Fort Cochin

The corporation of Kochi, or simply known, Kochi, is the biggest city in Kerala, with a population of about 1.5 million people. It was created by joining three communities, Ernakulam, on the subcontinent being the modern one, Mattuchery and Fort Cochin on the island being the older, touristic and tranquil places. Our choice was Fort Cochin, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a Portuguese history, a Dutch one, a royal one and now it is at the forefront of the tourism development in Kerala. We stayed at Orion Skywings, a simple, but good mini hotel, the cheapest so far. We saw the historic attractions in Mattuchery, the Dutch house and the old Synagogue. No pictures allowed, but we got to pay Indian prices, 5 ruppees! The Dutch house has some amazing wall pictures, very old and interesting depictions of Mahabharata and besides that has a good, educative history of the royal family and traditions of Kerala. The head of their royal family was still alive when they put the exhibition together. He was 93 and he worked as an accountant after India's independence. Remember Mysore?
I visited my first synagogue, mixed impressions, they only have nine Jews left in the state, it takes ten for a service, I don't get it. Everybody said we should visit and having it there and a few hundred years old, we visited and it was interesting. I think Mattuchery is a brief stop on the itinerary of some cruises, there were a lot of groups of western tourists. The highlight of the day was the restaurant Casa Maria, where Ileana Ruxandra had the "best Indian meal" then the trip back to the hotel with the singing driver.

Another attraction in Kochi is the "Chinese fishing nets." Ingenious mechanism that takes six people working together, they were up, nothing was going on. It was a strong current that day, we got contradictory information about when to return. I wouldn't pay 200 rupees, $4, for a mock demonstration. When people see the true thing they also buy some of the catch and take it for cooking at one of the local restaurants.

Resting Chinese fishing nets

It was 8.30 am, we heard about a beach, we didn't know much. We jumped on a ferry for a quick trip, later I will find out that the ticket guy took three times more money from me. I gave him a hundred he probably got tired of counting the rest and stopped after giving me 70. How much was one ticket? Then we took a wrong road, ended nowhere, came back and took a 45 minute ricksha ride. We had no idea that it would take this long, we had almost no money and no food.
We arrived at Cherai beach, on Vypeen Island. This is phenomenal, the perfect beach we've been dreaming of. Ten kilometers of uninterrupted, undeveloped, sandy beach. Hardly any people. Unfortunately, no cows. After a few hours in the sun, we took of to walk for a bit and left the children by themselves.

Cherai Beach

When we came back an hour later, they were visited by "a beautiful, funny, young Parisian," who invited them to her restaurant. It turns out that Marjorie and her two partners just opened "Les Trois Elephants", a luxury resort. Maria gave more details here. We were so tempted to stay for our last night in India, and they would have given us a discount, but things didn't work out. We had a great lunch, French cuisine, including one dish of crème caramel. This is the kind of place where people would come after crossing half the world and have an amazing vacation, then go back recharged to work for another year. We will remember it for a long time, even though we might never make it here again. If you come in this area schedule a few extra days, go the "The Three Elephants" for us and say hello!

With Marjorie at the resort "Les 3 elephants" 

One of the rooms

The children learn a new game

Back at our hotel in Kochi, we have the last 48 hours of India. We look for tickets for a kathakali show, this is a famous traditional dance form. We write postcards and we do a quick tour of the old churches. It is impressive to see the first tomb of Vasco Da Gama. Of course his remains were moved to Portugal, but just imagine, he died here almost 500 years ago!

Sending postcards from India

St. Francis church, the temporary resting place for Vasco da Gama

In front of Santa Cruz basilica

 The Greenix village is one of those projects that you have to admire and respect. Combining money with a good cause and making what seems to be a self sustainable art venture. We saw the Kerala Cultural Experience, a 90 minute show of traditional dance forms from this area. It also included a little number of martial arts, even our black-belted children were impressed. We ate twice at their restaurant trying various local dishes. We liked them and they liked us!

