Varanasi 12/28 – 12/29

I was feeling a bit better the next day and had slept for most of the night...although there was quite a monkey ruckus during the night. Sounded like the monkeys were having a civil war. Also, there was very loud chanting around 5:00 in the morning.

We started out by exploring Varanasi along the ghats....which were full of touts asking us to go on a boat ride, buy flowers, puja (offerings), jewelry, etc. We could not walk more than a few feet without being approached by someone asking us to take a boat ride. It's understandable because those people are just doing their jobs, but it can be very tiring after hours of travel or being sick. You want to help but you can't help everybody and it seems like everyone wants a piece of you. But, the ghats were interesting anyway. Ghats are basically steps that go down to the river. People bathe here. They do laundry. And most importantly, they cremate people at the burning ghats. The entire ghat area is constantly filled with smoke as they burn people 24 hours a day every single day and the smell of burning bodies is a constant presence. The bodies are wrapped in white cloth and placed on a stack of wood. It takes several hours to reduce a body to ashes. Once it is done, a family member (males only) will throw the leftover fragments into the river. Hindus believe that if you die or are cremated in Varanasi, you are guaranteed release from the incarnation process.

We made it to the main burning ghat quickly as it was very near our hotel. As we got closer, a man approached us and told me that it was forbidden to take pictures at the burning ghats. He told us he was an untouchable, the lowest class, and was one of the preparers of the bodies. He told us about the burning ghat and about how there are people living in the tower at the main burning ghat awaiting death. These are people with no families and hope for donations of powder (?) used as offerings during their burning ceremonies. He, of course, wanted us to make a donation. We told him that we had just arrived, we would think about this, and come back later. This, of course, upset him and he called us selfish people. We later learned from our guidebook that this is a typical ocurrance one should try to avoid at the burning ghat.

In the afternoon we headed inward past the old city to visit Monkey Temple when we ran into an Italian girl asking about a hotel recommendation....we tried to help and ended up following her to her homestay and then going off to explore the city with her and her companion Fernando. We spent the rest of the day with them hanging out in the city.

Varanasi is very strange...said to be the oldest city in the world. Its so old and filthy it feels like you are in medieval times. People seem to live in close relation with animals, there is crap and urine everywhere, cows and bulls walk the streets just like the tourists, the streets in the old city are tight and cool and smelly, there is a fog that hangs over the city, and of course there is the ever present smoke. Then there are the nightly noises. There can be chimes, bells, chanting, and people just yelling strange things in the night. Since there are so many small temples everywhere, it can be pretty loud due to all the ceremonies that take place day or night. It is quite surreal.

The Burning Ghat.

Lunch Time.

Sunset Cruise.

Puja Ceremony.

Bulls on Parade at the Ghats.

Peter explores with fellow travelers.

Downtown Varanasi.

Me at crazy bamboo construction site.

Locals relaxing.

The next morning I awoke to find out that Peter broke the internet USB driver! He was up most of the night because of dogs howling outside our window and had apparently dropped the computer directly onto our internet stick!. We were going to have to somehow find a new one in this ancient town. We wandered around the streets until we found what were looking for...which of course meant having to jump through some hoops involving documentation on our hotel's official letterhead and some special stamp. In the evening we took a sunset boat ride to observe the city from the river and went back to the ghats to watch the Puja ceremony. This is a ceremony that occurs daily at the ghats in honor of the gods.   

Varanasi - 12/27

Afternoon Traffic in Varanasi.

Arrival in Varanasi - Walk down to Ghats.

Toward the end of the day at Chennai, I started to feel a bit sick and wouldn't you know it, I got the dreaded traveler's diarrhea again! This time it was much worse. I was unable to enjoy my comfy Ikea bed because I was up all night. I did enjoy the nice bathroom though.

The next day we took a plane to Varanasi, which in total took around 7 hours due to a layover in Kolkata and a random stop in Lucknow (which is by the way past Varanasi). Peter suggested we postpone our trip, but I was determined to make it North and stay on schedule. No way stomach cramps and diarrhea were going to stop me. It was quite a miserable trip though. Peter also did not sleep much due to a mosquito that mysteriously made it into our windowless room. We were both crabby and exhausted. I had a breakdown and yelled at the security guards at the airport because they didn't give me their stupid security stamp for my carry on bag...which I didn't know I needed until I had to board the plane and then was directed back to security which I had already cleared!

