27th February 2012

Up early to go by bus to Bardoli (40km) to try and finish all the banking tasks we had started before we went off to Sri Lanka. On the way to the bus station our tut tut driver told Savi where we can go and get fresh food for breakfast, so off we go on a small detour and arrive at a roadside vendor who sold samosas, kacholi, dhokra, sev and onion salad, all wrapped in newspaper parcels to take away and with a piece of newspaper and plastic sheet to act as a plate. Whilst waiting for our bus to Bardoli we ate a sumptuous breakfast ! We were lucky on the journey to Bardoli as the bus was a direct connection express (not calling at every village) and so we managed to get seats, (we weren't so lucky on the way back, Geoff had to stand most of the way). The bus journeys are really interesting you get to see people busy getting on with their lives. Just getting onto a bus can be a fight. There is no orderly queuing, just a massive scrum at the bus entrance door. Geoff pushes his way through then tries to save a seat for Savi which usually means that by the time she gets to the seat all other seats have gone and Geoff has to stand!

At Bardoli we arrived at the first bank, and straight away they told Savi that the transfer procedure had failed as their records, (tied up in bundles of frayed cards like the doctors used to have) showed her original signature did not match her current one!! This just highlighted the whole difficulty that Savi has encountered. It becomes very complicated what name she has to use when doing transactions with the banks regarding accounts that were set up a long time ago. Savitriben Nagindas, Savitriben Nagindas Patel, Savitriben Lalubhai Pema, or just Savitri Pema as on her passport. We are just grateful that we never formally initiated the Savitri Barkess-Patel that could have been a bridge too far for the banks!! However after this first small set-back all went well with the other three banks and at last we have active bank accounts. In Bardoli we found a place that sells the secure steel wardrobes that every Indian household seems to own, and so we carefully opened up all the different types and eventually settled on what we thought would be a nice one for Dani's family to have in their house in Navsari and bought this as a small thank you gift for letting us use their house. Stopped at a shop and tried to buy another local sim card for the phone. All seemed to be going well, but then we still needed some proof of an Indian identity. Savi does have a PIO (Person of Indian Origin )card, but not good enough: they needed an Indian passport, and proof of residency. Security seems to have tightened into a noose for the ordinary people, instead of tightening around the necks of the terrorists! Savi asked the shop owner to talk to Sunnil who has become a good family friend, and helped with all sorts of things. It turned out the shop keeper knew Sunnil and had gone to the same wedding we had attended when we first came to the Gujurat Somehow this obstacle again seemed to just disappear!! We then went and visited Sumitraben (Savi's phoie's daughter ) who just happens to live close to one of the banks. We stayed for a while and chatted before setting off back for the bus station and on to Navsari. On the way the tut tut driver after being quizzed by Savi took us to a place where you can get fresh "ponk". Now "ponk" is a family joke because very early on Geoff claimed he knew the name of some sprouting beans that Savi was cooking and said they were "ponk". Anesh nearly fell off his seat laughing and has been quoting it back to Geoff ever since. Well here is the proof that at last he does know what "ponk" is and further he now knows how it is prepared, which is a secret that he will only share with those who show the slightest interest or cannot run away fast enough!!

Back home in Navsari, wash, shower and out to do emails then evening meal. Sat outside restaurant and noticed the moon and just two very bright stars. Got out the IPad and looked up the astronomy app which straight away told me these bright objects were Jupiter and Venus! What a nice day! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Navsari

26th February 2012

Decided to just take it easy today as it is Sunday and lots of the shops, banks and bazaars are closed. When we eventually got up we saw that we had made a good job of cleaning the dust from inside the house, but the front porch and tiled area around the house had lots of dust, so to prevent trailing it back inside every time we went in and out. Geoff volunteered to clean and swill the porch area. There are no road drains to swill water and dirt away and he soon ended up with a muddy lake outside the house which then quickly dried into a layer of dust on the roadway outside the house. Somehow over the next couple of days this layer of dust dissipated, so we assume it must have got blown about and re-distributed across everyone's entrances!! Went for a lovely lunch (vegetarian tally) at one of the local restaurants, called at the local tailor (again!) to get sari blouses altered/made, there seems to be an inverse law where the smaller the garment the more difficult it is to get it to fit correctly. I think there may be a conspiracy among Indian tailors to always make the sari blouses too small so that women's boobs look better !! Walked back to the house via a stop in a nice park to just watch families playing. Bought a small hard coconut, and when home opened it discover it had lovely soft white interior with a consistency part way between the green coconut and a fully ripened brown one like we get at home. It was absolutely delicious. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Navsari

24th February 2012

After all the fuss getting Savi to hospital she settled down in our luxury five star hotel in Cochin, had a light lunch of mushroom soup followed by some fruit, and then went to bed to recover.


