Yesterday was a great day! Ok so I had to get up before 7!!! Rushed to get ready and have breakfast before the coach came to pick us up at 8 and guess what, he didn't turn up til 8 45!!! (This is India).
We were taken through the town on an hours journey on a coach with no Air conditioning, (thank goodness we could open the windows) and as Claude and I were the last on, we discovered there was only one seat available at the back of the coach!!! Luckily, I have lost enough weight over the last week that my bottom has slimmed down enough to enable me to be the 'extra person' squeezed on the back seat. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the 10 year old German girl sat there as well that decided to start wiggling around and singing songs!!
Finally we arrived at the Back waters and climbed onto our boat - a large wooden canoe that seated about six of us! Then we were rowed along the water for about half an hour admiring the views - which have to be said were stunning and tranquil.
Eventually we moored up by the bank and climbed out to watch a couple of Keralan men shelling coconuts! It is unbelievable the kind of things that coconuts are used for, not one single part of it is wasted! Apart from the obvious food additive/snack that the pulp is used for, the shell is used for cooking utensils whilst the straw in the husk is dried out and used to make strong rope and any powdery parts are used to feed the animals, meanwhile the outer pod is used as 'firewood'.
After watching the coconut men at work, we were taken further down the water to some spice fields and finally ended up climbing onto a Rice Boat and being sailed over to a little shack where lunch was served.
Our plates were in fact banana leaves! I turned to see how Claudine would react and over heard her telling one of the other people in our group that they were probably more hygenic than plates. Then I watched as she carefully took out her hand sanitiser and cleaned her spoon with it!
The food was delicious! In fact it was the first time in ages I had managed to eat a full meal! And as Claude and I sat sweating from the unbelievable humidity, we commented on what a nice day it was.
There was an English woman sitting next to her, that seemed to do nothing but complain about her stay in India and she turned to me and asked what was so nice about it. I started to explain but she interrupted me and said: 'There was nothing there that you couldn't get in England! Every summer I hire a barge and go down the River for a few weeks in the Midlands and that to me is enough, this out here is nothing more special'. Then she went on to moan about the clothes and jewellery and how it was all stuff that could be bought in the UK.
Claude and I smiled at her, made our excuses and walked away. As far as I am concerned if she prefers canaling in the Midlands to sailing along the Backwaters in South India then I'll book her on the next flight back!!!
By the time we got back to the Homestay (we were actually staying in the same one this time!!!!!) it was late and we were so exhausted from the heat, that an early night was had by all. I lay in bed, closed my eyes and felt as though I was still bobbing on the water as I drifted off to a full nights sleep.
Today we went to Jew Town!!! Well actually it is really just one road with a synagogue on it. I think there are only 9 Jewish people left in Kerala now, most live in Mombai (Bombay) and there are only a total of 9.000 in the whole of India!! Most had fled to Israel when she was given Independence. Although I thought the synagogue itself was quite small, I was quite suprised to find out it is in fact the first and largest one in the whole of Asia!!!
Rather than hang around in the area for lunch, we agreed it was too hot to walk around and find somewhere decent. So we managed to grab the first Tuk Tuk and bartered a decent price to get back to Fort Cochin. Even though it was a small journey, the driver still managed to squeeze in two stops in which he tried to talk us into going into the shops and buying some 'cheap goods'. He wouldn't accept no for an answer saying we didn't understand what he was saying, but he soon enough understood when Claudine said she needed to get back because she felt ill and then did an impression of throwing up!!! His foot hit the accelerator so fast, I thought we were going to break the sound barrier!!!
This evening before dinner I thought that I would treat myself to getting some waxing done!!! Seeing as we are off to a nice resort tomorrow, I don't really want to show myself up. So I hoped on over to the salon over the road where I made an appointment for later that afternoon.
I returned later that day and was shown into the back area of the shop that had been curtained off. The bed was covered in a sheet that looked like it had been around since the 60's and probably not washed since then either! The walls were peeling and there was a big crucifix hanging over my head.
I climbed onto the bed, trying to stay calm as the therapist smiled and struggled to get the lid of a pot of wax, then stuck her spatula into the hardened mixture within and tried to scrape it down the front of my leg. Then she called to the lady at reception who bought over the wax heater, that also looked like it had seen better times (and less rustier ones too!!!) and told me to wait two minutes while they heated the wax up.
I don't know what possessed me to wait, but I did and watched as she tried again to roll some of this gloopy, warm mixture onto my shin and slowly ripped it off with a piece of cloth, obviously as the wax hadn't been heated properly not much happened, so she went over the same area, again and again and again. My first thought was: 'Bikini Line is next!!!' and I lept of the bed and said I would be back later on as I ran out of the 'salon' almost tripping over my trouser legs as I pulled them up!
Suffice it to say I will be going to the resort tomorrow looking slightly 'German'.
Goodbye Fort Cochin, Thodupuzha here we come ...
