Saturday, Feb 29th, Kochi, India

Greetings!

Today, we spent in a fishing village (Kallencherry Island), and on a tour of Old Kochi.  In the middle of the coastal state of Kerala (translation:Land of Coconuts), there are miles of small lakes which contain fish and crabs and shrimp and coconuts.  There are also plenty of families who live off these rich resources.  Our Guide (Loyjohn) hosted us for a cruise, a demonstrations of their crafts, and a wondertful lakeside lunch.

Their pole net systems, and fishing boats are constructed using rope made from coconut husks and wood from jack fruit trees,  The roofs of their houses and the baskets they use are woven from coconut leaves.  And the family members who carry on these traditions generously demonstrated their skills to us.

In the afternoon, Maria took us for a tour of Old Kochi.  In St Francis Church, under huge woven fabric fans pulled by villagers with ropes through holes in the walls, she explained the history of Kerala, and the social structure of its society.  It was one of the most complete and informative lectures we've had, and provided much which will help us understand our views of India.

Inside the Church, we saw the first gravesite of Vasco de Gama, who died in Kochi in 1524, and who disrupted the earlier spice traders from China and the Middle East.   In 1663, the Dutch finally defeated the Portuguese.  In 1814, the British began their takeover to become the third and last colonial power over India.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Saturday, Feb 29th, Kochi, India.

Friday, Feb 28th, Kochi, India

Greetings!

Today, we left after breakfast and drove to Kochi (one of Trip Advisor's top ten trending destinations in the world this week) where we'll stay for two nights at the Old Courtyard Hotel.  The register at the hotel says that Mark Phillips (Princess Anne's first husband) of Sussex, England stayed here the night before last.  I'm betting it was a similar room with a third floor view.  Pat doubts it was he.  I prefer to think it's trending because we're here.

But before we checked in, we attended Gloria Homestay's Cooking Demonstration, and were treated to tips from Charlotte on how to best prepare curry dishes featuring king fish, shrimp, cabbage, and beet root.  There are lots of action photos in the album, and they hardly reveal the many insights she shared.

This evening, we went to a Kathakali Performance a couple of blocks from the hotel.  It was an amazing combination of music, dance, and story-telling emphasizing facial and body language.

To see all the photos taken today, click on: Friday, Feb 28th, Kochi, India.

Thursday, Feb 27th, Alleppy, India

Greetings!

Hooray for the Indian medical system.  For 600 rupees (eight and a half dollars), i got in immediately to have a doctor examine my foot, a nurse clean and treat it, and have their pharmacy provide me with four sets of six days worth of three time/day antibiotic and anti-fungal medicines.  I felt very well provided for, and we're much relieved by their positive view of my future.  I'm really glad Pat pushed for the early medical checkup.  My impression of the doctor's view of the performance of the drugs we were using, she clearly said that they weren't going to help with what I have.

Bijou is also the hero for finding the rural hospital (Saint Joseph's)), and for still getting us to the Lakes and Lagoon Luxury Houseboat Company dock in time for our day-long relaxation on our own sixty-foot luxury houseboat down the canals of this backwater treasure in style. 

Finally, to brighten up my day (and my heart), just after arriving at our beachside hotel (Raheem Residency), I limped across the sandy beach in front of the hotel to find three or four hundred people (mostly families) down by the water's edge and shorebreak watching the sunset, and enjoying each other.

There's a joy in this surf-loving (my kind of spiritual) experience that is enriched by seeing the residents of this culture appreciate my church.

To see the rest of the photos taken on a leisurely day, click on Thursday, Feb 27th, Alleppy, India.

Wednesday, Feb 26th, Kumararom, India

Greetings!

Another long travel day by car, and very appreciated.  My foot is getting worse, and the only walking we did today was getting cash from an ATM, and taking a photo of this Catholic church (St Francis of Assisi). 

This evening, after checking into the Lakesong Resort (actually on a large bay on the western coast of India), we went on a sunset cruise.

Tomorrow, we'll be skipping the all-day houseboat cruise in order to go see a doctor about my foot.  The topical antibiotic, topical pain cream, oral pain medicine, and oral antibiotic just aren't doing it.  What was a cut on my dry heel has now become an ugly, painful foot and lower leg that's reduced my sleep, made me not want to walk, and bringing up my ability to complete this trip.  Cross your fingers.

