Bangalore weekend

Hi everyone. We made it home safe and sound, with the very pleasant surprise of Mark's folks picking us up at the airport. It's always great to see a friendly face when you walk through the arrival gates!

But, before that there were a couple of busy days in Bangalore, and our wonderful overnight bus ride from Hampi to get there. Unlike our other overnight bus from Palolem Beach to Hampi, this bus was not only on time, it was air con as promised, came with blankets, and delivered us to Bangalore safe and sound, and ahead of schedule - at 6:30:00 a.m. Nothing like trying to find a hotel at dawn! We picked one that came highly recommended by the trusty guidebook, and set out on foot to find it, which ended up taking us 2 hours, mostly because of our crappy map and the fact that it was a hell of a long way! Not to worry, I considered it Bangalore Boot Camp, and it was worth the search.

We stayed at Casa Piccolo Cottage, run by a friendly French/Indian couple. It was on a quiet side street, with a lovely garden and very pleasant rooms. At 4000 rupees a night it was a bit of a splurge, but a great place to end off our trip!

What to do on a Saturday in Bangalore? Shop with the masses, of course! We saved almost all of our souvenir shopping for this weekend, so had some serious work to do. Thankfully, we were successful in our great elephant hunt, and Lakshmi, the lovely carved wooden elephant, now graces our home. It was tough work, but Mark persisted in the search through many, many shops before he came across her. We also stopped in some clothing shops that were having pretty good end-of-season sales - Mark scored a great casual button up shirt and I went into the Levis store, just in case there might be some jeans that fit me in this world.

Something I'm not sure I mentioned was that the service in stores is amazing. People follow you around showing you things, carrying your purchases, and bringing you alternate sizes without you asking. For example, at the Levis store the saleswoman first measured me, and then picked up 3 or 4 pairs of jeans for me to try on. Twenty pairs later, including a pair that the on-site tailor took in at the waist just for me, I didn't find any that were right but it certainly wasn't because the staff wasn't helpful! If only the service at Indian restaurants was 1/2 as good!

Saturday night in Bangalore brought us to Guzzler's, a local pub that had been suggested by one of the young shop guys. It was kind of a cross between a sports bar and a beer parlour. Interesting... but not a place we wanted to linger. Next stop was "The 13th Floor". Appropriate name - it's on the top floor of a 13 storey building and has a good view of the city since most buildings are less than 6 stories. There I tried a cocktail made with beer, gin, and anise syrup. Sounds a bit off, I know, but it was pretty tasty. Had to have two in fact. Interestingly, the pricey cover charge ($12.50!) could be put towards your drink bill. I think that Vancouver clubs should institute this! In Bangalore, the pubs and clubs wrap it up at 11:00 pm, so it's perfect for me, since I'm not much of a night owl. When 13th Floor called last call, we were ready for some cheap eats.

We stopped at a busy outdoor joint on a nearby corner where we discovered that late night Indian fast food is pretty darn tasty! I wish I could so easily get fresh made dosas after a night of beverages in Vancouver.

Our departure for the airport was 5:00 a.m. Ugh! We had a 3 hour layover in London where we bought duty free and went to Plane Food - the Gordon Ramsay restaurant - for a leisurely lunch. It was delicious - chicken pate and rocket salad for me, and pork roast and rocket salad for Mark, and of course, some delicious white wine. The land of cheap food was long gone though. Our lunch bill was nearly $100.00! Ouch!

Landing in YVR we got some unwanted attention from customs, mostly attributable to Lakshmi, but I think it didn't help that Mark hadn't shaved in 36 hours - he must have looked suspicious. An hour later, we finally made it through the arrival gates where our fancy-black-Lexus-driving parents (in law) were waiting.

We had a great time on our trip, but it's good to be home. Thanks for reading. Here's to the next big adventure!

Historic Hampi

It really seems like a long time since we've last posted, I suppose because the long, lazy days at the beaches evaporated and we've just spent the last 3 days in Hampi.

We experienced our first "sleeper bus" and first non-government (read "tourist") bus to get from Palolem Beach to Hampi, and let me tell you, the government buses are not all bad.......

