where we had lunch on their patio.

Hindu Temple on our way to Ella, and then Yala National Park.

Ruwana Falls, on our drive through the mountains.

 

Wild Boar sighting at Yala National Park on the SE coast of Sri Lanka.

Painted Stork

Colombo - preparing for Pope Francis' visit three days after we depart. The crowd control stalls were more plentiful on the opposite side of the beachfront main stage where he will be delivering mass to hundreds of thousand people.

Chennai two-lane traffic near Pondy Bazaar (major shopping area). No traffic lights in the area so we had to carefully time our street crossings.

 

We're ready to take on the Hot Coals walk

Our latest adventure is underway.

We arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka at 5 am on Sunday morning, following 2 overnight flights, losing 12.5 hours in time zone changes along the way......time we can apparently 'bank' for the trip home! Our daughter, Rachel, arrived 4 hours later, and our country / island tour started right away.......adrenalin infused since we forgot how tired we really were after not getting much sleep on the planes. Patrick, our guide and driver for the week (and the one we want if we ever make it onto the Amazing Race Seniors Edition), drove us several hours to the ancient city of Anuradhapura, the original capital of Sri Lanka. It wasn't a long distance away from the airport, but the number of vehicles on the roads, variety (cars, trucks, buses, motorbikes, tuk tuks, bicycles) and varying speeds, resulted in traffic chaos and ensured there was little chance of falling asleep during the trip. We spent most of the afternoon walking around the Sacred City which was full of ancient Buddhist treasures, dating back to the 3rd century B.C. and continuing on until the 10th century. There were ruins of temples, palaces, royal baths and gardens. There were also many stupas, monuments that the King's built to mark their place in history (something that the taxpayers wouldn't think too fondly of today). Oh yeah, the hot coals training. When you enter the sacred temples, you must remove your shoes and hats.....no surprise to us, we have done this many times before during our travels. Our previous experience however, involved going into restored buildings, not ancient ruins where the roofs had long since crumbled and were still considered 'sacred temples'. As a result, with 30C sunshine combined with an afternoon visit, the rock / concrete sidewalks had heated up to oven-ready temperatures and we quickly found ourselves searching for any tiny spots of shade that existed. Rachel and I survived the best, but Rhonda ended the day with very red soles and a few blisters......perhaps the foot bath she had at home before we left (to remove any dead skin) wasn't such a good idea after all. The girls are now leaving their socks on when they tour the temples.

The next day we moved on to Polonnaruwa, the second capital of Sri Lanka (11th - 13th centuries), where we saw more ancient ruins. The highlight was Gal Vihare, where 3 massive Buddha's were carved into a large rock wall. Yesterday, early in the morning, we hiked up to the peak of Sigiriya Rock Fortress where a nasty King killed his own father to attain the throne and then built his palace, swimming pool, and fortress on the top of a  massive rock column (200 metres high), making it very difficult for any challengers to come after him (and tourists to get there!). The climb was a good work-out (many, many steps) and the views from the top made it all worthwhile. After breakfast and a quick shower, Patrick drove us to Dumballa, where we did a short hike up to the Cave Temples, which date back to the 1st century B.C.  They were still in good shape as a result of being protected from the elements and contained more than 150 Buddha statues along with over 2,000 square metres of ceiling paintings. We finished the day off driving to Kandy (3rd capital of the ancient King's) where we watched an evening performance of the Kandayan Cultural Dance. We also made a visit to the impressive Temple of the Tooth where one of Buddha's teeth (recovered from his pyre) is securely kept and revered.

Today we went to an Elephant Orphanage in Pinawella where we followed the huge residents (although not as large as the African Elephant) to the river for their daily bath and then had a close-up experience with the milk bottle feeding of two baby elephants. We are now in Nuwara Eliya which is in the southern mountain region (2,000 metres above sea level) and surrounded by tea plantations. We will spend another day in this area before heading further south to Yala National Park where we will do a half day safari.

 Ayubowan ("Live a long and happy life." in Sinhala)

Anuradhapura and the Sacred City - our first taste of hot coals in bare (and tender) feet.

Polonnaruwa - The very large reclining Buddha was just one of the three carvings out of the same massive rock.

Sigiriya Rock Fortress - we discovered the Lion's Paw three-quarters of the way up the mountain. There were still many more stairs to climb but it was easier than the original path which had tiny steps carved into the rock face.

The King's Pool within the fortress.

Dambulla - The Cave Temple Museum and the start of the climb to the caves.

One of the many cave rooms with multiple statues and paintings on the stone ceilings.

Kandy - Temple of the Tooth. The outside wall was recently built following a Tamil terrorist attack in 1998 that did major damage to the Temple.

Kandy Hotel - a lovely breakfast view from the balcony.

Pinawella - returning to the Elephant Orphanage from their river bath. Close to 30 of them walked right down the middle of the street with their handlers out in front clearing away the pedestrian and car traffic.