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!