The fellow who sold us our ticket advised us to get to Chaudi (a few km from Palolem Beach) for 6:30pm, as the bus was supposed to arrive at 6:45. So, obedient Canadians that we are, we arrived by 6:15. We boarded the bus at 10:30 pm. And the place we were waiting was not much more than a cross street with a couple of shops that sold water and some sweets. Bus after bus headed for Hampi came and went, and when we'd check with the bus conductors they'd say "next bus" and hand back the ticket. When ours finally DID arrive, there were people in our berth, it wasn't air con as promised, but by that point, we would have been happy to get on just about any bus going anywhere! The people in our berth left (yes, it's a lay down kind of berth) and although we had to sleep with our packs because there was no room for them anywhere else, the night passed, we got some sleep, and when we finally opened our eyes at 7:30 a.m., we were treated to sunrise on the ancient pillars of Hampi's old bazaar. That, and a bunch of touts wanting us to take their auto rickshaw into town. -sigh- We'll fill you in on the reasons for the late bus in person. It's a good story in itself!

A quick dash into town with all of the other travellers, a check-in at "Rocky's Guest House Cum Travel Agent", some breakfast and a shower and we were off to the races. Or perhaps more accurately, the temples.

Hampi is a place that defies description, at least by the words in my vocabulary. It's temples are a World Heritage Site that dates back to around the 16th century, and is set amongst the most surreal, mystical landscape of giant boulders. We've never been anywhere quite like it, and the photos fail to capture the real beauty of the place.

There was much fun to be had during the 3 days and 2 nights that we were there. Most of the first day we just wandered around with our jaws hanging open, amazed at what we were seeing. We walked to where the bus dropped us in the morning and climbed along paths that led to some of the many temples in the area. To my happy surprise, we ended up at a large temple that most tourists ignore, so it was blissfully quiet. It was wonderful just being in the moment, sitting on the steps of the ancient ruins, pretty much all alone.

If you looked up, w-a-y up, you could see a small temple set atop a steep sided hill of red boulders. Well, of course this meant that we had to go up! I sucked up my fear of heights, ignored the fact that hiking in flip flops might not be the best idea, and followed Mark up to the top. The view was spectacular, and we had it mostly to ourselves for a while. There was a woman from Paris who we hiked with for a while, the sleeping security guard (who, when he woke up wanted us to pay him "20 rupees for up and down" which we ignored) but when a few more people found the place, we headed down on a different path. This led us past a troop of cute black faced monkeys. At least they were cute when they weren't baring their teeth at each other. We made it back down without mishap, had a dosa for lunch and went to our room for a well deserved nap!

There's a temple elephant that lives in Hampi. Her name is Lakshmi. Mark seems quite taken with elephants this trip, so it was imperative for us to head to the river to see her get her bath. This happens in the morning at 8:30 (thank goodness for guide books!) so after visiting the main temple in town at 7:15, we had a quick breakfast and headed to the river. Sure enough, there was Lakshmi, looking like a grey boulder in the river, getting scrubbed down by a couple of elephant handlers. Once her bath was done, she lumbered up the stairs back to the temple, but not before "blessing" those who want to be blessed. If you give her a 10 rupee note, with her trunk she'll pass it to her handler, and then "bless" you by gently laying her trunk on your head. It's really kind of cute.

We rented bikes, which made for a pleasant way to get around. No honking from cars or auto rickshaws, just the wind in our hair and hours and hours to go temple hopping. It was a very nice change, but I'll never complain about my 3 speed city bike again. This was a one speed, and it had pretty high gearing which made hills a challenge. Even Mark had to get off and push!

Hampi is a very historical spot, obviously, so many many schoolchildren go there for field trips. They all know at least 3 phrases: "What country are you from?", "What is your name?", and "How are you?" It's cute, until about the 100th time. Then it gets a bit tiresome. Oh, and they also all want to shake your hand.

Strangely, I was also asked to pose in many photographs with many people, most of them men. I was not dressed inappropriately I didn't think - just my pink t-shirt and capris, but either I look like someone famous that I don't know, or they are hard up for interesting photos and I'm the most interesting thing around. It was kind of odd. I should have charged 10 rupees per photo, I'd be rich!

We went across the river on the third morning to rent bikes on the "more chill" side, but the bike selection was crap. I really shouldn't have complained about the previous day's bike at all as it was a Porsche compared to today's rusting and rattling Hyundai Pony. We pedalled around to the Monkey Temple, climbed the 575 steps to the top, and enjoyed the view. Inside the temple they gave us piping hot chai and put a bindi on our forehead.

