Elusive wildlife

On the way to Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary

Our last stop in Kerala was to be a visit to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, but alas dealing with beauracracy in India is slower and more treacherous than driving on the roads. Permits are required for a vehicle travelling outside its home state and as we had changed plans our permit for Kerala was due to expire during our visit to the wildlife sanctuary. Our driver attempted to get an extension on the previous day on the stroke of 5pm but apparently punctuality counts at knock-off time at least. He was told there was a permit office 22km from Kalpetta, our destination and base for visits to the wildlife sanctuary. The next morning in Kalpetta we discovered that the permit office was in fact three hours drive away on a road that was considered bad even by Indian standards. To avoid the risk of paying a fine upwards of 5000 rupees we decided to abandon our plan and head to Mysore in the state of Karnataka.

The Baha'i couple we met in Kalpetta

Before leaving Kalpetta we followed the sign to the Baha'i centre whuch we had noticed when arriving the day before. With some help from a few locals we found the centre, which was unfortunately closed. Rajendren, our driver, managed to translate for us that we were hoping to meet some of the local Baha'is and, after a brief discussion, one of the neighbours' sons piled into the car with us and directed us to a small office in town. Here we were very warmly welcomed by Sudhakarau, one of the Baha'is from Kalpetta, and shortly after we were greeted by his wife Mary as well. Their genuine warmth and hospitality was an example to us all and epitomised a phrase from the Baha'i Writings - "Let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path". We discussed the various activities in our respective communities, in which we had a common language as Baha'i activities are similar across the globe whether on small islands in the pacific or in large sprawling cities. They, as we do, held childrens classes, study circles to deepen knowledge of the faith, and devotional meetings where writings are read and shared from the Baha'i faith and other religions, often on a specific theme. Our meeting was short but left us feeling blessed and joyously aware that we are one family on this beautiful planet.

Scene from Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary

After crossing the state border we realised that the road leading to Mysore didn't follow the route we expected but, as fortune would have it, passed within 18km of Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary. A quick decision saw us having one last attempt at an Indian wildlife adventure. The 18km km's was speedily traversed in just under one hour - there must be a point in the ratio of bitumen to potholes where a road should realisticly be classed as a gravel road! At 6am the next morning, we all rugged up and headed off for a 90 minute jeep tour of the wildife sanctuary. Our hopes were high, as a tiger had been spotted a few days earlier, but unfortunately it was not to be for us. We did, however, see plenty of wildlife, some of which were chital (a small spotted deer which was very common), elephants, Gaur ( a wild Indian bison), peacocks (and peahens) monkeys, langeurs, sambar deer, wild boar and numerous birds.

Some of the wildlife at the sanctuary...

Gaur

Elephants

Chittal

Peacock

Langur

Reflections on the canals

More gaps to fill in...this time from our peaceful and reflective time in Kollam.

Kollam street scene

We departed Kovalam at around 9:30am for the remaining two-hour journey to Kollam where we were looking forward to our eagerly-anticipated cruise through the backwaters. Kollam is a typical bustling city, nothing remarkable in its own right, but for the increasing tourist market built up around the backwater canal experience. This is the main reason why we were there and so in the afternoon of the following day we hopped on a bus for what we were told would be a half-hour trip to the village where we would start the cruise. The half hour turned into one hour as the run-down state-owned tourist bus rattled down tiny laneways filled with potholes and the expected assortment of late-afternoon traffic. In India, apart from the standard cars, rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, buses, trucks and pedestrians, the roads also accomodate dogs, cats, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, elephants, donkeys, water buffalo, monkeys, and ponies! Shanks still often smiles in amusement whenever we pass a cow on a busy city street!

Would all the heavy passengers kindly move to the right-hand side?

We have written before about traffic in India. Let me tell you some more...in India, road markings and signs are taken as mere suggestions, speed limits are universally understood to indicate minimum rather than maximum travelling speeds, and driving on the left hand side of the road may occur momentarily as drivers weave to either side in their attempt to find the clearest path forward. We are going to consider Australian traffic tame after this trip (let's just hope that none of us come back with bad habits picked up here)!

Many trucks are decorated and painted quite garishly like this one!