Geoff and Elia went out for a walk in the local district and after purchasing a few odds and ends decided to get haircuts in a local barbers. We sat down and pointed to the hair clippers indicating a number 4 or 5, the barber just smiled and put up one finger indicating he only had a number 1 cut. Eventually his fellow barber found a number two attachment for the clippers and so Elia went ahead as he normally gets a number 2 or 3.


After Elia had been done his hair didn't look too short so Geoff decided to also get the number 2 scarecut !! On the way back from the barbers we came across people crowded around a group of ducks at the pavement side. Someone was selling them for food just like chickens! Man in the pink shirt had two ducks still alive hanging by their feet.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Cochin

23rd February 2012

After re-uniting with Kartic our driver at Allepey we had just a half hour journey northwards towards Cochin to our beachside hotel at Mararikulam. We arrived too early to check into our rooms and so we camped by the poolside and swam, read and completed crosswords until we could get our rooms.








In the afternoon we went to the beach and just swam and sunbathed.


It is a lovely hotel, very reminiscent of the Club Dolphin hotel in Sri Lanka where we stayed two years ago. First thing in the morning as we came out of the room we saw two crows attacking and eventually killing a rat!!


Bad night last night for Savi, still has a fever and was delirious through the night so this morning went to a large hospital in Cochin on the way to our last hotel in Kerela. The hospital was very efficient and we quickly got to see a doctor who arranged for blood and urine tests, but was confident from Savi's description that she had an infection that needed anti-biotics. The process of getting Savi registered (Rs 300) then blood and urine sampled and tested (Rs 1315) where they seemed to search for ages to find a descent vein to withdraw blood, and then off to the pharmacy for four sets of different medicines (Rs 163) was an interesting process for Elia and myself to witness. Just three and a half hours later in the day I went back to the hospital and saw the doctor who went through the blood and urine tests from the morning with me and confirmed she had picked up a urine infection and he was confident he had prescribed the correct medicines. All in all I think the process was quicker, politer and better than an equivalent visit to an A & E hospital in England. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mararikulam

25th February 2012

A mixture of emotions assails one at the end of anything: a kaleidoscope of visual memories and the clamour of sounds experienced, especially on a tour such as this. The sheer diversity of the sights and sounds of firstly Sri Lanka, then Tamal Nadu, which really is so different to the rest of India, especially the temples, was over powering at times. The discomforts of travel and heat make you wonder why you don't just go to Butlins ( or Centre Parc if you're posh!) instead. But you look back, and know that it was inspiring, exciting and worthwhile. However at this stage you know it's going to be over soon, and in some ways you just want to get going on the journey and get home as quickly as possible, craving familiarity. Our last evening in this luxurious 5 star hotel with the air conditioning: Egyptian cotton sheets on a sumptuously soft king size bed and the most fantastic shower we have ever used (which had a clear window that looked directly into the room, so you could lie in bed and and watch each other take a shower if that is what you wanted to do) should have been the most restful. It was for Elia, as he was further down the corridor, and for Geoff, as he'd finished off the last of the red wine and countrau before going to bed. Savi slept, as she was feeling better and not in so much pain as the medicines were beginning to work. All well for an hour, then the noise of music, laughter and drunken loud whoos, yaaar yaaar and baleeeeys started in the next room. Who begrudges people having a good time? No-one for a while, but when you're ill and have to get up at 4am to get to the airport and have a day's travel ahead of you? Tolerance plummeted to zero for Savi. Reception were helpful in sending security up: blessed peace reined for 10 minutes then it all started again. This cat and mouse game of stopping when they were asked to, then starting as soon as they'd gone went on until 3am! The Duty Manager was apologetic and reduced our bill somewhat, but the irony (being kind here) of moving us from the hotel we were booked into because they thought it would be too noisy because of a wedding there, into this one, then putting wedding guests into the room next to ours was not lost. Elia went back to Birmingham via Dubai, probably wondering what he'd let himself in for when he asked to come on this tour, and Geoff and Savi back to Navsari in the Gujarat, for another two weeks. We had over 6 hours to wait for our train connection, so for £25 we hired a car and driver for 5 hours, who took us to some of the sights. First stop was a temple, and as we alighted, we wondered if we could face yet another one. But that's the beauty of things if you take a chance you often get lucky. The Krishna Conscienceness Centre could not have been any more different than the ones in the South. A lovely, articulate old gentleman took us around a little museum of Prabha, who had been the founder of this movement. In 1972, at the age of 70 years he went to New York with very little money helped young men and women who were trying to come off drugs. Now there are over 500 centres around the world.