But, we finally made it to Varanasi by late afternoon. I was in no shape to visit the city at that point. Our hotel, though, was located right on the ghats and had a central courtyard/restaurant overlooking the Ganges river. It even had toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and lemon tea! Heaven for someone with dysentery. But the best part was that it had monkeys living there. Red butted monkeys roaming around like they owned the place. I don't think they were kept by the hotel because some guy kept trying to scare them off with a big stick. But, they were having none of that.

Chennai - 12/26

From Madurai we took an overnight train to Chennai, the largest city and capital of Tamil Nadu but for us just a stepping stone on our way North. Peter couldn't sleep on the train at all so when we arrived at the central rail station, we decided to abandon our plan of trekking toward a hotel near the airport and find something nearby quickly. We found a hotel recommended by our trusty guidebook and made our way there. We passed it several times as the location looked like a construction site. We asked around and sure enough we were directed to the construction site. At the entrance was an elderly security guard who yelled at us “You want room?”. Sure enough there was a sign indicating “Nest Inn” and pointing at the construction zone. He told us to go through the scaffolding, over some cement, and take the elevator to the second floor. The second floor looked to be in the final stages of construction, but nowhere near being finished. Hmmm? The guidebook did mention some renovation being done...but our copy is from 2008..... We were skeptical but asked to see the room and we were led to the finest hotel room we have stayed in so far. It was like stepping into a new European hotel decked out in Ikea's finest. The beds were soft, it was super clean, there was a flat screen TV, and hot water in the shower. We couldn't believe our luck!

There is not all that much to do in Chennai It's a huge, sprawling city and much more modern than Madurai. They have traffic lights, less cars, less people and a shopping mall. They still have tons of auto rickshaws, though, so we were of course pestered all day. In Chennai, they are known to be ruthless and to take advantage of tourists so we tried to avoid them as much as possible. We asked one guy how much it would cost for a ride back to our hotel and he quoted us some number and said he would have to take a round about route due to the street being a one way (which we knew wasn't so because we just walked that way) and that he had a shop he could also take us to. Also, in Chennai, we noticed that there were men everywhere urinating in the streets. They would just pull over as they were driving, step out, and go. It was pretty stinky.

Crazy Mall Directory.

We spent most of the day at the shopping mall...which was a maze of shops full of scarves and handicrafts interspersed with stores such as Nike and Levis. All the handicraft stores looked like they were selling the same things. Even at the shopping mall there was a guy outside every shop trying to get us to come in. We purchased an internet stick...a USB modem so that we could connect to the internet on our laptop wherever we go. Also, I got a fancy new camera very cheap...almost too cheap...but this was a legitimate shopping mall after all.   

180 Degrees in Madurai (and I don't mean the temperature)

Paan.

Bike galore.

Mixy - Mixy snack.

Merry Christmas.

Dinner at the "Modern" Restaurant.

Quality electrical work.

Typical back street passage.

Popular jewelry store.

BFFs

Colorful storefronts.

Palace at night.

Evening market.

Street food.

Late night snack.

Steetside Deity.

Soup at the end of the day.

Madurai, Madurai, how I love thee...let me count the ways. I am sorry that I hated on you so. I am still sticking to my description of you being the “Dump of the East”, you are still filthy, but you are so much more than that.

Today we had an awesome day. We started by walking around the temple once again in search of a fruit market which turned out didn't exist. No matter. We wandered around a bit, had some Paan and ate our Christmas Eve dinner at the Modern Restaurant (which was anything but modern) where we caused quite an uproar. Everyone was staring at us, whispering, and jumping at our every need. I guess they never had tourists in their restaurant. The food was delicious by the way.

We walked on in search of yet another market and to visit the palace. We steered far out of the way of all the tourist areas into side streets and residential areas of the city. We walked through an area composed entirely of jewelry stores...gold upon gold everywhere. I think I now know what they mean by “Athens of the East”. This city truly feels as if it is at least a thousand years old. The side streets are narrow and filled with tiny shops no bigger than a hole in the wall. People seem to live right on top of them and employ methods such as ironing clothing with large irons filled with glowing hot iron and measuring weight with large metal, ancient scales. Shrines of all shapes and sizes can be found on every corner. If you take away the cars and modern conveniences, you would truly feel like you were in an ancient time. People in these areas were very friendly...especially the children...they kept running up to us in groups and asking us our names, ages, and where we are from. They seemed very happy and friendly, practicing their English...also super cute and made us smile everywhere we went. We ended our evening by eating a tasty soup off the street.

