Hiatus

So, after one week of the blog not being able to be accessed from India, I am back with more stories to tell than can be told in a single blog.

First off, on a psychededness scale of 1-12, 12 being really psyched, Stew and I are at a 12.7. This level has been attained for the following reasons:

1. Stew and I have traveled to 5 different cities in 7 days, ranging from the mountain highlands where the tea plantations are to the most southern point in India (the meeting place of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean).
2. We have been eating like princesses.
3. Stew has attained Rookie Tourist Status (RTS)
4. I have made some great purchases for the 3^rd world market that exists in my house in Rochester.

City One: Madurai

To get to this city, we endured an 8-hour overnight bus ride, which will remain memorable forever. The ride can be described as follows: a bus from the 1950’s which had every nut, bolt, and screw loosened, driven over a gravel and stone road, through scents of human waste, delicious food, flowers, and salt-water. In Madurai, we visited the Minakshi Temple, which spanned almost 50 acres. At this Temple we were given a tour by a “Temple Watchman” who showed us some really interesting architecture as well as a hand made stone organ. In addition, he offered us IV drugs and told us that we’d like them. Lastly, in Madurai, I made another great decision to drink dirty water. This time though, it was mixed with cane juice, ginger juice, lime juice, and dirt, so it was okay.

City Two: Kannyakumari

From Madurai we took an overnight train to Kannyakumari. We arrived at the Madurai train station at 1:30am for our 2am train. There were sleeping people everywhere; in front of the ticket counter, at the arrival platform, on the front sidewalk…….everywhere. Once on the train, I paid a ticket collector 400Rupees ($9) to upgrade our tickets to an air-conditioned compartment. It was worth the 400 Rupsters and Stew and I slept like newborns after a feeding. In Kannyakumari we watched a sunset that was blocked by clouds, watched a sunrise that was blocked by clouds, went to the most southern point in India, and went to the place where Ghandi’s ashes are kept. We were also shown around a temple by a priest (who we had to pay).

Cities Three and Four: Kollam and Allepy

For these two days Stew and I laid around, ate food, told stories, drank water (and some beer), and made friends with the crew of our Kettu Vellam (houseboat). We hired a house boat for two days and traveled a total of about 150km, or 90 miles. The boat was made of steel, bamboo, wood, and a 9.9 horsepower engine and it took us through the backwaters of Kerala where we were able to see Indian river life in its most simple state. We saw moveable iron bridges pushed by men with long bamboo rods, canoe ferries, people making their own “spin cycle” of a washing machine by slapping their clothes on rocks, men swimming to the bottom of the river to fetch sand to use for building, bald eagles and other bird life, rice paddies, Chinese fishing nets, and where we ate fresh fish daily and were forced to eat some sort of lukewarm ginger-rice-sugar mixture from a Hindu priest who we couldn’t understand. The fish was great despite the fact that we knew ALL aspects of life took place in the river from which it came. We saw many other things during these two days but I can’t write them all now for reasons I can’t discuss, not because they’re bad, but because I say what is and is not said on this blog.

Stew is reading over my shoulder right now and he told me this is a one-sided entry. He also said this is a "one-sided bullshit blog" and that he should be "more than a rookie tourist, more like an all-pro tourist". I disagree, because there have been many instances where we could have used those freaking toys!

City Five: Kochin/Cochin

We ate an 8lb tuna for $5. We saw a Jewish synagogue and met a family of Israeli’s in the same day. We saw Kathukali theatre, a traditional form of Keralan art, and we did some shopping. Does ANYONE want to start an import business with me? I have found sooooooooo much amazing artwork here!

City Six: Munnar

The 4.5 hour bus ride that we took here cost $3, for two people. We are lucky to be alive. From sea-level at Cochin, we ascended 6000ft on a series of switchbacks, in a bus that was both rickety and driven dangerously, possibly by a madman. We almost got into at least 70 accidents and at certain points I thought that the bus was going to plunge to our death. For the next two days, we will be exploring tea plantations, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, and possibly some wildlife sanctuaries.

Things I forgot to mention about the past few days:

1. There is a “special price” or “special discount” for anything under the sun which one could purchase.
2. I have purchased 40 necklaces which I am attempting to sell for 5 Rupees each to people who try to sell me stuff in an effort to get them to leave me alone but also in an effort to see what it’s like to sell things in India.
3. We have adopted a coconut-man-god named Edward and who is attached to our backpack.
4. I have trouble not buying things that are really sweet.
5. In Tamil movies, there is lots of sexual tension, and if you go to a movie, you will hear all the men scream and shout at the slightest instance of sex, ie, a woman putting on deodorant.
6. There is a lot of trash here.
7. If someone were to bring any corporation here, they could rule the country. For example, there is a corporation here who sells cars, has cell phones, gas stations, rest stops, and tea plantations.
8. Coconut liquor made in a wood shed and kept in unmarked plastic containers does not taste so good.
9. It’s difficult to do anything in a country where you are not fluent in the native language, but more difficult in India, because each state has its own language, thus, even making it difficult for people from different states within India to communicate.
10. Invest in India. I am not kidding.

I am sorry for not having bloggedededed over the past week, but we've been unable to do so because blogger has been blocked for some reason that the Indian government hasn't informed me of. There more stories of this week to be told, possibly sometime in the future over a chai, or in Stew's case, a cup of sealed mineral water.