We have now taken our next overnight bus back to Bangalore, and have started to do some shopping for home. We have purchased very little in the way of "stuff" during most of the trip - who needs to carry it around? I figure that our weekend in Bangalore will be the shopping days, and then it will be home sweet home after 20 hours of flying on Monday.

I'm not sure that we'll get a chance to post again, but if we don't, it's been great writing this. It serves as a wonderful diary for us down the road, and it's much easier to write when we know that people are reading! So Thanks!

Palolem Beach

We have a bit of time to kill before getting on the overnight bus, so thought we'd do a quick update of the blog.

There's not a lot to report - the last couple of days have consisted of getting up, going for a splash in the Arabian Sea, rinsing off at the freshwater shower on the beach, laying around on a sun lounger to dry off, finding breakfast, reading, wandering past and occasionally into shops, finding lunch, going to the beach again, finding a spot for a sundowner, showering and dressing for dinner, and eating and drinking once more. That mostly sums it up!

We did deviate from this simple agenda yesterday afternoon when we took part in another cooking class. Mark, I and two young UK women in their mid 20's vacationing from their jobs in Dubai learned some kitchen tricks from our Yogi Master and Chef - Krishna. We made palak paneer, malai kofta, dahl fry, naan, and coconut chutney. Two hours after prepping and cooking, we were stuffing ourselves and enjoying the company. After the class, the four of us went to the beach, drank cold beers and spoke of skiing. It seemed a bit ironic, but certainly was fun!

We hope all is well where you are, and we are looking forward to our next stop - Historical Hampi!

Panaji and Palolem

Happy New Year! We are a little late with this, but want you all to know that we celebrated in style, as we hope you all did! But before we get to our street party brought to you by Clube Nationale, settle in to read about the days leading up to New Year's Eve.

Panaji is the capital of the state of Goa, and it is NOT on the beach. But, it is a city that is easily navigated on foot, has lots of amenities (restaurants that sell great food) and a central bus station to whisk you away to wherever you'd like to go.

After our sketchy place, we found a better room and were off exploring! We found the local breakfast haunt, which served traditional food to locals and travellers alike. I could get used to eating dosas for breakfast! They really are delicious! And the juice these guys whipped up was truly wonderful. We're relaxing our no ice policy as we have not suffered for it, and an icy glass of musumbi juice freshly squeezed for 40 rupees ($1.00) is something I will really miss when I get home. In fact, I seem to recall you can't get much for under $1.00, right??

Fed and watered, we headed off to do what we do, wander around town. Our legs took us to the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, which is huge, and white, and located on a hill. Not something that is easy to miss! They had a lifesize "crib" (that's what locals call the creche scene) at the base of the church and the top of the stairs. Interestingly, we have seen many creche scenes here in South India. Every church has one for sure, as do hotels, some restaurants, and at the entrance to many homes. But the prize for the largest goes to the church in Panaji.

Near the church was an optical store - maybe we should look for glasses for Mark? We'd heard they were very inexpensive here, so thought we should check. I had Mark's Rx in my wallet, so we sauntered in. After probably an hour of looking at frames, we found some that we both liked, and it was time to bargain for the price. This can be a painfully slow process here, and I fear I am not that good at it because I am impatient. But, I think we did well enough as Mark now has a good-looking spare pair of prescription glasses for the princely sum of $68. Not so bad, and really, if you're happy with your purchase in the end, you've bargained hard enough. I do always wonder if I've been successful or been had though.

We found a great spot for dinner - a very funky spot called Hospedaria Venite. They have a great little upstairs that has four tiny outset balconies (very tiny!) that you can sit on. Well, actually, I couldn't really fit as my shoulders were too broad, but the side Mark sat on was a bit wider (love that attention to detail) so he sat there and I faced the balcony but sat in the restaurant. We ate well, but I felt a little overserved. Must have been the weeks with no alcohol, I was out of practice! I was wise and stuck to beer, but Mark was very adventurous and tried the local brew, cashew fenni with coke. I think it must be an acquired taste! The traditional pork vindaloo was yummy, as was my shark. Mark even had bebinca, which is a coconut cake that is often served at Christmas. And, not dissuaded from his cashew fenni, he tried that local Honeybee brandy, which actually tasted like Butter Rum Lifesavers!