Juhu beach was hot, with a nice breeze, enjoyed by the locals until the evening thronging of snack holders and entertainers wait for the sun to go down and swoop to enjoy the delights.


Jamuna, who after years of putting up being beaten and robbed of her day's meagre earnings, threw her drunken husband out. People ask me why I am with this tall, debonair handsome white man, and when I tell them our story, I invariably get their stories. We are getting dab hands at navigating trains now, and the journey to Navsari passed quickly, as we plugged ourselves into dual headphones to watch "West is West " on the iPad. It is a follow on from "East is East" and we both thought, even better. We were so pleased to get to Dani's place, but as we stepped over the tile floor noticed that someone seemed to be bringing muck inside. No, the whole place was coated with a thick layer of dust! It seems to get in, however you seem to close things up. Dusters and a bucket and mop were wielded, before we fell with exhaustion into bed! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad25th February

Location:Navsari, Gujarat

22nd February 2012

Lazy morning packing a separate overnight bags to take on the boat, as we are leaving all our heavy bags with Kartic our driver who will meet us at Allepey after our overnight houseboat journey. From the jetty at our hotel we boarded our houseboat "St Dominic" and set off through the Kerela backwaters.


This was a private boat for just the three of us and it made you feel almost like a royal celebrity. In fact you weren't because there were lots of "royal celebrities" all passing up and down the backwaters.


Still the peaceful movement of the boat and the countryside did have the effect of relaxing you.


We saw lots of birds that looked like cormorants swimming underwater then surfacing with a fish in their mouth before flying away.

Three young men were the crew of the boat and cooked our meals, went and got beer from local shops and steered us gently through all the different canals and waterways. At one time we stopped at a local village to allow us to stretch our legs. As we walked along the canal bank we came across a doctor'shouse. Savi went in and after we managed to get his attention away from the television he was watching she asked him about her ongoing illness. He listened, asked questions as best he could given the language problems and came to a diagnosis that non of us could understand. He gave us 10 green tablets and 10 brown tablets saying take one of both colours three times a day!!! After our evening meal we retired to our air conditioned rooms to bed. Savi had another bad night controlling her temperature and when we got up in the middle of the night and decided to switch off the air conditioning we realised that it could not be turned off with any of the switches in the room. Eventually we woke one of the crew who came with a remote control to switch off the a/c. Despite Savi's ongoing illness this was still a truly magical experience. In the morning we had breakfast then made the final 2-3km journey into Allepey. When we docked we tied up against five other boats and had to disembark from one boat to another with some of the stretches across open water between the boats quite testing.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Allepey

21st February 2012

An early morning boat ride on a large double decker open topped boat with a lot of foreigners ( we have encountered mostly French people with a few British on this part of the tour) and quite a few NRI down the Periyar river. However the ones Savi wanted to join were the ones from, all places, Navsari ( where we are staying in the Gujarat) as they seemed to be having the most fun! The guy she had a seat next to was from near Kew Gardens, and was interesting for about 10 minutes! Learn body language Dude - see the crossed arms and slight turning away towards Elia (who also didn't maintain interest for very long either) !


- The views made up for it: mountain tops capped with verdant trees, and green foliage lining the banks. The boat traversed around weird looking but interesting trees that were there before the river was damned, and continue to stand like giant sentinels, with cormorants perched like sentries.


The only other wildlife that deigned to make an appearance was an elephant who seemed to be rooted for something on the banks of the river, who was still there when we returned, an hour later, diligently digging away.

We left our hotel to travel along winding roads with barely room for two vehicles to pass in some places, which meant that horns blared more than ever in a system that non of us have not worked out yet.