To see the very few photos taken today, click on Wednesday, Feb 26th, Kumararom, India.

Tuesday, Feb 25th, Thekkady, India

Greetings!

A morning boat ride on a lake in the Periyar Wildlife Preserve, a visit to an excellent local spice farm, and an afternoon of leisure on our deck overlooking the Great Indian Escarpment known as the Southern Ghats.  It's a mountain range older than the Himalayas, formed when India broke away from Madagascar 160 million years ago. 

The boat ride was exactly what our sore feet and weak knees needed.  And what we were convinced would not be much more than chugging around in the lake spotting birds on dead tree trunks - took an unexpected bit of excitement.  Along with many birds, and a few large Gaur (Indian Bison - the largest bovine in the world), we got to witness a large Indian elephant walk down to the lake shore, take a drink of water and spray shower herself, and then proceed to swim across the lake.

Our captain decided to abandon our scheduled return time, and we carefully followed her whale-like mostly-underwater crawl-stroke, periodically popping her trunk above the surface for air, journey.  Though most of the passengers and crew had seen elephants before, the opportunity to watch one swim was truly unique.  Be sure to check out the entire sequence in today's photo album.

On our way back to the hotel, we visited The Spice Farm, a plantation for spices and herbs, located on Munnar Road, a mile from Kumily.  Rajesh, A guide there, was extremely knowledgeable (and you know that Pat knows her spices and herbs), and we gained new understandings of the vast uses in both cooking and medicine for what we found growing there. 

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Tuesday, Feb 25th, Thekkady, India.

Monday, Feb 24th, Thekkady, India

Greetings!

Thanks to Joseph Jibin at Image Mobile Gallery in Thekkady Junction, Kumily, we have a working cell phone.  I can't thank him and his colleagues enough for the rescue.  His mobile number is 9995450333, but if you're having problems like we had with your phone, his cell number won't be of much use.  Try them at 18, Dindigul, Theni, Kottarakkara Highway.

And to our complete embarrassment, we caused the problem.  Instead of giving our Sri Lankan sim card to our driver as we left that country, we gave him the India sim card.  We've been trying to make the Sri Lankan sim card work in India these past few days.  Hey, Jay, you're no doubt having the reverse problem.  So sorry.

Earlier in the day, we visited the Thirumalai Nayak Palace, and its outstanding museum.  The Palace is famous for its giant pillars, 82 feet tall and 19 feet deep.  They are coated with, and the detail is made of shell lime and egg-white.  Home to one of the greatest kings of the Nayak Dynasty in the early 1600s, the structure has suffered from wars and years of dismantlement and abandonment. 

Then, it was on to the Meenakshi Amman Temple for another adventure through thousands of columns, and at least ten thousand carvings.  My advice to the traveler who plans on spending time in temples in India is to spend at least a month before you arrive walking barefoot on marble and concrete ground for an hour or two a day.  I can blame this damn cut on my heel for most of my discomfort, but by now both Pat and I are feeling the burn.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Monday, Feb 24th, Thekkady, India.

Sunday, Feb 23rd, Madurai, India

Greetings!

Even though we weren't traveling to a new hotel today (this is our last of three nights here), it seemed like another traveling day.  That's because we drove about three and a half hours each way to Rameswaram Island, and spent an hour inside the Ramanathaswamy Temple.  The island is in the Gulf of Mannar, off the coast of the tip of southeast India.  There's a bridge (Pambam Bridge) connecting the island to the mainland, completed in 1988, which parallels a railroad bridge built by the British in 1914.

The 12th century temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, and is one of twelve jyotirlinga temples in India (one of two in South India).  A high wall surrounds the temple premises with huge towers at all four corners.  The outside corridors are thought to be the longest in the world, containing 1,212 pillars for a total length of 3,850 feet.  The volume of story carvings created over six hundred years, is astounding.

But what really is overwhelming are the pilgrims and worshippers (almost ten thousand today) who join in the festival twice a year to pray to Shiva and the other deities around him.  Touching statues, fanning flames, calling out songs, wearing ashes and drops of water, all in service of obtaining good luck, good family fortune, and warding off feared outcomes.

