Last Thoughts on India

We have been home for a few weeks now and busy with everyday life.  I promised myself I would make one last entry to our India Trip blog to cover the trip home and any remaining thoughts we had.

We arrived home safe and sound after about 20 hours of actual air travel including legs from: i) Bangalore to Bangkok, ii) Bangkok to Taipei, iii) Taipei to Seoul, and iv) Seoul to Vancouver.  As mentioned in our first post, this trip was Business Class via our Visa Card points.  After we made our original plans, we had to make a change and as a result, the last ten-hour leg from Seoul to Vancouver was in Economy, with a chance for an upgrade at the gate.  When we got to the gate in Seoul there was only one seat left in Business.  Deborah rode the last ten hours in a pod and I was in Economy.  I was just far enough back to see her but too low a class to walk up and visit her.  Due to her kind heart she made one visit to steerage over the ten hours to let me know she was doing fine without me.

I Got To Ride Upfront Half the Trip

I Couldn't Quite Touch the Seat in Front of Me

Hot Towels and Champagne at the Beginning of Each Leg

Deborah's Pod

The long ride home gave us time to reflect on our trip and crystallize some thoughts about the experience.  India is a great place to visit.  Having been once we would like to return and see new places (probably along the east coast) and revisit some others.  While having Jinder and Kal as our guides made the trip as great as it was, folks could enjoy an India experience without a Punjabi or Hindi speaker along.  English seems to be the second “official” language and most people we met had a working level of English.

As for our impressions of India we must be “through the front door” and say one cannot ignore the poverty, air pollution, garbage, dirt, dust and cattle.  There is no denying that India has many problems.  There are far too many people living with very little.  Air pollution, garbage and road systems are huge challenges for the country.  The country's hard infrastructure has not kept up to the population growth but new construction appears to be ongoing.  Travel can be challenging but easily done if one is prepared to be patient and flexible.

Having stated the challenges, if that is all a visitor focuses on, they will miss seeing all the things that make India a great place. 

India is rich in history.  It was at the historical crossroads of the East and the West.  Various empires seized the lands, took the resources, and left their marks in architecture, art, religion and languages dating back to the Mongolian empire and before.  The French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Brits have all been a part of India’s modern history.

The variety and quality of the food we experienced was a definite highlight.  Most meals were authentic Indian.  Our experiences ranged from a homemade farm meal in Punjab, to highway cafes, to the historic Leopold in Mumbai, to modern fusions of Indian & western tastes.  The vegetables are as tasty as they are vibrant in colour.  The mystery food never failed to provide a unique and enjoyable taste.  The spice level was usually “medium” and there was plenty of naan and yogurt to cool the palette when the spices were strong.  Going without beef for a month was easy when provided with so many alternatives.  I think it would be easy to be a vegetarian in India.  It was most interesting to walk into a McDonalds where the only burgers were chicken or fish.

Certainly for us the highlight of the trip were the people themselves.  Even those with next to nothing appeared to be enjoying their lives as best they could.  Folks everywhere could not be more friendly and willing to help a traveler.  Jinder’s relatives and friends in Punjab dropped what they were doing just to ensure the visitors from Canada were treated well. 

Yes… vendors try to get as much as they can from tourists but they are simply making a living and doing the best they can for their families.  At the end of most hard bartering session there were usually smiles all around. 

India has the “service industry” down pat.  Again, folks cannot do enough for you and if there was one person assigned to do a task at home, there were two waiting to help in India.  While servers were certainly appreciative of a “tip” that is not why they worked so hard.  Servers genuinely want to meet your needs and I suspect were more than appreciative to simply have a job.  

Speaking of “people” we would be remiss if we did not comment on one of the most significant “highlights” of the trip.  Travelling with Jinder, Kal, Stan and Doreen was a highlight in itself.  You could not find four easier going, positive, willing, and kind travel companions.  The folks you travel with make or break an experience and ours was in everyway a success.

Until next time… what is that Linda … The Italian cycling group is planning a six-day cycling trek through the old Kettle Valley rail trails in August?  Count us in.

