[wowslider id="1"]Hot dog ad at the airport in Maldives. This is just a small example of how crazy expensive things are in the Maldives…$10 US for a hot dog!
 Varkala Beach- along the west Coast of South India. |
First train ride in India.
Taking the train in India – done! I had an a/c chair which was at a premium but since my ticket didn’t have a seat number, it was impossible to get any rest with others checking the seat number from behind the curtain, or wanting to store their luggage under my seat, or people moving back and forth thru the narrow aisle or the music blaring from someone’s phone (imagine what that sounds like) or kid crying for what seemed like 4 hours non-stop, or calls for food or drink. Ended up with an excellent headache, gave up on any chance of rest and ordered lunch. It costs 55INR and you get rice, chapatti, 2 curries, chutney and butter milk. It was quite decent too.
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| My seat(s) |
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| Seat next to me with sleeper atop! |
Stayed here at Biju’s hotel, Ernakulum, Kerala.
There is no ‘wee fee’ at Biju’s and neither at the snazzy hotel next door. The guy at reception was kind enough to let me know that the eatery just around the corner has wifi! I parked there and ‘forced’ myself to order ice cream just so I qualify to use the wifi. I’ll be there tomorrow as well! 🙂
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| Chinese Fishing Nets |
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| Temple in Ft. Cochi |
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| House with massive bamboo patch, Ft. Cochi |
This morning, I took the ferry to Ft. Cochi. This little island hosts souvenirs and antiques (and tourists). I was there to find cotton yoga mats from an ayurvedic store. On arrival, I got snatched up by a rickshaw driver with a tour deal. For just 40 rupees, he offered a complete tour of the island. It sounded divine since I my feet were still tired from yesterday’s walking. I confirmed several times the price before hopping on-board. What he didn’t tell me (and what I didn’t ask about was, the catch) was that this tour required I go into 10 stores throughout so that he makes a commission. No purchase necessary. If you have an idea of what you want and the store doesn’t have it, the clerk will start to what seemed like frantically try to sell you things you have no intention of buying. Its ridiculous. By the 2nd store I had it (sorry dude, don’t like shopping and you’re testing my patience). But as he headed to my destination, he stopped at a couple more stores, saying ‘last one’. The sucker in me felt compassion and went in but had to raise my voice to end it. Then, he had the audacity to ask for 100 rupees. I looked at him in disbelief, gave him the as if ‘pffff’ paid 40INR and left. After this, everything seemed like a rip-off in Ft. Kochi and was eager to leave.
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| Lord Krishna? |
Ginger being dried for tea. The whitish looking ones in the back were treated with lemon.
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| The area’s Laundry Service |
My new friend at the Silk shop.
I’m getting used to being lost (several times in the last 3 days). From my wanders, I’ve discovered a fabric store on Broadway St. not far from the hotel. I’ve been in the store 2x now drooling over the silks! Will be back again tomorrow just in case I missed something. Here’s a pic of my new friend Santosh from the silk shop. He collects currency and was so fascinated with the new ‘plastic’, see-through Canadian dollar. 🙂
Finally stumbled upon an Indian Coffee House a few metres from the hotel. Love the uniforms!
Along Marine Drive this morning…
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| How about a real tattoo on the street? |
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| New way of spelling ‘Italian’. |
Fried potato ball from here for breakfast- it was delicious!
If all goes well, I should be back in Canada Monday night and so far scheduled for the 7:30pm Hot Yoga on Wednesday 20th of March. The yoga training needs to settle/solidify and new stuff will only trickle in at this point. Can only hope to easily get back into the swing of teaching again! 🙂
Hope you all enjoyed the posts/pics. Will see you soon!
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Its been a week since you left the ashram and your travels and experiences seemed much longer to me. The pictures are fabulous! Have a safe flight and I will turn up the light on the pc! mom
Unbelievable that your whole trip is almost finished, time is running fast.. I loved to read your blog – though I had hard times to keep up, you wrote really a lot, thanks for sharing with us! And a lot of the pictures are really impressing! Either in terms of the motif showing, or the "way the photographer took it" (sorry, I can't translate better what I wanna say – hope you understand even though.. Anyhow- it meant to be a compliment 🙂 ).
Sounds to me that you made a lot of new experiences – but the course itselfs wasn't that good ?
In any case I wish you a nice and quit travel back home! Claudio
It seems long cause you worry. I'm almost 30 😉 and can handle it…just not the Indians refusing to let me leave Cochi! That was the toughest. The 2nd toughest was waiting 5 hours for that $&@/ Air India flight out of Maldives.
I got you. The photographer was me! I'm getting better at objects and angles. The challenge is to plaster the camera to my arse everywhere I go. Thank you for the compliment, happy you enjoyed the blog. The delivery of the course was hard to digest. I can fill you in later! 🙂
My hat off to you for doing all the wonderful things and do it alone in India!
Your seat on the train was 10x more luxury than ours.
G & I were glad to hear you had similar rickshaw experience, so now we can talk about it. Ours was worse! Even I only had to go in 3 stores vs yours x10, we still thought he was nice so we gave him extra business by taking us to the airport that night, he took his wife along taken up extra space seating with us, then had the nerve to beg for 2000 Rupees for his children! G was furious and disappointed because upto that point we thought Indian people are really nice regardless all others "hiccups" we had in India. We didn't give him any extra tip as I always did.
You surely took interesting pics,
We got home safe and sound. Will try to get together soon.
Welcome back Le!!!! And welcome to the 2nd day of Spring in Ontario! 🙂
Yes, doing stuff alone certainly makes one appear brave. Funny that I don't realize it even while walking thru it…in reflection, I had no choice but to keep going. I kinda feel a bit braver and more capable as a solo traveller. 🙂
I like Kerala for the backwaters and the modernity but I do prefer Bombay for the fact that people there don't haggle, despite desperation! I got really, really turned off by the consistent haggling in Ernakulam/Cochin.
The cost of the AC chair was almost 500 INR compared to 100INR for the sleeper section. I wanted a bit of luxury for the 4hr ride! 🙂