We went to Old Goa, which was quite a sight. It was about a 45 minute bus ride, but you know, when you're not loaded down with a pack, the bus is not THAT bad! Old Goa was, from the 16th to 18th centuries, Rome of the East, bigger than Lisbon or London for a time. There a few very large impressive cathedrals and churches that required visiting. One of them, The Basilica of Bom Jesus, houses the last resting place of Goa's patron saint, St. Francis Xavier. Every 10 years his remains are carried from the Bascilica across the road to the Se Cathedral, with pilgrims coming from miles away to participate in the parade. Sadly, the next time he'll be out for his walk will be in 2014, so we'll have to come back!

We made it back in time for a lovely lunch at a great Portugese spot - time for some more authentic food. Fish Balchao - new to us. Spicy tangy and rich dark red tomato sauce on fish - looks like there might have to be more cooking classes in my future! There was a very cool local older gent having lunch there as well. He was dressed in his white dress shirt, fedora hat, and was drinking a glass of wine with lunch. We're not quite sure how the wine part happened, as the wait staff brought a bottle of wine that had been opened but had a cork in it, uncorked it, poured him a glass at the table, and left the bottle there, presumably for more consumption if requested. Interesting. The other neat thing about the restaurant is that there was a desk for the owner of the restaurant in a corner. Locals would sit and chat with her, before having a meal. Sometimes I really wish that I could speak the local language so that I could figure out what is going on!

What to do for New Year's Eve? Well, the youngster waiter at Hospedaira Venite said we should go to the street party put on by Clube Nationale! So, we got dressed up in our best clothes (me in my new salwar kameez and Mark in his black dress pants and his new Indian shirt) and at 9:30 pm, headed off to buy tickets and enjoy the party. Well, at 9:30 there was nobody there, and when we enquired about tickets, they said that the dress code was "formal". Hey, I thought we looked pretty good! At any rate, it was too dead to go, so we headed to a neat little bar nearby, that was also dead. What up?? Finally, at 10:30, we saw some people heading in the gates to the street party, so we tried for tickets, unsure if we were formal enough. Everyone else was in their shirts, ties and jackets, and nearly all the women were wearing little black dresses. Just me and a couple of grannies had their Indian clothes on! There was a live band that was playing some pretty "interesting" music - who knew that there would be a bunch of oldies in the crowd ballroom dancing? They were pretty good, I must say, but this was not really what we were looking for. By 11:30, the party picked up, and at midnight, there was a 30 second countdown, not the usual 10 seconds that we do. A few fireworks, some hugging and kissing, and the start of 2011 was upon us. We left at around 1:30, when the first band wrapped up, but there were still 2 more bands to go, plus the crowning of Miss Goa.... These Indians are late night partiers! My guess is the party wrapped at 4:30 - 5:00 a.m. Interestingly, it seemed like most people were drinking Coke.

We hopped on the bus on January 1st to head to the southern beaches and are now at Palolem, ensconced in a little coco-hut, enjoying the waves and the sun (and sadly, sporting a bit of a sunburn. When will I learn???) The food is amazing, I actually had salad for lunch yesterday and was thrilled with it. It's been SO LONG since I had salad! And the most amazing juice - carrot, ginger and papaya. Mmmmmmm. This morning's breakfast was very traditional bhaji-pau, a fresh bread roll to be dipped in vegetable based coconut curry. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Speaking of food, it's been simply hours since I had my Kingfisher and shared the best chocolate brownie in all of India with Mark. I hear some food calling me.

One week left - the time is flying by!

Goa at last

We've been travelling mostly by train for the last two days. Two l-o-n-g days. We left Kochin on the 27th and boarded the train headed towards Goa. We were not able to get a single ticket to cover the complete distance, so had to make an overnight stop in Mangalore. This was not necessarily all bad, as arriving in a new place at 3:00 a.m. is not always the best idea anyway. Plus, Mark had read that there's good food in Mangalore!

We knew it was time to leave Kochin when we finished seeing all the sights and started to roam from restaurant to restaurant. As mentioned in the last blog, we haven't really quite figured out timing here for food, so we figured we'd better not take any chances! Dessert at the first place (life is uncertain, eat dessert first!) was an interesting attempt at banana cream pie. The drinks on the other hand, were fantastic. Musumbi juice is similar to orange juice, but magically, it tastes JUST like Orange Julius!! My guess is, there's a pile of sugar in it, but I'm pretending it's healthy.

