KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA: the land of palms

KOCHI, KERALA - INDIA

Sitting at dinner alone sipping a Cosmo with a random selection of String Quartets and Trios playing on the hotel soundsystem whilst waiting for another sublime Indian meal to arrive, I can finally reflect on the day. Wow! I didn't expect it to be this fulfilling but it was exactly what I expected and thought of India. The last few days had been a bit of a warm up but today was what I was waiting for.

Talk about a magnificent day. I had booked a tour online because I really wanted to see the Kerala Backwaters and I totally lucked out. I'd read on tripadvisor and other sites that the Backwaters had been destroyed by commercialism, too many tourists, houseboats hitting one another. 

I was picked up by a lovely private car from the Trident and taken to the pick up spot of the boat. The area was sprawled with palm trees and small islands. Jumped onto the boat where a man gently manoeuvred me down the river. I didn't really see any houseboats. We passed a few houses that littered the river bed. A few interesting smells of rubbish, cooking, spices, plants and animals grazing put me right into what I expected India to be all about.

We passed people who were catching fish. 2 people were in the water, moving around slowly which I soon gathered that the water was quite shallow. There was one man on a boat pulling a string with bits of white ribbon tied intermittently along the longer rope. Peter, the tour guide explained to me that as the rope is put into the water, the white ribbon flickers against the sun and it scares the fish. The fish then bury themselves in the mud and the men in the water catch them with their bare hands. How smart! The rope stretched for 300m or so and both men had a hold of it, forming a semi circle almost. Peter said for these men to work about 4 hours, they would make about 8000-1000 rupees ($140-$180US). Not bad for a days work here in Kerala. 

We climbed up onto dry land, walked along the waterfront and approached a house which had cashew nut trees and piles of coconut shells on the floor. And i mean PILES of it :)

Peter explained that there is a juicy fruit attached to the cashew nut which has an oil that can set on fire. The nut needs to be roasted to help crack it, and the juicy fruit can be eaten when ripe.

cashew nuts anyone?

We then moved into a smaller boat where the water was clear and we moved slowly down the canals. We moved up to a junction and as we turned, I realized this was truly special. The water was very shallow, to the point where you could see the mud beneath - most likely about 50cm deep. This was where the peace, calmness, serenity that I was searching for lay. Birds tweeted, crickets cricketed. There were weeds floating thickly through the waterways but they were going yellow meaning the saltwater was killing them. Peter explained that around June during the rainy season, they will start growing again.

happiness :)

We moved along the canals and saw crab nests, kingfisher nests, quite a few cormorand birds and literally nestled ourselves amidst the thousands of palm trees, pushing our way through greenery and getting whiplashed by leaves and growth as well as fallen palm branches.

into the wild :) 

The beauty of this trip was that there was not a single tourist around. Not another boat. I, was the only one. I was dumbfounded. Peter explained he owned 15 acres and the government monitor this area very closely so no concrete jungle is allowed to be constructed, nor were there any other tour operators allowed. He'd ran his business for the last 17 years and had the Taj Hotel group as a client for 16 years as well as having very important people come through like representatives of Obama's election campaigns, a group of 60 doctors (next month) and a few other delegates from around the world.

totally at peace.

No wonder it had kept its authenticity. We stopped by a canal bed and walked around to a man who was up in the palm trees. He was abstracting 'toddy'. Apparently this liquid was a coconut liquor, only taking 4 hours after extraction from the roots of the coconut trees to start fermenting. Its alcoholic content is only 2% and all three men agreed that it tasted better than coca-cola or Pepsi! All organic and natural. 

collecting and fine-tuning the coconuts.

The guy who was maneuvering the boat grabbed a bottle out of a tiny casket and it was filled with this white milky-looking liquid. He squeezed it and a bit of liquid overflowed and to my horror, a couple of flies came out of it too. They then offered it to me. Was i game enough? Heck. Why not! Was this a death trap? I asked for a tiny bit and sipped it. Yes, it tasted like coconut. Yes, it tasted like alcohol! Not bad at all. If i'm still alive and writing entries in the next 24 hours, you'll know I haven't been plagued with the 'Dehli-Belly'. 

This man who was extracting the toddy owned 16 palm trees. In the area we were in, he owned 4. How on earth were you to pick which one was yours in this forest of palms? Craziness! He knew exactly which ones were his.

yes, i did it! forward AND back!

We continued back down the canal and the man who was extracting the toddy got in his slither of a boat (if I stepped on it, I would have flipped completely!), overtook us and was not to be seen again. 

peace, serenity, calmness.

stepping on Kerala soils. 

