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In Cochin the area is split up into several large islands, we stayed in fort Cochin which is on the northern tip of one of these islands; the quickest way to reach it is via a ferry from the mainland. We stayed in our first home stay ( Honolulu home stay), it was really nice and the owner was a really helpful chap. The climate is really humid in Cochin so more than ever we were relieved at having an air con room.
Cochin is a gateway to the much talked about back waters of Kerela, so we took a day trip on a back water tour. It was a great trip, the morning we were taken out via small punts into the narrow canals. It's really peaceful along these waterways because there is no motorized traffic. small villages back onto the edges of the water and we were shown some villagers making string out of coconut fibre! It was a really worthwhile trip because there's very few places or journeys in India that can be declared 'peaceful' but this was one of those occasions.
The next day we went to visit an elephant training camp, we were unsure what to expect and the place certainly divides opinion. We saw several elephants being washed in the river as we arrived which was amusing because some of them loved it and others didn't. None of the elephants appear in distress and their are obviously bonds between the elephants and trainers, but when the elephants are not being attended to, they're chained to trees on very short leashes. The trainers also carry sticks to hit the elephants when they don't do as they're told. The whole place left us with the impression that these animals should be free in the wild rather than trained up to take part in shows and parades.
After Cochin we took a bus back into the mountains to a hill station called 'Munnar', for me it was a pilgrimage to tea 'Mecca'. The town and surrounding area's were very beautiful, even more so than our last trip into a tea growing region. Tetley grow much of their tea here and we took a visit to their tea museum where you can see a scaled down version of the manufacturing process. We learned that the required climate for growing good tea is actually quite limited therefore there's not many places that do it successfully; fascinating to me but I think Sinead found my enthusiasm quite funny!
Leaving Munnar we took a very winding 50km taxi journey to the bottom of the mountains that left us both feeling travel sick. Then after transferring onto a bus for a 2 hour journey we arrived in the bustling town of Madurai in Tamil Nadu for the purpose of visiting a very large Hindu temple. It's worth noting that the rickshaw drivers in Tamil are by far the cheekiest we've come across so far, it's very difficult to haggle with them because they're all in cahoots with each other.
The temple itself was impressive from the outside, there are three large towers over each entrance gate, which are all covered in colourful but strange statues of Hindu gods; some of them quite creepy. But unfortunately yet understandably much of the temple is off limits to non Hindu's when you get inside.
After Madurai we took 2 train journeys and a very forgettable overnight stop in a town called Salem to reach Bangalore. In Bangalore the western capitalism bug has hit the city probably harder than anywhere else we've been in India (we even ate nando's on the first night, and it was the best I've probably had!); but it weighed quite heavy on us because such area's of wealth exist whilst poverty is still very evident in the city. Some of the money that has obviously been spent glamming up the place surely could have gone to better use.
Anyway after Bangalore we took a flight upto Calcutta, we'll be heading to Darjeeling after that which will bring our India experience to a close, the next update we'll share some of our final opinions of the place :)
- comments
Jennie You've certainly experienced India in all its diversity. Good luck for the rest of your journey. Loved reading your blog. xx
jennifer Watts Great blog again you two,. You'll be an expert on tea now Andrew - can understand your amusement Sinead. More tea in Darjeeling maybe! Just been looking on internet at Darjeeling, it looks rather stunning with all those mountains, hope you have a great time there. Look forward to reading about your experiences in Calcutta and Darjeeling in your next blog. Take care and keep well. Lmdx
Melanie I find the climate required to make tea quite interesting too, because if climate changes, there may be less places to make tea and therefore TEA SHORTAGE. :( I want to visit tea mecca!