Ah, back to blogging! We had all intentions of staying on top of things, but we quickly discovered that it's sometimes a challenge to find the time and good internet connection while traveling! We added more pictures to our previous post on Mysore/Bangalore and here's where we left off:
After we left Bangalore, we headed down south. We spent three days in Kochi and two days in Goa. We had pretty good luck with the weather considering that it is monsoon season. Kochi was beautiful and relaxing. If you ever go to India, definitely put Kerala state on your list of places to see, and Kochi as your base city. We took a boat ride through lush jungle river areas and got to see some interesting industry in the area. They bring up clam shells from a giant lake in the area where the river meets the Arabian Sea, and these are processed into Calcium hydroxide for chemical companies. We also witnessed a man collecting Toddy (they pronounce it "Toad-ee"), which is an alcoholic juice that drips directly from a cut coconut tree flower. It somehow ferments inside the plant, and you can tap it somewhat like a maple tree. Rob was totally amazed by this and was determined to drink some, but his enthusiasm waned after our hotel manager told us that most of the Toddy shops closed down after several people went to the hospital from poisoning!
We also saw some people illegally harvesting sand from the river bottom and sifting it out on the shore. Apparently, sand is extremely expensive to import into the area and is widely used for construction and conditioning farm soil. In addition to the backwater boat ride, we had our first Ayurvedic massages and met some nice travelers at the hotel. We also saw some very cool cultural performances of theater and martial arts. See below for pics! We thought about staying longer, but had non-refundable train tickets to Goa, so we had to head out.
After we left Bangalore, we headed down south. We spent three days in Kochi and two days in Goa. We had pretty good luck with the weather considering that it is monsoon season. Kochi was beautiful and relaxing. If you ever go to India, definitely put Kerala state on your list of places to see, and Kochi as your base city. We took a boat ride through lush jungle river areas and got to see some interesting industry in the area. They bring up clam shells from a giant lake in the area where the river meets the Arabian Sea, and these are processed into Calcium hydroxide for chemical companies. We also witnessed a man collecting Toddy (they pronounce it "Toad-ee"), which is an alcoholic juice that drips directly from a cut coconut tree flower. It somehow ferments inside the plant, and you can tap it somewhat like a maple tree. Rob was totally amazed by this and was determined to drink some, but his enthusiasm waned after our hotel manager told us that most of the Toddy shops closed down after several people went to the hospital from poisoning!
We also saw some people illegally harvesting sand from the river bottom and sifting it out on the shore. Apparently, sand is extremely expensive to import into the area and is widely used for construction and conditioning farm soil. In addition to the backwater boat ride, we had our first Ayurvedic massages and met some nice travelers at the hotel. We also saw some very cool cultural performances of theater and martial arts. See below for pics! We thought about staying longer, but had non-refundable train tickets to Goa, so we had to head out.
Our first overnight Indian train ride was definitely much comfier than we expected. We met a couple from Italy/Switzerland and had a fun time chatting for most of the ride. We arrived in Goa and the weather took a downturn - more heat and more rain. It was nice enough for most of the day, so we could tour around town. We spent a day in Old Goa and learned that it was under Portuguese rule until 1961. Yes, 1961! There are amazing cathedrals all over the city, and the town has a Portuguese style of architecture. We actually met some men on the train ride from Goa to Mumbai that were dual Portuguese/Indian citizens, since they became official Indian citizens in 1961. Goa has become a popular tourist destination for Europeans and Russians looking for a beach party in India. Very interesting!
