Madurai, Jan 9 2009

Today at 3:00 AM I took an 8 hour train from Varkala to Madurai. I got to Madurai two hours ago. Here there is a wonderful temple but unfortunately the temple is being renovated and most of its facade is covered with straw. I hope I'll be able to see some of its inside later. Otherwise this trip here may have been a waste of time. Tomorrow I'm continuing to Pondicherry which is supposed to be a very nice place, french style as it was colonized by the French.
Varkala was nice. The beach is OK, too wavy and very difficult to swim. The 2nd day was pretty good. I met a Brazilian woman from S. Paulo. Thais, she has been traveling 4 months in India and mostly doing yoga in different Ashrams. She is a Yoga teacher. You find a tremendous amount of Yoga people everywhere in India.
As I said before Varkala is pretty touristic, but on the 2nd day I started to feel more at home, after I moved to this more centrally located guest house. Thais was looking for a room, so we met, quite a coincidence to meet a Brazilian in this circumstances, and she was actually taking the room that I was vacating. I got a very good hotel in Madurai, and I started reading Chantaram, this famous book about Mumbai which I'm enjoying a lot. I have too much time in Pondicherry, and Chennai where I'm catching my flight to Bombay seems pretty boring, therefore I may pass by another beach in the area for a day or two before I head home.
The closer it gets to my return the more I'm feeling home-sick

Varkala, Jan 7, 2009

So I'm changing my plans. I was planning to stay many days in Varkala, but I figured that two days will be enough. Varkala is a very nice beach, but too touristic. Feels a bit like Pucket in Thailand. Many charter tourists from the UK, sophisticated resorts and relatively expensive restaurants (in Indian terms). All the resorts, hotels, restaurants are on the top of a cliff and the beach is down the cliff. Reminds a bit of Hertzliah Pituach. There are tons of guest houses, hotels, small resorts and restaurants. The tourists are very different than the other places I've been. More middle class, older and richer than the typical back-packer which I have been meeting so far. For me it is less interesting and I decided to move on to Madurai on the 9th by train. My train leaves in the middle of the night. I get to Madurai at about 11:00 AM. Madurai supposedly has a very beautiful temple. From there I'm moving to Pondicherry. Which is a very nice city on the east cost of India. Pondicherry was under French colonialism and supposedly has a French charm to it. From there I go to Chennay and I have already booked another flight from Chennay to Mumbai.
Varkala has very good seafood and fish, therefore I'm profiting to eat some fish and seafood.
The beach is not very good, as it is very wavy and with strong currents. Quite dangerous for swimming. In the beach there a few Indian guys with whistles controlling where people bath. Feels a bit like in Israel, but without the Megaphones. They only whistle. Not clear that they are life-guards. Today I changed to another guest house. It is cheaper and better located. In the previous one I felt that I was not getting to return to my money. So Varkala and in General Kerala is one of the richest states in India and in many respects sometime you feel it is too organized. I prefer the messy India. Tomorrow I'm going to the town, as the beach does not feel like India. I liked much better Goa and Gokarna compared to Verkala. Today I bought a few used books. The books in India are in General quite cheap, specially used. There is a book that all tourists are reading called Shantaram. This is a story which happens in Mumbai and talks a lot about the life in this huge city. So it is quite interesting for someone which is traveling in India. I also bought a book of Salman Rashid, his books are very recommended to all the ones I talk.
So now my travel is much more planned as I cannot just flow. The days are counted. I'm starting to feel homesick, so it seems I had enough.

Allepey, Kerala Jan 6th, 2009

Now I'm in Allepey for my boat trip in the backwaters. I've decided to take the trip down to Kollan which is an 8 hour trip. Some people say it is a bit boring, but it is convenient to me as I'm going down to Kerala and it is on the right direction.
Allepey is a small village close to the see. Not much to see here. It has two big canals and many of the boat trips to the backwaters start here. I'm in this Heritage Hotel (long name) which is nice and nicely located. Unfortunately they gave me a room which has lots of problems with the water. Everytime I need to use water, they need to turn a noise pump on. But the place has a very nice internal garden full of birds, and green.
Yesterday I passed the day in Fort Cochin. Cochin is nice but not much to see.Fortunately I'm becoming pretty good at meeting people and starting to talk to them. Today I basically spent most of the day with a Canadian woman (a Jewish one) and made my day more enjoyable, instead of touring by myself. Cochin has a very ancient (1600) Jewish community. One of the highlights of the city is the Jewish city, which is basically a small neighborhood with a very ancient synagogue and Jewish cemetery. So I met my Canadian friend in the Jewish cemetery :-). It was closed but we were the only ones there. It is quite interesting. So I figured she would be Jewish and started a conversation. She is a Yoga practicer for many years, a chef and lives in an Ashram in Vancouver Island in Canada.

So Cochin has not much to do in the evening. Food here is very good, but quite expensive in India terms (not in western). Actually Kerala is a communist state inside India. It is richer than most states, more educated and more quiet. You really feel the difference. Streets are clean, well signed and cars don't use their horn at all. Feels quite different than the standard Indian City. Lots of arts, spices, antiques, etc.