I'm stealing shots other photographers have taken inside the temple, because they don't allow cameras.  These columns and temple reliefs/carvings should not be missed.

To see other stolen photos, and a few shots of mine on the way there and back, click on Sunday, Feb 23rd, Madurai, India.

Saturday, Feb 22nd, Madurai, India

Greetings!

So what happened to Friday, you ask?  First, it was the day we traveled from Sri Lanka to India.  Many hours driving to Columbo, getting through the security checkpoints, and waiting for the mid-afternoon flight.  Short flight later, and even more checkpoints and customs to enter India (for the second time on our new visa).  And then, to our surprise, when we switched our sim card back to the one we were given on first entering India three weeks ago, it wanted a pin code we didn't have.

It turns out that sim cards from India routinely block phones upon re-insertion when interrupted by other sim cards.  And since new India sim cards are not easy or quick to get, our tour company is right now still trying to get a new one over the weekend before we leave this Indian state.  They sell them by state, and it has to be activated within the state before you can use it in another.

So no active sim card, no photos.  Not that there was much to photograph.  Just a two-hour special prayer ceremony with 2,000 worshippers walking in circles around the insides of a 1,300 year-old temple with a decorated massive female elephant and brahman bull.

Returning to the Mandara Resort, I was convinced I could not do many more temples barefooted on this trip.

Fortunately, today's itinerary was not more temples.  And even more fortunately, Pat figured out a way to resurrect her Mini-IPad's power cord so i could use it as a substitute camera.  We started off the day at the flower market, and then walked the nearby antique shops.  It felt like we had stepped into an episode of American Pickers when we came across classic old business signs, including bicycle shops, and a bench with my high school mascot (the Pointers) on it.

Our main stop for the day was one of the huge old merchant mansions in Chettinad, where we had a cooking demonstration which prepared our lunch. 

I took far too many photos, and most out of focus getting used to the IPad, to adequately show how much fun it was for Pat and Marie to learn from Mr. Pardiyan and Ms Annapoorahi, as they prepared the shrimp, chicken, rice and potato entres and lots of other chutneys and sauces.  We can't more highly recommend The Bangala in Karaikudi. 

Finally, we did visit two more places where my sandals came off, and we saw more of the current state of the class socialization of India.  The temple was an almost hidden town treasure, maintained by the town, and restored by it every twelve years.  The last merchant mansion (there are many) has been abandoned, is almost unvisited, and serves only as a reminder of the disparity of the wealth between classes.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Saturday, Feb 22nd, Madurai, India. 

Thursday, Feb 20th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

Blue whale watching is one thing not many people need a guide or a translator for.  Most of the time, you're scanning the sea surface for vertical geysers of breath off in the distance.  At best, your skipper and crew have placed your boat correctly where these giants will surface from their deep dives for the plankton they love.  Our guys were mostly correct, and it was all the other boats who raced toward us to catch a brief glimpse of the largest creatures on the planet.

Unfortunately, blue whales seldom break the surface of the water, and their small dorsal fin and tail are only visible just before they head for the deep.  Sorry to say, you'll have to imagine what we saw.

Later today, we drove along the sixty mile stretch of beach town that ends west of here at Galle Fort, a Portuguese contribution starting in 1588.  Captured and re-captured by the Dutch and British, using native Senegalese, it has been built and re-built most recently from the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

To see all of the photos taken today, including some by our guide (Jayantha Gunawera), click on: Thursday, Feb 20th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka.

Wednesday, Feb 19th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

Well, our ailments are still in full force, but they're not preventing us from being driven around to the places we've scheduled for visits.  Today's menu was an early Jeep safari back into the Yala National Park.  The Park averages 300 jeeps (4-6 passengers each) in groups of 20 vehicles.  Lineup begins at 6am at the park entrance, and experienced Safari drivers are in great demand.  Our tour operator (Indebo) has been doing this for quite a while, and lining up Milan for just the two of us plus Jay was exceptional.  After yesterday's spectacular drive through the Park, we knew that we'd be in good hands.

