Munnar - Tea! Tea everywhere!

After the early bus I arrived at Munnar. I was of course welcomed by many rickshaw drivers wanting to bring me to my place and offer me their good deals with tours around Munnar, because that seems to be  the thing to do here.
I just took one to the JJ Cottage I was staying in, a nice small place and asked them about the tours and such. He said they arrange trekking tours and such aswell and a few tours are definately worth it. But for the treks I'd need company, because if I were to do it alone it would cost alot...

After a stroll through town I was told, someone was found for the trek next morning so I could join them and have a nice walk in the mountains. Great! So in the morning I got ready and headed down, 2 french women were waiting there I thought I'd be hiking with them, but then 2 guides appeared and one of them took me somewhere else, while the other guide waited with the french. Kind of confused I followed and was wondering why I wasn't going with the otheres but soon found out, that my partner was a woman from Austria and was staying somewhere else. But we met the french ladies and their 3rd hiking member a couple of times later on. So I'm still not sure why we were seperated (except those 3 wanted to do it alone?).
Anyway we hiked up the mountains and all of it was through the gigantic tea plantations, now and then our guide showed us things or explained something. For example how white, green and black tea are made and how the teaplants grow over 100 years old untill they aren't useful anymore. I forgot the specifics, but white is handpicked and is made out of the freshest and youngest leaves (therefore being very expensive), the others are usually just cut off of the plant and then the process of how they dry/... the leaves makes it either green or black tea.

A tea plant with a flower - the smalles light green leaves are handpicked for white tea

The other light green leaves are used for green and black tea

We had a nice breakfast on a mountain top (higher than the plantation) and headed further along the ridge of the hills. After a viewpoint without view (Ah! Pretty clouds) we walked down into the forest. Katharina (the Austrian girl) joked it wasn't really a trek but more of a pleasant stroll in the mountains and fearing our guide was too exhausted. She had a point, our guide was always suggesting breaks and so it took longer than we would have needed.

Our guide said: Go up there, I'll take a picture. Apparently they do it for all of their trips ;-)

The viewpoint... Pretty clouds =)

Tea plants! Woohoo!

At a small spice farm we halted and had good expensive tea. Well expensive tea. It was good, but rather not worth 4 times a normal tea... Around it were treehouses and alot of other expensive things/ accomodations and so on.
Anyway we came out of the forest and came back into the plantation area. Crossed a dangerous river (well the bridge was rather dangerous) and met our guides brother on our way back to town, he was in his tuktuk, so we hitched a ride for the last 1.5 kilometers I guess.
Katharina had to head to her Bus, so after a quick lunch she left and I had to make my guide happy by promising he could take me on a tour the next day.

Sleepy Jakob

Powered up Jakob

Spooky treehouse...

So this is the way we're going? I think I saw some barbed wire just cut and moved to the side...

This explains that!

So the next day he picked me up and we went to a viewpoint, called top station. Wasn't really what I expected... "Top station" sounded like a station on the top of the moutains. But it was just the side of a round with a nice view towards the highest mountain in south India and over the border of Kerala to Tamil Nadu. But I could have imagined the road might lead even higher, but not sure... My driver himself is from Tamil Nadu und is native tounge is Tamil, as he told me. But alot of tamils came to Munnar as workers in the tea plantations. He told me this while looking at the tamil nadu border.
On the way we visited a few sites, I took pictures of nice views from dams, of rivers and lakes and of course pictures in all the mountains.
He convinced me to take another tour in the afternoon, so that I spent almost all day in a tuktuk. Before lunch he took me to the tea museum, nice place but small and should therefore be cheaper (in my opinion) (it cost about 200 Rupees). In the tea factory (where one could see how they dry and chop up the tea leaves and such) the group of tourists (they show a short film about the tea plantation company and this audience was the group) was sent upstairs where an older indian guy appeared. He started talking about how great green tea is. He told us that chinese and japanese aren't fat or overweight because they drink green tea and no black tea as indians do. He was making it sound like the best thing in the world which could cure all problems. Not sure about that.. but sometimes the amount of tea consumed in India might actually not be that healthy (especially with all the milk and sugar they add into it).
But it seemed kind of weird to say a speech like this in that place (where they mainly sell black tea) so... yeah.