Then, to the next restaurant, which served up delicious lime ginger soda. But better than that, there was a lending library, where I picked up Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. There was a lot of travel ahead, and books are required for this task.

Finally to the dinner restaurant, which was fairly new and nicely decorated, with clean white paint and three large orange etched-glass art panels on one wall. There I had a tasty fish curry and Mark had a vegetarian meal consisting of black bean curry, okra, and green mango and beet salad. It's hard to linger when there are no post dinner drink options - they didn't even have tea or coffee on the menu to go with their famous chocolate cake! - so we headed back to the hotel relatively early, where I hunkered down with my book and Mark headed out to the free live DJ concert in the parade grounds across the street from our place. He mentioned that it was odd to see that the audience was comprised almost solely of young men between 15 and 25 dancing around with very few women out. I guess they were all home cooking, cleaning, washing, and ironing clothes.

There are two ways to travel: the easy way, and Mark's way. Okay, that's not really fair. I'm in general agreement of our travel choices. I do find it interesting though that many (most?) people will take the easy option. For example, you can take an auto rickshaw (tuk-tuk) directly to the train station for 250 rupees. Or, you can take an auto rickshaw to the ferry terminal for 80 rupees, take the ferry for 5 Rupees, and walk to the train station from the other side. It's not the easy way, but it's definitely the way the locals would do it. On the walk to the train station, we stopped at a good looking vegetarian restaurant, had some of our newfound favorite musumbi juice, and picked up some snacks for the train trip. There's something about travelling that makes us hungry!

Travelling by train is INFINITELY better than taking the bus. We went what is called "3 Tier AC" which means there are 6 people sitting in a section. Each person has a berth, but during the day the middle bunks are put up out of the way and most people just sit up and chat. We were officially seated in separate train cars, but once the conductor came around he arranged for us to sit together. It was very pleasant to hear the chug chugging of the train with a complete abscence of the honk honking of the traffic. Plus, the chai wallah came by often, along with the coffee wallah, snack wallah, juice wallah, and dinner wallah. I finished "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry - a very good, if very depressing, read. I sat and pondered it for some time before burying myself in The Lost Symbol. It was a great way to help the 9 1/2 hour train trip pass by quickly. We also spent some time watching the world go by outside the window, and took some time to actually reflect "Hey, that is INDIA out the window!". The sunset was beautiful, and the countryside seemed very serene and mostly untouched by the garbage that we see so much of in the cities.

We arrived in Mangalore late - at 10:30, and bargained with a tuk tuk driver to get into town. Maybe the driver was pissed at us for getting a good price, because he drove like a bat out of hell. We made it to the hotel in record time and thankfully in one piece, but I think he might need to take some Defensive Driving Classes.

The hotel price included breakfast, so we went up to the 7th floor, which offered a good view of the city, not to mention some good food! Very traditional Indian breakfast of idli, dosa, sambar, chutney, boiled egg, and "sweet". (Still not sure what that was, but it was tasty. Kind of like sweet polenta scented with green cardamom.) And of course, very sweet chai. I think my teeth may rot out here!

We had a few hours to kill before getting to the train station for the next leg of travel, so went to a lovely chapel that was located in a nearby college. The ceiling and walls are all painted with incredible 110-year old frescoes. Sitting in the pews, my neck was getting kinked looking up for so long to take it all in!

A walk through town took us to a clothing shop that actually had prices. I got a salwar kameez, that I'm sure you'll see in the photos soon. The funny thing about these suits is that they come with no sleeves. Well, that's not entirely true. They come with sleeves that are not sewn into the outfit, but they are just tacked on to the back. That way, if you want them sewn in, you just take them to the stitcher and he/she sews them in for you!

Snacks purchased, we were again in the tuk tuk on the way to the train station for leg 2 - Mangalore to Margao, Goa. This time it should have been only a 4 1/2 hour trip, and it was, except that the train was 1 1/2 hours late to the station. If only we had known, we could have had some of that delicious Mangalorean seafood we'd read about. As it was, by lunch, we were still too full from breakfast, so missed out. Too bad!!

