Funchal, Madeira

We enjoyed Rome so busy - you line up for the sights or get there early in the morning. The cruise looks great but so far not too good for us. We have travelled so much of the world and then get onto a cruise liner and get sick. Dad and I have had gastorenteritis for the past 6 days. Missed the last 2 ports and not feeling too well today. HOpe that it all improves soon....lots of oldtimers on this cruise 0 we feel that we prefer younger people, I think. and people that are a little more independent. Anyways hopefully the sun will shine. Can you imagine going on a cruise and losing weight! don´t even want a drink « except water!

Turkey

Well, the sun fýnally shone today but not before we experýenced torrentýal downpours whýlst on a motorýzed fake saýlýng boat. We sat for most of 24 hours readýng, talkýng, watchýng lýghtnýng and the downpour that never seemed to stop. The sky was amazýng. It was lýke a tropýcal downpour that had no off swýtch. The boat was not up to such a test. The beds started to get wet and a few other problems contýnued. ...so we and a German couple made our way off the boat. We - or rather the German managed to get us a boat made for about 100 passengers to come and pýck us up - so the 4 of us got back to land. Funny that our boat wasnot movýng as the other boats were. Then we had a taxý pýck us up but not before we walked several hundred meters uphýll because the road had been washed out. A být lýke the stýff ýcýng comýng off the cake - the road was a mýghty uneven surface beneath the asphalt. Small rývers were comýng down the mountaýn. We enjoyed the spectacular sunset ýn the vehýcle as ýt took us to the nearnest town some 20km away - Kas.
Thýs ýs a spectacular small town - cobbled streets, such frýendly people - a haven for the snowbýrds of Germany and England. The locals are so frýendly - they look you straýght ýn the eye and talk so openly and warmly. We found a great hotel - ýt was full tonýght so found another great one down the street.

Had a walk on the Lycýan Way thýs pm. So much fun gettýng there ýn a bus up the hýll, then off ýn the countrysýde we went. It ýs pretty dry and lots of scrub growýng here beneath lots of rocks. When we were comýng back, a Turkýsh fellow drove us back down the hýll. He was accompanýed by Grandma ýn her peasant outfýt. Such genuýne frýendlýness.

We hear that the Turks wýll be on holýday ýn a couple of days as Ramadan ýs endýng.

Well, that brýngs you up to the mýnute ýn the synoptýc versýon. We are off to Fettýye tomorrow for 2 nýghts.

Turkey first impression

Had a great time in England. Managed to catch the musical Billy Eliott before our night at the airport. Arrived in lstanbul yesterday morning and leave tomorrow night on a pre-arranged tour returning to Istanbul on the 26th.
It all seems very modern, relatively wealthy and very international. Ramadan again this year on our travels so though food is available lots of locals are fasting.
Had an interesting time this pm as we picked up a shoe shiner's brush for him. He thanked us and was trying to take us to the market. We went the other way. Then as we were on our way to the market another shoeshiner dropped his brush and we picked it up for him. He wanted to brush our runners then. ....uh, we had figured it out before we fell for it. ..a sales ploy ...if we go back, will there be another one to pick up? As Clive says once is an accident, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action.
The people here are friendly, one feels very safe, though careful (not too much poverty) here, food is good - kebabs, pizzas, tomatoes, cucumber, olives. Weather is cool and cloudy so far - hoping for sun and warmth as we travel south and inland.
We have booked 4 days on a gulet - small boat cruise along the coast. Should be relaxing - as if we don't do enough of that already.
Managed to eat a fish sandwich on the pier yesterday - wood fire cooked and always very fresh. Catching some history and enjoying the roof top view from our hotel.

Mammalapuran

Thought I would write one more time before our time in India comes to an end next week. It has been a wonderful and colorful time here.
This week we are enjoying being at the seaside - beaches (not very populated), fishermen (with new boats after the tsunami), ruins from the 8th century, stone carvers working, some non-Indian food (and Indian), relative quiet from the noises of India, no traffic to speak of, ambling around and enjoying being, yoga (for me) each day, still the garbage and smells present and sunshine every single day that we have been away!! ...hope that we manage to bring some of this sunshine home with us.
We are going to spend a few days in Chennai - it will remind us of the India that greeted us when we arrived. We would like some time to go into a few shops as we have not done any shopping!!! on our trip.
As we think of leaving we think of all the wonderful experiences that we have had and hopefully we have a little better understanding of India. We first saw congestion, noise, poverty, garbage and it is still there as we come closer to leaving. There is a lot of color, good hotels, historical and religious sites, people, and experiences that affected those impressions but quite a lot of that is still there. We realize that we enjoyed the 'real India' but that we also enjoyed and relaxed at the more touristy areas - a must for anyone that wants to enjoy a long stay in India. For me, I loved being able to participate in so many yoga classes - I may have to return to do some more!

