I love Varkala!

Ever want to run away to a deserted island? Thought so. Well does your island have internet access? People who will cook a fresh fish in a banana leaf? Comfort food and cool drinks served in a thatched roof cafe with a palm lined ocean view? Three German bakeries? Great people watching? Flush toilets? Ok, well then Varkala is for you.

Varkala is located on the edge of India both literally, with the Arabian Sea breaking at the bottom of the cliffs, and figuratively. We were talking with a traveller who said he was traveling on "the edge of India"; the part not teeming with people like Delhi or Bombay and oriented to the amenities of tourism with air conditioning if you want it.

It always seemed like siesta time (or whatever it is called in India) was about 2 minutes away. You can shop at the colorful shops for cool clothes and souviners and of course, yoga classes and ayervedic treatments are plentiful.


The restaurants were eager to have you buy their fish which had been swimming just a few hours earlier. The fishing boats were brought to shore on the beach below and each restaurant proudly displayed the day's catch in front. As the night progressed, the fish lost more and more of their edible parts. Bryan's marlin in a banana leaf with salad and fries cost 200 rupees (about $5).
























Back to Bangalore for a few days to say goodbye to Sara, Munier and Rohan and then our flight to Bangkok. We are officially 1/2 of the way through our 6-week adventure and are ready for what Thailand and Cambodia may bring.

Elephants, Oh My

Ok, you asked for it. Here they are.



We bought a booklet that listed all the festivals for the state of Kerala in 2008 and there were 2 plus pages just for March 11th! We checked for March 12 and there was one listed for Varkala, the town were we were. We took a motor-rickshaw about 10 minutes to a nearby village and there it was, a festival with 15 elephants on parade.


In addition to the elephants there were large floats, including one with a real person on a simulated bed of spears. It was eerie when we took the photo and he looked at us.
Varkala was our favorite town on this trip, and not just for the elephants. Stay tuned for photos.

Alleppey: The Venice of India

Before I go further, I should update the map of our most recent trip. The state of Kerala is on the lower west coast and we flew to Kochi at the top of the red square on the map and traveled south by land along the coast.














Alleppey (all-a-pee) is known for it's backwaters; there are literally hundreds of miles of lakes and rivers, lined with villages and rice paddys. A big draw for tourists are the rice boats fitted out as luxury houseboats which you can rent for a day or overnight to cruise slowly along the waterways with a kitchen staff for meals and even air conditioning.



We decided to go a lot more low-tech and opted for a 4-hour cruise without the large polluting outboard motors and diesel generators.























Our little vessel put us at eye level with the morning's activity of washing dishes and bathing and taking the children to school in dougouts.















At one point the river became so clogged with water hyacinths that our boatman had to poll us through. These men also had the same challenge.













We spent the rest of the day strolling through the streets of Alleppey. Here are a few random shots.

Kathakali for Beginners

The state of Kerala (carol-ah) is known for dramatic story telling plays, called Kathakali, that originated there during the late 16th century, between approximately 1555 to 1605 AD. The productions normally go on all night but we were able to see an abridged presentation.








We were invited to observe the application of the makeup, which included affixing large white extensions to the face of one of the actors. The others applied traditional colors: red for evil, green for noble male characters, yellow for female (played by males) and black for a rustic hunter.


Before the actual performance we saw an amazing demonstration of the skill and body control the dancers must learn through years of study. This man was demonstrating the eye movements which help display emotion. He could move his eyes, in time to the drumbeats, in a complete circle or rapidly up and down.













He then demonstrated the elaborate hand movements involved as part of the story telling since none of the characters speak.



Finally the elaborate costumes were put on and the play began, accompanied by drums and bells.
The story was a complicated morality play about an arrow with great powers and how it came into the possession of the character in red. Mostly it was a treat for the eyes and ears.

Special Tea and Surprises

This photo is one reason why we love India. The restaurant may be in a dry state, or in this case the liquor license is too expensive, so you can order "special tea." It is cold beer served in a teapot and drunk from a thick mug; all with pleasant laughs and a wink. We never know what surprise will be around the next corner.