We got back to the house we started at and a meal was brought out to me. All home cooked and tasted delicious. Instead of a plate, they had banana leaves and all the food, condiments and rice was placed in small pods. I got a spoon whilst Peter was eating with his hands. I couldn't bring myself to do it, there was a real technique to it and i surely was not going to master that anytime soon (just thinking about how I'm such an unco with chopsticks is enough for me to stick to a spoon). Food was delicious, flavorsome and authentic!

eating lunch with a local family.

yum yum yum! culinary experience, eating on banana leaves.

Once the meal was done, another lady showed me the technique of separating fibres from a coconut to make rope. They then manually made rope with the fibres, a spinning wheel, and i somewhat assisted and was given the rope as a souvenir of Kerala! Perfecto.

separating the coconut fibres

spinning wheel! literally! 

my bud, the Turkeyyy :)

We made our journey back on the boat to my driver of whom drove me back towards my hotel via a saree tailor, spice store and souvenirs. Indeed, i have a saree being tailored as we speak! I can't wait!!!

fitting and trying out all different colored sarees

The man from the saree shop sold rugs, carpets, sarees, shawls, jewelery and furniture as well as decorative statues/homeware. It was beautiful and i said to him 'I would buy this if I had a home of my own. I don't have my own house anymore. I don't even have my car anymore'. Bob, the shop owner said 'and boyfriend? married?'. I laughed and shook my head. 'I have nothing'.  He said 'I had a girlfriend who was from Perth, then another from France but no more. But i have a car, and i have a house. That's good'. I laughed as he walked me to the till and handed me a card.

Bob's wise business card :)

As I looked at it, i nodded, smiled and said 'YES. YES. YES. What a way to live life. This is what i'm going to do'. 

I was spent by the end of the day. Both physically and mentally - there was a lot to process. Kerala literally means 'the land of palms'. That, it truly was! I felt like I had really felt India more so than the past few days that I've entered this fascinating country. I smelt it, i felt it. I've met locals and I've added to my mantra. And with that, the smells of curries and irresistible pappadams call me to put down this entry and fall back into the wonderful world of India.

Love, peace and respect,

VANANH

And for the RIGHT NOWs:

Fav food: gooseberry jam.

Reading: nothing because I am bookless (left Blink on the Pride! BOO!)

Wishlist: another saree

Current city: Cochin

Listening to: Braveheart OST. I know, random!

Fav clothing item: my new leather clutch from Cochin.

Next destination: Mangalore, India

Missing: the gym. Never thought i'd say that but I feel SO heavy right now with all the food i've eaten. 

MANGALORE, INDIA: temples, churches and a near miss of imprisonment

MANGALORE, INDIA

My sheer excitement of entering India for the first time clearly got the better of me because you know that annoying feeling when you want to sleep so much but you end up waking up before your alarm clock goes off because of some sort of anticipation? Well, that was me. I woke up, perky, bright-eyed and jumped out of bed to peer out the window. For a minute, it felt like i was sailing down the Saigon River. Industrial, murky waters, a faint smog across the sky at 7:30am. Our ship moored and it still seemed industrial.

We headed out and got into town by the City Centre Mall. A swift walk up a few floors of this mall proved that it was rather eclectic. In between activewear stores like Nike, Reebok and Puma, there were department stores, local stores which sold sarees and traditional garb, a food court, KFC (of course!), and a Bazaar Market selling knock-offs, trinkets and an array of tailors. All of a sudden, all the lights int he mall blacked out. Aaron looked around and said "stay out of the shadows" which made me burst out laughing, but only for a split second then looked wearily around myself. 10 seconds later, lights were back on. No harm was done :)

We walked out and waved a tuk-tuk down which took us first to the Kudroli Temple. The tuk-tuk ride itself was a highlight. Tuk-tuks amidst cars, scooters, trucks and people do not having the concept of staying on one side of the road - it's straight down the highway. We arrived at the temple with two large elephant statues at its gates. 

We had to take our shoes off and walking on the tiles in the middle of the day meant a walk became a brisk power walk which became a hip and a skip from temple to temple before we burnt the bottoms of our feet off! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photographs inside the temples but all the different Gods were really colorful and this new temple of Mangalore had a nice mix of old structures and modern architecture.

The next stop was the famous St Aloysius Church. There was a high school attached to it and we went into the church, following a few other Indian people. We walked around very quietly, admiring the painting on the walls. I sat down by a pillar and soaked up the high ceilings, amazed that it was only one painter who painted this entire insides of the church with amazing artworks and moments of the Bible. Taking one shot of the ceiling, i was alerted with an 'excuse me. Not allowed to take photos'. A man from the balcony upstairs yelled down to me and a hasty scurry of feet was heard. He was coming down to me. 

