For orientation the map with the route Maise, Alessandro and me did together:
The rest of our stay in Mysore (Mo,22nd & Tu,23rd) we stayed in a pretty luxurious hotel with a pool at the rooftop.
Still didn't cost much when you have German hotel prices in mind. And they had a sweet crib in the entrance, but needed a little help with putting the figures at the right positions. Joseph wasn't close to Baby Jesus and the Kings were seperated. We helped a little, still it wasn't perfect in the end. This was the outcome:
There are quite a lot of christians and muslims in the south compared to whole India with around 80% of the population being Hindu.
We spent the days walking around town, getting an Indian simcard for me and looking at some markets. One day we had a nice expensive lunch buffet, (which was written about in the travel guide - just that they said it would cost half of what it really costed in the end) and the other day we went to the Mysore palace - very nice!!
On the 24th we then wanted to go to the Nagarhole Nationalpark for one day, because it was on the way to the beach anyway and sounded nice. We didn't really care where we would spend christmas. I thought we give each other little gifts at any place we would be at that moment and Alessandro and Maise thought we would skip Christmas completely... Luckily I'm not 10 years old anymore, otherwise that could have been a tragedy.
Another "tragedy" was to find out, that getting to Nagarhole Nationalpark was really difficult, because it isn't touristy at all and we would have had to drive quite far with the Taxi, because there aren't any busses.
Being already in Hunsur, one of the closest cities to Nagarhole Nationalpark, at the 'forest wildlife centre' we abruptly decided to skip the Nationalpark and take another bus to the beach in Kannur, Kerala.
At 9pm we were still in the bus, calling hostels in Kannur (thanks to the new simcard it was easy), trying to reach one with free rooms.
Christmas eve Maise, Alessandro and Livia are sitting in an Indian bus on the way to the beach, not able to find a free room to sleep at.
Finally we reached a hostel with a free room, arrived at Kannurbusstop, looked for a Rickshaw (Indian taxi)
and gave the driver the phone to get the directions told by the hotel owner on the other end of the phone. We got in and started our 10-20km way to Tottada beach. The three of us - squeezed into the small rickshaw - suddenly worried about how much the driver is gonna charge us - we forgot to bargain before getting in and usually one takes advantage of that and charges you way too much. You can still bargain after the drive, but it's not as effective as in the beginning, when you can say: 'nah, sorry then we take another rickshaw'.
Finally we arrived after driving down to the beach through so many small rodes. The moment came: "How much?", I asked. "400". (5,80€)
We were so surprised - we already expected 2000 after what we had experienced other times. Perplexed we gave him 500 rupees and went to the hostel.
A small room for three. Good. And the nature: Pure Idyll!
At the table outside we got surved nice dinner and met Matt there, our neighbour.
The hostel is a one-man-business and his wife cooks. So it's a one-woman-business. Just two rooms downstairs and later we found out, there are also rooms upstairs.
Matt is also a backpacker and around Alessandro's and my age. We were having a really nice chat and decent food.
25th morning. Our hostel's owner shows us the short way of 3 minutes walking to the sea. Beautiful.
The rest of the day we're chilling at the beach and in the evening we drive together with Matt to a Theyyam.
That is some kind of ritual of a Hindu's god. If I remember it correctly it was Shiva.
Taking this as an example you can see, how some people can make so much money with 'religion'. These guys (only men inside the costumes) earn a lot just for doing this ritual.
Another example took place in a church in Ghana, where I felt like being in an auction, when the guy in the front (I don't know what rank he had) started shouting something like (as far as I could understand): "50 cedi, who gives 50 cedi?" Then people came to the front, got blessed by god and then again: "40 cedi.. " and so on. The more donation to the church, the more blessings by god.
Friday, 26th we had to check out, because other people had already prebooked the rooms. When we wanted to pay, we were surprised about the high price. Maise, so far not having showed any bargain skills, made us pay 1000 rupees (ca. 12€) less after talking a little with the owner. Alessandro and I were very impressed. Respekt, Mama! :-D
Matt left as well. He travelled further south, while we stayed at the same beach. We got a new cheaper room, closer to the beach with nicer food.
