I'm sitting in an internet cafe on the main street of Fort Kochin, Kochin, Kerala, India. Humidity saturates my pores, my body is rushing from the Chana Masala dish I just scoffed down with Dan, Illana and Lauren in a tiny local 'restaurant' on the side of the road. My skin has a fine layer of dirt covering it, revealed only by the whiteness of my skin beneath my constant accumulation of shining bangles. India has crept into, over and around me and it has only just begun to weave its oddly alluring magic.
Kochin is a bustling city replete with fancy shopping malls, back alleys rich with Jewish, Jain, Hindu and Christian history etched into the buildings and the pavements and people's faces. It's difficult not to fall in love with the high coastline, the coconut palmtrees, the Indian smiles, the Indian stares, the auto-rickshaw drivers and our hosts at our homestay here in Fort Kochin.
We've been on insane journeys just to reach this very Southern state (with 99 percent literacy I'll have you know!). Down from Mumbai Lauren and I crept in a sleeper bus to reach Gokarna. Now Sleeper Bus in India actually means SLEEPER, where you get a double-sized mattress to lie upon and a bollywood film for your 12 hour drive. Once we reached Gokarna in Karnataka we were more than mildly distressed and exhausted, but as the sun began to creep up over the tropical coastline hills, our worries seemed to fall away. The water is WARM in Gokarna, never have I wanted to wallow so long in sea water and never have I felt so utterly safe!! (Despite the slight fear of the overly curious young Indian men who could only wade out a certain distance in the ocean and then gave up their curious chase as we swam away [these particular Indian men weren't very adpet swimmers]).
New years hit us in a strange and brief storm and after a couple more days on the beach we were ready to leave for Hampi. My newly cut hair wanting a new breeze to blow in!
So our first train experience, was well, an experience! We bought general standing tickets and managed to find ourselves utterly confused as to where we should actually be, so we found ourselves wedged between compartments, sitting on our backpacks right next to the train ablutions (wait for my insert on Indian toilets!) and the open doors letting the fast dusty breeze pass over us as we trained our way up to Madgoan, Goa for the night. One Night in Madgoan....is ALL you need. The Good Shepard hotel didn't offer much, except for creaky old beds, trippy, worryingly old fans, some very bright pictures of Jesus and a small store where we could buy water and fizzy cooldrink. Old Monk Indian Rum and some of that fizzy cooldrink helped make the place a better place to say, but I can't say it made waking up very easy the next day!
For about four days up until this point I had had water stuck in my ear. What an incredibliy detracting experience that was. I was in pain and partially deaf for most of the first few days of the new year. Once we had climbed on our train to Hospet (to get to Hampi), I had almost resigned myself to never hearing properly again. But due to our sheer luck and delightful incapability to find the right seats on the train, we landed up wedged between West Bengalians who happened to be med students. One kind soul showed me how to slowly insert an earbud and turn it to soak up the water in my ears.
POP. All of a sudden the world came rushing at me and I felt like I had returned from a parallel universe. Never have I been so grateful for the abilty to hear!
And so the train ride ensued and we ended up in Hospet. We took a local bus to Hampi and on first arrival we were immediatly confronted with the beautiful sight of the Vittala Temple. Once we had found a place to settle we took a walk around this temple. My first temple experience in India.
It left me speechless, dating back to the 13th century I could feel its ancientness creep up on me.
Kochin is a bustling city replete with fancy shopping malls, back alleys rich with Jewish, Jain, Hindu and Christian history etched into the buildings and the pavements and people's faces. It's difficult not to fall in love with the high coastline, the coconut palmtrees, the Indian smiles, the Indian stares, the auto-rickshaw drivers and our hosts at our homestay here in Fort Kochin.
We've been on insane journeys just to reach this very Southern state (with 99 percent literacy I'll have you know!). Down from Mumbai Lauren and I crept in a sleeper bus to reach Gokarna. Now Sleeper Bus in India actually means SLEEPER, where you get a double-sized mattress to lie upon and a bollywood film for your 12 hour drive. Once we reached Gokarna in Karnataka we were more than mildly distressed and exhausted, but as the sun began to creep up over the tropical coastline hills, our worries seemed to fall away. The water is WARM in Gokarna, never have I wanted to wallow so long in sea water and never have I felt so utterly safe!! (Despite the slight fear of the overly curious young Indian men who could only wade out a certain distance in the ocean and then gave up their curious chase as we swam away [these particular Indian men weren't very adpet swimmers]).
New years hit us in a strange and brief storm and after a couple more days on the beach we were ready to leave for Hampi. My newly cut hair wanting a new breeze to blow in!
So our first train experience, was well, an experience! We bought general standing tickets and managed to find ourselves utterly confused as to where we should actually be, so we found ourselves wedged between compartments, sitting on our backpacks right next to the train ablutions (wait for my insert on Indian toilets!) and the open doors letting the fast dusty breeze pass over us as we trained our way up to Madgoan, Goa for the night. One Night in Madgoan....is ALL you need. The Good Shepard hotel didn't offer much, except for creaky old beds, trippy, worryingly old fans, some very bright pictures of Jesus and a small store where we could buy water and fizzy cooldrink. Old Monk Indian Rum and some of that fizzy cooldrink helped make the place a better place to say, but I can't say it made waking up very easy the next day!
For about four days up until this point I had had water stuck in my ear. What an incredibliy detracting experience that was. I was in pain and partially deaf for most of the first few days of the new year. Once we had climbed on our train to Hospet (to get to Hampi), I had almost resigned myself to never hearing properly again. But due to our sheer luck and delightful incapability to find the right seats on the train, we landed up wedged between West Bengalians who happened to be med students. One kind soul showed me how to slowly insert an earbud and turn it to soak up the water in my ears.
POP. All of a sudden the world came rushing at me and I felt like I had returned from a parallel universe. Never have I been so grateful for the abilty to hear!
And so the train ride ensued and we ended up in Hospet. We took a local bus to Hampi and on first arrival we were immediatly confronted with the beautiful sight of the Vittala Temple. Once we had found a place to settle we took a walk around this temple. My first temple experience in India.
It left me speechless, dating back to the 13th century I could feel its ancientness creep up on me.
Wow, what a roller coaster adventure...amazing how a little thing like the ability to hear is sooo precious!
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