So here we are in Bangkok - the last evening of our 120 evenings or so on
this trip. I can't believe the end is finally here. Since we last wrote in
Goa, we have gotten progressively softer - staying in more and more
expensive hotels, as we ease into the end of the trip, and the eventual
conversion back to the harsh realities of western life...
We left Goa a little sad - we had our set group of friends there, and our
daily routine. While the gang stayed on, we headed further south to Kerala
(pronounced Caro-la) to do our last bit of sight-seeing, and a bit more
beach hopping.
We took an overnight train down to Kochi, one of India's major ports (it
might actually be the busiest, but I won't swear to it). Lots of spices,
tea, and coffee come from this region, and I imagine shipping it straight
out of here is much easier than trying to drive it up the horrendous roads
to Bombay! It consists of a series of islands and waterways - previously
run by the Dutch and/or Portuguese (sorry, history is not sticking with us
anymore like it did at the beginning of the trip...). We visited the Dutch
palace which has the most amazingly beautiful wall paintings - erotic images
from the life stories of Buddha - so erotic that even the animals are doing
it in the background!
But Kochi was amazing just for itself - we walked the streets and the air is
full of spices from the trader's stores. We walked by some rice traders who
insisted we take there picture (complete with burlap bags full of rice,
stacked to the ceiling in the background) and mail them a copy - Eric took
advantage of the moment to jump on their scale - it says he is down to 180
lbs, down from 200 at the start of the trip! With all the fun we were
having, the chile pepper traders next door insisted we come by and take
there picture, too!
After Kochi, we took a "backwaters" trip, again heading further south.
Kerala here along the water is made up of a series of waterways - sometimes
with houses on a strip of land no more than 10 meteres wide! As we chugged
along on our boat, Eric likened it to a Disneyland ride - forests of coconut
palms on either side of the water, rice paddies in the distance, little
cottages with cows and goats tied up outside. We even got to see some
carved wooden boats with pieced-together sails - same as it probably was for
the last few thousand years! It was a completely relaxing day, and included
our first meal that we ate exclusively with our hands off of a banana leaf -
another world!
On board the boat we met up with an American woman, Jen, who had been on an
exchange program for the past 3 months in India. (Ironically, she is only
the second American we have met the entire time we were in India!) The three
of us agreed on the same hotel to stay at in town - and it turns out we
chose well, as we heard later that everyone else that night had a date with
a few cockroaches... The best part about meeting Jen is that she gave me the
final few pointers I needed to learn on how to really wear a sari correctly.
Granted, I now know how to get the thing on - we will see how well I do at
actually wearing it...
The next day we headed to Varkala, a cozy little beach, again further south.
We splurged and stayed at a Taj resort - part of the chain of luxury
resorts throughout India and even other parts of Asia. It was like being in
Hawaii, which is nice, but really did take us away from the local culture.
We met a nice couple from England that was there on business - he is a nut
trader - and they actually supplied us with enough cashews to get quite sick
on. They did demonstrate the true contrast of visitors to India: I was at
poolside with the wife, and when I commented that I had to go out to deal
with a tailor to get a sari top sewn, she commented, "You are going to go
out there alone?" Yes, there is a great world out there...
While in Varkala, Eric and I both got "aryuvedic" massages - where they rub
you down with medicated oil to the point that you are sure you are going to
go sliding off the plastic covered table! The massage was incredible,
though - the best I have ever had. My hair is still recovering from the
insanely thick oil treatment - it has taken a week of double-shampooing to
finally keep it from being a greasy nightmare. Ah, and my hairdryer is
waiting for me at home...
And it was in Varkala that we had a humble Thanksgiving of tandoori chicken
with curried potatoes. We had lots to give thanks for, but we were sure
envious of all you Americans who got to stuff yourself on turkey and
stuffing!
Well, that was it for India! We flew to Sri Lanka and enjoyed 30 wonderful
hours in paradise. Again, we stayed at a rather posh hotel (used to be the
old British Governer's mansion), where you can sit at the pool which looks
out over the Indian ocean and the distant skyline of Colombo, or else you
can waddle down to the beach and sit under a coconut husk umbrella and just
fall asleep, all the while attended to by some guy in crisp white shorts and
white knee socks, and a safari hat (isn't this what India was supposed to be
like?). The one thing that really struck us though, was the clientel at
this resort: everyone was a middle-aged, unattractive, package tourist from
Europe. Now, I don't mean to be judgemental, but there was not one
aesthetically-pleasing person in the place - young people who looked older
than they should, and old people who were trying to look younger than they
should...
We were also treated both nights to outrageously wonderful thunderstorms -
lighting up the whole sky every 10 seconds for hours - it was like a
fireworks show! We were sad we didn't have more time - the country is full
of historical sights, as well as national parks. We will definitely have to
come back for a longer stay.
And then - poof - we arrived in Bangkok this morning. For the record, my
last two flights have been quite good - I have stayed calm, and am beginning
to sense the normalcy of being in the air. I think I am just so excited to
be going home, that I am setting my fear aside...
And in a strange series of coincidences, we have run into two different
people from our trip since arriving here in Bangkok: first, there is Polly
and Euguene, a couple we met in Rajasthan right after our camel safari, who
we also ran into again down in Goa; then we also saw Wolfgang, the Austrian
expatriat who lives on Ko Chang. I know the world is small, but this is
almost too small! It was great though, to reconsider parts of our trip that
have been recorded on journal pages but recently forgotten, and to reflect
on the great time we have had.
So here we are, at the end. We have travelled 4 months, hitting 5
countries; gotten around by plane, train, ferry, canoe, bicycle, car taxi,
motor-rickshaw, cycle rickshaw, bus, camel, and on foot. We have gone
swimming in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Gulf of Thailand, the
Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. We never slept on a train station floor,
and only experienced cockroaches on one or two occasions. We hiked to
17,768 feet without twisting an ankle, and despite getting sick a few times
we are leaving with no major diseases (I think).
This trip has taught us a lot about ourselves, each other, and a part of the
world we knew little about before coming here. We are really looking
forward to being home, and - if I might sound so sick - getting back to
work! Eric will be in the thick of it before he knows it; I will be
hitting the ground running in pursuit of a new job. We are excited to
actually experience weather below 85F for the first time in 4 months (OK,
the pass in Nepal was the exception), and to celebrate the Millenium in the
greatest city in the world!
Thanks for taking the trip with us - hope we can do it again sometime -- but
not too soon!!
Susanne and Eric
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