Okay so we left Bekal and travelled down to Allepey to meet up with some friends. we arrived off the train to be ripped off by the rickshaw drivers, nothing new, the meter was on 2.2km when we jumped in so refused to pay the full fare. We dropped 3rps. He went ballistic. so we were arguing at full volume in font of the hotel with about 50 indians sorronding us. eventually I just chucked the 20rps at him and walked into the hotel. You could still hear them arguing for about 15 minutes after.
During that day we booked a house boat trip for thr folowing week when Sara's friends Ros & her boyfriend Colin, were arriving bought sara's birthday present, a bit early. while checking out the house boat we had to wait for it to ome from the pen so we were taken to a local bar and had a few drinks of Toddy, a beer they make from coconut. NOt bad a funny, salty kind of after taste. then e tried some of the local fried turtle. pretty good. They asked if we had this in Australia, I said yes but they were protected, they replied, yes they are protected here to! the turtle was turning in Sara's stomach for hours after. she has a tad more of a concience than me.
The next day we checked out and went down to the jetty were the boats from Kollam arrive to meet our friends. They had said about midday, nice and vague we think, brilliant. so we ait for a few hours only to eventually give up and go back to the hotel to grab our bags and jump on a bus to Kochi. Back at the hotel we have a message, missed them again. We had been trying to arrange a meet since Goa.
it now turns out they will be in Punjab early April, the same time as us so we will try again there.
we head to kochi and spend the week wandering aroiund the bloody expensive shops withno intent to buy anything, will be cheaper up north. We were buying fresh, daily caught prawns off the beach for 140rps per kg and getting them cooked for an extra 30rps. Eating them on the beach and having a couple of beers. Only problem was we couldn't find a book exchange so Sara didn't have a book to read.
this time we were a bit smarter, we new the bus station was closer to town, so caught the bus back to Allepey. Got there to find a strike on as some hindu's had gone mad and killed a muslim kid. SO there were no taxi's or rickshaws working and all the shops were closed, especially the shop that ran the hotel were we had sent ros & colin, so Sara was frantic with worry about Ros & Col as they would not know what to doo, just arriving in india. we left a note and went loking for a rickshaw, it was at this stage we worked out that the rickshaws weren't working. some blokes pulled up on bikes and one of them was a friend of sanjesh the hotel operator so he gave Sara a lift to the hotel and then came back. By this stage he was low on fuel as the petrol stations were closed as well. so I walked the two km's to the hotel. I had my backpack on and was carrying a carton ready for the house boat trip the next day. I got a fair way but eventually had to rest on a bridge. I waited there for five minutes waving and smiling to the passing locals, all looking at me very strange, then picked the carton back up and kept walking. well if the hotel was not right after the bridge! I was in hysterics by myself.
so I meet back up with sara, who was by now is worse with worry wondering were I was. luckily Ros & Colin had just turned up on motorbike, thy had rang Sujesh after an abortive attempt at a rickshaw breakthrough through train station blockade. Sujesh then went to pick them up. Of course the hotel had ran out of cold beer, the pubs were also shut, so the carton went on ice and we started drinking it straight away.
the next day we departed on the house boat, a beautiful "Rice Barge" a wooden hut with the top made from thatched rice grass. The first day was excellent, cruising the backwaters, food was realy good. we stopped at the toody tapping place and bought 4 litres of toddy. Ros had brought a couple of bottles of red wine so we drank one with tea, very pleasant, played cards and went to bed.
the next day was much of the same until 4.30 when we pulled up next to a shipyard and rubbish pile to get water and ice. first thing we had to buy more water as we had used our allotment, even though we were told on booking that all water was uncluded. then after an hour when we asked if we were moving we were told we had to wait for the engine driver, who was coming apparently.
aafter frequent requests for the engine driver, the only response we got was he was coming, although nothing was done to quicken him up. eventually it was getting dark so we accepted the fact that we werent moving so I asked to push the bow into the centre of the canal. we were told us, we asked now and they said yes, but did nothing, all VERY frusratting, so I said bugger it untied the bow rope pushed the bow out with the punting pole and then pulled the anchor off the decky and threw it into the middle of the canal. the uncoming jetty was a bit of a worry to the crew, but it got them moving.
Miracalously the engine driver appeared on the canal shore immediatelly, he had been sitting in his house all the time, probably watching us. he came aboard to a barrage of abuse from myself and worse from sara and agreed to move the boat to the lake very meekly.
they got close to the lake, but not close enough and this started more arguing, eventually we rang the tour organiser who hhung up on us, twice!!
so our idyllic river paradise was shattered at the end. luckily the next morning we jumped of the boat and got on the 8hr ferry ride to Kollam, where we are now.
we are staying in the government lodges which are massive, it is like sleeping in a schol gymnasium.
that gets you up to speed, and hopefully a bit more interesting than the last few installments, it certainly has been more interesting for us.
bye for now
Ned/Neil.