Anyway, back to Kollam. We arrived shortly after 3pm in a small village where we hopped aboard a boat made from wooden planks sown together with coconut fibre (coir). Along with the four of us was a couple from Bhopal - the man was a commander in the Indian Army so Astrid had to be on her best behaviour for the entire journey (needless to say, she wasn't)!

Aaaahhh life...

Our guide steered us through the maze of canals with a long wooden pole at the ambling pace of about 2km an hour. This was the perfect speed for us to observe village life. Although we felt voyeuristic at times (some of the thatched homes that we passed would have been just metres away from the edge of the canal), we hoped that there would be some positive flow-on effects from our tourism to the villagers whose lives are intruded on in this way. However, it is still not something that sits very comfortably with any of us, especially when we realised how little our guide was being paid for his efforts.

Children from the village

Along the way we stopped to see how the boats that travel the canals are constructed and we also got a quick tour of a spice garden at one of the homes in the village. The backwater tour was certainly a highlight for all of us due to the seclusion and quietude that it provided but it again made us reflect on ourselves as tourists and what we are prepared to do in the name of sightseeing. Just as we despised being seen as commodities in Fort Cochin, I don't imagine that the villagers whose neighbourhood is continually beseiged by tourists particularly appreciate being seen as tourist attractions. This is a dilemma that we have often discussed together and it is something that we are ever mindful of. We are hoping that our behaviour - simple politeness, appreciation and respect - makes our presence a little bit more tolerable!

The villagers from the house where we stopped for our coconut break

Kodai to Mysore photojournal

Lorraine:
Here are some more photos from Kodaikanal right through to our arrival in Mysore a couple of days ago. Enjoy!

Scene from the gardens at our hotel in Kodaikanal...

...where we started each day with a leisurely breakfast and steaming hot chai!

Astrid & Christian cooling off with coconut water

during a break on one of our long car journeys!


What if the one you want is at the bottom?
Fruit & vegetable markets at Kollam.


Men at work making pappadums at the markets in Kollam.
They were very pleased to have their photo taken!


In Kollam, we went on a beautiful boat tour through the backwaters that meander through some villages. These boys were after pens and scored three from Astrid!


Enjoying the ride!


Lush tropical scenery on either side

The backwaters are predominantly used for trade, transportation and fishing

Midway through the journey we stopped for a quick drink and bite to eat...

Now that's what I really call "fast food"...and healthy too!

Our wonderful guide who steered us through the backwaters. In one of the many examples of the people who do the really hard work getting the least money, we were shocked to find out that he was being paid Rs 125 a day (equivalent to about $AU 3.65) for up to three 3-hour cruises he takes tourists on each day. Our group of 6 paid the government-run tourist department a sum of Rs 1800 ($AU 53) for the cruise. Needless to say we gave him a big tip.

More market action at Ernakulam

...and more

Arriving in Kalpetta (a town close to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary) late one night, we were suprised and excited to see a sign saying "Baha'i Centre". We were able to meet with a beautiful couple the next day and the warmth and hospitality that we were greeted with was a powerful reminder of one of the underpinning Baha'i principles that the earth is one country and we are all one family.

Beautiful pheasants at an aviary in Mysore

White peacock at the aviary

Very happy campers!

Enjoying the peace and quiet at Karinji Lake in Mysore

Remembering Kochi

Lorraine:
Years ago I faintly remember travelling to Kochi (Cochin) with my family as a young girl. My memories were pleasant ones...mainly of sipping fresh pineapple juice by the beach and taking a cruise along the river at sunset. My anticipation was great. The Lonely Planet guide also painted a picture-perfect scene...winding alleys, spice markets, Chinese cantilevered fishing nets gracing the shoreline...

Shanks, Christian & Astrid talking to one of the fishermen who operates the Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin

And then we arrived, and the realisation struck hard and fast that all the other Western tourists in Southern India must have been thinking the exact same thing as us! The roads leading to our chosen hotel were literally overflowing with tourists - something that we neither anticipated nor were prepared for.

One of the joys for us as tourists (or 'travellers' as Shanks prefers to describe himself), is that as much as we enjoy looking at the locals, they also enjoy looking at us! We are as curious to them as they may be to us! So we have enjoyed being considered something of an oddment and being asked various questions - the most common one is "Which country you are coming from sir/madam?", to which we reply, and then the mandatory association is made to various members of the Australian cricket team! We have enjoyed chatting with the locals, eating at tiny little restaurants tucked away in side alleys where the entire restaurant grinds to a halt as they gaze upon this hapless bunch of foreigners trying to master the art of eating food only with the right hand and work out the correct ways of doing things (often to be met with a shake of the head or a smile). So in a way, there is a little bit of give-and-take - there is enjoyment and fun on both sides.