This hotel had a lot more rooms and a lot more other people to meet and to eat with.
The rest days we spent at the beach and having nice conversations with hotel neighbours.
Oh and taking pictures at the beach:
 |
| I notice now that I actually forgot one stop between Kochi and Alleppey. You'll notice in the next post. |
The rest of our stay in Mysore (Mo,22nd & Tu,23rd) we stayed in a pretty luxurious hotel with a pool at the rooftop.
There are quite a lot of christians and muslims in the south compared to whole India with around 80% of the population being Hindu.
We spent the days walking around town, getting an Indian simcard for me and looking at some markets. One day we had a nice expensive lunch buffet, (which was written about in the travel guide - just that they said it would cost half of what it really costed in the end) and the other day we went to the Mysore palace - very nice!!
On the 24th we then wanted to go to the Nagarhole Nationalpark for one day, because it was on the way to the beach anyway and sounded nice. We didn't really care where we would spend christmas. I thought we give each other little gifts at any place we would be at that moment and Alessandro and Maise thought we would skip Christmas completely... Luckily I'm not 10 years old anymore, otherwise that could have been a tragedy.
Another "tragedy" was to find out, that getting to Nagarhole Nationalpark was really difficult, because it isn't touristy at all and we would have had to drive quite far with the Taxi, because there aren't any busses.
Being already in Hunsur, one of the closest cities to Nagarhole Nationalpark, at the 'forest wildlife centre' we abruptly decided to skip the Nationalpark and take another bus to the beach in Kannur, Kerala.
At 9pm we were still in the bus, calling hostels in Kannur (thanks to the new simcard it was easy), trying to reach one with free rooms.
Christmas eve Maise, Alessandro and Livia are sitting in an Indian bus on the way to the beach, not able to find a free room to sleep at.
Finally we reached a hostel with a free room, arrived at Kannurbusstop, looked for a Rickshaw (Indian taxi)
 |
| A picture from Google, just to show how a Rickshaw looks like |
Finally we arrived after driving down to the beach through so many small rodes. The moment came: "How much?", I asked. "400". (5,80€)
We were so surprised - we already expected 2000 after what we had experienced other times. Perplexed we gave him 500 rupees and went to the hostel.
A small room for three. Good. And the nature: Pure Idyll!
At the table outside we got surved nice dinner and met Matt there, our neighbour.
The hostel is a one-man-business and his wife cooks. So it's a one-woman-business. Just two rooms downstairs and later we found out, there are also rooms upstairs.
Matt is also a backpacker and around Alessandro's and my age. We were having a really nice chat and decent food.
25th morning. Our hostel's owner shows us the short way of 3 minutes walking to the sea. Beautiful.
The rest of the day we're chilling at the beach and in the evening we drive together with Matt to a Theyyam.
That is some kind of ritual of a Hindu's god. If I remember it correctly it was Shiva.
 |
| The drummers |
 |
| The "dancers" |
 |
| 6th month I'd guess |
 |
| Working already on the costume for the next show |
Another example took place in a church in Ghana, where I felt like being in an auction, when the guy in the front (I don't know what rank he had) started shouting something like (as far as I could understand): "50 cedi, who gives 50 cedi?" Then people came to the front, got blessed by god and then again: "40 cedi.. " and so on. The more donation to the church, the more blessings by god.
Friday, 26th we had to check out, because other people had already prebooked the rooms. When we wanted to pay, we were surprised about the high price. Maise, so far not having showed any bargain skills, made us pay 1000 rupees (ca. 12€) less after talking a little with the owner. Alessandro and I were very impressed. Respekt, Mama! :-D
Matt left as well. He travelled further south, while we stayed at the same beach. We got a new cheaper room, closer to the beach with nicer food.
 |
| Pets included |
The rest days we spent at the beach and having nice conversations with hotel neighbours.
Oh and taking pictures at the beach:
No comments :
Post a Comment