We spoke of what to do when we arrived at the train station in Margao. Push on to the capital, Panaji, a 45 minute bus ride away? Or stay in the town with the train station? Since we arrived at 8:00, we figured we'd be okay to push on. Sadly, by the time we negotiated with the tuk tuk driver and arrived at the bus station, we just missed the 8:30 bus. Oh well, we'll take the 9:00 bus. Except that the 9:00 bus didn't arrive. We pulled out of the bus station at 9:30, to arrive in Panaji at 10:30 with no place to stay. The few places we called were sold out, so now it was time to figure out where to stay. A very friendly taxi driver took us to a couple of places, and we finally found one that had a room. It was kind of sketchy, but at 10:45 at night, you can't be too picky. I call it the the "Thou Shalt Not" hotel, as there was a list of 10 rules posted on our door. Neither of us slept well, and we were not sorry the check out time was 8:00 a.m.

We are now ensconced in a new, slightly better, place. It really is high season here, and accommodation is not easy to fine. Such is life - we're still having a great time, eating great food, and, perhaps the very best of all, this province seems to have relaxed liquor laws and we actually had BEER with lunch! Beer definitely makes lunch better....

Kochi - our longest stop yet

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and ate some extra turkey for us. We arrived on the 24th, and unfortunately, were caught off guard by the fact that Christmas Eve dinner is the big event here. By the time we decided to partake in the fancy buffet dinner at a nearby hotel, it was sold out. Too bad.

Christmas morning dawned and we exchanged our Christmas cards, thought about friends and family, ate candy canes and headed out to call home. My mom's line was busy, but we managed to get through to Mark's folks and chat for about 15 minutes. It was great to catch up and hear how things are going at home. Sorry about the weather - I guess I shouldn't complain that it's pretty warm here, hey?

One of the unique things about Fort Cochin is that it has had Portugese, Dutch, and British influence. The architecture is a melange, different from other places that we've seen so far, and it's quite beautiful. We wandered all over town during the day, checking out the sights. There are a couple of old churches, a Dutch cemetary, an excellent palace/museum, and the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth - built in 1568 - among other things.

The waterfront is about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. Along part of the seawall, there are complicated cantilevered Chinese fishing nets that apparently take 4 - 6 people to operate. I'm skeptical that they're still used as I haven't ever seen them in the water. However, they are pretty to look at and are the unofficial symbol of the town. People stroll by in the evening, pick out a fish from the row of stalls and have it cooked up for them at the open-air restaurant across the street.

At one point in our wanderings around town, we came upon Dazzler Hair Dressing & Gents Beauty Parlour. What a great opportunity for Mark to have his van dyke trimmed for Christmas. He now looks very respectable indeed, and for only 30 rupees!

It seemed like we walked forever yesterday! Late in the afternoon we stopped at Koder House (fancy schmancy hotel that used to be a residence) for a cold Kingfisher - ahhhhh! and then off to our hotel for a wee nap before dinner. We're having trouble figuring out the pattern of dinner here. When we wander by at 6:00, places are dead. There's nothing more unappealing than eating in an empty restaurant, so we figured we'd have a little rest and head out later. Oooops! We very nearly slept through dinner! We hopped out of bed and headed for the wine degustation at the fancy hotel next to ours, but it was dead in the wine bar, and the kitchen had just closed in the (gorgeous) main restaurant. What? It was only 9:30. What to do for Christmas dinner? We ended up at the next best place, the Old Harbour Hotel where they squeezed us in, as it was packed. By the time we were seated and our dinner of shrimp curry (Mary), and fish in orange cardamom sauce (Mark) arrived it was close to 11:00. Many of the menus state something like "your meal will be made to order - please enjoy the relaxing wait of 30 - 45 minutes". Mark unwisely chose to drink wine with dinner - India's wine makers have a lot to learn still! I was smart enough to stick with Kingfisher blue. Curry and beer - life is good.

The restaurant was quite beautiful, with a lush outdoor seating area lit by glowing candles. Our table was on the terrace overlooking the garden, which was very pleasant and probably far less mosquito laden. We made our way back to our hotel close to midnight which I'm sure is a record for me after Christmas dinner, and each had a slice of authentic Indian Christmas plum cake to round out our day.

As an aside, our waiter spoke English quite well so we asked him why alcohol is SO difficult to find in this country. He explained that it costs 10 laks (1 million rupees or $25,000) for a liquor license for one year, so most restaurants remain unlicensed, and for home consumption, there are only a few government liquor stores in any one city!

