Luckily for us, they never forget their board or camera and all these posts with people playing backgammon eXtreme can be found here: India.

Even I had the chance for a guest play last summer when we travelled to Italy and Jonas managed to keep the leaning tower of Pisa erected while throwing the dices!

The driver dropped us of next to one of the canals where the houseboats are parked and waiting to find costumers. As fast as we got of the car we were surrounded by people trying to sell us a trip on one of the hundreds of houseboats. I managed to ignore the touts trying to catch my attention and went directly to the boat owners who mostly sat in their boats and chilling. The first houseboat we saw was a double-decker with two double bedrooms, each with own bathroom. The price he offered was 4500 rupees for two nights, including all meals. This was far cheaper than what I had expected and I didn’t find any other boat for the same price while looking around. They were usually not a double decked and the price was usually 1000 rupees more for the two nights. I made the deal with the boat owner who jumped on his bike to go shopping groceries for our meals and we went to buy some beer and snacks for the trip. We left Allepy at seven on a boat full of food and drinks heading off to the lake where we would park for the night.

Sunset over the backwaters, Kerala

More info about the houseboats here: Houseboat on Wikipedia.org/

The crew consisted of an older steer man, a chef and the brother of the owner who also baked bread and helped in the kitchen. The chef cooked at least 4 different dishes for each meal, not to mention the fresh baked chapatti and rice and other side dishes. I can without a doubt admit that the food on the boat was by far the best food I had in India. Fresh coconut is used largely in the Keralan kitchen and there was no short of it in our food. Our chef also made a couple of dishes with sugar beets which tasted heavenly. We stopped by a fish monger along on of the canals the day after and got fresh fish as well as king prawns which we later barbequed for lunch. We were also served snacks and fresh fruit between the meals.

Lunch on houseboat, Kerala

There is not much to do along the canals than to relax and watch people going on with their everyday lives; bathing and washing cloths in the water, school children hoping on the boat home after classes are finished etc. We came back to Allepy early in the morning on our second morning on the boat and jumped on a taxi which took us further south to the heavenly beaches of Varkala.

Tea plants everywhere, Munnar

We stayed at Olive Brook Hotel which is located on the hills outside the town and is a slightly more expensive option. It’s surrounded by cardamom and coffee plantations in a very quite area. Included in the room tariff of 63-88 USD is breakfast and dinner. They also demonstrate how they cook the dinner (they like to call it “cookery class” which is kinda pushing it) and the food was generally very good and came in loads. Since Olive Brook is small in size, the service is very personal and friendly and I think it was worth the price. They also take you for a trek to the surrounding plantations but one needs a driver to go to Munnar town. There is not much to see in Munnar, except for all the tea, but I recommend it for people with a loose time schedule. I was initially thinking about skipping Munnar due to the time it takes to get there and back to the west Kerala, but I’m glad to have seen it. There is unfortunately not much to see and do between the tea country and the western Kerala where most tourists spend their time. I did however spoke to some people who were heading to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary which is further east.

Olive Brook Hotel, Munnar, India

I flew in to Cochin with Air Sahara and paid 4300 (80€) rupees for a round trip. Our flight was a couple of hours late so we missed the whole day in Cochin. The taxi trip from the airport to Fort Cochin, where we were staying, around 600 rupees and it took us around 2 hrs to get to our hotel.

It took us two hours to arrive to our hotel, Ann’s Residency, in Fort Cochin and we were very happy to see how cool and laid back the town was. There were far less people than any other place we had visited in India and the mix of palm trees, sound of the sea and the hot tropical air made me feel like I was finally on vacation. After a short walk in town, we had dinner at the Old Courtyard where there was live music for the evening. The place is very cosy with a great atmosphere and service and of course tasty, but not very remarkable food. The power went out during the dinner and the place went pitch black. It took a couple of minutes before the garden was lit up with candles and the place looked even nicer than it did with the power on. Our hotel was a homestay and good value for the price (1500 rupees for non air conditioned room). The owner however was very keen to send us to another hotel in Munnar than the one we had already booked, when he heard we were heading that way and wouldn’t stop propagating for it even though we said we weren’t interested; he kept saying “Ok, it’s your choice, BUT…” over and over again and got very annoying after a short while.