End of show, the guests are invited for pictures

With the people at the Greenix Village restaurant

The last day came. In the morning, the children left at the hotel, we went to the Sunday mass at a Syrian orthodox church. We stayed for almost the whole service, women on the right, men on the left, a big nice church with open walls, loud megaphones and good choir. We couldn't understand one word, it was all in their impossible Malayalam language, I even recorded a segment for posterity.
At noon, we struggled to find a restaurant open for lunch, when we came back the taxi was already waiting. Seventy five minutes later, after a ride through the up-rising Ernakulam, we were at the airport. This is the first airport in India that was built with some private money, it is sparkling clean, super-modern and almost empty.
And then we left India. So many experiences, so much learning and in the end an unfinished business. While we saw the most important things in Japan and pretty much all there's to see for us in (upper) China, Tibet, Nepal, Delhi and Agra, now I felt that we were only skimming the surface of what this country has to offer and we will have to come back over and over and over.
For me, it was a continuous crescendo and I liked it more and more and more everyday. I will let my thoughts settle for a while and return at some point to what I learned in India.

Kerala, God's Own Country

In the Southern part of India there are two special states. To the East is Tamil Nadu and to the west is Kerala. Tamil Nadu, two times more people, four times bigger, is drenched in history and has lots of attractions, but we chose for this trip the smaller, much quieter, Kerala (pronounced Kerla). It's nickname is "God's own country" - even the pilot on our flight used that. Two thousands years ago Apostle Thomas brought Christianism here, following in the footsteps of Phoenicians and Romans who traded gold for Kerala spices. To this day Kerala still makes the best pepper in the world. We chose to come here for a couple of reasons, one being the cheap flight to Kuala Lumpur. When I bought the tickets we had no plans for India and this option opened a lot of choices.
Kerala was a newly formed state after India's independence and it's mostly populated by Malayalams. Their language is the most amazing, impossible to describe or understand thing that I've ever heard. It's rolling sounds made us stare in disbelief when our driver took a phone call.
Kerala holds the questionable honor of being the first place in the world where communists won in democratic elections. They remained in power, more or less, over the last 54 years. Maybe because of that there is more equitable distribution of land and wealth and Kerala has impressive records in health and education statistics. Considering our allergy to communism, we might have had a problem with that in the past, but truly is any political party (anywhere in this world) good for anything? At best they might be the promoters of some doctrine (by definition no doctrine has any good value in real life). In the worst case scenario, and unfortunately much more common, a political party is a mere facade to give legitimacy to a clique of opportunists and power grabbers. So communists or not, we arrived in Kerala, even if that might have cost us our lives. We didn't know the price at the beginning and we had a good laugh when we found out.

The North Canal in Alleppey

We landed in Kochi and we decided on the side walk of the airport to give up our plans for the southernmost point of India. We took a cab to Alappuzha and for almost three hours we were in heavy traffic. I used the time to call for accommodations and we found a "family room" at Tharavad Heritage. That turned out to be a full apartment with seven beds, but we needed air conditioning and that was only available in the two bedrooms. The air was very humid, it was hot and actually unpleasant.
Alappuzha (or Alleppey) is a city of some 200,000 people, 60 km south of Kochi. It is nicknamed the "Venice of Asia" - I hope that was never more than a joke. It is the main point of entry to the Kerala backwaters, a network of some 900 km of canals that has been in use for thousands of years and a major touristic attraction of Southern India. There are several ways to visit the canals, one being by houseboat, other by organized tours - several hours to a full day, or even just by regular ferry. We dedicated one day of shopping for the best option, but our search was done in five minutes. Our hotel had a luxury boat with two bedrooms, purchased six months ago, and they were giving us a very good price because we were already their clients. The children were attracted by the option of spending one night on the boat, the parents were excited by the opportunity of a more intimate exploration of the backwaters' way of life.
Before I quit my job, my coworkers gave me a good bye party and collected money for a gift. I asked them to donate all of that to the children's "fun fund", and the luxury houseboat fit the price and the goal. So we used their money and had a fabulous experience. Thank you so much!
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The search for a boat done, the temperature and humidity too bad, we choose to spend most of the day inside. The children do school for many hours. We leave at four, walk to the beach and have a good couple of hours on the seaside. The Arabian Sea is warm but agitated, only Ileana and Ioan, the youngest ones, have the energy to get in the water. We catch a nice sunset and have dinner at a good restaurant.

