Mamalapuran, Jan 14 2009

This is my 2nd day in Malalapuran and this place is far exceeding my expectations. I thought I was coming to a small beach place with good seafood, etc. Actually this place is a world heritage and is full of huge stone boulders all with amazing carvings. It has many temples in the area, most dating back 1300 years. Therefore it is proving to be one of the most interesting places in my trip. It also has an incredible concentration of Stone Carving artists known world-wise. Additionally it is a quite cute beach place, with a few guest houses, many western tourists (many French coming from Pondecherry) and many restaurants serving western food and seafood. The beach is OK, but the sea on the gulf of Bengal is very wavy and almost impossible to swim. I got here yesterday morning from Pondencherry, the road to my surprise was extremely good and well signed. I'm staying in the Siva guest house, very good room for 400 RPs. As soon as I arrived, I met in front of my guest house in the cafe a nice German woman, Margaret. Since we have been sight seeing together. Yesterday we did a 9 kilometer wald on the beach. And today we rented bicycles and did a tour of 40 kilometers. She lives in Munich and commutes by bicycle every day. I'm also in very good shape. We went to an amazing temple which is on a high mountain. You have to climb about 500 steps (barefoot) to get there. On the way you pass by many small Indian villages, rice fields, etc. It was really very pleasant. At the same there is a dance festival going on, with performances every night. It is Indian folk and classical dancing. It is considered one of the best in India and is very high level. On this days there is also the Pongal festival, where people thank the gods for the harvest. All homes have some chalk drawings on their entrance which women do early in the morning. The area is full of Indian families on vacation for the Pongal festivities. All in all I'm enjoying this place a lot.Two more day and back home.

Pondencherry, Jan 12 2009

So I got to Pondencherry two nights ago. I got here in the evening, and as expected most of the recommended guest houses in Lonely Planet were full. I called them from the train. I found one which was available, a bit on the expensive side (700 RPs) but pretty nice.
I went for a walk in the beach in the French part of the city and it was very nice. On the way I checked another very recommended guest house, Park GH which was very full. They told me to come the next day at 9:00 for possible availability. Pondencherry has a "French" part, with numerous heritage houses, as it was a French Colony till 1952. This area is extremely clean (for India), it has French Heritage buildings and hotels and French restaurants. Most of the tourists are Indians. The boardwalk near the beach is very nice about 1.5 km. You cannot bathe in this area as it does not have a sandy beach. You need to go farther away. My hotel had very good hot water and I took a long hot shower after a long time with cold water only.
The next morning I woke at around 6:30 and went to check other lodging opportunities. I went to the Park GH again and they told me that they probably would have rooms but to get back at around 10:00. So I decided to go some sight-seeing before checking-out and trying to move to a different guest-house. I was a bit disappointed as I planned to stay a few days in Pondencherry and it did not seem that it deserved it.
As I've been saying, everyday is a new day.
So while I'm walking, comes this Young French woman Candice and stops me in the street asking If I knew of any good and cheap guest houses in the area. I told her about Park, but also the possible price. It was a bit high for her and she told me that she had checked another one which was cheaper. She decided to go back to the one she checked before and invited me to come and check too. We get there, they have only this big room with four beds, which is kind of a dorm and they offer for both of us to take the room for 350 RPs. Therefore we decide to share the room, which is great, big with a huge shower and toilet inside. So we become friends and we spent the whole day and evening together. We rented a scooter and wandered around Pondicherry. We went to Auro-Ville which is an experimental community (a bit like a kibbutz) with people from 50 different countries. Looks an amazing experimental community. They don't let you go Inside but they have a big visitors center and the place attract lots of tourists. It is impressive.
Then we went to a lake nearby, and to a temple city about 10 KM range from Pondencherry.
Candice actually changed my perception of french woman I had met before. They seemed a bit distant and not approachable. Maybe because she had such a good English and had traveled so much. She had been 6 months in Indonesia, quite a few months in Africa, spoke German, etc.
She has a degree in business administration and is doing research in Recruiting. This time she is traveling for a whole year by herself around the world. She has been in Africa in a few different french speaking countries, now in India for a few months, then to Tokyo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and Peru, etc. Today she already left and I'm staying another day in Pondencherry prior to going to my last destination (I think) Malalapuran.
Yesterday was Sunday and Pondencherry had the Sunday market, which filled with thousands of people the central streets.
So my India experience is a blend of seeing some very interesting places and meeting amazing people.

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.