Not so in Kochi. Or to be more exact, Fort Cochi, a peninsula, away from mainland Ernakulam. Here, tourists are a commodity, not a curiosity. Here, Western tourists seem to outnumber the local population by 4:1. It is not altogether unexpected that where large groups of tourists gather, they tend to associate predominantly with one another and so slowly the restaurants and businesses start to cater for Western tastes and culture, and so slowly the real experience of India is obliterated. Going out for dinner the first night was the first time that when we placed our order the waiter politely enquired "No spice?" to which he was met with four equally aghast faces as we all tried to signal "NO! Lots of spice - Indian style not Western style"!

On the bright side, Kochi was our first experience of traditional classical Indian music and the Kathakali music/theatre/dance phenomenon. Although the shows attracted a wholly-tourist crowd, the evening was well worth it. We particularly enjoyed one evening concert featuring flute and two traditional Indian drums (which names we have now forgotten). The performances of the three musicians as they played together were nothing but superb and their mastery of their instruments was enough to send our senses soaring.

On our second day, Shanks and I headed away from Tourist-ville over to the mainland on a ferry. There we engaged in one of our favourite activities - visiting the maze of markets that every Indian town or village can lay claim to. The scenes in these markets are always so bright and colourful that I did away with my embarassment and whipped out my camera to take a few photos. This was what many stall-holders were waiting for as they eagerly asked for us to take pictures of them, and better still, pictures of them with the tall Westerner accompanying me! Shanks and Christian are big hits wherever they go...they even managed a game of cricket with some lads in one of the playing fields in Fort Cochin...I just hope they did Australia proud!

Some on field action from the Aussie contingent in Fort Cochin!

Are we there yet?

The jouney from Kodaikanal to Kollam was an adventure that kept going and going and going...We were expecting a long day, as although Kollam was less than 300km as the crow flys from Kodai, there was no good direct road over the mountains down into Kerala. From Kodai, we wound back down to the plains and followed the eastern side of the Western Ghats virtually to the southern tip of India. In this region we were surprised to see hundreds of wind turbines towering over and seemingly outnumbering the coconut palms lining the fields stretching to the horizon. It was early afternoon as we travelled between the boulder strewn granite peaks through to Nagercoil on the western side of the range. As we headed northward the pace slowed with increasing traffic and virtually no streches of open road and we were lucky to average 30km/hr for the rest of the day. Crossing into the state of Kerala and with our destination still 'two hours away' we gave up at about 8pm after nearly twelve hours on the road and found a hotel at the far too touristy beachside resort area of Kovalam. The next morning we covered the last 67km to Kollam in just under two hours - we still find it difficult to comprehend the time it takes to travel in India compared to Australia - as a general rule it takes two to three times longer to cover the same distance.


Kollam is the southern (and less touristy) gateway to the 'Backwaters' of Kerala - a maze of lakes, rivers and canals through which much of the trade and travel in Kerala still occurs.

Just photos...

Here are some photos from our travels so far...

And we're off!

Changi Airport in Singapore has free foot massage rest stops...

Astrid & Christian took full advantage!

Typical street scene in Chennai near our hotel

Shanks' long-awaited, eagerly anticipated masala dosa...


...was wolfed down in seconds, Indian-style (right-hand only)
...and it lived up to all expectations!

Who let these three near the sweet counter???

One smart cookie!

(We've never even eaten these cookies...ah, biscuits...before, but apparently they're a big hit in Chennai)!

Excuse me sir, do you have any stainless steel cookware?

India has truckloads of coconuts!

Bustling bus stop just outside our hotel in Trichy

Astrid, is that your tenth pakora???

View from our hotel balcony in Kodaikanal

Is that Guru Sri Sri Shankar...

or is it Shanks recovering in icy-cold Kodai?

Hindu temple in a village on the walk to Pillar Rocks...

complete with big stack of speakers filling the entire valley with temple music!

Pillar Rocks makes a brief appearance amidst the clouds