Ileana and Ioan playing in the waves 

Sunset, Arabian Sea

Next day, the biggest and best tuk-tuk would take all of us and all our luggage for the ten minute trip on the other side of Alleppey, where the boats are. We have a glimpse at the city life, pass by canals, no, this is not Venice. A tiny harbor holds countless boats, moored in several rows. Of course ours is the finest, easily recognizable, it has an observation deck on top. We are welcomed by the three man team and immediately served a fresh coconut. The best one so far, it has a lot of juice. They bring bananas and a pineapple, the lunch would be served later. We travel along a canal for a few minutes, then we enter the largest lake in India, cross part of it and we get lost along small canals. We lay up on the observation deck taking innumerable pictures. Ioan gets to drive the boat and has a good talk with the captain while the girls are working on their projects on the lower deck. The captain offers us the choice of going to the market to choose our own fish, but we would rather have what they give us for lunch. When it comes, it is a mirific display of traditional Indian cuisine, along with five fried black Kerala fish. I especially liked the pineapple curry with grated coconut. All the dishes are very tasteful and we enjoy it tremendously. The boat is anchored by a palm tree on the edge of a rice field. After the lunch break, we resume our journey along canals, passing by villages, waiting for a canoe with schoolchildren to clear our way, watching people coming out of church, washing their clothes, working their crops. It is so peaceful and nice, it is complete relaxation on the beautiful Kerala waters. At night we pool by the side, along with some other boats and have a great dinner before playing cards games and retiring for the night. In the morning we catch the first glimpse of the sunrise coming through our window. The boat starts the return journey while we have our breakfast and we are back in port by nine.

Welcome drink

Boat at rest, lunch break

Lunch on the boat

Images on the side

Drinking filtered water, resting on the observation deck

Sunrise in Kerala

Getting ready for the return trip

Of course there is another way to look at things and the whole paragraph could be rewritten. While you want to see your boat before paying for it, there are no good or bad choices of houseboats. There are hundreds and hundreds of identical boats, leaving the port all at once, following each other on some canals where nothing happens. After the first few minutes, when the initial excitement wears off, the boredom settles in. The schedule is made of lunch and dinner. The crew knows minimal English, and there is no program of visiting any traditional village, spice plantation or other attraction. There is no fishing or swimming. When we ask, we cannot be understood, or at best we get a "no problem", standard answer. The unlimited refreshments for the children are missing, they eventually find a small bottle of Pepsi somewhere. When they cut the pineapple, half it's lost, and we only eat two meager quarter slices. Since I didn't get any discount on the boat, I was promised two bottles of beer, free, and they would materialize after my specific request at dinner. The amazing Indian food is clearly not by our taste, it's all too hot and after a couple of bites, you cannot feel the taste or the mouth or both. And I really prefer the basmati rice to the Kerala one. Getting frustrated with the boring ride down similar canals, we cannot wait to move our feet.

The cohort of houseboats taking on

A very nice way to cut the pineapple, we never figured out what happened to the other half

When the boat stops for the night we take the path by the water, eager to explore. The canals were filled with communist flags advertising the next party congress and where we stop there is a loud political propaganda playing on the megaphones. Even in a foreign language it is so disturbing that we turn toward the rice fields and walk for half an hour toward some music. We get a glimpse at the sun setting, but cannot really see it because of some houses. Ileana gets chased by a crazy cow. When we decide to return, Maria discovers the fresh shed skin of a snake. It is about 2 meters long and the family picks it up for pictures. It is still moist and it wasn't there when we first passed. As we get closer to the water a local comes to warns us that we shouldn't be on that path, there are huge venomous snakes, very dangerous. Sorry, you shouldn't have put the communist propaganda on, we were just trying to get away from that. We laugh it off without thinking for more than a moment that we were so lucky, one of us could have been the daftest communist victim in the history of the world.

Another common sight on the side of the road

My family with the snake skin

Taller than Maria - maybe 1.70cm

Meh, I really prefer the first description of our trip, it was a fantastic day, we loved it and we thank my friends and former coworkers for their generous gift, and my kids for wanting and demanding it!

Good bye picture with the crew. Thank you! It was great!

Hampi

Man was inspired by nature!
In this case termite mounds and in the background Virupaksha  Temple

I like old things.

That require a lot of work.

It takes vision, and rules, and concentration to do a good job, one that stands the trial of time. I think we all want that what we do to live longer than us and the Vijayanagar achieved this. Maybe archeologists know more about this place than what is written on wikitravel, but the bottom line is they were here, built, and because they wanted to conquer other kingdoms, they were destroyed. The dynasty survived, they moved to a different part of India, but they never regained the power and wealth to build again. What makes people think that THEY have the right answers and the right to rule other people lives?

