EC-Rider Travels

This morning Sanjit had arranged for his friend to take us to the village in his tuktuk. Again not really knowing where we were going we headed off with our charming, but almost non-English speaking driver.

Just for a nice change, there was a festival going on to celebrate the opening of a new temple in the village – there are already 16! Anyway huge excitement, everyone was there from 90 to nine months, all dressed up and bringing their offerings to be blessed by the Brahmin. There were drummers and a guy playing another amazing looking instrument, like a giant oboe, three elephants in full regalia (shackled – hate that – but with lots of food to eat). Analida and I were the only tourists and were not convinced we should have been there, but once again we were drawn in and invited to sit down with them. I am not sure, if we were more of a curiosity than they were and we had to have endless photos taken with them all. They really are the loveliest and most friendly people possible.

We were then taken to see the local nursery school, which despite being Saturday, had several children in residence. As you can imagine we caused great excitement, and goodness they were sweet, one little boy bringing Analida a mini yellow chair to sit on.

When we returned there was a man and his wife, cooking and cleaning clams. After boiling in a huge pot, they were thrown into a sieve and shaken vigorously until the clams all fell out….. on to a filthy mat on the floor – yum. The clean shells were then thrown on to a huge pile to be sold for the garden or to be used in paint etc.

They do a spa treatment at Purity called Shirodhara, which is supposed to be very special and Analida knew all about, so I thought I better try one. Well it was not quite like going to Jenny … strip down to nothing – no towels – sit on a stool while warm oil is poured on to the top of your head, and then hop on to the table where more warm oil is rubbed into every part of your body for an hour. This is followed by warm oil being slowly dripped on to your forehead for about half an hour which is then massaged into your hair. All I could think about was would I ever get it out! It was most unusual and Analida has a whole week of them!

This is such a heavenly place, and with a few small tweaks it could be truly wonderful. Analida notices everything and could help them so much. Sanjit, who has recently taken over as General Manager, asked me for some honest feedback, which I was reluctant to give, but mentioned that Analida had been in the hotel trade (she ran Clivedon) and if he wanted any pointers she would be great to talk to. I really hope he does.

At 3.45 on the dot, Arun was there to pick me up and I said a sad farewell to Analida as I started my journey back to Kochi and the airport. I decided on the direct route, rather than the scenic this time, and OMG! the traffic,. Despite being Saturday, it was nose to tail, about five cars deep with trucks, motorbikes, and the odd cow. We crawled from one side of Kochi to the other, picking up Syndo, from Banyan Tours, who insisted on escorting me to the airport!. A truly sad goodbye to Arun, after thirteen days together, I tried to give him a huge hug, which I think was a bit of a surprise, so gave him a huge tip instead with him insisting that I text him when I am safely in the hotel!

Rather amazingly Kochi has the world’s first totally solar powered airport and, as Syndo was proud to tell be, was awarded the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award in 2018. It is not very big, but seemed to work pretty well and they were surprisingly friendly on security as I had managed to to pack several things in my hand luggage which are not allowed in India – you would think I might have that right after six months of travel!

What is very surprising is that all signage at the airport, and the constant announcements are in English. Even though English is taught in school, most Indians we met, and certainly those in the countryside, speak very little English – it cannot be easy for them, I could barely understand it. They not only speak a completely different language in Kerala (Malayalam) to Tamil Nadu and the other states, they also have a totally different alphabet. Most Indians have to learn three different languages (Hindi, English and their local language which they are likely to speak at home) and three different alphabets. In theory English is supposed to be the common language. We get off so lightly!

My flight was delayed by about forty minutes which was not a problem, but it was completely packed and when a whole plane of Indians is given curry for dinner …… I was quite envious of Analida’s loss of smell.

I was met at the airport by another Banyan representative (they are a truly impressive company) and driven to Abode a quirky little boutique hotel Mary-Ann had booked me into. It was after 1am when I got here so goodnight!