Kerala Folklore Theatre and Museum

On our way to the airport we stopped at the Kerala Folklore Theatre & Museum where we were shown around and then joined the Grade 2's to watch a performance that teaches the children about the cast system and humility. It involved Hanuman (the monkey god - how fortunate as he is my favorite of the 32 million gods to choose from). Hanuman blocks the path of a very proud and rich man who looks down on others. Hanuman then begins to mock the children and the 2 white very special guests and pretends to show his bottom and pick yukky things off his body and throw them into the audience, which has all the children squealing and rolling around in laughter.

Afterwards some children were chosen to share their experience of the museum and Mike was asked to say a few words also - he was a big hit! We are pretty sure that the stories about their trip to the museum will have as a highlight the meeting of the very special guests and not so much about the masks and statues!

The Backwaters of Kerala

The houseboat picked us up from the resort and off we went for more relaxing and great food. Our cook was wonderful and I'm sure I've gained weight as there was so much eating - coconut drink, then lunch (fish and curry and rice and ladies fingers and coconut mix and more), then snack (prawns), then afternoon tea (banana bread Indian style - deep fried battered banana's - Yum), dinner (fish and chicken and rice and bindi and potatoes and tomatoes and more) and then after a good nights sleep a huge breakfast (pancakes stuffed with coconut and bananas and spicy omelet and toast and pineapple juice). But who's complaining - he knew how to cook and everything was delicious.

The Backwaters were not quite what we were expecting, perhaps further in (it covers 200 sq km) it may become more natural but for our overnight trip we sailed around man made canals fringed with coconut palms and rice paddy's. The farmers live in huts on the waters edge and go about their daily business despite a steady stream of houseboats documenting their every move. An unusual and relaxing experience which I would not have missed.

The Whispering Palms Resort

Because Santosh was taking a few days off to celebrate his daughter Sree's birthday and have all family around for the first time to his home we had another quieter driver take us to Kumarakom and the Whispering Pines Resort. The pool was good (nice and warm in Kerala - 30's) as was the Ayurvedic massage. Lets just say there is a lot of oil involved and apparently you look 25 years younger afterwards!! I went back the following morning for another try.

Met a couple of Aussies here who had been touring India for a month. They were from Shepherton and found the language barrier a difficulty especially trying to steer clear of Craft Emporiums and do anything out of the usual sightseeing! They also put us onto a product called Travelan, which the Australian Cricket Team uses to ward off any upset tummies (can only be purchased in Aus, so - next time).

Kerala - Kochi (Cochin) city

After checking into our hotel we headed off for the usual sightseeing. Dutch Palace (palace!??), Jewish synagogue (closed) and Chinese fishing Nets. The fishing nets were probably the most interesting especially the fish shops ('You choose - I cook') and the first place to see cats. The SantaCruz Basilica was nice also, very colourful inside with Hindi style paintings of saints and the 'Last Supper'. We arrived just in time for the Saturday evening Mass and although we only stayed for 10 minutes, felt very pious!

The best part of this afternoon was our driver Santosh, who told us a very excited and animated story of how he met and fell in love with his wife. He saw her swimming in the temple pool in order to cleanse before entering the temple. Although he had cleansed before leaving home he also went into the pool to cleanse and when their eyes met - 'it was love'. For the next 6 months he would get up extra early to go to the temple to bath and secretly meet with his beloved. His parents thought he had become very spiritual and were very pleased. When her parents found out all hell broke loose and there was much fighting and trouble, mostly by her mother, who did not think he was good enough for her daughter as he worked in a shop for only 1000 Rp's ($25) a day. They married anyway and their daughter is about to turn 2. The in-laws have finally come round as he now has a good job as a driver and has big plans to buy land and buy gold jewellery for his wife. His enthusiasm in telling the story was so endearing that as well as the tip, I gave him an $20AUD as a gift to his daughter. He will go far!!

Camels

Rajasthan is also famous for its slippers made from camel leather and also its jewels of precious and semi-precious stones. Probably why so many Maharajahs settled here in the first place. There are lots of camels used in transport.

We are heading off today to Kerala which is on the south west coast and will be warmer (in the 30's). On this leg we do Cochin and the house boat trip on the Backwaters. Should be relaxing.

