India; November 1st; Day 41; New Delhi
It was to be a long long day of travel today as we go home. We kick pff by having a good breakfast of eggs and coffee at our place by the beach. WE have to hang around a little bit waiting for the boss to come down so we can pay the bill. We finish packing and then watch the dragonflies.
Then the journey begins. First we take an auto-rickshaw into town where we pick up a taxi to take us to Cochin airport. It’s about a two hour ride. We have a long wait before our flight to New Delhi which has a stopover at Hyderabad. At New Delhi it’s madness waiting for the luggage off the carousel after which we have to queue for a taxi into the city. Remember we have to return to the Connaught Hotel to pick up the luggage we’ve left behind from the Himalayan part of our trip. Our luggage is where we left it and we have time for a last couple of pints of Kingfisher before taking another taxi back to the airport.
It’s the usual palaver of checking and I lose my pocket knife which I’ve spent the last 6 weeks looking for! Keith just laughs. Our flight leaves at 3am. I sleep the first half and doze the rest. It’s relatively painless.
UK; November 2nd; Day 42; Aylesham
The flight arrives on time and it’s the usual boring stuff to get through at the airport. Then it’s the tube into London and train from Victoria down into Kent. It’s unfortunate that we have to wait at Canterbury East for the slow train to Aylesham – the last 15 minutes.
Back in the village we walk up to Keith’s place and then drive up to Mum and Dad/s house. It’s been an exhausting 36 hours or so travelling but here we are. My Dad looks a lot better than when we left and it looks like he’s making a slow but steady recovery.
Showing posts with label Chavakkad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chavakkad. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
The Raven
India; October 31st; Day 40; Chavakkad
We were packed and ready to leave this morning having decide to go to Chavakkad. We’d located somewhere to stay on the internet yesterday and would start our journey by getting the bus into Calicut at 9am.
Breakfast was as normal except that we saw a bird fall from it’s perch dead. There are no gulls along the Keralan coast and the space they occupy seems to be taken up with a species of crow. These crows noisily congregate in the palm trees along the beach, In the grounds of this hotel the staff try and shoo them away with firecrackers from time to time. This morning the noise was going on as normal when Keith just happened to notice that after a brief flurry of squawks a crow just fell to the ground dead. I had my back to it so I didn’t actually see it fall. The staff were bemused at first and didn’t really seem to know what to do. After about five minutes someone came along at scooped it up.
Crows, or more exactly Corvids, including Rooks, Jackdaws and Ravens are well established in folklore and mythology as harbingers of death, Keith and I naturally thought of our Father who has been very ill all year. We had been in contact with home recently and were pretty sure that he was on the mend and a lot better than when we left home six weeks earlier. However we weren’t to know then that our Father would die in three weeks time.
Of course birds die all the time it’s just that it’s not something one generally observes. It was a weird thing to happen.
After breakfast we carried our bags out to the hotel gate to catch the bus but apparently we had missed it. It had left early and had not left from the parking lot outside the hotel as usual. The hotel staff were perplexed but they eventually helped us organise a taxi into Calicut.
In Calicut we were dropped off close to the bus station. As usual confusion reigned here and at first we were told that this was the wrong bus station for Chavakkad however another chap insisted we could jump on this bus ... so we did!
The journey took us southward out of the city and down the coast. From time to time the bus left the main highway to find its way to a small towns and villages along the way. On arrival at Chavakkad we jumped an auto-rickshaw which delivered us to our accommodation about 5 kms outside of town next to the beach.
It was a strange place, and a bit pricey, but we had no real choice. The room was fine and we had a garden to sit and read. After settling in the porter/guard/chef rustled up and omelette for our lunch. Later we had a stroll down the beach and watched a lot of fishermen milling about the old boats. We then jumped another rickshaw and went back into town to try and find some beers.
As usual it wasn’t easy. After asking around we were pointed in the direction of a bar which was a dark windowless room up a battered old iron stairway. We took one look inside and turned away in horror. Back outside we considered looking for an internet cafe so that we could check into our flights tomorrow. But we gave up on that too. However we did find another bar attached to a hotel of some kind. This one wasn’t too bad though it was full of the usual drunks. In this one you had to pay for what you wanted at a kiosk and then present the ticket at the bar to pick up your order. Inevitably we jumped yet another rickshaw to take us back to the beach.