Chinese fishing nets and fishing boats in Fort Cochin

We started the next day with breakfast in the highly recommended Kashi Art Café and spent the rest of the day walking around town and stopping to cool down from the extreme heat. We stopped by the Solar Café which is in the same building as the Draavidia Art Gallery. We had some fresh lime soda with ginger, one of my favourite drinks in India beside sweet lime juice, and fresh fruit before we went to the Chinese fishing nets for seafood lunch. There are a couple of fishmongers just behind the nets where we could buy fresh fish and have it cooked for 60 rupees at one of the many shacks along the seafront. The shacks don’t have a license to serve alcohol so they’ll bring your beer in a teapot and we had to drink it out of tea cups, which actually adds to the experience. We had dinner at the History Restaurant inside the Brunton Boatyard. The place is very fancy and hence pricy and we didn’t see any Indian people eating there. There was however live music and the food and the service was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. But if you want to meet loads of rich foreigners and pay too much for food and drink, this is the place for it in Fort Cochin.

Fishmongers in Fort Cochin

Since many of you have been asking me this pretty much every time we speak, I would like to go ahead and make an official statement; I’m now finally officially food-poisoned, are you happy now?! For the first time in my life, and it happened at the Mumbai’s best restaurant Indigo. I guess they gave the good piece of grilled fish to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who were among the list of guests this fishy evening. The rest of the crowd was by the way a mix of filthy-rich citizens, maybe not-so-rich but white westerners as well as ladies in hot pants (inappropriate in public anywhere really!) and fanatical cleavages.
To be honest, we didn’t “technically” see Brangolina (I prefer Pittolina), but they must have seen us (!!) since we sat right next to the entrance and were not expecting such an extraordinary visit. On our way out from Indigo the paparazzis asked us if we saw what Brangolina had ordered etc etc, and we went: “WHA-WHAT-WHO!?!?!”. Yes, we didn’t even know they were there…
I know you would rather read about my health than what Angelina was wearing, and I can inform you that according to the doctor I will be fixed in 3-5 days, Indian time. And Paula, I know how much you want it, but Brad and wife wont be able to join us for our trip, sorry to disappoint you!

Zoroastrian temple in Mumbai

I found Mumbai to be very metropolitan and clean with many old buildings and fine architecture and had a great time when I was still well. We arrived on Friday night and got to the hotel after midnight. Hotel City Palace is recommended in the Lonely Planet and was the only place with available rooms from the list of 15 hotels in the book. We paid 1650 rupees for a dbl room each with balcony and an excellent view of the Victoria Terminus station. The room itself was quite cramped and smelled of smoke; it did however the job and we didn’t really have much of choice.
We spend the Saturday walking around the city in the hot-hot-heat visiting many of the famous spots, least inspiring being the Gateway of India and most memorable the colourful Colaba Market and afternoon beer at the legendary Leopold Café & Bar which dates back to 1871. We went to Chowpatty Beach to see the sunset which was quite an amazing view and the beach came to life after dark with people enjoying the cool air blowing in from the Arabian Sea. We left the beach heading for Indigo for dinner, and you know the rest!

Sunday was a painful day, woke up with a feeling that somebody had punched me in the stomach, REAL hard. Didn’t leave the hotel till noon when we checked out and went for breakfast to Café Churchill. When we got in I spotted a guy with a green Irish rugby shirt and we sat next to him and started chatting. Shayne from Limerick has been travelling around the world for a whole year and India is his last stop before heading back to Ireland to celebrate x-mas. Later on we went together to Mani Bhavan, the building where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during 1917-1934 which was truly a moving experience. After that we headed to Mumbai’s Dhobi Ghat, where clothes are washed. Here, thousands of men wash thousands of kilos of dirty clothes brought from all over the city every day and I must say it was an original photo motif. We went on to the airport later where the taxi driver, just like any other in Mumbai, demanded the triple fare for the trip, which is otherwise CLEARLY visible on the outdated meter (the fare shown has to be multiplied by 13!). This did indeed call for Hessam’s dark sides, at that moment pitch black due to the added effect of food-poisoning, to come forward for a last row.
Five hours later we finally arrived at the hotel and I could finally relax and feel slightly at home.

Riding a cab in Colaba

Good seafood is available aplenty. Worth visiting is the Fort Kochi beach where you can buy fresh fish and get it cooked in the nearby food stalls. Fish fry, fish molly, fish curry and fish peera are the favourites, usually taken with rice or steamed tapioca (cassava).

In other words, Wohooo!

On a random note, I saw a very funny Persian music video which I would like to share with you. I’ve always had a soft spot for happy effortless Persian pop, it reminds me of the time when I lived Iran and puts me in a good mood. The artist Omid is not bad, if you are into that sort of things. On an interview with BBC Persian he said that in his new album he really wanted to do something original, something that has never been done before yadayada. I didn’t take his words seriously but apparently he went all in and hit the jackpot.