Nice waterfall on my tuktuk trip

The tuktuk which took me to all the places on that nice sunny day!

Tea pickers at work! They use scissors with bag attached, so the leaves are saved directly, then are put into bigger bags, into bigger bags....

After that I had some lunch and then the tuktuk driver took me into the other direction (more downhill) for my second tour. I saw a cool waterfall and the last stop was a spices farm. Here they grow all sorts of different plants, many would be used in ayurvedic medicine and stuff like that, but some are just planted for making food spices and such. The guide was very kind and explained all sorts of things to us (a north indian couple joined me) and told us about his farm (apparently it belonged to him).
Here I bought some spices and seeds (like muskat, anis, kardamon, in the package were cinnamon and curry leaves aswell) and had to go back in pouring rain. I think the driver wasn't too happy about that, but that wasn't my problem. After argueing about the price (he said the tea museum was extra) I convinced him the other tours were so much shorter than he said (4 instead of 6 hours, 3 instead of 4), he could handle the waiting there with the "normal" prices - that actually worked! It cost 1000 Ruppees, considering I was in the riskshaw about 8 hours (well and him waiting at the spice farm, tea museum, other viewpoints) and we did about 100 km (going there and back again) I'd say a fair price, but the distances could be much less and he just told them to me to justify the price. Anyway it was fine.

A tomato tree?! In the ayurvedic garden

I was actually planning to do a cooking class in Munnar, unfortunately it didn't work out. The chef asked for at least 2 people and when a couple called in sick I would have been the only one and so she canceled. Instead I was able to do a "safari" with the tourist corporation. We (a spanish couple and I) drove in a Jeep up the hills, saw nice mountain ranges and stuff untill we reached a wildlife sanctuary/ park where we tried to spot some wild animals, unfortunately it was midday so most animals were in hiding and not to be seen. We got a short glimpse of Bison (the ones like in Kodai) and a group of monkeys. Our guides seemed to be on an elefant trail (they had found some footmarks and poo at one point) but weren't able to find the elephant. So we just walked through the forest, we were shown a few spots with cave paintings and old graveyards which are supposedly 4000 years old, but it was very hot, so it was kind of exhausting. In total really expensive, especially because we paid for the tour and then for the trek was additionally.
We arrived early back and I wasn't suprised we saw so few animals considering we were almost always close to the street (I realised when we started heading back we crossed the street twice).

No animals, but nice views!

And rock paintings! Supposedly 4000 years old

On monday the 29th of August I packed my stuff and took the lunch bus back to Ernakulam. I missed the stop at the train station so had to take a tuktuk to the station from the bus station. Wow next stop is Bangalore and I would be staying at Prashanth, a good friend back in 3rd and 4th grade... amazing and still sort of unbelieveable for me. I was very excited!

Kochin and shops (bargaining) in India

On tuesday (16th of August) I headed for Kochin and stayed in a small cottage called the beach house (owned by a tuktuk driver), which was nice. I had planned to stay somewhere else, but because that place was closed down the rickshaw driver convinced me to have a look at that place. A good choice and I enjoyed it.

So Kochin (Cochi? Cochin? Fort Kochin?) was once a potuguese colony, untill the dutch came which were eventually defeated by the british.
In this place there is (was) a big jewish community, so a part of town is still called the jewish town and they have a pretty synagogue there. The story of the jews in India (or this part of India) starts in the first century AD, after the romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. They were allowed to live with the Indians on the coast and florished untill the portuguese came, who destroyed their homes and synagogue, a few escaped to the Maharaja of Kochi, who protected them also after the portuguese had taken over Kochin. Since then they were a part of the society there. But since Isreal was founded many have left India (someone told me).

