Date: 13 of July 2009
Location: Kovalam Beach
Accomplishments: We cycled 60 kilometers from Varkala Beach to Kovalam Beach
Easy cycling physically-- flat terrain, however traffic was medium to heavy, medium pollution
martes, 25 de agosto de 2009
Varkala highlights
Date: July 10, 2009
Location: Varkala Beach, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: We cycled 130 kilometers/78 miles today from Allepey to Varkala Beach!
Traveling is not always a dreamy vista over a glass of wine. While it is unpredictable, adventurous, and exciting, sometimes those same exact feelings of unpredictability take a negative avenue and they change from excitement to stressful. After a while the unpredictability piece becomes scary and I yearn for the comforts of my own place. Today while cycling the ocean front road through smog and overbearing traffic, dodging rickshaws, bull drawn carts, buses, cars, people everywhere, I miss the regularity and comfort of the Kal-Haven trail and my own street.
At 1:00, we stop at a vegetarian hotel/restaurant for veg thali (veg set meal of the day). I go to wash my hands and I realize that my face and arms are covered in a gray film. The "ocean view road" has turned out to be "smog lane outlined by garbage, factories,and shacks.
Eating lunch, we order a mineral water, and I feel bad for all the plastic bottles that we waste. I think of all the people and each day all the plastic bottles, containers, wrappers, bags, so much we throw away Even though I care, plastic waste and creating garbage is our human way of life and it is so hard to avoid.
Reader, I challenge you to survive one single day without creating any garbage! Try going to the store to purchase anything! Everything comes in a package!
So after a good chai tea and veg curries with rice, we are re-energized. WE face the crazy streets.
8.5 hours total cycling time, we make the last stretch into Varkala. The main road ends into the ocean. Immediately, I feel the salt stick to my already smog-frosted arms. A man in a humble tea stall says,
"Hello! You are coming from?"
"America!" I say.
"Nice! Your good name?"
"Steve and she is Teresa!"
We rest our bikes on the pole outside and enjoy two glasses of cardamom tea.
"You stay here in Varkala today?" he asks
"Yes," I respond.
"Where is a good place?"
"Direct opposite, nice place, nice family and here I can make for you dinner,
Kerala food," he smiles. Then he brings us a photograph of several American people eating in his restaurant.
Even though we are so hot, sweaty, polluted, grimy, and salty, the sea breeze is welcoming. The cardamom milk spice tea is soothing. We look at the lodge next door. It has a beautiful sea view off of a large room for only 500 rupees. The lodge becomes our haven for the next three days. The man next door and his wife become our chefs of masala dosas, parotas, and vegetable curries.
A few moments to remember from Varkala Beach:
1. Sitting on the balcony, we watch the local Indian tourists do religious chants/prayers under umbrellas on the beach.
2. The waves are phenomenally HUGE. They CRASH into the cliffs that slowly feed the land to the hungry sea.
3. We walk along the cliff with an incredible view on the left of the sea and a chain of restaurants and lodges on our right. As Steve and I walk along, I casually make eye-contact with a girl sitting in a cafe.
"Steve, we just passed this girl in that cafe back there and I swear that I know her from somewhere!"
Then like a light-switch it clicks!
"I know! She is the girl that entered Zina Cottages as we were leaving Munnar! Before she was wearing a pink and blue chudidah shirt that I adored! Now she is wearing all black," I say, " I've got an idea! We will walk back slowly. You look at her and tell me if that is her, the girl from Munnar!"
We turn around and in front of the cafe, she waves to us. We walk up to her. A moment's recognition of an acquaintance becomes an hour conversation with a friend. Tanya, as it turns out is from Chicago-- only three hours from our home of Kalamazoo. It's as if we had to travel half way around the world to meet her. Hopefully, we will cross paths again, only this time it will be closer to home!
Location: Varkala Beach, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: We cycled 130 kilometers/78 miles today from Allepey to Varkala Beach!
Traveling is not always a dreamy vista over a glass of wine. While it is unpredictable, adventurous, and exciting, sometimes those same exact feelings of unpredictability take a negative avenue and they change from excitement to stressful. After a while the unpredictability piece becomes scary and I yearn for the comforts of my own place. Today while cycling the ocean front road through smog and overbearing traffic, dodging rickshaws, bull drawn carts, buses, cars, people everywhere, I miss the regularity and comfort of the Kal-Haven trail and my own street.
At 1:00, we stop at a vegetarian hotel/restaurant for veg thali (veg set meal of the day). I go to wash my hands and I realize that my face and arms are covered in a gray film. The "ocean view road" has turned out to be "smog lane outlined by garbage, factories,and shacks.