'Hand over the camera' he said. 

'No', was my first answer. 

'Hand it over', he said, gesturing his hands towards him and he was quite aggressive. Alarmed, I handed it over, thinking he was just the church warden and that he'd hold onto the camera or get the picture deleted. 

Aaron turned around and said 'we'll get your camera back at the end. Don't worry'. 

I nodded and we walked around for about 10 minutes and the man was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't panicking yet but he turned to Aaron and said 'umm, let's get my camera and go'. 

Suddenly one of the guys who walked in with us at the start, his phone went off and the guy who took my camera surfaced again, yelling at this man for his phone going off and walking them out of the church. We confronted him and requested for the camera and he said 'go to over to the blue building where the office is, they have it'. I was confused, why would he send it to the office?

Aaron and I walked across but all the doors were closed. Our tuk-tuk driver tried to help us and spoke to a cleaner who pointed us back to the church.

Went BACK into the church, the guy was nowhere to be seen so I proceeded up the altar where I heard voices in the back room. I stood by the entrance of the backroom and said 'excuse me?' of which the guy who took my camera and another guy turned around. He walked towards me. 'Why must you walk up here? Step back. You don't need to be here. I will walk out to you'. He smelt of alcohol. Uh-oh. This was not good. He walked us out to the door and pointed to a sign which said 'no photography allowed. Please switch off mobile phones'.  We apologised and said that the door was held open and therefore we didn't see the sign, otherwise we would never take the photograph. He didn't seem to understand or want to understand this and pointed us back to the blue building, telling us to go up the stairs to the office.

We went back over, found the stairs, went up and walked into what was like a counter with those bank teller plastic covers with three men sitting behind it. They led us to another room around the corner with another similar setup, this time with two women sitting behind it.

Aaron ramped up the seriousness of the matter and said sternly 'I am a cruise director on Seabourn. We want our camera back. We don't want to start bringing port agents into this'. The girls seemed a bit baffled and started dialling three different phones profusely. They told us to sit down. I really didn't want to sit down. I was getting really edgy and my patience was wearing thin. I kept looking over to Aaron and muttering 'I don't know what the problem is'. Aaron kept looking at his watch. It took them 10 minutes, speaking to each other and over the phones to then tell us that we're not allowed to take photographs in there. This was getting REALLY frustrating. We apologised profusely and said we can delete the picture but they kept saying we weren't allowed to take photographs. OK, UNDERSTOOD. BUT WE WANT OUR CAMERA BACK. They said ok, go back over to the church. They will talk to you.

For the third time, we walked over to the church. We stormed in and the guy who smelt like alcohol came out of another room, this time with another man who must be the one who ran the church because he had an official ID tag on his shirt.

'This is my brother', the alcohol induced man said. 

The guy with the ID tag pushed us out to the door. 'Come here, come here, look at this', he pointed at the door. 'You see what it says?' I literally yelled back at him 'Yes, we see it, but it was an honest mistake and we walked in with the door already open so we didn't see it'. 

'There's another sign over there. You don't take photos in other chapels. It ruins the paintings. For this, you need to pay a fine. It's $2200 Rupees'. WHAT THE HELL? a fine? I was fuming. I did quick calculations in my head and ok, it was about $50US but it was the principle which made me so mad.

'There's a sign which says we can't take photos, where's the sign that says we have to pay a fine if we do take a photo? And this was an honest mistake', Aaron said. 'We are NOT paying that'.

'It goes to the restoration of the paintings' he replied. He was not budging and persisted on us paying. I took a deep breath. This was not looking good. All i could think was being thrown into jail. This exasperating and getting out of control and never getting my camera back.

Aaron moved forward and put his hand on the man's shoulder. 'Look, we don't mean any disrespect. All we did was an honest mistake. If we saw the sign, we would never have taken the photo. We just want the camera back, we'll delete it in front of you, we will spread good words about the church...' yada, yada, yada. A whole heaps of arse-kissing for about half an hour and he finally calmed down and we asked for our camera back and FINALLY got it back. No fine. No jail. 

We jumped onto our tuk-tuk, sighed a sigh of major relief and it made me realise how trusting I still was. I was careful in checking that my bags were always zipped up. That I wasn’t wearing valuables. That I had a male friend travelling with me at all times. Moral of the story: don't give your camera to a stranger, especially in India, EVEN if you are in the house of God. 