Otherwise I felt like this city is much more frequented by tourists and foreigners than other citys. Or maybe I was just in the touristy corner for a change. The food was expensive (but good!) and there were only a few spots of "typical" indian shops and stalls. To find these you'd have to look or just walk into the other direction for quite some time, untill you get past the residential area.
Of course there were alot with gift shops, small souvenirs and stuff, aimed to get tourists to buy stuff. The Tuktuk drivers usually all had a deal with the government shops around the fort cochin area, so you could get free rides if you let them take you to the shops (they'd ask you for a favour). Thanks to this I got a tour through Kochin for free. I did visit 5 shops, but still more than half of the time was spent sightseeing.

This seems to be a thing in Jain temples... they feed pidgeons!

They gather by the hundreds for lunch time! And swarm around the temple, waiting to be fed

One of the old ware complexes of the dutch, some are still being used to store spices and other stuff

Here the washers hang and dry the clothes, there is one big house and this field were alot of people work and clean their clothes

These shops are basically all the same. They sell bronze statues, wooden sculptures, shawls (of course finest quality and 100% pashmina *cough*) and jewellery. And then the bigger stuff (tables, chairs, carpets and trunks).
The pieces themselves would differ, but it was all basically the same. Depending on the people inside you could spend minutes or hours in them (if you don't shake them off). Many are very eager to find out what you like and know which questions to ask, what to say to try and get you.
"Would you like a necklace for your mother?"
"No thank you"
"Oh you don't love your mother?"
"Of course I love her!"
"Well why not show it by giving her this beautiful necklace? Isn't it pretty?"
"Yeah, I guess"
"So should I pack it?"
"No!"
"But this is a unique way to show that you love your mother"
"But I don't need a necklace to prove that I love her"
"True, but if you would get her a necklace, she would know, that you thought of her in this moment in India! When she would carry it she would be proud of you and know you thought of her on your travels."
"Ugh... how much?"
"How much would you pay?"
*sigh* "1000 Rupees?"
"I was thinking of more than that"
"Then sorry, good bye"
"No no wait! How about 3000?"
"I'll have to think about it"
"But this deal is only good today! Its a special day and for you, my goooood friend, I'll give you this one-time deal! It would be stupid to let it slip"
"Sure, then I guess I'm not that smart. Good bye!" (runs away)

The longer this takes you usually feel more the urge to either just give up and buy it or to just run away. Additionally you get the feeling you need to compensate his job somehow, he has been trying to sell you something for this entire time, now you should maybe buy something small at least...
Luckily I have a good controll to only get weak when I actually want something. But then the bargaining gets harder and so on... sometimes walking by/ leaving simply helps alot. They will go down with the price. That way you can get something from 12.000 Rupees to 3.000 Rupees. Of course 12.000 is way to high for the actual price and it is never worth that much, but you can more or less notice it when they go down with their "special discount" for you. I can't imagine them selling something, if the money is less than it's worth. You should probably half the prices (probably close to actual worth?) and then half it again to be able to bargain. Often the question was: "What would you pay?" "1000" "But the quality is so high! It's such a good piece" "Hmmm... I only have 1000" "2000" "Sorry, no, I'll go" "Ok! Wait, we'll do 1000, ok?!" So you could imagine, that this might actually be the proper price or close to it. And then again you have no Idea/ proof if the article you bought is actually handmade/ fairtrade/ organic/ ... whatever they promised you. Most Shawls and wooden/ bronze items are probably made in the millions and sold all over India.

So Fort Kochin itself wasn't that great, not much to see, cool architecture here and there but not really something breathe taking. The fort itself doesn't exist anymore (except a few walls here and there). The coast line is nice, it has a small harbour, so witha  small Hamburg vibe, so you could often see freighters with alot of containers enter and leave the harbour. They seem to care as less about the environment as many others in India.

Just dumping black waste into the water...

But I still like harbours =)

Another thing at the coast are the chinese fisher nets, they are fun to watch, as they slowly desccend into the water and rise maybe half an hour later. I haven't see any big catches there... but they have to work, otherwise they wouldn't be used.

The net about to be "dropped" into the water

And at sunset... 