Bangalore

I am sitting in our Bangalore hotel room watching the sun go down as I write this final entry about our adventures in India.  Bangalore has been a great stop.  It is a cosmopolitan city but it is growing so fast the infrastructure has not kept up.  New sky train lines and high rises are under construction throughout the city.  The airport is a half complete supersized structure and the road leading into the city is undergoing massive development. 

Views From Our Hotel

There are currently 18 million souls living in the city and many are members of the wealthy, burgeoning middle class living in glass towers but many more are still sleeping in alleyways of the urban core.

Many folks have heard of Bangalore, there are some who know where it is, and even fewer that have been there but most people have telephoned Bangalore at some point.  Bangalore is one of the technical digital capitals of the world and is home to many international businesses’ technical call centers.  All of the major computer technology players are located in the city, not just call centers but innovative technical design companies.  IBM has a huge presence here.

I asked a businessman how Bangalore’s exponential growth came about in such a short time and he explained it this way.  Bangalore already had a plethora of technical digital expertise prior to the year 2000.  When the Y2K fears started to surface companies went looking for technical help and found it in Bangalore.  This resulted in companies relocating here and soon other professionals followed.  Bangalore has more foreigners than most Indian cities.

I can undersand how foreigners like it here.  The weather is appealing.  As soon as we got off the plane from Kochi we entered the dry warm air of the interior and were relieved to have left the heavy humidity of the coast.  Temperatures were around a high of 26 degrees and a low in the high teens.

Tuk Tuk - Our Favoured Form of Transport

Our first evening was spent celebrating Jinder and Kal’s 24 wedding anniversary.  We had a great meal at the number one Trip Advisor rated restaurant, Tandoori.  We enjoyed fabulous Indian food and even better gin and tonics.  After we left the restaurant around 11:15 pm, we also had the best Tuk Tuk race of the trip.  Jinder, Stan and Doreen boarded a shiny new Tuk Tuk and whizzed past us shortly after the  start of the journey back to our hotel.  Jinder let out a victory whoop as they screamed by.  I believe it was Deborah who said to our driver, “you’re not going to let them beat you are you?”  Our man didn’t say a word and wound up the little engine as much as he could but to no avail, the newer machine was simply much faster.  Eventually Jinder’s Tuk came to a stop at a red light ahead.  Our man maneuvered past the four lanes of traffic to the extreme outside.  He accelerated as he approached the intersection and we screamed as he blasted through the red light.  We had cars crossing in front of our nose and scrapping our rear as they sped by on their green.  We had little chance to do anything but check our shorts before we were home.  The victors gave the losers the suitable jeers when they arrived.

Twenty-Fourth Anniversary

The Hotel Had a Cake Waiting in the Room

Our second day was all about shopping in the morning and pool time in the afternoon.  Many purchases were made but most notable were Stan’s choice of suit, Deborah’s Indian party dress and Kal’s multiple colorful sarees.

Too Much Butter Chicken

Stan's Shopping Is Done

He Married a Super Shopper

Just Outside of the Wall on Right, 10 m down, Poverty

Jinder’s Bangalore business partner Vivek hosted us to evening meal at the Barbeque Nation restaurant in the evening.  The Barbeque Nation was exactly as it’s name implied, all kinds of Indian food barbecued at your table as well as a buffet containing more dishes and a dessert bar.  The barbeque chicken, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and vegetables just kept coming, long after everyone was stuffed.  No one could understand why such waste was taking place when someone finally read the notice on the table.  There was a small sign mounted on a small brass flagpole sitting in the center of the table.  The sign read, “as long as this flag is still standing, the food will keep coming”.  We finally clued in and bent the flag over and the feeding ceased.

The Food Just Kept Coming

Then We Read The Sign

The Food Finally Stopped

Street Dessert - Betel Leaves & Sugar & ?

Our Hosts - Vivek & Vlonda (sp?)

