questions we think indians must think of tourists

• what makes people suddenly want to buy tye dye t shirts when they travel in asia?
• whats in that backpack?
• why do japanese tourists need to wear face masks and plastic bags on their feet?
• what are tey hiding behind their sunglasses?
• do they think they will die if they let go of the mineral water bottle they are clucthing?
• do they actualy know what they are ordering in the restaurant?
• what do they think will happen when they wear white (ashram) gowns?
• do they haggle for fixed price items as much as when they are back home?

indian new years resolution tips

from indian times newspaper (incidentally, 5000 newspapers are published in india daily in many different languages):

• motivate yourself to work hard and sincerely. develop a passion towards the work you do.
• have fun and joy within the set limitations. relaxation is an essential tool to reduce your tension and boredom in life
• make a list of the items that you can take pride in having handled well. at nthe end of the day, read the list so that you can pat yourself.
• realise that you are not living alone. you are part of the whole, your acts will have effects on those around you. develop perseverance to others. trust and care for others around you.

funy indian shop names and roadsigns

heres a few signs we have found along our way

shops

• kims bag world
• pen discount shop
• macro man underwear
• mummy daddy bakery (cute, eh?)
• EVM spices and automobiles
• Brothers electricians - "we specialise in electric chokes and torches"
• Cochin hospital for piles (ouch)

road signs

• lane driving is sane driving (!?)
• dial before you dig
• road signs, respect them
• no hurry, no worry
• black smoke, makes you choke (!)
  

heading to the hill stations

thanks for all the comments, much appreciated..

we are going to the cooler climbs of the hill stations in central kerala today, to be near bangalore, karnataka, for new years.

we are going to try and avoid watching the press reports, its very distressing..

however, we have offered our help to oxfam aid over here.

jim

Asia earthquake

90% of the places we have visited in the last month have been affected by the tsunami and flooding. with casualty numbers increasing by the hour.

we are shocked to realise that we escaped tradegy ourselves by getting a train out of danger. we planned to say farewell to the beach the morning of the disaster, however, fi was ill...

we just want to say that our thoughts are with the people and families that we have met along the way that will have been affected.. livelihoods and property.. including morgan, the fisherman, and anna the angel, in kanyakumari.. the latter where 1000 people were swept off the beach into the sea.

fi and jim

we are okay - earthquake

We have just found out about the earthquake and the devistating waves its has caused across India and Asia.

Fortunately, we were up in town this morning when the waves struck and then caught a train north.

We didn't see what destruction it caused in Varkala, Kerala, but no doubt we will hear tomorrow. We are in Cochin at the moment and the sea is pretty high there were reports of 8 foot waves early this morning here.

We will keep you posted, here's an up to date report from Reuters

Fi and Jim

guess what i got for christmas?

guess what fi got me for a xmas pressie? she had been carrying a can of strongbow for a month to present it to me on xmas day!

it was funny to drink, but refreshing in the heat..

jim :)

merry christmas & happy new year

hope everyone has a great christmas season and a prosperous start to 2005

it is still strange getting used to the idea that it is winter here, aswell as back home.. and exciting that fiona and i are spending our first christmas together..

the days here on the beach seem to have a very relaxed routine, still being recognised by more and more locals on our bikes as we tour from our homestay in town to the beach. very funny, and will make it hard to leave.. especially as ramesh at our homestay is saying "this is your house now, really!"

travelling with another person makes it easy to laugh at the times, when otherwise it may be a bit too much.. like being asked "coming from? (which country)" 1000 times!

obervations on xmas in india: no holidays in most towns, only in smaller pockets of catholic communities. however, most houses have a star outside making the streets even more colourful.

in some of the bakeries there are xmas cakes, and papier mache santa claus masks (sunburnt) in stationery shops.. in a bar last night where we took some friends we have met here, there was a palm tree with dandruff (snow) on and some tinsel.

anyway, have a good one all!

jim and fi

Delia Taylor Vs. Jamie Callender

keralan cooking masterclass

fi and i wanted to learn how to make the real south indian cusine, so we could understand what we eat, and for future reference.

we were cooking in the kitchen of a local restaurant, on a raised bed frame on bricks with a big gas hob.

