A Different India

Well, we've def happened upon a different sort of India here in the south. This place is crawling with Europeans and Australians on holiday. We Westerners have two sorts of uniforms. We either dress in our drab, loose earth-tone clothes - cargo pants/shorts/skirts with tank-tops or kitschy t-shirts or else the pyjama/baggy MC-Hammer pant with scruffy beard and Save Tibet cloth bag look. Conservative attire gets tossed out the window. There are washing machines (and dryers!) as well as darling little art bars that serve decent coffee (not beer). Things are much more chill in this part of the country.

We very much enjoyed our brief stay in Fort Cochin, sipping ginger tea and taking in the sights. The photos starting this post were taken in Jew Town. Excellent doors in Jew Town. No Jews though. But there was this random baby doll head nailed to a tree along with some cloth dolls & stuffed animals.

We met up with Joe & Shikha and headed back to the hills - Munnar this time. We caught a local Kathakali performance - traditional Kerala dance and acting. The actors don't speak - but they do scream a lot. I mean A LOT.

We did some local sightseeing including a dam and a nature walk. So we saw lots more tea, many more vistas, and some goats. Best of all Joe and Francis - BFFs to the end - got to spend some quality time together.

We had poor timing for the Tiger Preserve in Thekkady. Not a huge deal - the tigers were scarce. Joe did spy a monkey eating some potato chips.

The real highlight so far was the house boat along the backwaters in Allepey. We took in the sights (including a communist mosaic in the village) , listened to some loud pop music, ate well, drank some beers, and watched Kick Ass. The local folks were super friendly. It seemed like an excellent place to live and I wish we had more time on the boat. What a life - 3 meals served and a boat boy to fetch beer. I think we may have to go back some time.

Then it was back in the car with windy roads behind us and off to the beach. So, here we are in Kovalam - home for the next few days before we wrap up the migration with a hop back to Bangalore and then 2 final days in Delhi. I can't believe we're getting to the end. It's been an amazing journey - full of special treats, unnecessary frustrations, gorgeous sights, confounding views, and yummy food.