The Amber (Amer) Fort

The Amer Fort was really a winter/summer palace getaway for the Maharaja and his wives. It has an artificial lake (which is dry due to the drought) and a lovely floating garden to look down upon. This lake helped to keep the Fort cool along with numerous ingenious other methods like water tanks dripping water in front of windows and channels of water running through the floors (early forms of air conditioning). There was also an internal courtyard garden in the Mughal style with water channels and fountains. Game hunting of tigers, panthers and deer was also big here. The lands around the Fort are now a nature reserve but without the tigers. There is another Fort on top of the hill which housed the military.

All in all a very beautiful and worthwhile experience.

Elephant Ride to the Amber (Amer) Fort

Our last day and we head off to the Amber (Amer) Fort to be early enough to catch the elephant ride to the top. A couple of years ago the Animal Protection people implemented a restriction of 2 people per elephant and only 5 trips up and back to the fort. The rides are finished by 11:30 then they all walk back down the road to their towns where they are housed by their owners. In all honesty it is not all that comfortable riding an elephant and although our ride was relatively smooth some of the other tourists were having a hard time of it. In the national paper there was an article about releasing all captive zoo and temple elephants into the wild. It is big business and would need to be managed sensitively, plus the elephants are used to being fed. Not sure that it would apply to these elephants but I did feel sorry for them as although the day was mild (20C) other days can reach the high 40's and it is a steep slope. While the mothers are at work the babies earn money being photographed with the tourists.

Our elephant's name was Pawan who had a very jolly handler. A mandatory tip was given along with lots of compliments.

Alsisar Haveli Hotel Jaipur

Our hotel in Jaipur was lovely. Only 25 years old but built in the Mughal style with lots of internal courtyards and even a pool. The food has been really fantastic at all the hotels with milder versions of local favorites such as chicken tikka and marsala and Mike's favorite Sangari (lentils and beans).

Jaipur Instrument Complex

We then headed off to the Jantar Mantar Complex which is filled with scientific and mathematical instruments built in 1727. The Time instrument is still accurate to this day although since the calculation is made and then 11 minutes is added, we think modern mathematician have made some adjustments!

The funky looking concave instrument in the ground was to do with astrology and star signs and bringing babies to have their life lines read.

Jaipur City Palace

Our guide in Jaipur was D Singh who took us in the afternoon to the city palace built by Maharajah Sawai Man Singh II. The yellow local stone was painted pink by one of the Maharajah's to impress The Prince of Wales - Edward, who visited in 1853. Jaipur is known as the 'Pink City'.

The city is surrounded on three sides by mountains/hills and entrance to the city was originally protected by soldiers who lived in barracks on and carved into the hillside.

Trip to Jaipur, Rajasthan

The road between Agra and Jaipur was smooth and new so the trip took three and a half hours. On entering Rajasthan (the state of kings), the countryside becomes more interesting with hills dotted with forts and is relatively much cleaner than elsewhere.

Some towns close to Jaipur were filled with fine stone masons who must sell to hotels and the Maharajah's. We stopped to visit our assistant drivers family - very cute. Mike talked cricket (which is a universal language!).

Agra and the Taj Mahal

It took about 5 hours to drive to Agra. Flat countryside with very busy and dirty towns along the way. The city of Agra is not pretty. The Taj Mahal on the other hand is beautiful and is protected by a wall. I met a camel just inside the gates and it kissed me on the head!

The construction of the Taj Mahal was started in 1631 and took 22 years to complete. It has 22 Turrets on top its gates, took 22,000 people to build it as well as many elephants, camels and donkeys (not monkeys which I thought the guide said. This had us in fits of laughter for a while imaging what monkeys would do with pieces of marble. Mike suggested that they would probably try to sell it!). Anyway the Maharajah who built the Taj for his 3rd wife's burial site wanted to build a black one across the river for his tomb. The foundations were started but were never finished as the youngest son killed all his brothers and imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort to seize power. The Maharajah died in prison on the 22nd of the month. 22 is therefore a very special number. The evil son was a brutal king and it does not look like Agra ever recovered.

The Taj Mahal is built of marble and the decorations are semi precious stones which sparkle in the moonlight!

Delhi

We visited the Jama Masjid Mosque and some very impressive government buildings but the highlight was the Mahatma Gandhi Museum. Having not even known that one existed it was really interesting to see the house and gardens where Gandhi spent his last 144 days and where he was assassinated. It had comprehensive details and photos of his life and even some dioramas, about 20 in all.