we cooked 10 dishes, breakfast items, and individual chutneys, sabjis and curries.. the dishes kept on coming, sometimes we didnt know what we were making until it was served up!

fi and jim cried when they accidentally rubbed their eyes with the fingers they cut the chillies with earlier. however, it was okay as monkeyrat helped out.

we were desperate to get to taste the fruits of our labour, whilst the wallaa washed up the steel plates and trays on a pink three legged table, we sat outside very attentively, on another bed frame to eat our thali items with lots of rice.. it tasted great!

recipe for dhal curry:

(amounts depend on how many servings)

• turmeric powder
• coconut flesh
• chillies, green
• garlic cloves, chopped
• salt, pepper corns
• cumin
• ginger, chopped
• 200mls water

put into blender, mix for 2 mins

then add to boiling pan of yellow lentils (previously boiled for 40mins), boil for a further 10mins

serve with rice, enjoy :_

kerala backwater highlights

after an dawn departure by train north up the coast we head to a busy little market town to jump onto a private ferry to take us on our excursion of the keralan backwaters.. surely a must on anyone's visit to this part of india:

just as we were leaving a very clever indian guy jumped onto the boat to talk to us, he was studying a PhD in literature, however, when he started talking cockney i thought he was alright! i tried to remember old 'only fools and horses' episodes.. we did him justice and told him he had a good 'boat race' and that he should hit the 'frog and toad' as the boat was about to leave!

as soon as we departed we noticed the abundance of wildlife amongst the channels and creeks of the backwaters.. a great variety of tropical plants and trees. fi's mouth was watering as she spotted a few ripe mangos on a set of trees.

sea eagles, kites, kingfishers, bee eaters, cranes, cormorants, and many other birds where perched along our route and made the journey even colourful.

boat traders waved to us as we had a glimpse into their daily lives here; hay, sand, brick, and fruit is transported here locally by wooden canoe.

and of course the rice barges that are now a main tourist attraction whilst on the water for overnight stays.

most boats were unpowered, poling using bamboo canes, sailing to aid paddling, along the wider channels of the backwaters.

as evening approached we saw a lot of men start to fish with 'chinese fishing nets', a huge contraption which is hard to believe it only takes one person to operate..

the colours, shapes and sounds ever changing as the daily life of the various communities went about their lives, oblious to the fact that we were learning so much about them..

arriving back in varkala we meet a rickshaw driver waiting for a fare outside the station,

hi, you want rickshaw?

no thanks..

oh its you, hi, wheres your bicycles? no problem.. goodnight!

thats the friendliest and least hastle we have had from a driver :)

as the sunset on another fascinating day, its a safe feeling to know these keralan people will hopefully to continue these trades and use such historic crafts, long after we have gone..

jim

mobile curry restaurant

heres what we had for breakfast on the train the other morning:

• paratha (indian pancake)
• bolied egg, chapati and onion sauce
• deep fried whole banana fritters
• indian 'masala' chai (tea)

I dont know how they do it, but it sure tastes nice travelling that way

Female view of a male India

When you travel as a lone female, normally you get treated very well and with great respect but you do tend to miss out on the 'male way of travelling'. Most of the fun of this trip has been that Jim has enabled me to see a completely different side to travelling, one that boys see....

One of theses event happened the other night when Jim took me to a bar. We have been to bars before and they have ranged from 5* where we get popodums, fruit and lots of snacks with our beers to the bar parlour in Varkala.

This particular bar was down a back alley (I know, I should have known what was coming?) We entred this dark, messy hole and took a rickaty seat in the corner. Jim went to the bar as I was being stared at from all corners, as I was the only girl, again. Rum was about 5pence for a double and a big beer about 20pence. A group sat next to us drinking 'xxx sexy boy' rum, mixed with beer started to talk to us. They were hysterical, we discussed cricket, football and beer. The bar filled up with all the beggers and all the rickshaw drivers that had hasseled us from outside .

When we left we had a hearty fairwell and as we walked home one of the Rickshaw drivers stopped to offer us a free ride home - how cool. They still reconise us on the street and usually we are on the bikes!!