Eating lunch, we order a mineral water, and I feel bad for all the plastic bottles that we waste. I think of all the people and each day all the plastic bottles, containers, wrappers, bags, so much we throw away Even though I care, plastic waste and creating garbage is our human way of life and it is so hard to avoid.
Reader, I challenge you to survive one single day without creating any garbage! Try going to the store to purchase anything! Everything comes in a package!
So after a good chai tea and veg curries with rice, we are re-energized. WE face the crazy streets.
8.5 hours total cycling time, we make the last stretch into Varkala. The main road ends into the ocean. Immediately, I feel the salt stick to my already smog-frosted arms. A man in a humble tea stall says,
"Hello! You are coming from?"
"America!" I say.
"Nice! Your good name?"
"Steve and she is Teresa!"
We rest our bikes on the pole outside and enjoy two glasses of cardamom tea.
"You stay here in Varkala today?" he asks
"Yes," I respond.
"Where is a good place?"
"Direct opposite, nice place, nice family and here I can make for you dinner,
Kerala food," he smiles. Then he brings us a photograph of several American people eating in his restaurant.
Even though we are so hot, sweaty, polluted, grimy, and salty, the sea breeze is welcoming. The cardamom milk spice tea is soothing. We look at the lodge next door. It has a beautiful sea view off of a large room for only 500 rupees. The lodge becomes our haven for the next three days. The man next door and his wife become our chefs of masala dosas, parotas, and vegetable curries.
A few moments to remember from Varkala Beach:
1. Sitting on the balcony, we watch the local Indian tourists do religious chants/prayers under umbrellas on the beach.
2. The waves are phenomenally HUGE. They CRASH into the cliffs that slowly feed the land to the hungry sea.
3. We walk along the cliff with an incredible view on the left of the sea and a chain of restaurants and lodges on our right. As Steve and I walk along, I casually make eye-contact with a girl sitting in a cafe.
"Steve, we just passed this girl in that cafe back there and I swear that I know her from somewhere!"
Then like a light-switch it clicks!
"I know! She is the girl that entered Zina Cottages as we were leaving Munnar! Before she was wearing a pink and blue chudidah shirt that I adored! Now she is wearing all black," I say, " I've got an idea! We will walk back slowly. You look at her and tell me if that is her, the girl from Munnar!"
We turn around and in front of the cafe, she waves to us. We walk up to her. A moment's recognition of an acquaintance becomes an hour conversation with a friend. Tanya, as it turns out is from Chicago-- only three hours from our home of Kalamazoo. It's as if we had to travel half way around the world to meet her. Hopefully, we will cross paths again, only this time it will be closer to home!
Canoes and coconuts in Allepey, Kerala, India
Date: July 9, 2009
Location: Sona Heritage Homestay
Accomplishments: Seven hour canoe journey through small canal channals, villages, and rice paddies.
At 10:00 a.m. a man arrives in a flower print skirt on a motor-bike.
"You ready for village tour?" he asks spotting us waiting on the patio.
"Yes!" we reply excitedly, always ready for the adventure to begin. WE follow him for five minutes walking to the end of the narrow road where it meets with the channel-way.
Slim waterways outlined by coconut trees...A strip of colorful houses are held up on a narrow strip of land in between miles of rice paddies and the canal. Its like a neighborhood street, except for instead of a street there is a canal, instead of a car, every family has their own wooden canoe parked on the curb. Women and men
come onto the street-canal way to wash their clothing, bathe, and rush their teeth. Bright blue and green king-fisher birds fly above. Picturesque, I feel like I am on the Discovery Channel or on National Geographic Documentary film!
Location: Sona Heritage Homestay
Accomplishments: Seven hour canoe journey through small canal channals, villages, and rice paddies.
At 10:00 a.m. a man arrives in a flower print skirt on a motor-bike.
"You ready for village tour?" he asks spotting us waiting on the patio.
"Yes!" we reply excitedly, always ready for the adventure to begin. WE follow him for five minutes walking to the end of the narrow road where it meets with the channel-way.
Slim waterways outlined by coconut trees...A strip of colorful houses are held up on a narrow strip of land in between miles of rice paddies and the canal. Its like a neighborhood street, except for instead of a street there is a canal, instead of a car, every family has their own wooden canoe parked on the curb. Women and men
come onto the street-canal way to wash their clothing, bathe, and rush their teeth. Bright blue and green king-fisher birds fly above. Picturesque, I feel like I am on the Discovery Channel or on National Geographic Documentary film!
Welcome to Allepey, Kerala, India!
Date: July 9, 2009
Location: Sona Heritage Home Allepey town, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: Previous day (June 8) We cycled 30 miles from Kochi to Allepey on NHWAY 47. At first, I was worried about traffic, but the road was wide, divided part of the way and flat-- so it was an easy ride and probably safer than the winding mountain roads that we previously conquered.
