India - Week Three

When we reached Hampi we decided to take the advice of fellow travellers and stay on the 'other' side of the river - in the peaceful part of town, away from hassling auto drivers and haggling clothes sellers. After watching Laxmi, the temple elephant, indulge in a good scrubbing down in the river we crossed over to the 'other' side and made our way to the aptly-named Shanthi Guesthouse, where our accomodation consisted of individual grass-roofed bungalows set amidst vibrant green rice paddies and Hampi's signature massive, unearthly boulders. On our second day we rented bicycles and explored Hampi's other main attraction: its 16th century temple ruins, scattered throughout the town. These temples, oddly, resemble, in parts, both the temples of Angkor Wat and those of Ancient Greece. Unfortunately there was not much English-language information available, so I can't tell you much about their history or architectural influences! While Bjorn, Emma, and I rambled through the temple ruins (Tomb-Raider/Indiana Jones style, of course), Tara and Eimear shopped, shopped, and when they got tired they shopped some more! Unfortunately we only had 2 and a half days in Hampi...it is so peaceful and there is so much to explore, that we all could have easily stayed for much longer. After a few hours in Bangalore, we quickly bid farewell to Emma (who, via Chennai and Bangkok, headed back to Melbourne to start uni) and the rest of us headed to Alleppey in the beautiful state of Kerala. With the help of the wonderful hotel-owner, Johnson, we relaxed on spotless beaches, ate one of the best meals of the trip, and lazed a day away on the backwaters - the highlight of Alleppey. We opted to take a motorised ketuvalam - or traditional covered boat - as we slowly floated down the rivers, sipping on coconuts...in some ways, at least visually, it was very reminiscent of the descriptions of the Congo River in 'A Heart of Darkness.' On the same night we were invited to a nearby village to celebrate the festival of the goddess Kali (the goddess of war and death...nice!). After being suited up in saris (and a dhoti for Bjorn), we began the beautiful ceremony, where women carry coconut oil lamps to the temple, to the wild, sometimes trance-like, beats of drums. On the bad side, the walk to the temple ended up taking 3 hours and we were bare-foot and hadn't eaten so, by the end of it all, we were completely exhausted! Nonetheless it was an amazing experience (even if Bjorn, as a man, got to rest and sit down while we women had to do the hard work). Our last stop was Cochin (Kochi) where, after a delicious cold coffee in a funky art cafe, we watched an amazingly entertaining performance of Kathakali - the traditional Keralan type of musical. The real drama began, however, when we got to the airport and Tara, Bjorn, and Eimear's flight was delayed for an undisclosed amount of time and, in the last 20 minutes, they had to scramble and fight to get themselves and their bags onto my flight. Having been told in Cochin Airport that they would get a refund as soon as they got to Delhi, all of us were enraged to be told, in Delhi, that they weren't going to give them a refund because Cochin had forgotten to give them each ticket 'coupons'! They were also informed that, rather than buying a very expensive last-minute ticket on my Air Sahara flight, they could have transferred their Indian Airlines ticket to a Air Sahara one for free - and that Cochin should have informed them of this! Almost a week later, none of them have yet received any refund, but Indian Airlines is now saying that the travel agent who sold them the ticket should be the one to pay!!! Aya, it is a big big mess and the lesson to be learned is: never fly Indian Airlines!! I am now staying in Delhi for 2 weeks and am volunteering during the week at a school for under-privileged kids - and I'm loving it! On my 2nd day in Delhi, I attended a Muslim mourning ceremony where everyone ends up crying and today, in contrast, was Holi - a Hindu festival where everyone throws coloured water and powder on each other to celebrate the arrival of spring! Tara and I are both stained pink and purple - even after scrubbing in the shower for ages - and I am sure that all of the school kids will have a lot of laughs at my expense tomorrow!