Intrepid Journeys - India

So we slummed it in this absolute shithouse of a "hotel" (note the punctuation) in a suburb of Bangalore called Whitewaters. En route to the train station for a trip to Puddapati (where that Sai Baba dude has his ashram and mini-city) the taxi driver tells us that Baba is at his alternative ashram in Whitewaters. As Puddapati closes when he's away (and we wouldnt be able to stay there or check out the museum and stuff) we did a u-ey and headed to Whitewaters.

This Sai Baba faith is unreal; dont quite understand it but apparently the guys a bit of a living god, with millions of followers from all over the world, many of whom follow him wherever he goes and donate shitloads of $$$. There was a service on when we arrived so they wrent letting people into the compound. Seeing the crowds of people we thought we'd better find some accom asap. After a good half hour of walking and finding everything bookd up we let ourselves get led around by this guy who reckoned he could get us a room. It boilled down the the lesser of two absolute slum 'hotel' rooms. Everything in the area was packed out beacuse the Baba dude and his followers were here!

The accom was an absoltue grotto, got photos to prove it. We doused the place with fly spray and spent a good while stamping on cockroaches before getting 'comfortable.' The shower was a joke too, 80% of the water came out of the BACK of the shower head and sprayed right onto the wall....

Anyway this morning we got to the Ashram at 8.30 to check out what the service was like and see the man himself. Heck, see a living God - why not?? Cloackrooms (not allowed bags/cameras etc inside the compound) and secutity checks later we sat down inside. After an hour of waiting they played some tunes (hymms I guess, since people sang along). There were thousands of people seated in this big hall-like thing; brown people, black people, yellow people and even white people! The man himself didnt show, it was all just tunes and lighting a fire on the stage. Then everyone got up and left.... kinda anticlimax.

Got my enlighting experience escorting this blind boy to the prayer hall though. There are seperate Mens and Ladies entrance to the hall as each sit on differnet sides. As I went to take my shoes off and go through secutiry check #2 this lady comes up to me and talks in some foreign tongue and hands me her sons hand. I didnt quite understand till I turned and realisd there was a 'mens' and 'ladies' entrance to the prayer hall. The kid was blind and she couldn't guide him in coz she had to enter from the other end. So I stepped up and took the guy through, sat him down with me. Neither of us understood a word of what the other was saying but he chanted and clapped along to the tunes, looked like he was having a raging good time. I was secretly holding out for some Sai Baba miracle... like the man himself comes out, touches this guy and BOOM he can see again. Didnt happen though...maybe next time. Anyway after it all ended I was like fuck I cant just leave this kid sitting here. So I took him outside the hall + courtyard and waited for his mum. She took ages but finally came...mother and son reunited again! She looked pretty pleased to see him and thanked me by holding my hand. Awwww warm fuzzies all round.

Weird in/out rules at the ashram meant we could either check out the ashram / museum / hospital but wait until 2pm to pickup our bags or get our backs but then we wouldnt' be allowed back in. Deciding to hoof it to the (nice) hotel we booked for tonight in search of a decent shower and shops we took our bags and tried getting a taxi. After crossing railways lines with the traffic, pedestrians and animals in what felt like a dust storm we still hant seen any taxis. Ended up getting a rickshaw to "Hotel Toms".

An hour of dust-filled, pothole puncutated rickshaw ride later we got dropped off. Rickshaw driver was an absolute ROOKIE and had to keep asking people for directions. Upon going in the front desk they said that our booking wasnt in the 'book' so there were no rooms. After a bit of to and fro-ing I managed to sneak a look at their 'book' and realised the fool at the desk had written us in under 'Whitefields', despite us actually spelling the name out to him on the phone. Amatuer.

So... turns out our rooms not free til 2pm. Fingers crossed this is the case as the other three hotels we called were all bookd up. As it was its now 12.30 and we thought we'd try kill some time at this internet cafe down the road rather than hit the shops etc with our big packs and stuff on. I'm keen to see what the Bangalore 'lounge bar' scene is all about tonight, as the Lonely Planet talks sure talks it up and I'm dying to a drink

Again, fingers crossed!
Nick

Hey all,
This is gonna be brief as I have 4minutes on the net here! We've now left Fort Cochin thanks to Kingfisher Air and are currently in Bangalore. Thought we'd check out some of the wacked stuff the 'Sai Baba' faith is meant to have (apparently theres a whole mini-city here with airport, hospital and all!) plus see what else Bangalore has to offer before we fly to Goa the day after tomorrow.

Walked around the beach area in Fort Cochin this morning int he hope of seeing the Chineese Fishing Nets (they're wicked wharf-like moving structures) acutally be brought but with some fish in them....and we were in luck! I even got invited to help pull one down / in (all these guys pull down on ropes, which makes the net come in) which was a bit of fun. But, as Indian tourism goes nothing is free and I found out after that I had to part with some coin for the experience.