We were taken through the town on an hours journey on a coach with no Air conditioning, (thank goodness we could open the windows) and as Claude and I were the last on, we discovered there was only one seat available at the back of the coach!!! Luckily, I have lost enough weight over the last week that my bottom has slimmed down enough to enable me to be the 'extra person' squeezed on the back seat. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the 10 year old German girl sat there as well that decided to start wiggling around and singing songs!!
Finally we arrived at the Back waters and climbed onto our boat - a large wooden canoe that seated about six of us! Then we were rowed along the water for about half an hour admiring the views - which have to be said were stunning and tranquil.
Eventually we moored up by the bank and climbed out to watch a couple of Keralan men shelling coconuts! It is unbelievable the kind of things that coconuts are used for, not one single part of it is wasted! Apart from the obvious food additive/snack that the pulp is used for, the shell is used for cooking utensils whilst the straw in the husk is dried out and used to make strong rope and any powdery parts are used to feed the animals, meanwhile the outer pod is used as 'firewood'.
After watching the coconut men at work, we were taken further down the water to some spice fields and finally ended up climbing onto a Rice Boat and being sailed over to a little shack where lunch was served.
Our plates were in fact banana leaves! I turned to see how Claudine would react and over heard her telling one of the other people in our group that they were probably more hygenic than plates. Then I watched as she carefully took out her hand sanitiser and cleaned her spoon with it!
The food was delicious! In fact it was the first time in ages I had managed to eat a full meal! And as Claude and I sat sweating from the unbelievable humidity, we commented on what a nice day it was.
There was an English woman sitting next to her, that seemed to do nothing but complain about her stay in India and she turned to me and asked what was so nice about it. I started to explain but she interrupted me and said: 'There was nothing there that you couldn't get in England! Every summer I hire a barge and go down the River for a few weeks in the Midlands and that to me is enough, this out here is nothing more special'. Then she went on to moan about the clothes and jewellery and how it was all stuff that could be bought in the UK.
Claude and I smiled at her, made our excuses and walked away. As far as I am concerned if she prefers canaling in the Midlands to sailing along the Backwaters in South India then I'll book her on the next flight back!!!
By the time we got back to the Homestay (we were actually staying in the same one this time!!!!!) it was late and we were so exhausted from the heat, that an early night was had by all. I lay in bed, closed my eyes and felt as though I was still bobbing on the water as I drifted off to a full nights sleep.
Today we went to Jew Town!!! Well actually it is really just one road with a synagogue on it. I think there are only 9 Jewish people left in Kerala now, most live in Mombai (Bombay) and there are only a total of 9.000 in the whole of India!! Most had fled to Israel when she was given Independence. Although I thought the synagogue itself was quite small, I was quite suprised to find out it is in fact the first and largest one in the whole of Asia!!!
Rather than hang around in the area for lunch, we agreed it was too hot to walk around and find somewhere decent. So we managed to grab the first Tuk Tuk and bartered a decent price to get back to Fort Cochin. Even though it was a small journey, the driver still managed to squeeze in two stops in which he tried to talk us into going into the shops and buying some 'cheap goods'. He wouldn't accept no for an answer saying we didn't understand what he was saying, but he soon enough understood when Claudine said she needed to get back because she felt ill and then did an impression of throwing up!!! His foot hit the accelerator so fast, I thought we were going to break the sound barrier!!!
This evening before dinner I thought that I would treat myself to getting some waxing done!!! Seeing as we are off to a nice resort tomorrow, I don't really want to show myself up. So I hoped on over to the salon over the road where I made an appointment for later that afternoon.
I returned later that day and was shown into the back area of the shop that had been curtained off. The bed was covered in a sheet that looked like it had been around since the 60's and probably not washed since then either! The walls were peeling and there was a big crucifix hanging over my head.
I climbed onto the bed, trying to stay calm as the therapist smiled and struggled to get the lid of a pot of wax, then stuck her spatula into the hardened mixture within and tried to scrape it down the front of my leg. Then she called to the lady at reception who bought over the wax heater, that also looked like it had seen better times (and less rustier ones too!!!) and told me to wait two minutes while they heated the wax up.
I don't know what possessed me to wait, but I did and watched as she tried again to roll some of this gloopy, warm mixture onto my shin and slowly ripped it off with a piece of cloth, obviously as the wax hadn't been heated properly not much happened, so she went over the same area, again and again and again. My first thought was: 'Bikini Line is next!!!' and I lept of the bed and said I would be back later on as I ran out of the 'salon' almost tripping over my trouser legs as I pulled them up!
Suffice it to say I will be going to the resort tomorrow looking slightly 'German'.
Goodbye Fort Cochin, Thodupuzha here we come ...
Babe - you are hysterical
ReplyDeleteHope you have a real relax now
Of course you couldn't have done any of this without a tummy thing - may your life hereafter be filled with using any toilet you want anywhere
xxx