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Dan&LJ RTW
We're singing in the rain, just singing in the rain.......la la la.
Yes, the Monsoon has well & truly arrived & we are deep in the eye of the storm! Aww, what's a little rain, we're from England for goodness sake....we don't know what all the fuss is about.
FORT KOCHI
Our first train journey was an all round success & we managed to sleep in our little bunks pretty much for the full trip. We had a compartment to ourselves except for the token loud snoring guy on the top bunk, he didn't bother us that much, we were both shattered.
We arrived bright eyed to the town of Kochi, the place LJ has been most looking forward to visiting, & are not disapointed. It's a wonderful town situated around a natural lake & each area has to be reached by ferry, it's fantastic so we decide to stay for 3nights instead of the designated 2.
The highlight of Kochi was the backwaters, which we have read so much about and seen so many photo's. We managed to get an entire day cruising, partly on a traditional bamboo houseboat and partly on a smaller open boat (a bit like a canoe). All we can say is that the photo's do not do justice for how delightful the day was (despite the rain). Most entertaining was a couple of our fellow passengers - a straight from the eighties Indian mullet man & a flakey French hippy woman who chain smoked hash all day. She honestly got through at least 15 splifs over the 6 hours.
We were also treated, by the mullet man, to a strange 'local' drink called toddy, which apparently has the same effect as alcohol, whatever that means. It tasted not too dissimilar to roasted chestnuts, goats milk & coconut mixed with p*ss (Dans words). Revolting or not, we still managed 2glasses of the stuff and did feel a bit wobbly afterwards. Although that could have been due to passive smoke from the hippy.
The back waters were full of people going about their day to day business, fishing boats passed us at regular intervals, women washed clothes in the lakes, just a normal, happy life to these people, but a million miles away from home. This was why we came here.
That evening we picked fresh fish from right in front of the huge Chinese fishing nets that line the shores of Fort Kochin & had it grilled in front of us, it was sublime. Snapper, Huge prawns, squid & oysters for about 2 quid each. Get in!
On our arrival in Kochi we had been warned not to miss one of the daily performances of 'Kathakali' the ancient Keralan form of dance, music & drama. So off we went to check out some traditional culture. Another great experience although quite long winded & slightly reminiscent of Vic & Bob's 'Action, image, exchange'. Full credit to both of us for lasting the 3 hours without laughing out loud. Another fine evening though & we both agreed we would be sad to leave here. It had been a cracking few days.
TRIVANDRUM
We arrived this morning (saturday) in the state capital & it has been lashing it down non stop all day, so we've basically just eaten & got wet! We've just about covered the town as there's not an awful lot to see & are looking forward to moving on again in the morning. Our next destination is the very southern tip of India - Kaniyakimuri.......party on.
Will update again soon.
Stay classy
LJ & Dan xx
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