It made me think to Slum Dog Millionaire to that scene where the missionary used Christianity to persuade kids to beg on the street of which the head-honcho ended up reaping all the rewards. And that was using religion as a means to coax tourists like me into believing it was safe, or it was a good thing that they were doing.

It was a true ‘welcome to india’ moment and I’m glad it happened there whilst Aaron was with me. We went into the Central Markets in search of the colored powder that we’d heard about for the Holi celebrations. We did find them however it wasn’t really celebrated South but Aaron bought some. I truly hope it goes to good use J We walked through the fruit and vegetable market and goodness me, the smells were a mix of fabulous exotic fruits through to fruit and veg that was rotting. We bought a kilo of sugar bananas for 40 rupees (less than $1US).

Headed back on a tuk-tuk to the Mall and grabbed a great deal from Nike. I went in for new trainers and ended up with matching playsuits to run in! Typical J Couldn’t help myself with a good bargain.

What an introduction into India. I loved it and it was also a wake-up call to be even more alert than usual. Feeling blessed to be around good energies and people who are street savvy to say the least :)

Much love and peace,

VANANH

And for the RIGHT NOWs:

Fav food/drink: french martini

Reading: Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (still…digesting the awesomeness)

Wishlist: a sneaky camera which doesn't make a sound so i can take pics without getting blackmailed lol

Current city: Goa

Listening to: the voices of White Collar on TV! slightly hooked.

Fav clothing item: definitely my new playsuits!

Next destination: Mumbai, India.

Missing: my friends back in Sydney!

PULAU WEH INDONESIA: Diver's heaven

Pulau Weh, Sabang, Indonesia

I’m not a diver. After this trip, I wish I was. I love snorkeling and am always up for an adventure so was happy to tag along as Aaron had been to the Lumba Lumba resort before and had said great things about it. So, he was in charge of the day and had organized a car that picked us up from the port to head to Pulau Weh, Gabang Beach. Indonesia really intrigues me. A few days back, we were in Medan and that was interesting enough with the mosques and batik markets, developing and fairly dry.

our ride to the Lumba Lumba Diving Resort

Sabang was however, completely different. It was rainforest territory. Lush and filled with all sorts of plantation. We winded around roads, up and down hills, passing through villages, mosques, schools, dirt tennis courts. 

About 25 minutes later, we slowed down onto a dirt road, which led to our arrival in Pulau Weh at the Lumba Lumba Diving Resort.

 

The beachfront was littered with 3 or 4 boats that were ready to take divers out. We walked into their office, which was a two-storey house with a balcony out the front.  About 6-7 Westerners were sitting there of whom we found out later, were either avid divers or instructors of the resort. The boys signed up and got their gear together whilst I got my flippers and snorkeling gear ready.

I looked around. It was fairly basic. Not a resort. A goat trotted along randomly.

 

They had a big whiteboard that mapped out who was taking which diving course. Beginners, intermediate, advanced, pro. Cement flooring, the paint job was peeling around the edges of the building.  The guy behind the desk was a local and he grabbed a folder and gave it to me. It was labeled Tsunami 2004. Of course! That was the tsunami that hit Phuket and all the surroundings. As I flipped the pages, the pictures unfolded. This resort right here had been hit. I read the letters that family members had sent to the resort in search of their family members who were caught in it. The pictures showed the damage, the rebuild. I had this horrible strange feeling crawl over me, realizing that I was sitting in the place that it had hit. A few days later, I watched The Impossible and that hit home even MORE. WOWSERS!

I sat there silent and closed the folder quietly. The guy then pointed up to the window where there was a blue painted line. It was where the water level was. Something like 6 metres high! Ridiculous! And he was there that day too. He said he had come back from a party and was slightly intoxicated. He was upstairs and started feeling the floor shaking and everyone quickly ran up the hill. He flicked through the folder again and showed me a picture of him, fixing some of the boats. WOW! This was the second person I had met who had survived that tsunami. The first was someone I met last year who was security on a chartered trip I performed on but they were in Phuket when it all happened.

The boys came out and were ready so we all piled onto the boat and it took us out to the reef.

