Week 9 Summary: India Up the Arabian Coast
I realize I need to write the daily entries, as uninteresting as they are, since they are more for me to recall my travels than for any other reason. But instead of overindulging in daily mundane posts, I will just do a weekly summary. That way, I can have more time for "article posts".
Sat 15 Sep – Now Boarding
Took the last look at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal, before it gets torn down to make way for a brand new terminal. Good riddance, because the Budget Terminal, even the name is silly, does not fit in with the glitzy Changi Airport. I met travelers who flew in and out through the Budget Terminal only, and concluded that Changi wasn't as great as everyone made it out to be.
The Tiger Airways captain winked at me as he walked past. I was the only non-Indian apart from 2 senior American couples in the queue, so that could be it. Anyway, it made me think that Tiger hasn't been in the news for the wrong reasons lately, so they seemed to have put their act together, and when they move to Terminal 2, due to the closure of the Budget Terminal, things can only get better.
Sun 16 Sep – A day in Trivandrum
The main point to get through to you here is that Trivandrum is cheap. They charge the same rate at the locals (elsewhere it's normally locals entry fees at 10 Rp and tourists 250 Rp). For the entire day in Trivandrum, I had a Thali (cheap, tasty vegetarian rice meal with all sorts of curries. The waiter will keep refilling the rice and dhal, sambar etc until you tell him to stop. Basically it's a buffet for under a dollar), snacks, a fancy dinner, paid for a night's stay in a cheap hotel, visited the Trivandrum zoo, two museums, one art gallery and paid for the bus to the next town. In total, I spent $ 16.85 SGD.
The zoo was good. All the families were out at the zoo on a Sunday (human ones). I had as much fun looking at the locals as I did checking out the animals. Within the zoo compounds were a couple of museums. I went to the one ! featuring ancient relics from the southern regions of India, the Napier museum. Too bad it had a no photo policy. The statues of the early dynasties from the Cholas onwards were very impressive. There was another museum featuring stuffed animals which I skipped. The art gallery was so-so. It featured portraits from Rama Varma Swami, some Travancore ruler, and some paintings in the Ajanta caves style.
The Puthe Maliga Palace Museum is the palace of the former Travancore kings of Kerala. The Travancores were one of the more powerful princely states during the Raj period of India. The palace was opened as a museum 10 years ago, and the guide did a very good job switching from Hindi, English and Malayalam as she tells us about the rooms in the palace. The entire compound is huge and the one hour tour takes us only in a few of the rooms.
Took a 1.5 hour bus to Kollam that evening
Mon 17 Sep – Mungore Island Backwaters
The 400 RP DTPC (District Tourism Promotion Council) tour of Mungore island was what I came for. I did the morning tour which takes us deep into the backwaters of Mungore island, passing through villages, prawn farms, backyards and temples.
Took a 4 hour bus ride that same evening to get to Kochi. Along the way, there was a procession celebrating Vishwakarma in one of the towns, causing a blockade and delaying the bus. Reached Ernakulam, the district in Kochi across the strait from old Fort Kochi.
Tue 18 Sep – Fort Kochi
Spent the entire morning at the reservation counter of the train station, trying to understand how train booking works. I'm a pro now at train bookings, able to tell between 3AC, 2AC and sleepers, as well as knowing about normal, tourist quota, tatkal and waiting list tickets. I booked as many tickets in advance, since I know where and when I will be going the next few days.
Finally went to Fort Kochi and wandered for a few hours, enough to catch all the major sights like the few churches and the Chinese fishing nets, before! settling! to catch a Kathakali performance, one of Kerala's ancient dance forms.
Rushed to cross the channel back to Ernakulam and take the night train to Goa.
Wed 19 Sep – Goa (Old Goa)
Not good, Goa is closed. No, actually the shops in Goa's Panaji city are all closed because it is the first day of Ganesh Chathurthi, a 10 day long festival celebrating Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu god. The Portuguese churches at Old Goa were still open so that's where I went. Visited the impressive Basilica of Bom Jesus and the Church of St Francis of Assisi. Managed to get 40 minutes in the museum before it closed for the day.
Thu 20 Sep – Goa (Calangute)
With a train at 5pm, I had just enough time to take the bus down to Calangute beach and back, after setting off from Panaji at 12pm. The problem was that buses running from place to place (including Panaji to Calangute) were few and far between. This was because there was a nation-wide strike due to the FDI rule change, increase in diesel price and also a cap on cooking oil. And all the shops were closed again. Great, just great. I joined a shared taxi by similarly stranded locals, and rushed to the train station.
Got the train to Mumbai
Fri 21 Sep – Mumbai
New big city. There has to be wifi somewhere. I walked around the city at 6am in the morning, with my phone out searching for a wifi signal. The place I finally picked has wifi, but I shared my room with an amicable local youth.
The next order is to book all the Rajasthan train tickets and sort out my onward train trip to Delhi. Tourist counter staff says it's not possible to advance book if you don't show the passenger's passport. No choice then, will have to wait till last minute.
Took a trip down to the India Gate, and a ferry to Elephanta Island. Quite a spectacular Buddhist cave complex, though all the caves but one were underwhelming.
Fri 22 Sep – A Bombay Cake
Spent the day with C, P and friends. Met C at the train stat! ion and w! e agreed to go around town today. She brought friends from her hostel. We went to the fantastic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum (which deserves a whole afternoon). Together with C and P, I went to the Dhoby Ghats, to watch the dhobi-wallahs wash the city's clothing, before carrying on the museum and zoo in the Byculla district.
We tried to catch a show at the cinema, but the timings were bad, so instead we went into an air-conditioned cake shop. On a whim, we shared a 0.5 kg birthday cake between us, labeling it "Bombay 22nd Sep 2012". We chat till I had to leave to catch my train.
Off I go to Aurangabad on the sleeper.
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