Southwest India, Around The Bottom Tip And Starting Up The East Coast

We got into to the port city of Kochi and had three nights there because we were connecting with our new group and guide. I was soooo grateful because I had come down with a dreadful cold/cough that had been infiltrating our group. I only got out of bed to go to the pharmacy for antibiotics and cough medicine. I missed seeing anything in that city but felt better when we left for Alleppey.

After a train ride and Tuk Tuks from the station, we all piled into a canoe with our luggage (of course it was dark) to get to our island destination at about 8 pm.

We had a “homestay” that was in a lovely house on this small island in the “back waters”. Our host cooked dinner and breakfast which was delicious and banana fritters is my new favorite food.

I had a lovely air conditioned room with an attached bath. The family told us how they had been evacuated in August because of the “100 year” flood. They had worked hard cleaning up. This area often floods from the two monsoons that happen every year but they control the water levels with dams and use it to grow rice and have two harvests–not this year. The paddys are still too wet to plant the rice for the second harvest.

We got up and after a yummy breakfast-Indian style, we started the next leg of our journey (which was extremely “civilized “) on a houseboat. The last few years has seen a proliferation of this type of travel. This is very popular as a honeymoon destination.

This is me living large on our private house boat:

We had lunch on board and toward the end of our day cruise some tea/coffee and more banana fritters.

The boat delivered us to our next train station town and we climbed aboard to head to Kanyakumari. This city is at the very southern tip of India. You could watch the sun rise and set from the same spot on our hotel roof top–India’s version of key West with out the party.

There is also a famous monument and temple accessible by ferry right off the tip–the Vivekananda Rock and Ammam:

This city is a lovely little fishing village of about 300,000. Small by India standards:

This part of India was conquered by Portugal so it not unusual to see Catholic Churches and cathedrals.

Our next destination is Madural. This city has a population of 3 million and is famous for it’s gigantic temple complex. In the Hindi religion there are 33 (give or take a couple mil) million gods–yes you read that right. Of course some are way more famous than others. Families traditionally have one god to whom they honor and pray. When a women marries she has to give up her family’s god and adopt her husband’s family god.

The Madural Temple is GIGANTIC–it covers 6 acres and in April a million worshipers visit for the annual festival daily for two weeks. No cameras or cell phone permitted. This is one of four tower gates:

They have an interesting custom in this city–every morning the women make a chalk drawing on there stoops/front sidewalks to ward away the “evil eye” from others who are jealous of them: We only stayed one day and caught an early morning train ride to our next “port of call”. This called for breakfast on the train. A chilies seasoned donut and spicy cream of rice:

We stopped for a couple nights in Mamallapuram–the granite carving capital of India. This city is famous for temple ruins carved in huge rock formations:

Wes had a free day–a vacation in a vacation–but it rained so no beach for us. I spent the day “binging” on Netflix. The series Marcella and also The Fall are really good. They are about women detectives who “get their man”. I bought a cute little kettle for $13 and can make tea in a mug anytime I want–the tiny cups every one serves are essentially useless:

We are scheduled for an overnight train–I send you a picture of my cosy corner.