Basic plot:
Line dancers shaking away to Persian electro-pop-mash disaster
Headbanging musician in the background
Omid singing with the worst lip sync ever
All of the sudden, hold on now, BREAKDANCERS enter!!!

Right, maybe not my favourite video, but then again who am I to disagree with 68,017,860 Iranians!? Enjoy!

:)

On our way to Jaipur we saw all kind of wild animals such as peacocks, monkeys, parrots and other birds as well as elephants (not wild of course). After a couple of hours of driving we got to Jaipur and first stop was the impressive Amber Fort 10 km outside the city. We met a guide who the car company had arranged for us and we were soon up for our first big tourist trap in this city full of tourists in a hurry with pockets full of cash. We were taken to a textile “whole-sale” shop and at the door we were told that we were allowed to buy not more than three pieces (!). Finally inside after promising not to buy more than three pieces, since this shop is only for local whole-buyers, the first thing I saw was a big sign in English, which would be the language of choice of the shop owners in the bazaars, saying in red letters: ‘DO NOT ASK FOR DISCOUNT’.
This place must have been one of the most complicated traps to physically get out of. We were not allowed to leave from the door we actually had entered from and had to leave along a tricky labyrinth packed with people trying to sell you everything money can buy. Funny thing was that I, who was walking quickly not slowed down by the shouts of “Have a look at the silver/gold/art/etc sir!!” followed by Joanne and Simon looking like prisoners on the run, took some of the sales people by surprise as they were sleeping in the dark rooms of the shops. Experienced as they are they jumped up in a flash and had the place all lit up in microseconds, very impressive start-up time there, but unfortunately, for them, we were out of the room faster than the sight of Janet Jackson’s right nipple on Super Bowl.

Finally walking on safe ground, the face of the guide was priceless as he asked: “What happened? Is something wrong!?” Maybe I forgot to mention this very important fact; Guides receive hefty commissions from shop owners and restaurants when they bring in (buying) customers!! We decided not to listen to his tip regarding a “Multi-Cuisine” restaurant and instead let the Lonely Planet show the way, and again it didn’t let us down. After lunch at Niro’s and later drinks at the mega fancy Polo Bar of the Rambagh Palace, I checked into my room at the excellent Hotel Arya Niwas to rest after another hectic day.

After a huge breakfast in the garden of the hotel we went to see the City Palace where I took a lot of pictures and bought some cool paintings, which I found for 200 rupees cheaper at the shop of the hotel later in the evening, where I bought even more stuff for no money (I hate that damn guide!). We shook him off with no tip and headed to Anokhi for some good karma shopping (note the ‘Jaipur Visitor Warning’ on their homepage!). The products sold by Anokhi are produced locally in Jaipur at an ethical factory build on the grounds of an organic farm. They also have a serene café next to the boutique. Later we saw the sun set down over Jaipur from Nahargarh Fort. We had a great dinner at Four Season, city’s best restaurant according to our book. The place was packed with Indian families which is always a good sign and we were lucky to find a table, the bill came out at 450 rup for all of us.

Lonely Planet; we salute you!

Breakfast at Hotel Arya Niwas

- Poetry doesn’t belong to those who write it; it belongs to those who need it.

The other night I watched the movie Il Postino which is about a simple Italian man meeting the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Set in an Italian village and with a great soundtrack, it makes a great choice for any occasion. This is probably one of the best movies I’ve seen and one of the few ones that truly made me laugh.
Watching the extra material on the DVD we found out that the main actor Massimo Troisi, playing the part of the mailman Mario Ruoppolo, past away in a heart attack just 12 hours after finishing shooting the movie at the age of 41. Massimo was in a bad condition during the entire duration of the shooting according to the director Michael Radford, but had been postponing a crucial heart surgery to complete the film. He truly made an impression on me and I really look forward to see other movies with Mario, especially Non Ci Resta Che Piangere (Nothing Left to Do But Cry) with Roberto Benigni.

Hearing the poems of Pablo Neruda in the movie got me interested in to read more of his poetry. Two fun, but very important facts:
1) Neruda was cited in The Simpsons, episode “Bart Sells His Life”:
- Lisa: Hmm. Pablo Neruda said, “Laughter is the language of the soul.”
- Bart: I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda.
2) When Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia one of the few things in his possession was a book of poetry by Neruda.

Below is a poem by Neruda called ‘If You Forget Me’:

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.