Our hotel was located in New Delhi in an area where the grand old houses are being converted into hotels. Lots of roadworks (freeways) and buildings under construction in readiness for the Commonwealth Games next October. These clipped trees are sacred Ashok tress from Sri Lanka. The monkey god Hanuman sat in the tree and aided the escape of a beautiful Sri Lankan princess from demons. She was betrothed to a king in India, so the tree is very popular here as it brings good fortune and also deters mosquito's!

Return from trip to Delhi, Taj Mahal and Jaipur

Thought I would quickly let you know that we are safely back from our road trip before Mike goes off to work and takes the laptop. The Taj Mahal is magnificent and we were very impressed with Rajistan and in particular Jaipur with its Amber (Amer) Fort. Just a couple of photos, more details later.

Dinner

Had dinner out last night at the Mainland China Restaurant in Church Street. We went with Mike's boss Samy and three IT testers from Shanghai - Yang, Elinor and Oliver. Very nice and authentic Chinese food although some dishes were new to our guests. I particularly liked the duck in pancakes and a sesame toast topped with crabmeat and peanuts - Yum! It was nice to meet some more of Mike's workmates and enjoyed their company very much. We had some discussion about the iced Lychee drink I was having and decided it was a fruit they knew as Laychow (I think) from southern china and obviously not as popular there as it is elsewhere.

Just caught a quick snap of a woman selling vegetables balancing a basket on her head - very impressive. She moves quickly and with ease, calling out something that must mean fresh vegetables! You will need to look closely at the photo - she is next to the black car. Quite a pleasant view from our verandah.

My Bangalore sandals from UB City

Well I walked back to UB City, down behind Vittal Mallya's place, past the auto electrics workshop, past the Mercedes/BMW dealership, past the HDFC Bank and past the Hindu Temple. Security checks bags and its like being back at the airport again walking through the metal detection machine. I am virtually the only shopper here so I think I will be safe today!

I returned to the lovely Indian designer store Kimaya and found these cute sandals. They will do me nicely this Summer in Sydney. Best not to ruin them walking the streets of Bangalore. The other nice store here is Good Earth which is a homewares store with lots of lovely china, glass and haberdashery. I bought two lovely waffle woven bath sheets with an Indian style print of trees and holy cows. The rest is filled with up market designer stores such as Rolex and Armani and Stella McCartney. UB City would benefit from a good book/stationery store and a gourmet supermarket. And perhaps a lover level with some cheaper overseas stores such as Levis and Gap and even Billabong. Although the beach scene is not huge here, I think the t-shirts would sell like hot chapatis!

Living in the best part of Bangalore!

We had coffee just around the corner from our apartment at Bread Works and met some people inspecting these apartments. Each level is one apartment and constructed using concrete blocks and rendered. The horizontal line is created by rendering over string and then removing the string and smoothing the edges. A lot of the heavy work is carried out by these women pictured. Their whole family live on site while it is being built. We think their husbands do the carpentry and other more intricate details. Each unit will sell for 5 Crore which is about 1,250,000AUD. Can you believe that?! We are living in the best part of Bangalore - apparently.

While sitting there Mike introduced me to one of our neighbours, Scott from Plano, Texas. He has been here for nearly a year and sounds like he is going stir crazy. He is ready to go home to his family who have not been able to visit! His wife has a life! Or so he says.

Out and About in Bangalore

We went out for dinner last night at UB City which is just around the block from us. Even though it was still raining on and off Mike thought we should walk so that I would get my bearings. Going there was interesting walking down along the back fence of Vittal Mallya's place. He owns United and Kingfisher Breweries and Kingfisher Airlines. Could not see much of his house except for some rather nice large trees and his office tower in the distance. Also no child labour was permitted there. That was a relief!

We had Italian at Toscano's Restaurant where Mike introduced me to all the staff that he has met over the last couple of months. I have to say the Salad Caprese was so beautifully presented and tasted so fresh and delicious - almost as good as the no longer existent Zepharelli's in Pyrmont Sydney. Oh! and the cappuchino brulee was to die for!

We browsed through some of the shops including the Lladro shop, Stella McCartney's and a fabulous local Indian designer shop called Kimaya. Mike thought we should walk the shorter way back along Lavelle Rd. This, however, was a mistake as the installation of new cabling had turned the road into a sticky mud bath. Needless to say I will take the longer route today when I return to have another and closer look around UB City.