Today we took a taxi up to Kollam then went on the backwaters (a series of canals/waterways) on a boat which was punted along. After the frantic taxi journey, the calm of the punted boat was most welcome, even if we were accompanied by prayer chanting blasting out of the local mosque. The backwaters are amazing and we kept stopping off to look at different things: where they make rope from coconut, how they dry the coconuts to then extract the oil, an ayurvedic medical centre where they grow all sorts of plants, including black pepper, ginger, pineapple, papaya, cloves, curry leaf.... The coconut tree is amazing, though; every single thing is used in some way... the husks are burned to dry out the insides before they are sent off to a press to extract the oil, branches or palms are used as matting or roofing... absolutely nothing goes to waste.
On the way back, we ended up trapped in a local festival in one of the villages. We had seen things that looked a bit like the palm crosses Patsy remembers from Sunday School when we were travelling to the backwaters but didn't know what they meant. On the way back, we figured they had something to do with this festival which brought out the whole village and neighbouring communities, judging by the throngs of people milling around.
As Patsy forgot to pack the USB cable for the camera and Samsung make it difficult by having a proprietary connection on the camera, we have to rely on getting photos burnt on to CD then uploading them from there... Bear with us.. more photos soon....
Love to all - P & P
- Where did the 4 weeks go ...???
- Goa ....
- What a difference a day makes ....
- The most western city we've visited...
- Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple
Are they desperately poor or do they manage quite well on the local economy and what they produce for themselves.
I understand from a friend that the Indian is basically a happy, friendly and contented person in the rural areas.
Would you agree with this.
Enjoy yourselves
Dad