Aaron, so tanned already?!

the boys, ready for their dive! lookin' good lads!

jeronimoooo :)

The divers went in two groups and I was left alone to snorkel. I jumped in, stared down and was completely and utterly shocked. I did not expect the amount of fishies that I saw before my eyes. They were everywhere and all sorts of colors. I swam around for a while and then surfaced, the boat picked me up and took me to another spot and this time, one of the guys on the boat jumped in with me and took me around. Blue starfish, yellow starfish, rainbow fish, reefs, just incredible! I had to steal these shots from Dave because I didn’t bring an underwater camera. Guttered!!

photos, curtesy of Dave's dive :) i saw pretty much the same though :)

The boys were down for 53 minutes and surfaced.  They had gone down 90 feet! Holy moly! They said they saw sharks, octopus, all sorts of wonderful underwater creatures.

I’ve snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; in Bora Bora and Moorea, Tahiti. But this had had to be one of the best snorkels ever. The boat took us back, just in time as it started to rain. Our transfer took us back to our ship and before we knew it, we were off and it was probably the whole of Sabang by the port, seeing us off J

An absolutely marvelous day. That’s the beauty of this job. When you least expect it, you find the most beautiful things and have the most enjoyable day! Such inspiration for playing piano and writing music.

Love and grace,

Van-Anh xx
And for the RIGHT NOWs:

Fav food: truffle fries.

Reading: Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (still…)

Wishlist: diving course

Current city: Sabang, en route Mangalore, India

Listening to: SBTRKT

Fav clothing item: my Tom's!... still!

Next destination: Mangalore, India.

Missing: an underwater camera.

INDONESIA: The 15 year old Sultan

BELEWAN, MEDAN, INDONESIA

In my travels over the past few years, I've been able to see many different parts of Indonesia. Bali is of course one of my favourite places in the world but we must not forget that Indonesia consists of over 10,000 islands. With different dialects, religion and varying cities, I've been able to experience places like Semarang, Bali, Central Java and today, Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. 

Having been focusing on my shows, I didn't have much time to research on what it was that was the 'must-dos' in Medan so found a private car and off I went. Driving for about 40 minutes to get into Medan, parts of it reminded me of Vietnam. Motorbikes, scooters, tuk-tuk type rickshaws.

colorful rickshaws

Large buildings were being built and I could see this city being at a stage of real development. We drove past a rather large Buddhist temple and I also saw a few Catholic churches.

The first stop was the Otteman Deli Palace, also known as the Yellow Palace. The grounds of the palace was quite impressive. The interior had definitely eroded a little but I was able to get a feel of what the Sultan had lived in. Entry into the Palace was 5000 Rupees, technically 50c Australian but ended up just giving them $1USD. 

Across the road was the famous Medan Mosque. Entry was also $1USD and we were given head shawls and fabric to cover our skin. Now, I'm quite unfamiliar with the religion and was lucky enough to have a local by the name of Edy walk me around and explain a few things about the prayer services, how everyone had to pray 5 times a day, the washing of hands, feet and body parts three times over before entering the mosque to pray.

with Richard Griffin, another entertainer.

one of my favourites ... little kid telling the students in white to go wash themselves :)

surrounding the mosque were mango trees along with frangipanis and curry plants.

curry plant

The architecture of this mosque was designed by a Dutchman with window panes from China. He explained that if women had their period, they did not have to fast during Ramadan but would make it up afterwards. There were specific prayer days for men, being Friday. 

He also spoke about the Sultan and how when he died in 2005, he was buried by the mosque within 24 hours. He was appointed Sultan after his father died and also due to his military affiliations however when he passed away at aged 37, his son of 8 years of age was appointed as Sultan. Could you believe that? An 8 year old as the Sultan. The child is now 15. I just couldn't fathom that. How many advisors would you have to have? Would it be fun to nod and shake your head at things which you probably don't even understand? What about a childhood? or lack of?

He walked us around the mosque and then into the graveyard where the Sultan was buried. All the other previous Sultans were buried there too, along with their wives. It was kind of surreal to know that these people ruled the country and were actually right here. Polygamy is allowed (which surprised me). 

Local students were filing in to pray and ran up to us wanting photographs with us. To my surprise, they all had mobile phones of varying brands.

The final stop was the batik and textiles market. The traditional dresses were very much like saris and vietnamese 'ao dai' with some amazing patterns and vibrant colored fabrics. 

The day was really insightful and I learnt a lot about the culture and religion of the place. The place was quite dusty and I was ready to go back and have a shower. 

The next stop is Pulau Weh, a diving hotspot which excites me!

For now, love and light,

Van-Anh xxx

And for the RIGHT NOWs:

Favourite Food: Duck L'orange

Reading: Blink.

Wishlist: to fly my friends in Sydney to the Maldives with me in July this year.

Current city: Belewan, en route Pulau Weh.

Listening to: CNN!

Favourite clothing item: high waisted shorts.

Missing: a companion.