Feb. 1, 2006

It is wonderful to travel but memories are made from the people you meet twisted into the things that you do and see.
Yes, India is sooo full of people and noise!!! We had coffee with a German lady yesterday who has spent the last 5 years helping an outcaste (bottom caste) of people trying to discourage prostitution and thus aids within the family and extended unit. This then means coming up with alternative employment and power for women.....
last week met a women who spent time in Malawi helping women photograph and put their views into pictures. They went from subdued to much more confident and created some images through the programme. Interesting stuff that happens all over the world....

The world is such an interesting place.....

Pondicherry

Emerging from the chaos and hectic less touristy part of a poorer state, we have just arrived in Pondicherry, back on the tourist route. We had a cappucino and baguette today - fresh and excellent!
It was quite a challenge travelling where fewer tourists go - the hotels are good and clean but it is definitely Indian food three times a day - great coffee in the south. I even like the food but it gets a bit much seeing similar stuff three times a day! Curry for breakfast - quite nice - reminds me of 25 years ago in Sri Lanka with 2 babies in tow! We enjoyed the temples but found that there was not much else to see or do - so we used the hotel room as a refuge for a couple of hours each day.
The noise never stops!!! The bus driver definitely converses with a honk at everything on the road - he is the biggest vehicle and makes the loudest and most persistent horn noises. He warns everything in his way that he is coming. In fact, the bus driver has a special little lever that allows him to toot all the time. It is so hard on my ear drums - the drivers must go deaf eventually. Then the rickshaw driver has his specially installed horn as well - its little sound to go with a little vehicle. Size and noise of horns are in direct proportion.
Tamil Nadu, the state that we are in now is poorer than Kerala where we have just come from. You can see it in the housing and rundown nature of everything. Also, English is hardly spoken. Yesterday, I asked the reception at the hotel if he spoke English. He said - yes, so ..I asked why so many people shave their heads and put a yellow powder on their head. He tried to take me to a hair dresser - guess that his English was not as good as he professed. Anyways, apparently shaved heads are for good luck. ...Right now I have a lot of curls on my head - and I still expect to wash and wear after 5 months without a haircut! Clive is going for his third haircut soon!

We expect to slow down and enjoy the amenities here for the next week or so. I shall probably find a yoga class and then we will entertain ourselves between looking for some interesting food to try.

Madurai

Well, it's been a wonderful couple of weeks. We enjoyed Cochin so much. A great place to enjoy, get away from the frantic, chaotic India and a good place to start or put into a holiday in India. From biking down the quiet streets, seeing the Chinese fishing nets in the bay, some Western food, a great cafe, cultural dances, and cultural plays - toned down and explained to the Westerner, great little guest houses, and of course yoga for me regularly made this all a stop in paradise.
From there it continued as we boated in the backwaters (canals back from the sea that are small rivers) with lots of people living on the land near them fishing, washing laundry, making rope from coconuts, crushing mussel shells for calcium tablets, and general daily living. They wash and crap all near or in the same water - rather polluted (I smiled as someone European was demanding to be taken to the middle of a lake portion for a swim - obviously he did not have the information that we did). We enjoyed several trips in the backwaters - a day trip for tourists and a couple of days actually travelling to a new destination.
We stopped at an ashram for a night - the hugging Amma - extremely revered by most who visit her - a living goddess who hugs people for many hours each day. I got my hug - Clive gave it a miss. I don't feel any different! ,,,and neither does Clive....but it was interesting to see so many people moved by her and loving her and everything about her. The ashram (a place for religious pursuit as dictated by each individual ashram - in this case through service) was a hectic place consisting of several high rise apartments and lots of activity trying to have people live in a communal setting.
From there up to the plantations and the ever elusive national park. Finally made it to a park - went trekking and on a boat and managed to see a few deer. It was very peaceful and the air pleasantly cool . However, guess we'll save the big game for Africa! We have seen nearly every spice growing here as well as tea, coffee and rubber plantations.
Tonight we returned to the 'real India' - busy dirty streets, lots of noise, and the usual garbage but we are looking forward to exploring beautiful temples tomorrow and possibly a festival on Sunday if we time if right. 10,000 pilgrims on any given day here!

