Last Post from Kerela

On Tuesday at 1:45 a.m. we begin to make our way back home.  This has been an incredible journey and it seems we've been here for much longer than 20 days because of the breadth of this experience.
The last part of our time here has been so different.  We left the relatively cold northern Indian state of Rajasthan and have spent one night houseboating in the southern Indian, tropical paradise that is Kerela and the last two nights staying at the very sweet Punnamada Resort.

Just before that, we stayed for three nights with Beena and Suda at their home in Kochi, where we met up with our friends Sarah and Bruce.  We also met a number of other foreign travelers while there and had some wonderful conversations about world politics and their travel adventures - one man has been to 66 countries!  Beena and Suda were great hosts and we would recommend them to anyone traveling here. Please enjoy these final photos and we'll simply add captions as needed for you to get a sense of where we were.

Taxi drivers awaiting passengers at Kochi airport

Peppercorn vine

Ginger ready to be packed and shipped at spice market in Kochi

Chinese Fishing Nets at Kochi

Kochi fishmarket

Weights to lift fishing nets in foreground with container loaders for ocean freighters at Kochi harbor in background

Man walks out onto poles to lower nets

Party lights at Punnamada



Handmade decorations from banana leaves



Sam had a Rooster Burger (turned out to be chicken)

Ken & Barbie Indian Style



Banyon Tree (so large, can you see our friend Bruce at the trunk?)



Kerela woman making chapati

We forget what this woman is making, but they sit on the sidewalk along busy streets

Beena and Suda

What they call prawns in Kerela

Houseboat just like the one we spent a day and night on

Indian woman off to cut wood at backwaters of Alapuzha

Friendly girl at water's edge

Rice paddies

More friendly folks on backwaters

Washing pots at water's edge

Backwater "school bus" stop

School "bus"

Captain of houseboat nearing sunset

There are many hosueboats on the backwaters

Very old Syrian Catholic church

Sunset on backwaters from houseboat

A salamander awaiting dinner on houseboat ceiling light 

How's this for balance?

Backwater sailing craft

Water lilies at Punnamada Resort shrine

This man is collecting Toddi (coconut nectar which can be fermented into alcoholic beverage)

Backwater commuters

We're not sure if this is a small houseboat or large commuter vessel

Companions on backwater travels from California, Germany and UK - we had a great time with them

Clean pool without benefit of chemicals at Punnamada but we still don't know how they do it

Where houseboats set sail from Punnamada Resort

Kingfisher - very well loved bird of India

Shrine for Lord Krisha at Punnamada (there are shrines for many gods in many, many places in India)

Entrance to Punnamada - tropical paradise

Where our journey back home begins

Goodbye to India

Agra Fort near Taj Mahal

Fort Agra Entrance

Taj Mahal

Well, we made it to the Taj Mahal, and it was every bit as breathtaking – and more – than you could imagine. Lee’s post about our hassles with the Taj Palace hotel represents just one of the bizarre and unexpected “hurdles” we had to overcome to get there at sunrise, the time we are told it is best to see this amazing place. An aside: Lee is an incredible person as you all know, and I can add to that that she is a smart traveler. But her persistent but respectful way of dealing with the management of the hotel over the frying of our camera charges – and the surprise outcome that came from it was Lee at her finest. Just had to say that.

Anyway, that was one hassle. I mean, imagine finally getting to this sacred, iconic wonder of the world and not being able to take pictures.

The second hassle or hurdle amounted to the mysterious vanishing of my just purchased ticket to enter the Taj Mahal grounds. We bought our tickets from a grumpy agent at one end of the street leading to the Taj entrance (he professed at first not to be able to make change for rupee notes I gave him to cover the 1,500 R. cost for two tickets.) We were about to rush out the door to head back toward the Taj entrance when an employee pointed us to a desk where they would mark your ticket and give you a bag containing a bottle of water and some papery slippers you have to put on over your shoes just before you enter the Taj Mahal temple itself.

Once equipped with these things, we took a rickshaw down to the Taj entrance and got in line. Sunrise was minutes away. Lee extracted her ticket from her bag, but there was no ticket in my bag. I couldn’t believe it. I checked and rechecked. Sunrise was drawing ever closer.  I decided I would have to go back to the ticket office, maybe retrieve the ticket (good chance of that!) but more likely buy another one.  A tourist bus from the ticket center had just emptied out a batch to tourists, so I jumped on that just as it was leaving to return to the ticket center. Lee went on into the Taj Mahal grounds, armed with our still camera and its nearly spent battery.

I got back to the ticket center fast enough, questioned the guys who gave us the bags. They honestly seemed to not know how my ticket disappeared. I bought another one and ran out the door,  saw an auto-rickshaw and got a quick ride back to the entrance. The security check was agonizingly slow, but finally I got through. The sun had to be about to rise. I found Lee waiting for me and then, at last, it was just us and the Taj Mahal (and about 500 other early risers).

The sun started to rise over the horizon and slowly this sublime and magnificent structure was bathed in  a pink hue.  A beautiful morning took form. Someone offered to take our picture.  Our fledgling camera battery hung in there long enough to capture these images.

 What a moment it finally turned out to be. Sam