Being in Asia, we took the opportunity to explore more of the world by flying over to Kerala, India, where my sister Rebecca has a Fullbright scholarship to do sociological research at the university of Thirumvananthapuram (how is that for an impressive name!). Her husband Ward decided to join her for the 7 months so we thought this would be an amazing opportunity to see them in a new world and learn about a country we know very little about.
Our first time on the Arabian peninsula; Abu Dhabi through the windows of the airport
And off to Thrivindrum (as the locals say for easier pronunciation) and meeting up with Rebecca and Ward in their dark, cool and modern apartment.
Walks around the neighborhood permitted us to get a feel for daily life in the area with lots of evidence of the current Communist Party in power in Kerala.
Many vibrant and alive temples with signs of faith everywhere.
We were interested to hear about the work Rebecca is doing for her Fullbright Scholarship at the University in Thrivundrum.
A university beautifully designed many years ago by an English architect for natural air conditioning.
Rebecca's office...
We toured a variety of richly textured temples including a temple that boasts a Guinness book of World Records record for the largest gathering of women (click here)
Rebecca and Ward introduced us to the amazing real life legend of hidden riches at this, the mysterious temple called: Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
It is a story of intrigue, of hundreds of years worth of treasure hoarding, of rumours of theft. The Indian Supreme Court ordered in 2011 that one of the chambers be opened and inventoried. As it turns out the value of that one room's treasure was estimated at ... $22 billion (yes; billion!!!). There are several other chambers to be investigated. For more on this story click here. Now there are huge and passionate discussions among the faithful and the non-faithful as to whether this treasure belongs to God and thus remains in the temple as supervised by the Maharaj, or does it belong to the state to be used for the good of all people (and risk corruption etc.)? This is still being argued about today.
Springing off from Thrivindrum, Rebecca and Ward took us on a fascinating series of adventures around the state of Kerala.
A stop in the ancient city of Kochi which had seen Roman traders come through looking to trade for spices as well as some of the earliest Christians. St. Thomas, the apostle of Jesus, arrived in the state of Kerala somewhere near 50AD where he was later martyred. (click here for more)
This was also the first Portuguese colony established in India by Vasco de Gama, who later died here. (more details here)
Ward and I were impressed by the high quality Lamborghini tuk-tuks....
Fascinating things to learn about in Kochi, like these special chinese fishing nets... but also hard to ignore the layer of filth and garbage covering most of the beach.
We enjoyed the sights, colours and smells of the shops...
Sampled some henna...
And found some shade in a peaceful sculpture garden...
Kochi and area had a very large christian presence seen on trucks...
As well as magnificent churches.
From Kochi we were driven on a long, long, crowded and winding road up into the Western Ghats mountains to a peak near the community of Munnar. A 5:00 AM expedition up the side roads to a trail head...
To find ourselves way above the cloud level...
To see the sunrise (partly made more beautiful by the poor air quality!).
The heat just began to assault us at the top of the peak so we headed back down...
with vistas of tree plantations on all sides.
Our guide was quite friendly and cheery and enjoyed sharing stories about his recent wedding.
From the mountain peak we wound our way down through perfectly manicured tea plantations that gave us a real understanding for how tea is grown. The trees can be quite old but they are trimmed down to waist height with passageways between each series of bushes so the new shoots can be cultivated.
The entire morning we could hear blasting music and speeches echoing throughout the valley. We assumed it was some kind of wedding. No... it was a political rally with about 30 people there. They just wanted to make sure no-one missed the fact they were there!
In the late afternoon, after all day in the sun, we appreciated going for a tour of an organic spice plantation where the spices are planted underneath the tree canopy.
It was fascinating to see cocoa growing:
Tapioca:
Pepper vines:
Our final trip back to the lodge had us careening down the mountain with all four of us jammed into the back seat of our guide's tuk-tuk (no, there were no seat-belts!).
The next morning we were up early to go to the Periyar Wild Life preserve. Without the crowds, the noise, the litter, it was a very peaceful hike deep into the wild life preserve with all of its unique flora and fauna.
The highlight was when we came across some wild elephants grazing in a clearing. It was particularly meaningful to us as we had just heard the previous day in the tea plantations about how a wild elephant had come out to a temple and killed two people! Needless to say, we kept our distance...
Our final stop on our tour of Kerala was catching a houseboat at Kumarakon. This area of inland waterways is popular for the lovely houseboats you can rent to be taken through some of the back waterways of the area.
We head a two bed-room boat...
Lots of lounging and relaxing space...
A cook and two assistant to serve us delicious food...
With periodic stops to walk along some of the country trails. Check out the matching colours here!
As we were tied up at night, the view from our window was quite special at sunrise.
Lovely fresh and healthy food done by our chef...
That was our last stop on our planned India trip. We had thought through the days, decided where we wanted to go, enjoyed our time exploring, and boarded this train to return to Thrivundrum and our flight back to Tokyo. We were ready to head back to our world in Tokyo feeling quite grateful for the work Ward and Rebecca had done to make this a great trip.
Only little did we expect that this was actually the beginning of a whole new adventure because my passport disappeared on this train; this was a BIG problem!
In India you need a passport to buy train tickets, to register overnight in a hotel. The airports are guarded by soldiers with submachine guns who won't let you in the airport unless you have a passport...
To be continued in the next blog.
