Amy & Annie & India

The best day yet...

We had a great time in Pondycherry, hiring bikes for a day, staying in this hippy Ashram place (peace and nature, man...), visiting a few sights and also spending some time on a very empty and unspoilt beach. We really felt like we weren't in India while we were there - it felt like France and was very laid back. After this we headed back to Chennai and met up with the girls we'd visited Asha with, which was fun. Then we caught the overnight train to Cochin in Kerala, which is our best destination yet.

On our first day we headed out around lunchtime, and explored the Jewish quarter of the town, with a synagogue and lots of interesting little shops. We also visited a Dutch Palace which has become a museum. Then in the evening we went to a traditional performance of 'Kathakali dance'. This was hilarious - as men in very vibrant costumes and make up pranced around onstage doing a 'story play'. The plot was simple, but the performance lasted an hour and a half, due to the utmost detail in facial expressions and gestures...It was all accompanied by some delightful Indian singing and percussion. We've got some great pics, though by the end we felt that our patience had been sufficiently tested and we were glad to escape!

The next day we did the most AMAZING tour. We got up at 5.45 a.m and checked out of our room, and were picked up by a driver at 6.30. Then we drove an hour and a half to an 'elephant training camp'. We knew we were going to see elephants but were a bit worried about the conditions we'd find them in. As it was, we watched them being led down to the riverbank where several men scrubbed each elephant with a coconut shell. We were told to grab a coconut and join in! So Amy and I scrubbed away on an elephant called Sunita, who was 36 and soooo huge. She seemed to love the attention and kept squirting water at us with her trunk! She was well-trained, and swapped sides when told to etc. At one point she stood up so we could do her underbelly, and then we realised how vast elephants really are. We thought if she overbalanced we'd have had an interesting death!! We watched her have her toenails clipped, and we also played with the little elephants, one of which was a year old and very cute. There must have been about 6 elephants at the water's edge at once. It was the most awesome experience I have ever had. After this, we were offered a ride on Sunita, which of course we accepted. We had to climb steps to get onto her back, and there was no harness; just a rope round her neck which we clung to. Her back was hairy and the hairs were prickly to sit on! But it felt wonderful to be riding, so high up and on such an enormous creature. It might sound cruel but there weren't loads of tourists doing it all day and the elephants seemed so happy.

After this we were taken to see three beautiful waterfalls, and we were able to walk to the top of one of them and look over the top. The spray from the falling water rose into the air and made the mountains behind look misty. Very cool. We then had lunch and headed back to our hotel, then hung around for 8 hours for our train to Mangalore (where we are now). Lots of reading and cards along the way...

Will post again soon, sorry this is long but soooo exciting.

posted by Amy & Annie @ 10:25 AM