Gokarna, OM Beach, Jan 2 2009

Tomorrow is my last day in OM beach, I'm traveling to Kerala starting in Cochin. The last few days have been very relaxed. Waiting for new years. Thinking where the big party would be, etc. Many people talked about going to Kuttle beach which is a 20 minute walk. But in the night and not being completely sober would be tough. So ultimately I stayed in OM. Had a great dinner with my Serbian friend Ivana and some other people. Wow amazing King fish. I have figured that eating with my hands makes food more delicious than ever (on a side note, I used to criticize my daughter Daniela for doing this at home). It seems that using your hands increases your senses and things are even more tasty. Very early in the evening everybody was either drunk or stoned in this beach. So everybody is happy and smiling, etc. Around 10:00 PM a few fires where lit on the beach and people started singing, playing all kinds of instruments. Therefore the atmosphere was great. Watching the fire is amazing, you don't get bored any second. At some point I decided to go to sleep and it was already 5:00 AM. Later I heard that the party in Kutle beach was a flop, was police was all over and stopped the party at 11:00 PM.
So the days pass by with this wonderful lazyness of not doing much. I'm doing some kind of fitness exercice every morning: Yoga, Jogging, Walking and then swimming in this fantastic little beach. It is so refreshing. Spend a long time in the water and then on the sand (when the sun is not very hot). New Years is an Indian holiday and the beaches are full of local Indians.
The majority don't know how to swim and it feels that they haven't been much on beaches. They get crazy about playing in the water.
In many cases you see them watching the western women in their bikinis and quite astounded. I can imagine how different it looks to them from the local women which bathe on their clothes.
They are wonderful people. On the few occasions that you get to talk to them
They typically keep asking your name, country, etc. At some point it gets a bit tiring as they are so many. But when you do get to the next level of conversation you find wonderful, knowleadgeable and good people.

About drugs: It is just amazing the amount of people that you see consuming drugs around. From Charas to other more heavy stuff. I'm a passive smoker of cigarretes, joints ... You just sit aroudn and it is in the air. It starts with breakfast and goes on for the whole day. If not drugs, lots of drinking goes on. So people are happy, friendly, talkative, etc.
Also there is always a place where someone is playing some instrument.
On the 31st, I met quite a few people that wanted to have a great trip experience. So a few I know tried LSD. I'm too old for this stuff and too afraid to try it. But I'm learning a bit about it through the experience of others.
Today I wanted to jog on the beach, but I have a little wound on my leg and it hurts. So put some medicine on it and will wait for it to be better. Wounds here for some reason don't heal very fast, so I need to be careful.
It will be hard for me to leave as with time (I'm more than 10 days here) you get to know many people around, in the guest house, in the beach and you feel like home.
But so far every new beginning has been better than the previous. Therefore I'm sure Cochin will be great too.

Gokarna, OM Beach, Dec 29 2008

Everything is great. I'm staying in Gokarna, OM beach at least until the 3rd of January.
I have a booked train ticket to Cochin in Kerala (14 hours). Many people say that Cochin
is not that great, but I want to see Kerala and go in the back-waters.

OM beach is full of Israelis, as many people came from GOA to make sure their parents are not too worried. My guest house has a load of them. But also other Europeans. I'm not sticking in particular with the Israelis, too young for me.

Yesterday I met an Indian woman which is breaking all my stereotypes of Indians. She comes from Bangalore, she is divorced, owns a business, has her own car, etc, etc.
Therefore I'm getting to know how modern Indians live and not only the low classes which are extremely conservative. This is an amazing experience, as so far the Indian Woman I met here are too distant and don't get to close to westerners. From what I'm learning more and more you have modern Indians in the big cities, but also how hard it is to be divorced in such a conservative society. Her name is Sarita. She came here with her car. So yesterday we travelled to another nearby beach Karwar, north towards Goa. The beach was a bit of a disappointment.
OM is much better. Today I went again to Half Moon and Paradise beach. Wow so beautiful. Little bay with a few guest houses, shacks. You have to walk over the rocks to get there.
The huts don't have electricity, the restaurant has solar panels. And somehow there is an internet cafe. In the past, it was difficult for me to see me staying in such a place, but now I got the point and it can be really amazing. I'm not moving there, but who knows.
There is an Israeli guy, leaving in Half-Moon for 8 years with a scandinavian girl. They are building an Iglo with sand-bags to live. Wow such interesting people.
There is a German guy in my guest house, in his late 40s always playing the guitar. I talk to him and he had liver for quite a few years in Porto-Alegre. His wife is from there (which he is divorcing) and we spoke portuguese. Such a small world.
The food here in the different shacks is just delicious. I'm eating more and more with my hands and slowly and enjoying every bite.
Evening here starts with sunset around 6:00 PM and everybody seats on the beach, on the rocks. Many smoke joints (if not all) and beers start flowing. Around 7:00 places fill with people for dinner. Later in the evening the fires on the beach start, with people playing music and having a good time. It is an amazing lazy routine and real heaven.
The restaurant shacks are always full with people eating, drinking, smoking, playing cards, reading books, etc,
I'm happy