"You want boat-house?"
"I have boat-house for you!" When we enter Allepey, it seems as though we have "sucker! I am a push-over! Sell it to me!" signs posted on our backs. Everybody wants to sell us a boat tour. However, being on our bicycles is an easy escape, a saving grace from the heaps of tour vendors. We sail past them. We follow our Lonely Planet Guidebook suggestion and we cycle one kilometer North of town and stay at Sona Heritage Homestay.
A jolly Indian man greets us, welcomes us. He shows us photographs of all the boat tour options from a massive house boats, mini-motor boats, or paddle canoes. He hands me a notebook filled with tourist positive feedback. We sign up for a paddle canoe ride for the next day. Reading the guidebook ahead of time, I learned that the backwaters, streams, and lakes in Allepey are in great danger and are over polluted. Part of the over-pollution is caused by the expansive tours in house boats. Keeping this in mind, I am happy to sign up for the simple canoe with NO motor! We spend the rest of the day cycling around town, sipping chai tea in a restuarant over-looking the foggy ocean. We find an amazing vegetarian restaurant called, "Hot Kitchen," that serves fantastic masala dosas. A masala dosa is a thin crepe filled with potato/onion curry accompanied with coconut chutney and zambar (vegetable okra) sauces.
We go to sleep dreaming of what adventures our canoe village tour will bring!
Location: Sona Heritage Home Allepey town, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: Previous day (June 8) We cycled 30 miles from Kochi to Allepey on NHWAY 47. At first, I was worried about traffic, but the road was wide, divided part of the way and flat-- so it was an easy ride and probably safer than the winding mountain roads that we previously conquered.
"You want boat-house?"
"I have boat-house for you!" When we enter Allepey, it seems as though we have "sucker! I am a push-over! Sell it to me!" signs posted on our backs. Everybody wants to sell us a boat tour. However, being on our bicycles is an easy escape, a saving grace from the heaps of tour vendors. We sail past them. We follow our Lonely Planet Guidebook suggestion and we cycle one kilometer North of town and stay at Sona Heritage Homestay.
A jolly Indian man greets us, welcomes us. He shows us photographs of all the boat tour options from a massive house boats, mini-motor boats, or paddle canoes. He hands me a notebook filled with tourist positive feedback. We sign up for a paddle canoe ride for the next day. Reading the guidebook ahead of time, I learned that the backwaters, streams, and lakes in Allepey are in great danger and are over polluted. Part of the over-pollution is caused by the expansive tours in house boats. Keeping this in mind, I am happy to sign up for the simple canoe with NO motor! We spend the rest of the day cycling around town, sipping chai tea in a restuarant over-looking the foggy ocean. We find an amazing vegetarian restaurant called, "Hot Kitchen," that serves fantastic masala dosas. A masala dosa is a thin crepe filled with potato/onion curry accompanied with coconut chutney and zambar (vegetable okra) sauces.
We go to sleep dreaming of what adventures our canoe village tour will bring!
miércoles, 5 de agosto de 2009
The ocean is a cemetery
Date: July 7, 2009
Location: Fort Kochin
Accomplishments: We took the ferry to Viplin Island and cycled 20 km to and 20 km return from the beach.
We begin the day with a two minute walk next door to the veg hotel (A hotel is a restaurant NOT a place to stay) for Iddly. Iddly is a common South Indian breakfast of rice dumplings with coconut chutney sauce and sambar curried vegetables.
At 9:00 AM, we pay two rupees each to ride the ferry to he island. The ferry is packed with local people on motorcycles. like sardines, we squish onto the boat. The ride takes only a few minutes. Exiting the ferry onto the island, I am surprised y the hectic traffic. We cycle North on the island through a continuous cloud of smog as rickshaws, buses, motorcycles zoom in front, in back, and around me. Finally after an hour of crazy cycling, battling the traffic, we reach the beach. The ocean is angry. It pounds on the large boulders. The waves are gray. All around, there are disgarded plastic bottles and bags washed up on shore. It looks like a dump. The ocean to me looks like a cancer patient. if we don't save it and find a cure, the ocean will cough itself to death.
Dear readers, please reuse cups. Don't use plastic disposible cups and utencils. so many of them find their cemetary in our vast oceans.
Location: Fort Kochin
Accomplishments: We took the ferry to Viplin Island and cycled 20 km to and 20 km return from the beach.
We begin the day with a two minute walk next door to the veg hotel (A hotel is a restaurant NOT a place to stay) for Iddly. Iddly is a common South Indian breakfast of rice dumplings with coconut chutney sauce and sambar curried vegetables.