Our plans for our next move are made and tickets are in hand. Off to Mangalore and then Goa by train over the next two days. Can't wait to see what riding the rails is like here!

Merry Christmas from Kochi

We are about as far away as we can be from a White Christmas, which is making it far more bearable to be without family and friends. I can pretty easily pretend that Bing Crosby, Christmas turkey, and Christmas pudding don't really happen at this time of year.

Back in Alleppey (was it really only three days ago?) we went punting from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm. It was lovely to explore the narrow shaded waterways that only the smallest boats can navigate. Our guide, Thara, was in his mid twenties, spoke English quite well, and both answered our questions and offered us tidbits of information. For example: There are now 850 houseboats in Alleppey (the larger canals are over-run with them) and to wash and iron the sheets of those houseboats, local families receive a whopping 5 rupees per sheet (that's 8 cents). And a rice farmer makes only 100 rupees per day ($2.50 Cad). So, the next time you think you aren't paid enough, think again! I do wonder how much Thara made for his six hours of paddling us around, since we paid at the guest house. At any rate, it felt very decadent to be sitting in the covered two person boat watching the world go by.

That changed rapidly as we left our guest house and headed for the bus station. Next stop Varkala, a 3 hour bus ride away. For the first time, we weren't getting on a bus at the origin station, so we had to battle with the rest of the folks for a spot. I managed to snag a stand up spot at the very back, which was bearable, but I wondered how I would fare after 3 hours! Mark was lucky enough to be standing beside someone who got off within 10 minutes, so he got to sit. Sitting in a hot, crowded bus with your backpack on your lap (mine was on the floor at least) wasn't a lot of fun either. After an hour, I managed to get a seat as well, and after about 1.5 hours, the bus emptied out. The last 30 minutes were not bad, but I was getting kind of tired of being on the bus. When we finally did arrive in Varkala, a glorious beach was one minute's walk from our hotel, and it was well worth the bus ride! The water was cool enough to be refreshing wtihout being cold in the least. Ahhhhh!

Not only was there surf, sand, and sun, but best of all, there were SUNDOWNERS! The first gin and tonic of our trip! It wasn't Bombay, or Sapphire, or Tanqueray, but it resembled gin and tonic enough for us. Sadly, the second round turned out to be white rum and tonic as they ran out of gin. I guess they figured that we wouldn't notice - HA! But switching to mojitos wasn't that much of a hardship!

Fresh seafood abounds in Varkala. At dinner time, you can walk the "stroll" along the clifftop path, and all the restaurants have the fresh fish of the day on display. Pick your fish, they cook it in a multitude of ways, and voila! Dinner! Mark had butter fish cooked in Keralan spices in a banana leaf and it was amazing. I had a baby tuna and felt very guilty about it. The fish was far too small to be killed, but I ate it and have to say, it was tasty grilled in a bit of butter, lemon and garlic. I promise not to eat another one though.

The next morning we donned our bathing suits for a swim in the surf. But, as luck would have it, the fishermen were hauling in their catch! It was very cool to watch - a group of 30 - 40 men were split in two groups on the beach. Each group was pulling on a bundle of lines which were connected to a net, and they were doing a type of chant. One guy would call, an the rest would reply. Very cool. Eventually the net came ashore full of fish of all types unknown to me. The only thing I recognized was the squid, oh, and the assorted plastic garbage of course. Too bad we had no camera.

The afternoon brought us ayeurvedic massages, which were pretty darn amazing. I was brought into a treatment room, and stripped off all of my clothes. My masseuse did a little prayer with some oil, and worked on my scalp and head for a while, and then I lay on a table that was covered in a plastic sheet. A lovely smelling warm oil was poured on me, and in some ways I felt like a turkey being basted in oil for Christmas dinner. Just joking of course, it was very blissfull and relaxing. The smell of the product that they used on my face was beautiful. This was a fantastic way to spend an hour and 20 bucks!

We needed a break from the bus, so we were going to take the train from Varkala to Fort Cochin, but sadly, a lot of other people seemed to have the same idea. What a good time to try a ride in an Ambassador long-haul taxi. It's a pricey option, but what the heck, it's Christmas so we thought we'd splurge. It was still noisy with the honk honk honking, but 100 times more comfortable than the bus. And now, here we are, at Christmas Eve in Kochi. Soon it's time for a sundowner (if we can find one) and dinner. Merry Christmas everyone!!