Detail at Hazara-rama Temple

In two hundred years a succession of kings from three dynasties built lots of things in this bend of the Tungaphadra river. It is a feisty one, unfordable here, that worked this landscape with its waters. It doesn’t seem possible now, the water is low, but I am told in the monsoon time, it rises10-20 yds. Wow, that is a lot of water! It would fill the valley and move those granite boulders like they were mere ping-pong balls. 

Tungaphadra river from the Mango Tree restaurant.

In the upper right corner there are white dots people.

The monuments are spread around over granite hills and in between banana orchards. People lived here continuously, they built their houses in the ruins. It makes sense to live in the bazaar if this is your job. But now the Archeological Society of India is moving them away and dismantles any new construction. That doesn’t deter people, who are still doing business on the main street, but the offices are somewhere else.

Bazaar with the gopura (gate) of the Virupaksha Temple.

The temples are variations of the same plan: an outside wall, a courtyard, a kitchen, a central main building for the worshipped god and a small one on the side for his spouse. The main building has three parts: a hall, called mandapa, an antechamber and the holy of holies. The mandapa is open and has lots of columns, with three or four images on one side, four sides to the column, each column having it’s own place and role in the story.

Mandapa to a Ganesh Temple.

Detail on the base of a column, Ganesh Temple.

Detail at mandapa, Underground Shiva Temple.

Detail in the portal, Krishna Temple.

Sometimes the story is from Ramayana, or from Bhagvadgita, or from another holy Hindu scripture, but they all prepare the pilgrim to enter the antechamber. This one has walls and four doors and in the middle four columns, elaborately carved, that hold in between them a slightly raised floor circle, the dans floor. From here one can enter the holy of holies, completely walled in, with a stone table that holds the statue of the god. If it would be an active temple, just the priest would enter it and wash the god with water and other liquids (milk, coconut milk that would be drained through a special spout on the outside), put flowers and light candles. 

Mandapa, Virupaksha Temple.

The antechamber, Hazara-rama Temple, Royal Enclosure.

Shiva representation, sanctuary.

Spout on the outside for the liquids from the sanctuary, Virupaksha Temple.

So this is how they are build, with platforms, columns, walls and roofs made of granite. They didn’t have to transport it, just to quarry it, or choose the place where to have the statue, carve it and build. You can still see in some places the holes made for breaking a big slab. 

Bull carved in situ.

Different tips of temples,  Jaina (the columns), Saiva (the two pyramidal roofs on the left)  and Hindu (Virupaksha Temple, middle and background) 

Temple and the landscape from which it is taken.

In just few of them the sikhara, a kind of tiered roof over the sanctuary, is integral. The rest are showing the brick structure and the plaster, but even in these you can see details and stories.

Virupaksha Temple, mandapa on the left and sikhara to the right.

In front of the temple is the bazaar, long granite corridors, the length of a football field. Here people would have brought incense, food, jewelry, animals, clothes. Now it serves for shade during the hot hours of the afternoon.

View from a temple, through the bazaar, toward Virupaksha Temple.

Bazaar and the Sitting Bull Temple.

Beside temples are the ruins of the royal enclosure. The foundation for a palace, the platform for the annual Darsala festival, with lots of elephants on it, another one called the Elephants Stable, because those openings could very well accommodate one, but they don’t really know for what they were, a pool with lots of carvings and waterspouts, and another temple, a watch tower. Alongside a water channel we saw stone plates.

Watch tower, Zanana Enclosure.

Lotus Mahal, Zanana Enclosure.

Elephant Stables, Zanana Enclosure

Stepped water tank, Royal Enclosure.

Mahanavammi-dibba, the platform for religious festivals, Royal Enclosure.

Queen's Bath, Royal Enclosure.

Detail of a water-spout, with two elephants and a god.

Stone plates and water channel.

To cover all this ground we hired two tuk-tuks and I couldn’t explore the way that I wanted (sometimes is a good thing). After Vittala temple we went looking for a stone image, a lingam surrounded by twelve pairs of feet. We didn’t know where it was, just next to the river, close to a temple who’s name I forgot. I had a picture of it from the book, and I wanted to put it in the context.  Eventually I had my part of adventure and exploring, walking on slippery granite, looking for monkeys and sloth bears (who supposedly come out after dark, but maybe they were early that day) and found what I was looking for.  And after a long day we were suddenly done and had the time to walk barefoot in the water, and enjoy the reflection of the sunset in the river.

Note the three stone hearts pierced by one arrow in the right upper corner...