Lang's trip to India

Many thanks to Lang and Bev for a very interesting chapter in their travels. If only Lang and Bev could bottle some of the
young one's enthusiasm , toward learning , manners and presentation . All of which is lacking in large quantities here.
No wonder that country is one of the power houses in industrial world.
Just my thoughts from an "OLD" observer.

21 December

Back on air after a few days away from wifi.

We got out of Coimbatore early and set out on the long drive to Kochi. The road was fairly narrow and busy and a lot of towns and settlements really slowed us down. One good thing is the further south we go the more lush the countryside. Quite a few rubber plantations and lots of coconuts with the ever-present rice paddies.

We are amused by small things and notice the change in colour of the tuktuks in each area. Yellow, blue, black or green but they all adhere to the local scheme. We will have to stop using the Thai nickname for them (after the tuk-tuk-tuk of the two stroke motors) and get with the program flagging down motor-rickshaws.

As we got closer to Kochi, Bev started looking for houseboats but as the choice was endless we decided to head for Alappuzha which is the centre of the action. There are hundreds of kilometres of canals going back to the Portuguese and Dutch and several Indian rulers had their own engineering program. The main canals are very wide (about 100 metres) and are surrounded by rice fields and jungle about 2 metres lower. In fact it is a Dutch situation of below sea level. It is very easy to flood the fields from the higher water level.

The entire district relies on water transport and there is a scurry of oversized canoes with little Honda engines with long shaft drive like the more high powered Thai version. Many of these longboats only had paddle power and everybody paddled as mum took the kids to the water-side schools.

We spent the night at a so-so hotel but Bev took the opportunity to have a massage so all was well. Finding a single cabin boat with two crew for two nights we boarded in the morning and set off with the other thousand similar vessels, 90% of which were only on a day trip. The cruise boats just idle along in a big stream at walking pace and you can not hear their engine of choice, the Ashok-Leyland truck motor. The coconut and other palm covered levee banks are very low and you can see into the surrounding fields.




We tied up for a nice 7 course lunch and a sleep in our air-conditioned cabin before heading into the lake then down another canal for the night. Everything was beautiful except the loud speakers in the temple 50 metres away across the channel. 4 hours later the 165db noise finished as I was nearing insanity just as the next door temple started. Bev was a calming influence and after another musical 7 course dinner we retired and fortunately the heavy thatched boat roof reduced the noise to workable levels



Next day we cruised many kilometres along deserted canals, some so narrow the boat brushed the trees. Numerous species of birds abounded, including a flock of around 2,000 ducks being given a swim. We could see them splashing and laughing (do ducks laugh?) blissfully unaware they will be the main act in 2,000 Xmas dinners in 10 days time.

We returned to sleep on-board at the dock in preparation for the early start and 6 hour drive to the highlight of the journey, the most southerly tip of India

A predawn start enabled us to see the fiery red ball as the sun crested the horizon in the fog. Huge stretches of half finished major construction and rough one-way detours led to some amusing incidents as buses met head-on and every other road user packed any spare square millimetre around then preventing progress in any direction.

Eventually Penelope (the same girl who works for Garmin GPS) came up on Google maps and said basically “Let’s get out of here!” Away we went on tiny side roads with far less traffic, seemingly in the completely wrong direction until we landed on the old coast road built long before the Portuguese and Dutch appeared on the scene. What a beaut drive on 4 metre wide winding smooth bitumen totally hedged with jungle and small towns.

After a couple of hours we popped back onto what was a new 6 lane freeway with little traffic – except for the streams of vehicles coming in the opposite direction on our side of the divider because it was too much trouble to drive 300 metres in the correct direction then do a u-turn to cross over and proceed to your destination.

Passing ultra-modern delightfully named Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala Miss Google launched us into the back-woods once more to avoid a road blockage and we finally arrived at our destination, Kanniyakumari which is back over the border in Tamil Nadu.

We checked into a hotel and joined the merry throng photographing people, photographing people, photographing something. A clean town, in fact we noted the further south we came the cleaner it got and the quality of the buildings, shops and towns greatly improved.


We turn north again tomorrow.

PS It is now 0630 and for the last hour and a half we have been entertained by the Indian standard 165db speakers right outside our window. This time it is a Christian operation. As it is Xmas it must be a kids service for the main entertainment seems to be flat-voiced 5 year olds tunelessly singing accompanied by flutes and high pitched sitars. Give me the short sharp call to prayer in Cairo or Damascus any day.