So I stayed, to be frank, too long there. One thing was that I had booked a train for the end of August and I didn't know if leaving the city (except for Munnar, as planned) was worth it. And when I got a little ill, leaving the city was out of question, so it wasn't that bad to just stay in one place and get well again. It was nothing bad, if it would have been more than the 2 days I would have visited a doctor. Since then nothing else happened, so I guess it was just a short thing, too much or less of something (water/ sun/ stress/ traveling/ indian food/ spices/...). I don't know, it's gone, that is the main thing.

On one of my last days I met Carina and Tobi again. I had spent an evening with them in Alleppey and just met them standing in the street. So we hung out together once again and we realised we'd be in Mysore at the same time (now beginning of september) so we stayed in touch.
Together we visited the "Kathakali" a traditional Kerala dance. It's closely tied with religion, showing a scene of the Ramayana (or was it the Mahabarata?). We went to a theater, where first the different moves, gestures and emotions were explained. Way to many to remember any, but it was interesting just to know, that all hand signs actually have a meaning (like sign language!) and the dance was very emotional (alot of face expressions complemented the hand signs). When the actual dance started a man in the background started singing (probably reciting the Ramayana or explaining what was happening, but it was on Malayalam, so I have no clue). The show was about a demon (who was disguised as a pretty woman), who tried to seduce a god, but he stayed strong and resisted long enough to see through the demons illusion and lastly killed him, to free his fellow gods, who had fallen to the demons spell.

Me posing with the Kathakali actors (left the god and right the sexy demon woman who tried to seduce him)

The stage inside the theater

This was actually really cool, though the speakers weren't adjusted at all, so it wasn't that enjoyable (way too loud!). But the dance was interesting.

After the couple had left I had another day and explored Ernakulam, where I would arrive from Munnar and then take a train (so I would know where to go etc).
In the night I toke a private bus (but one like a proper public transport, probably to meet the demand on this path) to Munnar and arrived there in time for lunch (it had some technical problems, so it was delayed).

An old ship radar, outisde the navy museum

And inside the Museum (they displayed alot of weapons, missiles and stuff like that)

At the beach of Fort Kochin, one of the old defences!

Backwaters of Kerala

After a few days in Trivandrum I headed to Alleppey. This is a town at the coast and has a big "harbour" towards the backwaters of Kerala. The backwaters are a series of canals, rivers, lakes that form the landscape of Kerala at the coastline. Alot of small boats and some larger houseboats drive through these waters and for a few occasions they have races.
One of them ist the Nehru Snalke Boat Race, which incidently took place while I was in Alleppey (I found out the day before I left to Alleppey). So it was hard to get a place to stay, apparently alot of people head out to Alleppey to watch the race and celebrate. The place where I stayed allowed me to get on a houseboat and watch the race from the water itself! That was really neat, because I didn't have to pay an enourmous amount of money to get on a houseboat and I got a lunch, got to know new people and see the race from a pretty good position. On the boat I met Meredith, a veterinary to be and in India for an "externship". She stayed mostly in Bangalore and visited the zoo, other places with animal doctors and was now travelling India for a bit longer.
Together we watched the races (there were several) and realised the boats were getting bigger and bigger. In the last races there were the big Snake boats with about 100 people per boat on it. They all were paddeling. Almost in every race there was a really good team and one that was way behind. Then in the last 2 races (the semi final and final as someone explained to us later) the teams were pretty equal and it was a head to head race. I still don't know who won, because I heard 3 different results (one on the houseboat, one in the evening and one the next day). So maybe just everyone won <3

People getting in the mood to cheer for their team in the race!

One of the first races, rather small boats (compared to he big snake boats)

The Snake boat race! These aren't the biggest ones!

The is one of the big snake boats, the people standing in the middle are giving the rythem for the rowers

(stomping on the planks or using a horn/ whistle)

The next day I went canoeing with Meredith and a british (or welsh) couple. It was really nice jst gliding through the backwaters and seeing the villages and homes of the people, who use the backwaters as streets. There are several ferries driving through the canals and connecting the small places with one another, but alot of people just have small boats they use.
Out captain was a fun guy. He sang for us and was always trying to keep us entertained (with bird sounds for example). Later we had some Thoddy (a coconut liquor/ beer drink) which was... interesting... With each sip it got better though.

