Kochi to Mysore...more photo and stories

From Kollam, we made our way up the coast towards Kochi...finally a journey that didn't take all day. Kochi turned out to be something of a tale of two cities - touristy, unsettling, infuriating Fort Cochin and bustling, friendly, spirited mainland Ernakulam.

This chap invited Christian over for a friendly chat as we wandered around near the Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin. Slightly inebriated, he asked for his photo to be taken, and as soon as the deed had been perfomed, he demanded a small sum of money from Chris! He may not catch many fish, but I imagine a fair few unsuspecting tourists have fallen foul of his net!

One of Astrid's many beautiful photos. Dolls for sale at a market stall on the waterfront.

Another Astrid shot...colourful lanterns at another stall.

And another of Astrid's photos - the cantilevered fishing nets that dot the water's edge at Fort Cochin

After leaving Kochi, we made our way towards Kalpetta for our Indian wildlife adventure. Arriving at the tourist information office at the stated opening time, we waited for half an hour to see someone and then spent another two hours trying to work out how we could possibly get into the park, with the added dilemma of our car permit being about to expire. In the end, we had our adventure, despite the bungling beauracracy!

We passed through some lovely areas on the way to Bandipur, that really made us feel like we were at last in the real India - the rural villages where life goes on at the most casual of paces!

The vehicle we toured the park in was rather noisy, but luckily the animals seemed pretty used to it!

A familiar roadside sight almost everywhere in India

The very large and impressive Maharaja's Palace in Mysore. We spent an afternoon here and were really taken with the sheer size and beauty of the place on the interior. Everywhere we looked we saw ornately carved wooden doors, beautiful paintings and sculptures (no photos allowed of course!)

On our last night with Rajendren, we treated him to a meal out and bought him a large box of sweets to take home to his family...needless to say, we were very sad to bid him farewell, but glad that he would be able to make it back to his family in time for Christmas!

We spent a fun day wandering the markets in Mysore on our last day. Here, Astrid & Shanks are hearing all about the process used to make the famed sandalwood oil of Mysore.

Bangles anyone?

Many children still work in the market stalls every day, with no thought given to their education. These children would have been primary-school aged. Seeing these children made us reflect on the vast inequalities that still persist between the developing and the developed worlds.

Another lovely child at his stall selling limes, red onions and potatoes.

This boy was eager to share with us the tricks and techniques of incense making, and chased us down a few times until we came to his stall! It is certainly a struggle to survive for many families and there are no options but for the entire family to work all day doing anything possible to make that extra few rupees.

Another young lad selling marigolds, used to make garlands and for offerings at holy temples

Astrid having a design applied to her hand using the coloured tikka powders, seen in the background. No charge this time, just the usual hard sell!

One night as we were walking back to our hotel, we came across a group of kids playing cricket in a dusty alleyway. Shanks and Christian were quick to replace the rock that they were using for a cricket ball with a couple of tennis balls. Astrid and I sat and chatted with the younger children, while Shanks and Christian took another caning at the hands of the youngsters!

Maybe the current Indian selectors need to scout around Mysore to inject some new blood into an ailing side! I think Australia can stick with McGrath and Lee though!

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