Riding in the Safari vehicle is not easy.  First, it's so high off the ground that climbing into it takes a ladder.  Second, you better sit at the window, because everyone is constantly looking in every direction to spot whatever they can see, and you want at least one direction without anyone blocking your view.  Again, having the whole cabin to ourselves made that much easier.

Third, sitting face forward is exactly the wrong strategy.  The road is torn up throughout the Park (300 jeeps a day, plus the wear and tear by large animals and floods, can do that to it).  Attempting to position us in the perfect viewing spot, among dozens of competing vehicles, across holes and ruts which will swallow us up, causes us to rock constantly from side to side.  The human body, its skeleton and muscles, is built to bend forward and backward, not side to side.  The best approach is to sit in the middle seats sideways, with your feet bracing against the seat across from you and your arms hanging on for your life.

Toward the end of the morning, we headed for the ocean to finally get to eat the breakfast box the hotel prepared for us at 5am.  We were exhausted, needed the potty break, and I was glad to put my feet on the ground in sand.   I'm always glad to see surf, on any continent.

And Pat asked me to photograph a milkweed flower she had not seen before, which has been my joyous assignment for decades.

After returning to the hotel and checking out, we started a long drive to Mirissa.  It's located just west of the southern most tip of Sri Lamka, where we stopped at exactly that place near a lighthouse.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Wednesday, Feb 19th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka.

Tuesday, Feb 18th, Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

Travel west down a long winding road and into a high valley full of terraced fields where rice will soon be harvested.  Past temples and railway stations that bring pilgrims to pray, and waterfalls and schools, both free and enriching.

You'll find a land where people look right at you, and bring a goodness that haunts those of us who tend to find reasons to sometimes look away.

We've a couple more days on the island.  Heading back to India for six more weeks to deepen our understanding of what a thousand years of a great culture has built.

The Yala National Park, at 378 square miles, is a wildlife sanctuary host elephants, leopards, water buffalo, many types of deer, and more bird species than one could imagine.  We visited for four and a half hours in the heat of the day, and will be back tomorrow morning early.

To see all the photos taken today, click on Tuesday, Feb 18th, Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka.

Monday, Feb 17th, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

There's a lake nearby named Lake Gregory.  A little farther is the town's post office, and the Grand Hotel (also serving as the clubhouse and 19th hole for the golf course).  After breakfast, we strolled around the area, and let our disabilities heal. 

All afternoon, we hung out in our suite, answering email and reading about what the next 40 days will bring us.

There's not many more photos, but I do plan to try to get a shot of the kitchen staff.  Click on Monday, Feb 17th, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.

Sunday, Feb 16th, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

Another travel day, with a visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya, a climb to 1800 meters to the Damro Tea factory, and the executive suite of the Blackpool Hotel.

The gardens are huge (127 acres), and its development includes a temple in 1371, several renowned superintendants in the 1800s, and its use by Lord Mountbatten as the headquarters in WWII for the South East Asia Command.  In making plans for the next few days, we have to take into consideration the fact that Pat and I are both limping.  Her knee and my foot are causing us to feel our age.  So we have cut back a bit on the hiking portions of our previously design itinerary.

However, we did decide not to utilize the golf carts and shuttle busses in the park, in favor of walking about half the pathways in order to take it all in.   As a result, I think we found a bonus that few not looking up would have seen.  A Crested Serpent Eagle sat just above a trail overlooking a lake.

Staff of the Damro Labookellie Tea Factory, the second oldest tea plantation on the island,  showed us how they produce green, white, and black tea ingredients for the auctions held in Columbo each year.  Tea brands from all over the world come to Sri Lanka to mix and match what the island grows, and what we all love to drink.

Sri Lanka is the fourth largest tea producer in the world (China, Inida, Kenya, and Sri Lanka), and the third largest exporter (Kenya exports less).  After water, the most widely used drink in the world, it comes from the Camelia family.

Finally, we climbed even higher on the mountain, and checked into the executive suite at the Blackpool Hotel.  This hotel gets low ratings for accessibility to other tourist locations (better own a car, and like driving winding hilly, narrow  roads), but it certainly worked for us.  Needing two days of rest, in a cooler mountain climate (with a heated pool), we plan on getting the most out of the best suite in the hotel.  And that's only half of the balcony!

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Sunday, Feb 16th, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.