On the Backwaters... one of the bigger canals

On our canoe, it's Alex' turn to help out our captain

For lunch we got a nice meal with fish from our captains wife, so they served us food at their home. Then we headed back to Alleppey. Meredith left for a homestay in a small village and the british couple and I went to the beach and had some "special tea" with our dinner.

The "Special Tea" - and a nice mug too^^

All in all it was a great and fun day. I really enjoyed it and really liked the backwaters. Just be sure to bring some insect repellent, because the damn mosquitos are everywhere!
The next day (it was independence day! woohoo!) I missed the hissing of the flag and a parade in the morning (it was at like 6 am) and apparently that was everything planned for that day. No fireworks, no other specials things (at least everyone told me there wasn't anything going on). So I headed with a backwater ferry to Kottayam and on my way back to Alleppey (I took a bus) it was delayed in the town of Alleppey. Later I saw a huge march of the Dyfi (democratic youth of federal India I think). Supposedly the youth organisation of the communist party (also judging by their use of the hammer and sickle in their logo). A guy told me several thousand people joined their march and had more or less halted traffic in the city. So I wasn't able to visit a different beach close to Alleppey, because the bus wasn't able to get through...

On the Ferry to Kovalam , the guy on the left controlled the motor, on the top was the guy steering the ferry

So we could always hear a bell ring, then this guy would change direction/ speed of the engine

A dragonfly relaxing on the ferry

From the ferry: The big backwaters of Kerala

Old boats in the canals of Alleppey

The northern canal of Alleppey

Nachtzug nach Kerala - Nighttrain to Kerala

After the alumni weekend I was actually quite busy in Kodai. I helped a alumni from 86 and had to pack of course. I got a bus to Madurai in the afternoon. Before I was at the bus station to look for some timings, there a guy took my number and said he'd call me in case a better option comes up.
While I was heading to the bus he called and said a taxi would pick me up from the school main gate and it would just cost 300 rupees (it's usually over 1000 rupees). So I waited there, after being pestered by too many taxi drivers I called him and he told me the taxi will only leave at 7pm... that was a little to close to get my train in Madurai and I didn't want to expect any delay. So I ran to the bus station and got the bus luckily.
Again I was lucky, that the bus drove closer to the station than I expected and didn't have to pay THAT much for a tuktuk. So I waited for the nighttrain at the train station (which was as many things in India much bigger than I first realized).
The train did have a delay, but nothing bad, I had time. Unfortunately a family had spread itself on the lower bunks, so I decided to go up directly. The trains have 3 sleeping berths each on the wall of one side and on the other side of the small hallway are 2 more beds. I had the top berth, so I was sleeping next to 3 fans, which were hanging from the ceiling, running on turbo it seemed (loud!). It wasn't that warm, but they were small so I guess they had to be on to help at all. So maybe I'll try and get a lower berth next time...
But it wasn't too difficult to sleep, so I was able to get some rest and after a while the entire waggon was quiet and sleeping (more or less). So only the fans were still annoying with their loud sound, nothing some nice music couldn't handle. A german woman I met later told me that actually the cold air of the fan was the worst about the stay in the night train and she was also sleeping in the top berth.

My alarm clock rang, I was already awake, or still awake? Who cares... I gathered my stuff and tried to get my big backpack from under the lowest berth as quietly as possible. The train unfortunately was even more delayed than before so I had to wait much longer in the hallway. That is how I spent the night of my birthday with the first nighttrain I took in India.