We flew on Thursday from Bangalore to Cochin in the state of Kerala, located on a long strip of the Arabian Sea on the lower west side of the continent. We expected the usual taxi scrum at the airport but were delighted to find a taxi pre-pay booth right next to a very helpful tourist booth. We jumped in our taxi for the 40 minute drive to our hotel in the town of Fort Cochin.

The comfortable rooms of our hotel, Fort House, are located in a tropical garden, but be sure not to sit under the green mango trees...a direct hit could be fatal. This town was under Portuguese control for centuries and was the the home of Vasco da Gama where he died in 1524. However you can also see the influence of Dutch, Chinese, Syrian Christian and British as well. Very laid back town and obviously friendly to strangers.

We have seen the spice markets and a wonderful old ginger packing house where these ladies were washing the ginger, and a sari weaving demonstration. The Chinese left the tradition of shoreline fishing with gigantic levered fishing nets and the design is still in use today, requiring at least 6 men to lower and raise them. Look closely at the man on the left.




























After a relaxing, laid-back 4 days, tomorrow we will head south to the "Venice of India."

Kanchipuram to Bangalore

Kanchipuram is one of the 7 sacred cities in India. It is about 2 hours from Mamallapuram through some of the most lovely rural scenery so far, with rice paddies and thatched roofed mud-walled houses lining the road. We saw a man plowing with a bullock team and many bullock carts. The horns of the bulls are colorfully painted, sometimes with bells attached. (Dave Wiley took these two from his vantage point in the front seat of the car.)Sara identified an organization called Rural Institute for Development (RIDE) in town which, among other things, attempts to alleviate the problem of child labor in the local quarries and silk factories. Since she was considering buying Sari material she wanted to make sure it was produced in a factory that doesn't use child labor. We went to the Institute in town where we were directed to a specific shop where Sara looked at incredibly intricate and colorful fabrics and finally decided she couldn't make a decision in the short time we had.















On our way out of town we stopped at the the Kailasanathar Temple. The architecture, which is similar to that of the Shore Temple that I posted photos of yesterday, is one of the few in the city that allows non-Hindus to enter and one of the most beautiful. It was built in the late 7th century!

What a lucky kid to travel all over the world and have such photos to keep the memories.



















Tomorrow morning Bryan and I are heading west for the coast on the other side from this trip; the Indian Ocean. We will miss the company of Sara and family and the driver and the air conditioned car so this trip will be much more basic.

On the Bay of Bengal

That name has always sounded so exotic to me and it is!




Our road trip took us to the French colonial city of Pondicherry the first night. Located on the Bay of Bengal, it was released from French control in 1954 but the French quarter remains with broad tree-shaded sidewalks, French street names, French restaurants, and hand-swept gutters.

Even the women who sweep with their stick-brooms wear beautiful saris.













The next day we continued to Mamallapuram, with its UNESCO World Heritage temples, about 150 km up the coast in the state of Tamil Nadu. The state had been damaged by the tsunami and they lost over 20,000 people but the buildings and streets we have seen are mostly repaired. The city is famous for its temples carved out of single boulders and its ancient cliff carvings.















Here are Sara, Munier and Rohan and their driver, Nagaraj, climbing over the giant boulders.












And here is the gang cooling off in the hotel pool after the climb.













After a break to wait for the humid 88 degrees to "cool" down, we went to the Shore Temple which was carved from a single piece of stone and has stood for more than 1400 years. It was at one time buried in the sand. We also saw 5 more temples and a lovely elephant, each carved from a single boulder.










This group of children posing by the elephant were fascinated with Rohan and the photo I took.

And after all that temple viewing the evening closed with a giant prawn feast overlooking the beach.















We have one more night in the Mamallaa Heritage Hotel and then we head back to Bangalore via Kanchipuram, an ancient city renowned for it's silk and temples. Oh, wait, that sounds like most of southern India's cities. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.