After an early breakfast the boys spent our last day golfing at the Bangalore Golf Club.  It is a private club and Vivek gifted us 18 holes of golf and joined us to sign us in.  He could not join us, as he had to work.  The course was established in 1876 and is in the heart of old Bangalore.  We each had our own caddy.  The caddies selected our clubs and gave us great advice on how to successfully play the course.  I can’t say their advice was truly reflected in our scores but we learned a lot.  We were all very pleased to have survived the first tee.  Number One calls for a shot across the members parking lot covered by a wire mesh.  We can proudly say we all cleared the net.  I am not sure we will ever have such an experience again but it will be a memory of a lifetime.

People Watching is Always Fun

After a few cold Kingfishers it was back to the pool in the late afternoon and soon our little group began to break up.  Jinder and Kal left at 6 pm.  Deborah and I have a cab to the airport scheduled for 10 pm and Stan and Doreen will leave the hotel at 11:30 pm for their 3 am flight.

That is it for now.  Hopefully I will find the time for one last post to sum up our total Indian experience.

Off to the airport.

Kochi

We landed in Kochi after our third domestic Spicejet flight.  We haven’t really talked about the flights but they have been good.  The planes have been fairly new and the crews efficient.  The last flight was on a Boeing 737-800 and it looked new.

Kochi, or Cochin as it was known before the “lets get rid of British sounding city names era”, is the economic hub of India’s most southerly state, Kerala.  The Kochi area is a region of islands surrounded by rivers, lakes and ocean.  As a result, the weather can best be described as “sticky”.  The vegetation is rainforest jungle. 

Greeks, Romans, Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and the British have all influenced the city since ancient times.  At one time it was the center of India’s spice trade.  The largest “palace” of the area was built by the Portuguese, redecorated by the Dutch in the 1700’s, and occupied by the Brits until they left the scene.  One of the top tourist attractions are the inshore Chinese fishing nets that  have  a cantilever with an outstretched net that suspends over the sea.  The fishermen dip the net into the sea and lift it a short time later to harvest the fish and crustaceans.  The fishermen along the walkway wall sell the seafood.

We had pre-booked our first night at a resort on the largest inland lake in the region.  It was beautiful but it was a little out of the way and the call to prayers by the local Muslims across the lake woke us at 5 am.  As well, the gift shop salesman cornered Deborah and asked for her phone number.  He may have been interested in just her but he may have also been looking for an advocate to help him get into Canada.  He has been refused five times.   He claimed the Canadian government has labeled him a terrorist.

Kochi is a Land of Water

and So Hot We Spent Most of Day One In It

We received a late checkout time and spent the day around the pool; we hired a car and driver and moved to a more central location near old Kochi Fort town center.

After checking into a new hotel we set out for some sightseeing.  We went to the local spice market and bought various local teas and saffron.  We walked the seawall and watched the fishermen bring in their catches and the fishmongers wave the flies off their fish with their dusters.  It is sad to admit but we drove by Kochi’s most famous basilica and its famous Jewish synagogue, without going in.  I think we have reached antiquity overload and have become somewhat blasé about some of the sights.  It happens on most trips.  We ended our day with sunset at the beach.

Kerala is the Spice Region

Chinese Fishing Nets

Fresh From the Sea

We Don't Like To Miss Our Sunsets

Our second full day was a relaxing day of massages and more pool time.  One of the main attractions of the Kerala region is the Ayurveda massage.  It is an ancient healing tradition that has evolved in India dating back to around 600 BC.  It is supposed to create a balance between body, mind and spirit.  Jinder booked three consecutive sessions for us in the Ayurveda Health Spa.

Pool Time But No Massage Pics

When it comes to massages, I am not a veteran.  I have never been comfortable with physical contact except on the sports field.  I wasn’t even comfortable hugging anyone outside of my immediate family let alone allow a stranger to put his or her hands on me until a few years ago.  