I took a cab to my hotel and packed my stuff to go to the beach! And some breakfast before I leave.
I read that there are 2 nice beaches around Trivandrum (or Thiruvananthapuram) and I decided to go to the closer one, Kovalam. Oh yeah my train went to Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. Here I was staying in a small hotel with free wifi (luckily my tablet was able to recieve it even in my room!) and quite close to the train station. The Autos taximeter wasn't working as usual (I thought! The next ones was working! Nice, no more haggling!) he took me to a bus station and from there I reached the beach in half an hour.
When I arrived at the beach I put my towel on a beach lounger, typical german! (well I rented it from a guy, but reserved it with my towel^^) Then I wanted to go for a swim! :D
Too bad.. the water was very shallow and even after 50m I only was in the water till my thighs, so I wanted to go further in. Then I heard someone whistle and noticed it was directed at me and the life guard was waving me back. Apparently the monsoon isn't a joke here! He told me the currents are too strong for any swimmer so I can just splash in the water a little and have fun that way. A shame... and just splashing about on my own was a little childish...

So after a little splashing I rested on my lounge and watched the small crabs hiding from the water when an older woman approached me. She had a basket of fruits on her head so it was clear to me, she wanted to sell some fruit. She greated me as a good friend and wanted to sell her Mangos, I just wanted some bananas. She gave me 10, I gave her 6 back and then she said something and while I was reaching for my wallet she was gone. I was actually looking forward to get some bananas, but no matter, oh wait there she is. She just walked around the corner to cut some mangos... dang...
She wanted 300Rupees for the bananas and the mango (she told me she cut 3 mangos).
Once I made it clear to her, that I didn't want the mango in the first place and she was forcing it on me she started going down with the price till 50 Rupees. Soon I was fed up and agreed so she'd go away. I ate the yummy mango and the bananas and waited for lunch time.
Then I was ambushed by more people who wanted to sell me things. I resisted most but once I had a nice conversation going a guy suprised me with Lungis (or dhotis, the "skirts" the men in India wear). I wanted to buy them anyway so I looked at them and agreed to his price without putting up much of a challenge in haggling. I bought 3 and paid too much (300 per lungi). Later (in Kochin) I discovered 2 of them are more bed sheets than lungis (patterns and pictures on them). But the other is nice and now I have bed sheets! Also something I wanted. I just paid so much... dang... But in Kochin the lungis all cost more than 300 rupees, so maybe it wasn't too much... I don't know...

Because it was my birthday I went back to the hotel to chat with my parents and escape the sun. But not for long, because I wanted to see the sunset at the beach. So I sped back and saw the beautiful sunset.
I then had a nice dinner at the beach and had some indian "Kaiserschmarn" (austrian desert). The waiter was kind enough to give me a small candle =)

The sleeping berths in the train - Die Betten im Zug

These posters were in almost all of the rickshaws in Trivandrum...

Solche Plakate hingen in fast allen Rickshaws in Trivandrum...

I guess even Sauron needs a vacation on the beaches of Kerala!

Ich schätze selbst Sauron kann mal einen Urlaub gebrauchen am Strand von Kerala!

The pretty sunset... - Der schöne Sonnenuntergang...

The Kovalam lighthouse in the last rays of sun

Der Leuchtturm von Kovalam in den letzten Sonnenstrahlen

Happy birthday to me =)