Fi

fi also observed that every person in the bar had a moustache.. not sure whether to feel nervous about that :)

Jim

paradise for christmas

well then, thats it we're staying here for the rest of the trip.. varkala on the west coast in kerala.

lush, very green, a warm tropical ocean and great sunsets.. we have spent each evening lifting ourselves off the beach to enjoy a fruit juice or in my case yesterday a teapot of beer in one of the beach cafes. beer served in a teapot as many of the cafes do not have licenses to serve alcohol.

today we have been basted like turkeys in a ayuvedic massage treatment centre.. sounds complicated, but this town has a spa, so everything is massage this, and yoga that.. cool, good time to recharge. we were in a darkened room on a wooden meat slab for an hour, an we took it in turns to get oiled up and rubbed down by an indian guy that looked like a smurf (with a few missing teeth).

fingers and toes were all clicked and cracked

we were blessed before all the fun and games started, not sure why?

jim

Going to stay here until xmas as we have a lovely place to stay and its fun playing in the waves and cycling everywhere
fi

apart from all the forms we had to fill in on arrival at our homestay, 4 x A4 forms.. then lots of maps about where we should go.. i am on commission, one bottle of champagne for every person we bring to the home.

ramesh is very kind though, ' this is your house now..'

jim

photos now online!

check out our photos of our adventures so far..

@ http://community.webshots.com/user/fijim/

there are two photo albums here :)

keralan sound system

we are in a very hot town called 'trivandrum' on the west coast in southern kerala. probably one of the hottest places we've been and will be at as theres no wind, being inland. so its very sweaty and dusty!

it feels like we are travelling again, but tommorrow we head on a train to a town which sounds a bit more relaxing than here, 'karvalla' or something like that.. used to be a hippy town 30 years ago so we should fit right in, me with my guru beard and fi with her dreads... only kidding! although we are losing weight rapidly!!

guess what we met a couple from Twyford, Berkshire at the end of the road in a mountain top hotel last night. i produced a postcard of wargrave to show where i lived and they nearly fell off their chairs!

yesterday we travelled into kerala from tamil nadu by train, later by bus up to the mountains. so from the end of the line in the south to the end of the road in a hill station in a day. quite something, and not planned either - we flipped a coin at the train station to decide what we did..

there are 6 classes of rail travel in india, we travelled on the most quietest section yesterday from the southern cape. we had a whole carriage to ourselves, something which the everday indian would not believe!

gotta go now and practice some keralan - 'malayalam' dialect. new province, new language!

jim

on a southern tip

woken up in a storm, 5 floors up in a posh hotel, with horizontal rain coming in thru the window from the bay of bengal. fi thought the rain water splashing her back was some sort of government blessing included in the room price.

i got blessed near the temple earlier today, by a wannabe guru. he took me down to the ghats (no it wasnt painful), he pronounced to me 'you will own a scooter!' really useful information.

saw a few parrots performing card tricks too, but still havent seen any cobras in baskets, however as with all things in India, its just a matter of time! :)

jim

we've run out of land!

we've arrived at the most southern point in India, Kanyakumari -> where three oceans meet, the bengal (east), arabian (west) and Indian (south). From now on we can only head north as we've run out of land!

Its a very sacred place, a pilgrimage town for hindu's. As shiva battled one of the other bad gods on a rock offshore from the town. And Gandhi's ashes were kept here for people to pay worship to before his ashes were cast into the ocean. There is a memorial here now.

Walking round the town and sights yesterday Fiona got adopted, her adopted sisters dragged her around a temple whilst i was trying to keep up being the good sherpa that i am.

ran out of times fiona said "that's beautful!" :) but it really is..

jim

movie review, or is that revue?

I thought it would be a great idea going to the piccies - if only I knew....

The film was called 'funny girl' I thought this might be a comedy - oh no - in fact it was an early 80's American porn movie with all the porn cut out. Again I was the only girl in the whole cinema, ( but we did sit in 1st class - like that made a difference)!!

After about 40 mins, and not really following the plot - the editing was that good, oh - apart from it was about hot tubs and plumbers in tight t-shirts. We had a break - everyone out of the cinema. The cinema had a outdoor courtyard but all we all locked inside just like a prison, infact all the single Indian men walked clockwise around the courtyard until the bell rang for us to go back into the movie house.

The next bit had random scenes of naked women running out of changing rooms but darkened so you couldn't see to much flesh. Then 5 mins later the movie finished, another bell rang and we were let out of the locked courtyard gates. Me followed by Jim, who was laughing very loudly.