Cochin

A busy few days now that we are back to travelling. After Hampi, it was on to Mysore, a satellite type city. Pleasant to wander around on foot - saw a zoo here - it covered a lot of space outside. The interesting thing though was that if they had one of an animal they had a pile of them usually. Not big zoo fans but we certainly enjoyed it and the African elephant who put on quite a performance. Guess that male hormones can cause some problems in captivity - it certainly put on a performance - a penis longer than its legs and then the flapping ears and digging its feet into the ground. After a few minutes it regained its composure. The males were separated and then the females and youngsters were allowed to be together.
We enjoyed the modern palace and the families gathering for the one hour sunday night lighting! Electricity is a problem wherever we go - there are times of the day when no power is available or when a generator is put into use. You never know when or for how long the power will go. Luckily restaurants relie on propane gas burners and candles are always handy.

Caught a bus up into the coffee, pepper and caradamon planatations. Did you know that pepper is a vine type plant that grows around a tree and they intersperse it in amongst the coffee plants (which are similar to grape vines but rather little trees. Guess that Indian coffee is not great on the world market. Boy, does it grow on steep cliffs. I can't imagine picking the clump of beans - what an angle they must stand on. Still pretty warm up in the hills. We were expecting cooler - still just cotton shirts day and night. I tell you, we sure know that cotton is cooler or breathes better than synthetic! - take note would be travellers to warmer climates.

Leaving Madekeri was some happening! We were to catch the 'deluxe bus' at 1:30 pm. We hopped onto this bus and it was a tight squeeze! Three to a row on one side and two on the other side. The seat was so short that not much more than your butt fit on. Your knees just about hit the seat in front and you could hardly see out as the seat in front was so high and your arms and shoulders hit the wall or your neighbor. Clive made a quick decision and said that he was not riding this bus. So we managed to get the luggage off from the front of the bus and then what? We jumped onto another private bus 10 minutes later that we were directed to but we had to change buses after a couple of hours. Clive was not happy with this bus either but he got on. Hey there was space and we could see out. When we got out , we had to catch another bus - this time no windows. I thought that it was great but Clive wasn.t so sure. It turns out later that all the buses in the state that we were going to don't have windows (how practical) but we didn't know this at the time. I enjoyed the breeze and seeing the coffe, pepper and rubber and even bamboo so very close on these ugly narrow pot-holed delapidated roads (like Norquay road with all the twist and turns but entirely different shape). Anyways we arrived at Kunnar, our destination before the deluxe bus and we had to change buses part way!! Wow!

Had a wonderful time in Kunnar (on the west coast). This is an area that is briefly covered in the guide book so that makes a change. Sometimes you feel that all travellers are on the same route. I was dying to see a theyhem, a religious happening where lower caste people perform and go into a trance and become a deity. Lots of drumming and costumes and a feeling of celebration accompanies all this to make a wonderful atmosphere. Looking in at someone else's culture. We got up at 5 am and travelled one hour to see this. Murphy's law - it happens every day but not today. So we found out about one in the evening. It was a real happening and a good experience. We were the only Europeans or white in the crowd! and the people stared at us and were so friendly. We also looked at them - such a pleasant exchange. The children ran back and forth and the women shyly welcomed us. The men were more forward in conversing. Then no rickshaws back to town - met a chap living in London from this area and he gave us a lift back to town.
The rest of the day was an adventure as well. Went to the beach as it is very hot here! We got to a beach all by ourselves and just as I got to the water's edge someone pops out of nowhere and talks to Clive. Hard to get away from people here for very long. ... I quickly covered up getting out of the water - as bare bodies are not to be seen in this part of the country - and this guy had some weird ideas about the West - from reading Penthouse and sex books.
Then we wandered along and came upon a funeral pyre - bodies arrive soon after death and they are burned under a lot of wood. Three funerals had happened already this day - and they didn't know how many more. In two days the family comes back and collects the remaing bone and ash. Then spent some time chatting to to twenty year old local college boys telling us about their expectations in life. It was a wonderful look at someone's perspective who has not been out of the state but who has had the opportunity for education. As usual, education seems available widely but getting jobs is a tougher propostion. Then as we continued to wander, we had the most wonderful time watching a classical Indian dance class preparing for a show. They were thrilled to have an audience in this 10x10 foot room with no ventilation - I was dripping and only watching! It was a wonderful day and so little was planned. It just happened. That's what I enjoy so much about travel - just seizing the opportunity that presents itself at the minute. I have babbled on...but this is a good way to recollect the busy couple of days that we have been enjoying and experiencing recently. I'll babble about something else next time - there's always the food - always a major interest!