At 9:00 AM, we pay two rupees each to ride the ferry to he island. The ferry is packed with local people on motorcycles. like sardines, we squish onto the boat. The ride takes only a few minutes. Exiting the ferry onto the island, I am surprised y the hectic traffic. We cycle North on the island through a continuous cloud of smog as rickshaws, buses, motorcycles zoom in front, in back, and around me. Finally after an hour of crazy cycling, battling the traffic, we reach the beach. The ocean is angry. It pounds on the large boulders. The waves are gray. All around, there are disgarded plastic bottles and bags washed up on shore. It looks like a dump. The ocean to me looks like a cancer patient. if we don't save it and find a cure, the ocean will cough itself to death.
Dear readers, please reuse cups. Don't use plastic disposible cups and utencils. so many of them find their cemetary in our vast oceans.
Exchanging the Mountains for the Sea shore
July 6, 2009
Location: Fort Cochin, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: We cycled 20 KM from Adimaly mountain town to Fort Cochin on the coast.
Cycling down a large hill in theory sounds easy and relaxing. As we start the journey of exchanging the mountain for the sea shore, we begin a long series of narrow hairpin turns. The scenery is amazing; waterfalls in all directions with the jungle threatening to overtake the road. As much as I want to stare and take in all the sights of scenery, it takes all of my concentration to conrol my bicycle and wind carefully around each turn. It begins raining heavy. Around the next curve, we see that a car has slid off the road. Luckely, it went over where the cliff wasn't too steep. A large truck is pulling it out with a chain. Let this be our lesson to be careful.
And carefully I go. Occasionally a wild bus comes from behind. We pull off on the muddy side, stop, and let it pass. A two way road winding up the mountains, so narrow! When we reach Kothagalomon, we celebrate our skillful ride with Chappati, vegetable curry, and chai tea. From now to teh coast the road will be flat. Flat, but traffic thickens and we find ourselves darting around people, rickshaws, cows, buses--CRAZY! Stop and go, fast and slow. Then all cars and traffic comes to a hault when they have to pay a toll to cross a bridge. A friendly trucker waves for us to pass everyone. We don't have to pay the toll! We are cyclers! Crossing the bridge onto the island of Fort Cochin is easy since the traffic is held back.
Arriving in Cochin, a man on a motorcycle rides along side us.
"You need a place? A room? I have nice clean room. For you only 200 rupees! Please just come and see!"
Initally, I am unsure since the hotel is not in our guidebook.
"Ok! We will have a look," Steve agrees before I can protest.
Just on the edge of town, the man stops in front of a large blue building. He welcomes us and indroduces us to his wife. He shows me the room. It is immaculate! Better yet, right next door is a veg hotel (restaurant, not a place to stay).
I lay here now, comfortable, watching the Discovery channel, reflecting on our accomplishments. Good night! I look forward to exploring the island tomorrow and meeting the sea!
Location: Fort Cochin, Kerala State, India
Accomplishments: We cycled 20 KM from Adimaly mountain town to Fort Cochin on the coast.
Cycling down a large hill in theory sounds easy and relaxing. As we start the journey of exchanging the mountain for the sea shore, we begin a long series of narrow hairpin turns. The scenery is amazing; waterfalls in all directions with the jungle threatening to overtake the road. As much as I want to stare and take in all the sights of scenery, it takes all of my concentration to conrol my bicycle and wind carefully around each turn. It begins raining heavy. Around the next curve, we see that a car has slid off the road. Luckely, it went over where the cliff wasn't too steep. A large truck is pulling it out with a chain. Let this be our lesson to be careful.
And carefully I go. Occasionally a wild bus comes from behind. We pull off on the muddy side, stop, and let it pass. A two way road winding up the mountains, so narrow! When we reach Kothagalomon, we celebrate our skillful ride with Chappati, vegetable curry, and chai tea. From now to teh coast the road will be flat. Flat, but traffic thickens and we find ourselves darting around people, rickshaws, cows, buses--CRAZY! Stop and go, fast and slow. Then all cars and traffic comes to a hault when they have to pay a toll to cross a bridge. A friendly trucker waves for us to pass everyone. We don't have to pay the toll! We are cyclers! Crossing the bridge onto the island of Fort Cochin is easy since the traffic is held back.
Arriving in Cochin, a man on a motorcycle rides along side us.
"You need a place? A room? I have nice clean room. For you only 200 rupees! Please just come and see!"
Initally, I am unsure since the hotel is not in our guidebook.
"Ok! We will have a look," Steve agrees before I can protest.
Just on the edge of town, the man stops in front of a large blue building. He welcomes us and indroduces us to his wife. He shows me the room. It is immaculate! Better yet, right next door is a veg hotel (restaurant, not a place to stay).
I lay here now, comfortable, watching the Discovery channel, reflecting on our accomplishments. Good night! I look forward to exploring the island tomorrow and meeting the sea!
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