Movies will never be the same again..........

Fi

Highlights so far

Fi's best bits so far..

• Veggie food
• friendly people
• bike rides
• Jim's shaves
• train journeys
• clean toilets

Jim's best bits..

• indian beaches
• not wearing winter clothes
• not working
• being asked what perfume i wear, and what my salary is by indian natives
• sharing LTJ Bukem CD with farmer on train, he went to sleep! (so did i!)
• indians when they nod their heads, so cute, means yes, no, or maybe.

we are going to the movies this afternoon, after a slap up thali meal :)

trains and a close shave

today was our first train journey using the largest rail network in the world.

we left the french town of Pondicherry for Mad-Mad-Madurai. A small city (1m) with the one of the largest hindu temple complexes in South India. Tonight on arrival we saw the band put shiva to bed. Fi thinks i was blessed. The women were throwing butter at the other god effigies.

Anyway, we arrived at the train station early to enjoy a chai, then once on board we settled down with some other travellers.. and jim sat next to a Lieutenant in the Indian Army. Who was in a very good mood as he was near theendof his 3 day journey home to the south, from patrolling the India/Pakistan border.

Fi - mmm Jim left the carriage with the army guy and returned looking very sheepish.He told me the army guy had given him some Regulary Used Medicine, I'm sure it smelt just like RUM - (it was only 10am).

We got turfed out of air con carriage as we got the seats wrong, you should see the size of these trains! its very easy to get confused!

The food on board was fantastic! onion bhajis, lentil things and egg biryanis (Fi likes eggs).

Just got back from the barbers, had a shave from a 15 year old boy. the whole package! i mean, cut throat shave, face spray, cologne, face massage and soft towel. 10 pence. saves me blunting my razor!

Still having lots of fun, and getting good tans, mind you it could just be all the dust.

monkeyrat in picture on profile is keeping well for all you monkey fans. gourangu = tamil word for monkey.

jim

the art of cycling - indian style

learnt whilst navigating the streets of Pondicherry:

1. cycle slowly
2. ride in straight line,and only move if cattle, cart, parker vehicle get in way
3. always give way tolarger vehicles
4. use bellif behind people, or cycling towards pedestrians (so that they know you are coming through!)

memories of pondi:

exploding beer, bazaars, locals in woollen jumpers and balaclavas (even though at nightime 28'c.

bikes, swimming and dead snakes

Fiona:

Great day today... We were up before lunch, a miracle.

Hired bikes, a great way to see India and you don't get hassled as much as you can ride faster than they can run... Met some friendly locals today, morgan and his brother who gave us fresh coconuts and showed us there boat. Jim conviced them that he was James Bond and I was the girl from the titanic movie!!!

On our way back we saw our first snake, well Jim did Fi rode passed it twice before seeing it squashed on the road. It was at least 3 foot long, couldn't identify it as its head was squished.

jim: had an amazing banana lassi (indian milkshake) and fi getting the taste for chai masala (indian tea).

The only thing that spoils this paradise is the atomic (kitten) power station we discovered down the end of the beach, nice... jim: no wonder the lobsters are so bloody big!

now wheres my sarong? :)

chillin

Its been a hard few days of relaxing, swimming in the sea and pool, eating and generally not doin too much...

Seen a few temples overlooking lush fields and rivers. We have met a colony of real monkeys too - mmm, got surrounded by a couple and I didn't like that too much. Its very cheap, lunch - all we can eat costs 35p!!!

I've got a top being made for 300 rupee, about 2.50p. Still find the cows walking down the street amusing.

fiona

as for the rest of the animals, there are dogs, pigs, goats, geckos and feathered birds all on litter patrol. think they must be veggie as well as the human locals.

as there are quite a lot of international tourists here (swedish, israeli, german, norweigan, canadian) we have seen spaghetti and fish and chips on the menu.

we have looked back at the last week, we havent woken up before 12 noon every day, apart from when we had to catch the bus out of chennai. now it really feels like the ball is rolling, with this travel thing >> we will wait for our bodies to adjust, rather than forcing them into it

3 years of work, partying and playtime has caught up with me, ay foxy?!

jim