Day 52 - A pot of beer

We all met and headed to the beach for a jump about in the sea, within 15 minutes of jumping into the waves and the churning sea I spotted an Indian girl swimming in my direction (the beach) but going backwards, I waded over asking if she was ok, it was rhetorical, she was clearly a little worried and every wave that went over here took her further away from the shore. I grabbed her arm and within moments Nicky had grabbed her other arm, we pulled her into the shore and coughing and looking worn out she thanked us and wandered off. It wasn't long before Hilary was in and jumping about like a mad woman, she also looked like she was in over her head and struggling, but she seemed to be enjoying it, I'm pretty sure she's slightly mad, she is smiling all the time.
The morning was whiled away and a board meeting was called to discuss the lunch options, after a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of climbing the 200 stairs, we found a place on the beach that sold beer.

Selling beer requires a license in Kerala something very few people bother getting. So, to cover up their heinous crime they put their beer in a tea pot and give you mugs, it is genius and no policeman will ever work this out. It's the best cup of tea I have ever had ! As we walked back the sun started to set, so, with my expert eye and camera skills, I began to get people posing like they were holding the sun. Classic stuff.

I see this every evening

Hildog drenched in sunset

Hilary, Me, Nicky, Albert having a cheeky cup of tea.

Hilary and Nicky throwing some gang signs.

We all met for dinner and during the conversation Hilary told us about a small scar she had on her chest just below her collar bone, there was a mini defibrillator inserted under the skin. One day during high school her heart stopped and thanks to the fast work of people in the school and medics, she was saved. She spent weeks in a coma, and to prevent it happening again she had the defibrillator installed. She said the thought that she could have died left her with a massive appreciation for life. It explained a lot. In a way she is lucky, people go through life without appreciating a sunset, or the feeling of waves crashing over you.

Day 51 - Coffee and chatting day

With no real plan in mind I said goodbye to Peruvian in the morning, and 'Frenchy' and I headed out for breakfast, we craved a 'good' coffee, and didn't get it with our breakfast so after eating and chatting for ages we headed somewhere else to get something a little more fancy. I'd happily have a cup of instant but 'Frenchy' is a little more cultured than me. I should point out that 'Frenchy' isn't actually French, he is Moroccan, he speaks about 5 languages, including Arabic, and while everyone is different, he is one of the most interesting people I have ever met.

He told me stories about travelling, couch surfing, work, dating, everything. They all had me in stitches. Half the time he didn't appear to be trying it was just his French chilled way. Once we had found a place to get another coffee, we sat down and had a fruit juice. It wasn't long before my request for a WiFi code got us both chatting to a woman next to us from Boulder, Colorado. She was travelling all around India and, like me, writing a blog ! See it here ! My misconceptions about the Americans were shattered as her passion for travelling became apparent, as well as her general passion for life, it was inspiring, and made me reflect on the journey that led me here. The three of us chatted for hours till the sun set and we began to head back to our respective hostels, this is where we met Nikki, and Albert, Malta's answer to The Chippendales. The two of them appeared to be touring around India teasing every gay guy they saw by being friendly and approachable, they aren't gay but they had story after story of gay people offering them cheap drinks, places to stay etc. I obviously teased them about this. Especially Albert.

They were drinking cocktails and as we walked past the restaurant we all got chatting and before long we were all sat on the beach drinking beers and talking till the beers ran dry and I started repeating jokes. We arranged to meet in the morning and 'do' breakfast.

Hilary chomping on something that requires inspection.

Albert showing his displeasure at something

Nikki (Wolverine) looking smooth, beli

What a random day. It appears that, while I may talk a lot, I think I have met my match, everyone had a story or three to share, it was great.

Day 44 - Backwater tour

We had to be up at the crack of dawn, a rickshaw would be arriving at the beach house at 07:00, it was a 35-40 minute joy ride through Vyppen main road, to the ferry crossing point to Fort Cochin where we could dump our bags at 'Toms old mansion', and get a tour of the backwaters. Laura wasn't feeling too good, we diagnosed the problem and came up with a combination of heat, random food and the crafty rum / wine combination, it is never a good idea, especially when you need to get up to sit on a non A/C boat for a few hours.

On arrival at Tom's Mansion we were shown the store room, and I was given a tour of the various rooms that the place had to offer, they were huge, one room had twin 4 poster beds. The place was built 300 years ago and was owned by the Portuguese when they were running the place. With the addition of a bunch of air conditioners and WiFi it was now a guest house / hotel. For about £20 a night you had a room about 30ft by 30ft with Air conditioning, en suite and rising damp. We dumped our bags and hopped on the bus to the tour.

The bus driver had a lead foot, which he used for accelerating, steering, and braking. I later found out that he raced motorbikes on the beach, probably still using his tour bus. As we crossed a bridge and attempted a right turn, a police officer informed him that a road was closed. This added about 45 minutes to the journey time, and Laura was looking more and more pale. I'll skip the journey and details, and get to the point where she got the driver to stop while she threw up next to the bus. What was interesting was that the wall she used to prop her self up was surrounding a farm that appeared to have mangos, bananas, and even nutmeg growing. After a tactical spew she was still feeling rough, and the driver now was paying less attention to the road as he kept one eye on Laura in case she spewed over his dashboard. We arrived about 1 hour late for the start of the tour, luckily they hadn't left without us, and everyone there was pretty relaxed. We were greeted by our tour guide with a cup of sweet tea and a gentle shove onto the boat to hurry us up.

The tour was nice, lots of interesting facts about how the fisherman harvest mussels for their meat but also use the shells for Calcium Hydroxide which is added to Calcium tablets, talcum powder and also as a fertiliser. We got off the boat on a small island where we were shown around and advised about the importance of Coconut palms to the local way of life, from the oil made from the nuts themselves to a beer like alcohol made from the sap of the flower. The husk of the coconut is also harvested and used for making mats, bags, and rope. I found all this very interesting, and asked more about the sappy beer thing. 50 rupees later I was the proud owner of a litre of the milky looking liquid. On opening it there was a gentle hiss, ahh, fermentation was still taking place. I took a sniff and regretted it. I may as well have smelt a tramps armpit, it honked. I'm not one to waste 50 rupees, so I took a swig and it wasn't bad, the smell did remain, as a bit of an after taste, however a few more litres and I doubt you'd even notice it. The tour continued and a second phase began.

We hopped off the house boat, and back onto the bus, Laura was a little better as lunch had been served on the boat, and this perked her up a bit. This phase was punting on a small local boat down some canals that were about 2 ft deep. It was nice and relaxing, and it gave us the opportunity to see some interesting plants, and animals. 2 hours was a little long to be honest and my bum had gone to sleep after about an hour, but we did get off the boat from time to time and this broke it up nicely. We stopped for a cuppa, and to watch some women walking back and forth making coconut husk rope. I made a small video of it click here.

We were all shattered when the boat returned to 'port' and we were all dropping off as the bus driver fought his way back through the rush hour of Cochin.

The entrance to a canal... these are often just 'driveways' to peoples houses.

A mussel fisherman having a race with our houseboat

 Someone's equivalent of an SUV parked up on the canal.

Sunrise over the backwaters behind the beach house

Taken while on the ferry crossing from Vyppen Island to Fort Cochin

An arty bike shot

 Sun rise picture taken from the beach house dining table

Picture taken from the smaller local boat of the canal (Phase two of the trip)