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India Entry 15 – 11/5/07

This weekend I went o the great state of Kerala. I went with Aayush, Myra, Easther, Faisal, and Samira (whifch we renamed Samiria). Kerala is also known as God’s country. Aayush made a joke upon entering Kerala, “Let me know if you see God around, this is his country.” It didn’t take long to realize what was meant by God’s country. There seemed to be Christian paraphernalia everywhere. In every city was a large church. Kerala is one of the more modern states we have been to. There are times when crossing a long bridge looking at high rise apartment complexes when we would find ourselves thinking this looks a lot like back home. At other times of the trip the conditions weren’t so good.

Our Journey began on Wednesday evening. Thursday was a day off for us so it was a good time for us to leave. We planned to leave at 6:00, then it was 6:30, and by the time I got all my things together and the others were ready it was 7:30. It was ok because Kerala isn’t a 4 hour journey and you’re there, it is more like 15 hours. It isn’t easily accessible by flight or train so we took a cab. That’s right 15 hours in a car. We left at night expecting to get some shut eye, but very little was actually obtained. When we arrived at Thekkady the next day, we were already spent.

We got to Thekkady pretty early in the day and went straight to the Hotel, we all took liitle naps and before we knew it, it was 3:30. The wildlife tour we wanted to go on in Tekkady was at 4. We hurried up and got there before the tour started but it was already full. Unbeknownst to us there was an 8 person cap on the tour and reservations was highly recommended. This put a damper on some of our trip because Tekkady was an extra 5 hour drive and it wasn’t even a hot spot in Kerala. I didn’t mind too much, the hotel was nice and relaxing. We asked for the best place to eat in the city, everyone said the hotel we were staying at. We complied with local recommendations and ate at our hotel, but there was a very limited desert menu and we were hungry for desert. So after dinner we went on a mission to find desert. The frist place we looked at was the Taj Hotel. No dice, they only offered a buffet and no deserts a-la-carte. The next place we went to was just as nice as the internationally renouned Taj Hotel chain. They had desserts, but better yet, they had a spa. We all decided to relax from our stressful cab ride and get a massage.

It was my first full body professional massage. I felt a little uncomfortable going in, but eased up during the massage. It was a good first experience and glad it was inexpensive. I wonder what the differences are from Indian techniques to American techniques?

The night was over. We got up the next morning very early to make it to the houseboat in good time. It didn’t matter what time we got there but we would have to get off at 9 the next day so obviously we wanted to get there as early as possible. We left at 6:30am and arrived at around 11:30am. I had no clue what to expect from this houseboat. Along the way I saw really nice ones and was afraid we were going to get a little dingy. As it turned out, the house boat was very nice.

 

We undocked and started our journey on the river. It was very relaxing: cool breeze blowing by as I sat in a big comfy chair reading a book. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The crew offered us a couple deck of cards and we killed some time by playing. The food on the boat was sub par and had a lot of coconut in it, which made it uneatable to me.  The next day we were off by 9 and on to our next destination: Kochi.

On a tip from Samir’s friend, we went straight to the Rivera Suites. From the sounds and looks, it was bound to be expensive. But Samir’s friend helped us find a nice room and got it discounted for us. The room was really nice. It was definitely one of the best hotels I’ve stayed at so far. The day was young so we went straight to the fort in town. The fort, unlike they Hyderabad fort, is just an area full of antiques and other shops. Around the fort is a small place called Jewtown. Of course I had to visit. At Jewtown there was a very old Synagogue that was historically certified. I believe the only reason why people called this area Jew Town was because of this synagogue, no Jewish life/culture was evident in town. Time flew by and we stopped at a place for snacks, we had already made plans to eat at a Diwali festival at 7. The snacks, because we were all very hungry turned out to be more of a mini meal. Because of how much we ate, we decided it would be a good idea to stop off at our hotel room for a while to relax then head out.

It was time to go. We left for the Diwali festival which happened to be at the next apartment complex over. Samir’s family friend tipped us off about it and got us free food coupons. We were told there would be dancing there, but what was neglected was the fact that the dancers were all of the kids of the residents of the apartment building. It was ok, we didn’t mind and found ourselves watching the show. As it turned out dinner was being served to 9:30 anyway so the snacks were actually appropriately sized and timed. After the show ended fireworks lit the sky. These weren’t like public fireworks but very impressive for a such a small community (and India). We sat around drinking after the fireworks to wait for the food line to die down, then went to town on the buffet.

After eating we were asked to dance with the rest of the party so we happily complied. I was really excited, because it made me learn a new dance called Dandiya. Dandiya is unlike any other dance that I know because it involved the usage of sticks. Two circles are formed, an inner circle and an outer circle. The inner circle moves clockwise and the outer circles counter clockwise. Once you shift over the dances starts between you and the person across from you and ends when the sequence of moves are finished. I was really enjoying myself.