I am happy to report that I have evolved in many ways around the subject and was introduced to massage in Mexico a few years ago, but the Ayurveda massage was another major step for me.  As it turned out Stan was an even greater neophyte than I and had never had a massage for the same “I don’t like strangers touching me,” reasons. Until my “medical massage” in Bangkok on this trip, the masseuses had always been women.  In Thailand it had been by a man but with my clothes on.  Certainly the few massages I have had, all involved underwear and/or a discreet towel.  The Ayurveda was different.

When I arrived at the Spa I was introduced to my masseuse, a small, Indian man who went by the name of Prince.  Deborah and I had joint appointments but like the security lines at Indian airports, men and women are separate, Deborah went to her room with Raksha and I to mine with Prince.  It got very interesting after that.

Prince directed me to a shower/change room and asked my to remove my cloths.  It is this point in any massage that I ask, “everything?” and he replied, “yes”.  He handed me something to put on after I had removed my clothes.  It looked like a shoestring with a three-foot section of cotton about the width of toilet paper hanging from the middle of the string.  I tied the string around my waist with the strip hanging in the front.  Then I reached behind and grabbed the hanging cloth from between my legs, hiked it up and tucked it into the shoestring behind my back.  I looked like a Sumo wrestler.  Properly dressed (or undressed), I entered the massage room.  It was dark and  lit by candlelight with soothing music in the background.

Prince began by pouring warm oil over my head and proceeded to massage my scalp with his fingertips and the occasional karate chop to the top of my head.  I don’t know if this was part of the process or to keep me from falling asleep. 

After a few minutes we moved to the table.  After I was facedown I felt his fingers unexpectedly undo my handiwork at the back.  More oil pouring and Prince began to knead my cheeks like a baker with a deadline.  The Ayurveda technique focused on long motions from the head to the tip of the toes and in no time at all I was completely relaxed.  That is until it was time to turn over.  Prince caught me by surprise when he reached a little to closely for my comfort level and grabbed the cotton strip again and reefed it up to reattach it to the string.  Suffice to say I now know how thong underwear feels and am not in a hurry to reprise the experience.

The front was a repeat of the back with perhaps a little too much time spent on the nipples.  (I made a mental note to check with the others when we were done.)  When he went for my neck I waved him off and was thankful the rope suspended from the ceiling never came into play.

At the end it was into a steam box.  It was a wooden box with a seat and a lid that closed around your neck.  I was completely enclosed in the box.  A towel was tamped into the remaining openings so the steam could not escape.  I cooked for around 10 minutes and was led to the last phase involving some cleansing grit and a shower.  Prince asked me if I wanted him to stay and operate the shower but I politely declined.  All in all, an interesting experience.

On the third day we hired another driver and car for the day.  A comfortable new seven-seat van and driver cost us 3,200 rupees for the day (or $64 Canadian dollars) split between three couples.

Our objective was Allepey, 64 kms to the south of Kochi.  Allepey is known as the “Venice of India”.  It is situated on a narrow strip of land between the Arabian Sea and India’s largest lake.  Boating through the canals and natural waterways is a major tourist attraction.  We had nothing prebooked but negotiated a two-hour private charter on our arrival. 

The activity proved better than even hoped.  Allepey is much like Holland in that the farmland is located below the level of the surrounding water.  Continuous natural and manmade dykes keep the water back.  The dykes serve as footpaths, boat stops, and house foundations.   Our boat travelled close enough to see the rhythms of daily life; children bathing and playing in the water, women pounding their laundry on the rocks by the water, and folks fishing for their dinner.

There Were No Shortages of Boats to Hire

Quite Comfortable Being the Only Passengers

Houseboat Divas

Social Life Along the Waterways

Water Bus Stop

Ladies off to Saturday Market

Stan Getting Comfortable in New Surroundings

Letting the World Go By

Below Water Level Fields

Men Visiting - Woman Working

Gravel Hauler

The Traffic Had Picked Up Near the End

We finished our Allepey stop with a fine meal on the beach.  Once again, several kilometers of white sandy beaches with very few people in sight.  We all fell asleep on the return trip despite the countless near head on collisions that occurred.  We have truly become Indians.

Off to the airport in the morning and our final India stop, Bangalore.