Prisoners and Prime Ministers (now with pics)

After two days on Kudle beach near Gokana, to top up the vitamin D levels, I boarded the overnight train to Ernakulam. I love the trains here (especially compared to the buses). Even in basic sleeper class I like them.

This trip was full of the usual un-usualness. The smiling old man in the berth across from me started his journey by carefully inflating his blow-up pillow, laying out his blanket and tucking in the corners, then giving me an enormous grin before settling down for the night.

There was a proud young couple with a new baby who were incredibly cute. Millions of vendors selling everything from super sweet coffee to, erm, super sweet tea.

And even two young men in matching blue outfits – who, on first glance, appeared to be holding hands. On second glance appeared to be holding hands and hand-cuffed together. And, on third glance, proved to be holding hands, hand-cuffed together and chaperoned by three men also wearing matching outfits. Police outfits. But they were all smiling. Even the hand-holding-hand-cuffed ones.

Towards the end of the journey I met an Austrian man and a French lady also heading to Fort Kochi. So on arrival in Ernakulam we shared the haggling and rickshaw ride. It turned out that the prime minister was in town, so there were no ferries from the mainland to Fort Kochi (I still haven’t quite worked out why the presence of the prime minister should equal the absence of the ferry...Indian logic I suppose) and we had to take the long way round – right through the city.

To be honest it was a bit of a shock after beaches and countryside scenery. The views from the train were beautiful. The views from the rickshaw were not.

But Fort Kochi itself is pretty. It’s certainly the most European looking place I’ve been for a while. Scarily colonial. A little tour of the churches, spice market (I’ve never seen so much ginger!) and old style laundry (with amazingly heavy irons heated internally by coconut shells) finished off with a ‘no I don’t want to go into that shop’ argument with the rickshaw driver was a good end to the day.

The old style fishing ‘things’ (no doubt there is a technical word for these...where’s the Lonely Planet when I need it?) along the river are brilliant too. They are these wooden contraptions that work on a seesaw/balance system. Basically, you have a huge net on one end and weights on the other. Less weights let the net drop down into the water – more weights pull it back out again (hopefully with fish in).

You can then buy the fresh fish and take it along to a restaurant of your choice where they will cook it for you. Which is exactly what my new Austrian friend, Peter, and I did last night. It’s a cool novelty if nothing else.

Next stop: Alleppey.

Monkeys and magical landscapes

So, I managed to tear myself away from the beach and head inland to Hampi. Five days later, I’m still here. It’s an odd place. Hampi Bizarre is very hickeldy-pickeldy (now there’s a phrase that I should use more often). Amazing architectural ruins and, to put it bluntly, shit. There’s the dog variety, the cow variety and, of course, the human variety. Fortunately, I have a cold. So I am saved from the worst of the smell.

I’m here with a lovely Serbian couple (Buda and Mayche) who I met in Patnem. And on our second day here, we upped sticks and moved to the ‘other’ side of the river. The ‘other’ side is where the hippies stay. I’ve never seen so many dreadlocks (or hairy armpits, for that matter) in one place before. But we met some nice Israeli’s without extra hair to spend time with.

Our new home is surrounded by paddy fields and frogs. And hippies...did I mention the hippies? It’s the perfect place for staying still, and I have spent a lot of the last few days lying on the swing bed outside our hut. Partly because I’ve been a bit poorly, and partly because it’s nice.

When I’ve not been gently rocking in the shade, I’ve been out to the reservoir for a swim or gasping for air on a midday bike ride around the ruins.
The ruins themselves are interesting. But, to be honest, I think Angkor Watt and friends have pretty much ruined (sorry) this kind of thing for me. They’re in a league of their own.

What has taken my breath away is the landscape itself. Crazy huge boulders piled high in massive heaps scattered in all directions. Watching the sunset over them from the monkey temple was quite something.

As were the monkeys. First they laugh at you as you pant your way up the 600 steps (ok, maybe that bit was my imagination), then they take pot-shots at you - trying to steal your bags or food. And, once you’ve arrived gasping at the top, they wait until you’re relaxed and then creep up behind you and start pulling at your t-shirt. At least, that was my experience. I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or frightened.
Hopefully some pictures will appear on Facebook in due time from the people I’ve met along the way.

Today is my last day here – I have the delights of an overnight sleeper bus to look forward to tonight. The call of the sea is too strong for me to resist, so it’s back to the coast – next stop Gokarna. Due to circumstances that I probably shouldn’t share in the public domain, I’m not sure how long I’ll stay there yet. We shall see.