| Cam's profileblogCamPhotosBlog |  Tools  Help |
|
May 10 Last days in IndiaWell, we've officially ended the part of this trip that was the initial impetus for flying all over the damn world. I'm still a bit loopy since we've been travelling for about 20 hours now and I'm not thinking super well, but here's the run down on the last few days and some pretty pictures to look at.
After the Thrissur Pooram we spent another day just relaxing at the same hotel. Not much going on there. The next day we had a long 6 hr drive up into the mountains around Munnar. On the way we got to stop and ride elephants!!!
  We stayed at a resort that was kind of up in the forest and it was nice because the temp had cooled way down to a more bearable 24 (celsius). This was in an area where they grow a lot of tea - so some of the people did a day hike up through the tea plantation while others of us went to a tea factory and then did a jeep ride through the plantation. Spent 2 nights there - with of course the requisite indian buffet breakfast/lunch/dinner. Yum.
  After Munnar we had another couple hour drive to the Kerala Backwaters where we saddled up on 5 houseboats. The boats are reconverted cargo skiffs - large boats with very flat bottoms designed for working on the Muthoot river which is never more than 8ft deep. We motored around on the river, stopped for lunch (served on the boats), got some sun, played some cards, drank some beer. At night we docked up where we got a demonstration of an India martial art (pretty cool - especially the sword fighting parts), had dinner (yup, indian buffet!) and then just had some bollywood dance offs with the staff on the boat. Next morning we got to motor along again for a couple hours, then into the vans for a thankfully short drive to the Murari Beach resort.
  The resort was very nice - right on the ocean, very spacious little cottages, and of course, a great indian buffet for all 3 meals :) We spent the last official day and night of the tour with some poolside antics, swims in the ocean and a little beach volleyball action. And of course some Kingfisher and Sandpiper beers (thanks Erik for the incredibly long beer run!). We had our nice last dinner where everyone agreed that the trip was great and we were all super grateful to George and Simone for organizing the whole thing which was probably a crazy effort!!!!! Some of the folks then starting leaving. A handful of us stayed though the next day and night and just availed ourselves of the resorts facilities. Got to check out a nice sunset and play some more volleyball so I was happy.
  Today we saddled up a van around noon since 5 of us were flying out at the same time... drove 2 hours to Kochin airport (not to bad for a regional airport in India). Then a 2 hour wait for our flight. Then 3 hours to Delhi. Then a 5 hour layover. Then 3.5 hours to Bangkok. Now we're in the midst of 4 hours here (we managed to not have to check our bags in anywhere which made navigating the airport - and our flight out of here which was booked separately - much easier). And then off to phuket for the last phase of this trip. Beaches and if we can swing it we're going to do our Advanced Diver certification on Koh Phi Phi. So we've got 6 nights here and then back to Seattle! May 03 No Rules IndiaWell, Alan and I survived our ridiculous layover in Chennai (never, ever fly to Chennai unless you abosolutely have to) and our turbo prop to Kochin left on time and arrived with no problems. Our tour organizer was waiting for us at the airport with a very sweet Ambassador classic - a car that looks like, and is built with the same parts and quality as it was in 1950 - and we got our first taste of driving in India. Which is to say we learned to not worry so much about close calls every 5 - 10 seconds. But we made it without a scratch to our hotel the Brunton Boatyard. The hotel was originally a shipbuilding facility started more than a century ago which was converted into a hotel and is very nice - lots of historical things to read and look at that give a sample of the history of the area of the dutch, portuguese and english influence. Alan and I had some food at the hotel, met up with the friends and pretty much went to bed to get ready for the big next day. George had been good enough to set Alan and I up with some kurtas to wear to the wedding and we were looking pretty sweet. Everyone had gotten one and the girls had saris and everyone was definately looking the part. The service was held at a local Catholic church with George's uncle doing the honours. Nice ceremony and then off to the Ramada for the first reception. This was kept to a small group of 400 friends and family. There were some speeches, a great indian buffet, and the bride and groom were brought in with some Kerala drummers - a pretty impressive sight. After the reception, it was back to the hotel to unwind for a bit, a few Kingfisher beers by the water, and then we were picked up behind the hotel and taken for a sunset cruise. The cruise ended at another hotel across the water where the reception for the close friends and family was held. This was a pretty fun time - the party was held out on the lawn. It was pretty hot, but most of us were stripped down to tshirts and linen pants, so we managed. The bridge and groom arrived on the dock and had their first dance with fireworks in the background. Then the buffet got served, the bar got opened up and the dj got the dance party on the lawn going. Good mix of music, and we had some full out Bollywood dance offs between the guys and the girls. The guys of course won :) Today (the 3rd) we had our breakfast, loaded up the vans and headed up to Thrissur. Unloaded at the hotel, and then went out because the Thrissus Pooram festival was going on. This is a HUGE religious festival and we had some sweet VIP seats. We had to to park and walk about 1Km to get to the seats since many of the roads were closed. The festival is 36 hours long but revolves mainly around a spectacle where 30 elephants face off against each other from about 200 yards apart and there are drummers and trumpeters playing music and then the riders on the elephants show brightly coloured umbrellas in unison and then the other group of elephant riders show their own umbrellas. This goes on for about 4 hours and every time a new umbrella went up the crowd goes WILD. It was estimated that there was about 250,000 people there at the festival. We were in an enclosed group of seats and had front row seats. It was very cool to see the elephants - but by the end we were all pretty hot and tired. And I was a bit edgy since I don't really like huge crowds and this one was massive. But we had to stay through the whole thing since there was no way to get out. There was one somewhat frightening moment at the end when some drunken reveler (many people were very drunk on whiskey at this thing) pulled the tail on one elephant and it went nuts - it actually knocked someone down and then then started to trample a police officer (he managed to escape relatively unharmed) and then it started down the vip scaffolding for a bit. But the rider managed to calm it down and then we got out of there. The walk back to the vans was a bit sketchy - there are no women at this festival and our group of girls were getting eyed a lot - so the guys sort of formed a circle around them and got them out of there. I also had someone attempt to pickpocket me - unfortunately for him I was wearing boardshorts with no pockets (not that I'd take a wallet with me into that scene) and I grabbed his wrist and I think gave him a pretty good scare since I was probably 2.5 times his size and he didn't realize I had 20 people with me! But we made it back and nothing was lost. Now we're just having a few drinks and then it's off to do... something... tomorrow.
|
|
|