So Madurai almost broke me down the other day...with its incessant heat, beggars, touts, and grime...but I didn't give up and we discovered a city like no other.

Madurai - 12/23

 Ah Madurai.... According to the Rough Guide to India Madurai is one of the oldest cities in South Asia...one of the most important centers of worship and commerce for as long as there has been civilization in India...the “Athens of the East”. Sounds charming, no? “Dump of the East” is what the description should say.

Yes, there is a really awesome temple here. But, on the whole, Madurai is a stinky, dirty, hot mess. Mumbai was poor, full of slums and people living on the streets, but somehow Madurai just seems so much worse. Most of the roads aren't even paved. There are either dirt roads with puddles of festering water or roads full of rubble...like someone took a jack hammer to the road, tore it all up, and just never bothered to finish the job. There are throngs of people, dust, and the incessant beeping that envelopes us wherever we go. Our first hotel room (we switched hotels because it was super loud in the morning, a phone ringing right outside our door...what!?!...people yelling, and the bellboys were running beer scams) had a balcony that overlooked the tank which in ancient times was a communal bath but today is a dirty greenish-yellow pond, a nice little breeding ground for mosquitos.

The “touts” are also the worst we have encountered yet. As we exited the train station, we were swarmed by a crowd of rickshaw drivers. There literally was a crowd that ran right for us. Peter did a good job batting them away since we only had a few blocks to walk to our hotel. But, these guys follow us around constantly trying to get us to buy something, take a rickshaw, tour, etc. They are relentless and are always trying to “help” us by providing some convenience which inevitably is a front for their shop where they will try to sell you a carpet or shawl.

Last night all I wanted to do after a day of visiting was get the heck out of here! My head was spinning from all the beeping. This is not the kind of town where you can stroll around aimlessly taking in the pretty sights. Here you have to pay attention. There are traps in the streets, potholes or collapsing sidewalks not to mention feces, all sorts of vehicles coming at your, the sun beating you down, people trying to sell you things, beggars grabbing at you....it is just so much to take in. Crossing the street is pretty much the same as in most Indian cities...you have to make your way against heavy traffic and run for your life since there are no streetlights. This place is definitely outside our comfort zone.

We visited the main temple, the Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar Temple, which was really amazing. Its a huge complex containing a maze of shrines and scultpures enclosed within a tall wall marked by massive gopuras (towers) of multicolored mythological creatures at the four cardinal points. It is said to be to the South what the Taj Mahal is to the North. Non Hindus are not allowed inside the main shrines, but we were allowed into the complex itself and it was quite a hectic scene inside. Crowds of people lined up to enter the shrines, processions of pandas (priests) roamed the corridors with elephants, worshippers gave offerings at small shrines peppered throughout the complex. There was even a band playing which was quite good and sounded a bit like jazz. One strange ritual we noticed was at the shrine of Vishnu (elephant headed god) where people prayed to the god by holding their earlobes, squating a few times, and then knocking on their heads. The market outside the temple is also something to behold with its crammed stalls full of gold religious items....not sure what they are selling, but everyone is selling the same exact item in all different sizes. We will probably go back to this temple to see what happens in the evening, even though you have to remove your shoes to enter and it is really gross to walk around barefoot in there.

Temple Worshippers.

Inside the Temple.

Peter enjoys the "Jazz Band" inside the Temple.

Museum inside the Temple.

Nice place for Pee Pee.

Magnificent view outside our hotel room.

Road to the Temple.

The next two days we will seek out the internet which is very hard to come by in this town, walk the streets a bit, visit the palace and other temples, and maybe relax in our beautiful hotel room. Sarcasm. Its actually not too bad compared to the outside! But, everything here is a bit dirty. Filthy really according to US standards, but we are getting used to it. We suspect that we may be pretty stinky ourselves.

Trivandurum - 12/22

Self portrait in Auto Rickshaw.

Intercity Train from Varkala to Trivandrum.

Nothing to see here. Just a big, shabby, dirty, loud town. Seems like one of the main hubs for train transfers. We took a morning intercity train from Varkala to this dumpy little place. We had 4 hours to kill so we wandered a bit, had some coffee, found an internet cafe and booked some waitlisted tickets for onward travel. Our next destination is Madurai and we have a first class AC train cabin all to ourselves! The beds are so comfy and the blankets are not stinky. We feel so luxurious. Peter has finally caught my cold now that I am getting all better. But, at least his back doesn't hurt anymore...