In the afternoon we sat around reading and idling away the time and amusing ourselves by photographing the many types of dragonflies hovering about.
The boss came over later to enquire how we were and to ask us what we’d like for dinner. We though a piece of fresh fish would be good and this was arranged. Later I walked back down to the junction and was watching the fishermen unload and pack the catch with ice. The catch consisted entirely of squid. Back at the hostel I asked if it was possible to get some squid for dinner too and the boss duly sent his man down to buy some.
Dinner, of course, was subsequently very good and we enjoyed a kind of squid stew as a starter followed by a large grilled fish, Not bad at all. We went to bed early as we would be starting our marathon journey home tomorrow.
We were packed and ready to leave this morning having decide to go to Chavakkad. We’d located somewhere to stay on the internet yesterday and would start our journey by getting the bus into Calicut at 9am.
Breakfast was as normal except that we saw a bird fall from it’s perch dead. There are no gulls along the Keralan coast and the space they occupy seems to be taken up with a species of crow. These crows noisily congregate in the palm trees along the beach, In the grounds of this hotel the staff try and shoo them away with firecrackers from time to time. This morning the noise was going on as normal when Keith just happened to notice that after a brief flurry of squawks a crow just fell to the ground dead. I had my back to it so I didn’t actually see it fall. The staff were bemused at first and didn’t really seem to know what to do. After about five minutes someone came along at scooped it up.
Crows, or more exactly Corvids, including Rooks, Jackdaws and Ravens are well established in folklore and mythology as harbingers of death, Keith and I naturally thought of our Father who has been very ill all year. We had been in contact with home recently and were pretty sure that he was on the mend and a lot better than when we left home six weeks earlier. However we weren’t to know then that our Father would die in three weeks time.
Of course birds die all the time it’s just that it’s not something one generally observes. It was a weird thing to happen.
After breakfast we carried our bags out to the hotel gate to catch the bus but apparently we had missed it. It had left early and had not left from the parking lot outside the hotel as usual. The hotel staff were perplexed but they eventually helped us organise a taxi into Calicut.
In Calicut we were dropped off close to the bus station. As usual confusion reigned here and at first we were told that this was the wrong bus station for Chavakkad however another chap insisted we could jump on this bus ... so we did!
The journey took us southward out of the city and down the coast. From time to time the bus left the main highway to find its way to a small towns and villages along the way. On arrival at Chavakkad we jumped an auto-rickshaw which delivered us to our accommodation about 5 kms outside of town next to the beach.
It was a strange place, and a bit pricey, but we had no real choice. The room was fine and we had a garden to sit and read. After settling in the porter/guard/chef rustled up and omelette for our lunch. Later we had a stroll down the beach and watched a lot of fishermen milling about the old boats. We then jumped another rickshaw and went back into town to try and find some beers.
As usual it wasn’t easy. After asking around we were pointed in the direction of a bar which was a dark windowless room up a battered old iron stairway. We took one look inside and turned away in horror. Back outside we considered looking for an internet cafe so that we could check into our flights tomorrow. But we gave up on that too. However we did find another bar attached to a hotel of some kind. This one wasn’t too bad though it was full of the usual drunks. In this one you had to pay for what you wanted at a kiosk and then present the ticket at the bar to pick up your order. Inevitably we jumped yet another rickshaw to take us back to the beach.
In the afternoon we sat around reading and idling away the time and amusing ourselves by photographing the many types of dragonflies hovering about.
The boss came over later to enquire how we were and to ask us what we’d like for dinner. We though a piece of fresh fish would be good and this was arranged. Later I walked back down to the junction and was watching the fishermen unload and pack the catch with ice. The catch consisted entirely of squid. Back at the hostel I asked if it was possible to get some squid for dinner too and the boss duly sent his man down to buy some.
Dinner, of course, was subsequently very good and we enjoyed a kind of squid stew as a starter followed by a large grilled fish, Not bad at all. We went to bed early as we would be starting our marathon journey home tomorrow.
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