Currently trying to find accomodation in Bangalore, hopefully only gonna go cheapo for one night and go somewhere nice the second!

In other news I lost my Aviators off the side of the ferry in Kochin as we were getting off, amongst the hustle and bustle while (literally) jumping off the ferry.

The End
By Nick

Hey all

Quite eventul day today, I started with a Traditional Ayurvedic Body Massage at this place recommended by the Lonely Planet. Went nuts and had th full massage option, as apparently it also "accelerate sblood circulation to prevent diseaseses like nervous disorders, rehumatism and muscular skeletal disorders" apparently. Beauty, guess I'm safe now. Quite an experence, and when you get an hour for less than NZ$10, why not!

A big day for the lonely planet, we also rickshawed to a restraunt it recommended on the other side of town for it's "legendary chicken and meat biryanis".. bloody good too. Nothing flash, nice and cheap and HEAPS of locals so it's gotta be good!

Strolled a few kays down to "Jewtown" as it was meant to be a bit of a tourist spot as well. Shops here were almost all the same though and the service was fairly in-your-face. Theres only so many times you can look at the same crap and ask what price it is. The dudes from the shops try like the hard-sell. They talk so much shit trying to get you into their shops. I ended up taking the piss, pointing at my foot and saying 'orange, orange!' or saying 'No, I've got a urinary tract infection'. These guys have no clue and its fun to see them confused after they hassle you for so long... [my urinary tract is fine thanks] Caught a ride back with thus guyy in his Ferrari! (again, wait till u see the pic!)

Earnt my place as the abolute KING of bartering when I bought two goods. Talked one guy from 100 ruppees down to 65 and the other from 50 to 30. Pretty good i reckon! I've got WAY more game than Maya when it comes to bargaining. It's all in the eyes......

Had booked a Kalikathi (or something like that) performacne earlier so finished the evening with that. Again recommended by the Lonely Planet, apparently it's a bit of a local specialty. A cross between a play / song / dance thing, it tells a (vague) story through song, dance and facial expressions of the characters. They have this unreal makeup on that takes over an hour to apply and can do some INSANE things with their eyes (think pop-out, spin around etc). An alright show, must admit I got a bit bored though. For your average white person I'm sure it'd be fascinating.....

The emperor really didnt dig his new look

A few more things to do tomorow AM before we're off to Bangalore!
Nick

Hi all,

M pretty much covered the haps for today. Thought during the bus ride to and from the canals I managed to suss out a few more of the road rules around here:

Overtaking...
1. If you think you cant make it..... you can
2. If you know you cant make it..... honk your horn and you can

3. Theres no such thing as GIVE WAY
4. Never, in any circumstances STOP

[/b]The boat rides
Also, in true India style the boat broke down after the first leg. Nobody bothers to tell you about this though but we (the Germans, Spanish and ourselves) kinda figured it out after 20 minute of still be tied to the island. In the end they managed to make one working engine out of the parts from two and we were on our way once again.

Fairly good trip, well worth it. Have since got a mean seafood feed at Fort Kochin and been checking out the local stores (mainly art & craft). Some pretty mean stuff that I think I'm gonna have to buy before we cruise outta here the day after tomorrow.

We opted for the prawns rather than the "Fry-D oistures and muscles" (good England, huh?) and they went straight from the seamongers table into the pot at this food stall / restraunt on the beach. Decent prawns but waaaaay overcooked - India style, so a bit of a waste.

Haha, the waiter at the beach / pavement restraunt type thing we had the prawns at recommended this bar to me. We cruised down to check it out and but it was so ridiculously dark and seedy we had to leave. Even located down a dark alleyway! Cant wait till Bangalore / Goa where drinking isnt such a subculture.

Like Urdu (old Indian language) I am starting on the Left of the page (well today and will attempt to add a Maya-retrospective to the already posted Nick-tales)

A Bugger of a night, mostly because it was so sticky hot and the sheet sacs were awesome but too hot to breath under them when one is hiding from mosquitos!! Anyway headed off to the 'Backwaters' with Crazy Erratic and Tooting bus driver to where we were loaded onto a houseboat complete with red plastic chairs. Rather an idealic ride along to the 'Shellfish processing' place which was non-operational on Sundays !! and to admire local medicinal plants etc. Highlight was Kerala Lunch... White rice (std), potatoe/pumpkin/some other root vegetable curry, salads of different types and some beautiful fresh yogurt lightly spiced!! Then punting along some smaller waterways stopping to have fresh coconuts and to see Coir ropes being made.

Exploring the backwaters of Kerala

Tonight made B-line to waterfront to buy our own seafood and have it cooked for us. Decided on a huge plate of Tiger prawns and had them made into 2 dishes. Beautiful flavours but a tad overcooked, like ordering med-rare and getting well done!!, just not what your mouth was watering for.

Cheers
Maya