Varkala 12/19 - 12/22

Varkala Beach from Cliff.

 The 19^th we took a short train trip even further south in Kerala to the small town of Varkala. We managed to book a homestay over the phone that had free wi-fi. The lady over the phone spoke English which was wonderful as we have had been having quite a hard time communicating lately. (It seems that for the most part people do speak English, but explaining things takes a while and people don't always get what we mean. We also have a hard time understanding the locals. I think we've finally caught on with the “Indian Head Wobble”. It's pretty much a laid back way of saying yes or ok. There were several times where I have gotten a short wobble to one of my questions and was left bewildered.)

Katrina, the lady from Casa Eva Luna, met us at the train station in Varkala because she said that our homestay was difficult to find. Indeed, we followed her scooter in a rickshaw up the main road toward the cliffs of Varkala and turned off into a side street that really looked more like an unmarked trail. This place really was off the beaten path, but just a few steps off, in the middle of a palm forested area full of small homes. The cliffs and beach were just a short walk across the main road. The house was clean and spacious and painted all different colors. We stayed in the orange and yellow “Sun Room” upstairs with a private bathroom and a yellow mosquito net. It was wonderful. There was no AC and the beds were as hard as in all of Kerala, but we slept well and awoke to the sounds of goats, dogs, birds singing, and even far off chanting one morning. Of the two ladies that ran the house, one was from Barcelona and so we had strong cortados for breakfast. Our last night there we ordered tapas and had a delicious homemade Spanish dinner. Who would have thought that we would get authentic Spanish coffee and tapas in India?

View of Beach from Cliff.

Sunset on the Beach.

Peter's Temple Outfit.

In Varkala, we walked the cliffs, visited the beaches and, of course, rented another scooter so that we could explore on our own. We visited the main temple in town which is supposed to be 2000 years old. We were allowed to walk around inside the temple complex (no pictures allowed) but not in the main shrine. Upon entering the temple, we were sold a banana leaf full of little bundles of grass. I am not sure what we were supposed to do with this...I think it was an offering, but we didn't know where we were supposed to put it. People kept gesturing to us, but we didn't know what they wanted, so we left the grass on an altar and ran away!

We also drove through some very primitive villages to see a fort, but mostly we relaxed. We hung out a bit on the beach and in the numerous cafes and restaurants at the top of the cliff. We had some delicious barracuda at one of the bars. The cliff side of Varkala is packed full of homestays, bamboo cottages, hotels, internet cafes, bars, restaurants, shops....all jammed into one little area. This seems to be the place to be if you are interested in ayurvedic medicine as there are all sorts of clinics and shops devoted to it. There are also a ton of yoga and massage places as well as a number of older hippies and dread lock sporting youngsters. Varkala is so incredibly beautiful I could probably just stay here for the entire three months.

Ernakulam - 12/18

Delicious fish snack.

View of Ernakulam from manly bar.

We wanted to leave Kochi after a day since we visited most of what is here, but were unable to book any train tickets to our next destination! The trains seem to be booked months ahead of time and most of the good seats can only be booked on waitlists. So we spent a good portion of the evening before and the following morning making travel arrangements at the internet station in the lobby when the hotel guy barked at us that we were spending too much time at the computers and that he was going to charge us. Apparently there was an hourly charge, which was minimal, but he did not inform us of it beforehand. All he said was “you have to ask me”! I never thought to ask him about the internet since I was unaware of this strange arrangement. This made me mad and since we were staying another night in Ernakulam, we changed hotels. This one was much more upscale so we were pretty excited, but turns out the beds were even harder!

We spent the day walking the streets in Ernakulam, there was no way I was getting on a scooter here and Peter didn't even make the suggestion so apparently he was thinking the same thing. Ernakulam was nothing like the tourist ridden, quaint village we visited the day before. It is a large city full of traffic and shopping. Nothing but shops everywhere. Shops on top of shops. And all shops are segregated into their own particular section. There is an entire mall just of cell phone stores. We purchased some reading material on the book street which is also where you would go to find aluminum. We also searched for internet access. They have roaming mobile service which you can use on your laptop through a jump drive which would have been awesome because we would be able to use it on trains and could avoid the internet usage hassle, but they didn't want to sell it to us because we needed to be Indian residents. So we roamed some more, had some delicious tiny fried fish at a bar full of men. I was the only woman there and we got some curious stares. We spent the evening hanging out on the hard bed in our hotel.