Amazing trip Lang, thanks for keeping us in the loop!
I find it .. interesting? that we think we are so smart here in Aus, yet countries like India and China (to name but a few) seem to be on the cusp of leaving us in the dust, in so many ways...hmmm. Perhaps I'm wrong, I hope so!
Cheers
Rich

Rich

I think we are fooling ourselved if we do not admit we were left long ago.

We think India is a quaint crowded backward place with pockets of advancement. There are entire new tech cities filled with millionaires and populations half the size of Australia.

Their education system produces motivated people who can actually do something. Australia would have about 3 doctors and 1 specialist if it were not for Indian education.

Too many people for me to live there but a recommended holiday destination and cheap.

We are staying at the 5 star Novotel in Chennai last three nights for $500 total. Novotel Brisbane is only 4 star and it costs $500 per night.

Beer is $2.50 for a 650ml bottle.

Fuel is still $2!

23 December

We got away late this morning after spending the night in a magnificent restored mansion the Chettinad Heritage. It was a 6 hour drive from the tip but well worth it.



The Chettinad people were initially traders but finished up specializing in big time financing for trading ventures in Ceylon, Malay/Thailand and Indonesia. By the 1700's they were fabulously wealthy and began building mansions, no expense spared. The area is pretty arid and unappealing but by the time of WW2 there were 10's of thousands of these mansions spread over 75 villages. Unfortunately upon independence their empires collapsed over night.




Many of the houses are still occupied but mere shadows of their former glory in small dusty-lane villages. A few have been turned into home-stay hotels. Ours was over the top with pillars, polished Italian marble floors, thousands of hand-painted tiles and historic paintings and photos on the walls.

Not more curry for breakfast!


We went for a walk and at the Maharajah's Palace (also just in a dusty village) we ran across a Bollywood film crew. Of interest to me was the fact they were using a WW2 Army Jeep for the current scene. Out of the aircon bus came the star actress with snivelling toadies carrying umbrellas and surrounding her. I have never understood how these deadbeat actors have gripped the public and the world hangs on their every utterance. All they do is occasionally fill in a couple of hours of your spare time. Up until movies, actors either had a few coins or rotten tomatoes thrown at them.



Anyhow on with the trip. We set off for the former French Colony of Pondicherry. A good drive for the first two hours on a divided road was made interesting by the numerous chicken-runners (including school buses) coming head on our side of the highway divide.

Talking of school buses we passed an area where there must be a public official who has a copy of the Australian Government Employee Obstruction and Obscuration Manual. On the crowded yellow buses the sign "School Bus" had been painted over and on top was "Educational Facility Vehicle". Such skill in creating worthless change while perpetuating the myth of progress can only have come from Australia.

We now had to cut across from the main Chennai Highway to Pondicherry on the coast. Let us just say it was interesting! Lower economic conditions were evident in the teeming narrow streets of the small towns and villages. On the whole trip we have never seen so many motor scooters jostling for position on the very narrow roads, even outside the towns in the countryside. We think we know what living in a bee-hive is like. We had our first car to car contact here - the occasional scooter rider's elbow springing a mirror was standard daily fare. An unannounced entry from the side into our crawling stream of traffic resulted in contact but we bounced off with no damage (don't know about him) and continued to be sucked along in the vortex.

We picked a winner with the S3 Hotel in Pondicherry. Hidden in a leafy suburb 50 metres from a very nice sandy beach and for the first time we have real surf with a good little board break. Unfortunately Indians do not swim and every beach we have visited is packed with people and not one person in over their ankles - even kids.



We have 3 nights here to celebrate Xmas. Bev has brought her home made plum pudding and we are negotiating with the little food cart man out front to boil it for an hour on Xmas morning for us.

Ride Share.

12 passengers plus the driver on a 550cc motor rickshaw (Tuktuk)




Just an ice cream cart but I thought the billy-cart braking system pretty good.

You can never find a bloody tuktuk when you want one.



Why don't we just camp here?

Xmas lunch Pondicherry. No, it was not curry. One of his elfs caught in the mirror.

We think India is a quaint crowded backward place with pockets of advancement. There are entire new tech cities filled with millionaires and populations half the size of Australia.

About 20 years ago, I was working with a WW company and meeting with an Indian manager in Melbourne. I made a comment which I can't remember, but do remember the reply. "Jon, you need to realise that India has almost a billion people. While 900 may be poor, 100 million expect to and do live like yourself." .... or words to the effect.

Merry Christmas Lang and Bev, certainly a Christmas Day to remember.

I hope you got your pudding boiled satisfactorily!

Brett.