The tree plantations reminded Geoff and I of the ones recently visited by us in Ella, in Sri Lanka


An invitation at a Spice Plantation to have an elephant ride had no takers from our party, but there were lovely fresh spices in the shop. Next it was on to our hotel (The Lakesong) on the edges of the Kerala backwaters. Here we found that our overnight boat trip that we thought was planned for the next day had not been booked. It seemed that there had been a breakdown in communications somewhere and two nights had been booked at the hotel on the coast before we go to Cochin. We made hurried phone calls to our travel agent Sandeep and when he realised what had happened he managed to change the bookings and re-insert the houseboat trip. Savi still not well and suffering aches and pains in joints as well as overall weakness, not eating, and finding it hard to control her temperature at night time. She has obviously picked up a foreign bug and it is taking longer than expected to shake off. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Kumarakom

20th February 2012

The hotel at Madurai was the JC Ringway which we were substituted to after the hotel we had booked was taken over by political officials who were having a rally and decided to suddenly block book the hotel. As compensation the travel agent insisted that he take us out to dinner at the hotel we had originally booked. The meal was not exceptional and the Tavel agent disappeared after he had made the arrangements and had a bowl of soup. Back to our hotel via a auto tut tut.


The JCR hotel looked to be ok, but the service was poor, the wifi virtually useless, no drinking water in the rooms, shortage of towels etc. Next stop was a towel shop to try and buy some of the lovely thin cotton towels we had come across at the Visalam hotel the day before. We found what seemed to be the right ones and so bought a couple. Now on to the wildlife park at Periyar for an afternoon boat trip. When we got to the hotel and met the travel agent we realised there had been a slight cock-up in that the boat trip was an optional extra and needed to have been confirmed the day before. We explained ths was not stated anywhere, the only information that had been supplied to us just said boat trip in the afternoon. We juggled the itinerary and managed to swap the boat trip for the wildlife nature walk planned for tomorrow, and did the nature walk today. Savi was not feeling well so decided to skip the 5-6km walk. So Geoff and Elia did the nature walk which started with a bamboo raft river crossing.


Our guide Jain pointed out loads of birds and also giant squirrel, monkeys, forest fowl and elephants.











Savi still not well in the evening so scrapped the cookery/spice demonstration and stayed at our hotel for the evening meal. Savi taking Ayurvedic medicine and having a massage to try and get better. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Periyar

19th February 2012

Breakfast this morning outside in a beautiful flowered cloister area with bougainvillaea trained over arches to provide a canopy.


and then off to see some of the other beautiful houses in Chattinad. I say houses but the first we visited was in fact a palace owned by a modern day Maharaja whose family just happened to own Chattinad Cement who seem to supply most of the cement certainly in Tamil Nadu. the palace was huge, a kilometre from front to back and immaculately painted and maintained so that this industrial Rajah and his family can come for a couple of months a year from their main residence in Chennai. There was evidence though, that he


Then on to another house where the owner had made his money in Malaysia and had imported teak wood from there, and tiles from Japan and huge granite columns.





These were just huge houses standing empty right next door to peasant properties. Then on to Madurai where we first visited a memorial museum dedicated to Ghandi and the whole struggle for Indian independence. This was a very well put together history of the whole struggle against the British which started over 200 years ago with the infamous East India Trading Company and ended in 1948 With Ghandi's non violent opposition to British rule.











Then on to the main temple in Madurai. This temple is enormous with four huge towering structures at gates in the east, south, west and north quadrants. This is the largest and busiest temple we have seen to date. The painted gods and characters on the towers are truly breathtaking.





Finally we went to what was billed as an evening light show at the palace, but what turned out to be an hour long audio story of an ancient king with different lights coming on from time to time. A highlight of the story was when the audio was recalling a hunt against a fierce tiger and just as they announced the tiger charged, a small cat proceeded to walk across the centre stage. It was very comical.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPadr

Location:Madurai

18th February 2012

After overnight stop at Thanjavur we visited what we thought was to be a local art gallery, but was more a museum collection of stone and brass statues. We were nonplussed at our driver's description that it was an "artificial temple" until we realised it was not open for worship, but full of the most incredible statues and curios dating from the 10th to 17th century.


-





We then visited a local craftsmanship house where his family have been making bronze statues using the lost wax technique for nine generations.


Then another temple with the hottest roof tiles imaginable!!!


Finally we arrived at our hotel called Visalam which used to be wend by a rich merchant who then ave the house as a dowry for his daughter. It became too much for the we mainly to upkeep and the ceded to lease it to this hotel chain who specialise in providing luxury accommodation. It felt like you were stepping back into colonial India.

















Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tricky & Chettinand