Fort Cochin (Kochi) - 12/17

Fish and baby shark for sale.

Quiet Kochi streets.

Sari lesson.

Ancient Chinese fishing nets.

We arrived late at night and took an auto rickshaw to our budget hotel in Ernakulam. There was no AC and the beds were super hard, also noticed a few roaches in the bathroom. The next day we were to move to Fort Cochin which is accessible by “Boat Jetty” just a short walk from where we were staying. But, during his morning exercises Peter hurt his back....of course! Can't take that guy anywhere. I didn't want him to have to carry his backpack and so we booked another night at the same place. Thankfully, he did not get hurt too bad, so we still managed to make it to Fort Cochin for the day.

Kochi is an island off of Ernakulam made up of the Fort and Mattencherry areas. In the fort area there are old Chinese fishing nets, narrow Anglo-Dutch buildings along narrow streets and antique shops. It is also full of quaint homestays, which are guest houses or B&B's tucked into the old colonial area, and goats running around everywhere. Mattencherry is more of a trading area where you can get spices and they have Jew town. The island is an ancient port city big for trading spices with the Arabs, Dutch, Phoenicians, Portuguese, and Chinese and is over 600 years old. They say that the colonization of India started there. The ancient Chinese fishing nets are also still in use, although it seems that they are mainly a gimic for tourists. They are used to catch fish which are then sold to tourists right next to the nets. You can get fresh crabs, fish, lobster and even baby shark. They will cook it for you right on the spot.

Tourism here is relentless! You cannot move more than a couple of feet before you are approached to buy something...a hat, a tour, a scarf, a postcard. All sorts of stuff you don't need or want. It can get pretty frustrating. The auto rickshaws were the worst. So, in order to ward off all the touts, we rented another scooter. This worked like magic. Although there was one very determined rickshaw driver that tried to get us into his rickshaw even though we were on our scooter. We rode around the island, visited all the historic sites, found a delicious fruit market, visited Jew town, strolled through antique galleries and scoped out tea and coffee shops. Also, I finally found a tailor to “stitch” my sari! This town was full of them. It looks great and the seamstress showed me how to wear it, but it was so complicated I doubt I will be able to get it on again myself!

Train to Ernakulam - 12/16

Thursday we boarded an early morning train to Ernakulam. The trip took 15 hours and we had booked seats in the AC 2 tier section of the train...which from what the English tourists we met have told us should be great...and it is! We sit in a compartment of 4 people. During the daytime you can sit in groups of two, facing each other, and for nighttime, one passenger moves to the top bunk and one remains on the lower bunk for sleep. Its quite comfortable...there is air conditioning, the seats are spacious and there are plenty of snacks being sold. Every once in a while sellers walk down the aisles yelling “coffee, coffee, coffee!” or “chai, chai, chai, chai, chai”. They sell extremely sweet coffee and chai. They also sell fried treats and other hot dishes. We bought some bananas for the road because we did not expect so much food on the train, which by the way were super delicious. The bananas here are more tart and less sweet than back home. Fruit in general is delicious and we are always finding some new and strange fruit. But, I digress. I suppose because of all the food available, the train attracts yet another kind of passenger...the cockroach! I have seen several scurrying around.

So although the train was very comfortable, provided both food and pets, I was quite miserable. The sniffling and sneezing from the night before had exploded into a full on cold, stuffed nose and sore throat. On top of that, I seemed to have contracted a bout of the infamous “Delhi Belly”. It wasn't too bad, but I did spend a good portion of the time running to the bathroom which of course was a squat toilet. At first I was horrified, but after much experience, I have found the squat toilet to be very hygienic. The train toilets on Polish trains are disgusting and I think it is because they have a regular sit down toilet. Because the train is moving and the presence of the toilet takes up much of the space in the bathroom, there is urine everywhere as most people seem to miss the toilet altogether. Its filthy and smelly. But, the Indian train toilet is neither smelly nor dirty. Because there is no toilet, there is more room to maneuver. Also, the squat toilet is designed with sloping sides, so that pretty much wherever you aim (unless you are retarded or drunk) the excreted matter will find its way down the hole. There is also a small bucket so you can pour water into it should there be need to do so. I haven't adopted the custom of washing your but with a bucket of water though. I am not sure how that works and so we carry a roll of toilet paper and wet wipes wherever we go.

Squat toilet on the train.

Not much else to report from the train. We met a nice family who gave us some home made cookies and then I rested for several hours in the top bunk while the train gently rocked me to sleep.