Kaiserschmarn - Indian style

Deutsch (hatte ich vorher schon verfasst):
Nach dem schönen Alumni Wochenende war ich am 8.8. tatsächlich recht beschäftigt, habe einer der Alumni des 86er Jahrgangs geholfen und musste natürlich packen, etwas Merchandise der Schule kaufen und mich dann um einen Bus/ Taxi nach Madurai kümmern.
Es fuhr ein Bus, das war praktisch, allerdings hat mich kurz bevor der Bus abfuhr ein Typ angerufen, der ein Taxi für mich organisiert hat (ich hatte mit ihm wegen des Buses gesprochen). Es war ein sehr guter Preis (300Rupees nach Madurai, sonst sind es über 1000), allerdings erzälte er mir erst später (beim 2. Telefonat, als ich auf das Taxi bei der Schule wartete), dass es erst Abends fährt, dadurch wäre es relativ eng mit meinem Zug geworden... Toll dachte ich und habe glücklicherweise noch den Bus nach Madurai erwischt. Der ließ mich auch viel näher am Bahnhof raus, als ich gedacht hätte, was auch praktisch war, dann wartete ich im Bahnhof auf den Nachtzug.
Diese fuhr recht knapp ein, sodass wir mit Verspätung abfuhren, allerdings kein Drama, ich hatte Zeit. Leider hatte sich eine Familie unten breit gemacht und mein Schlafplatz war oben (es sind 3 pro Wand, außer am Gang, da sinds 2), daher ließ ich die Familie Familie sein und kletterte gleich nach oben und versuchte zu schlafen. Nicht so einfach, denn direkt neben mit hingen 3 Ventilatoren, die mit voller Kraft versuchten den Waggon etwas kühler zu machen. Nächstes mal also evtl. eine der unteren Betten probieren.
Das ging relativ gut mit dem Dösen, es wurde auch irgendwann sehr ruhig im Wagen, sodass man tatsächlich nur den Zug und die Ventilatoren hörte.
Im Lonely Planet und anderen Reiseführern stand, dass es ggf. kalt wird in der Nacht, mir war es nicht, allerdings kann es auch daran gelegen haben, dass ich nichts von den Ventilatoren gespürt habe und es dementsprechend weiter unten kälter ist. Eine Deutsche, die ich später traf meinte, dass ihr die kalte Luft am meisten zu schaffen machte (sie hatte auch ganz oben ihr Bettchen).

Mein Wecker klingelte, ich war schon wach. Langsam und möglichst leise packte ich meine Sachen und kletterte hinunter und holte meinen Rucksack, der unter der untersten Koje angekettet war. Da der Zug tatsächlich mehr Verspätung hatte, wartete ich dann doch länger im Gang als gehofft. Aber so hatte ich recht gut die Nacht in meinen Geburtstag hinein verbracht und den Nachtzug überstanden!

Erstmal alle Sachen ins Hotel, Krühstücf gesucht und dann zum Strand!
Ich war in Trivandrum (oder eben Thiruvananthapuram) angekommen und ich hatte gelesen, dass es 2 schöne Strände gab, einen etwas nördlicher der Stadt einer südlicher. Ich fuhr zum südlicheren. Total erstaunt und positiv überrascht, dass hier die Taximeter tatsächlich funktionierten, ließ ich mich wieder etwas öfter mit den Autos hier rumfahren. Zum Strand habe ich allerdings den Bus genommen. Da ganz deutsch eine Liege mit Handtuch reserviert (bzw. von einem Typen gemietet) und dann ab ins Wasser! :D
Leider war das ziemlich flach... auch nach ca 50 Meter war ich erst ca bis zur Hüfte im Wasser. Dann wurde ich zurückgepfiffen. Der Bademeister machte sich schienbar Sorgen und erzählte mir, da es momentan Monsoon ist, dürfe man nicht schwimmen, die Strömung sei zu stark. Das sei wohl bei allen Stränden momentan so, man kann aber ja nahe des Strandes etwas planschen... Schade dachte ich. Planschen ist so kindisch...

Also nach etwas Planschen und "sonnen" habe ich den Krabben etwas zugeschaut als eine ältere Dame kam, die mir Obst verkaufen wollte. Ich wollte gerne eine Banane haben, sie wollte mir Mangos verkaufen. Dann war sie weg und ich dachte mir, schade, ne Banene wäre schön gewesen. Scheinbar war sie allerdings nur einem um die Ecke gehuscht, um Mangos für mich zu schnippeln. Sie wollte 300 Rupees (ca 4,5€) dafür haben... Ich wollte das nicht, also haben wir das "nein" "ja" Spiel gespielt, bis sie nur noch 50 R haben wollte. Anfangs hat sie irgendwelche Zahlen und sich sonst was ausgedacht, mir gesagt, sie hätte 3 Mangos dafür zerschnippelt und ein Kilo Mangos 500R kostet. Als ich ihr aber klar machte, dass ich das von Anfang an nicht wollte und sie mir das also aufdrängt, was ich gar nicht ab kann, wurde sie schwächer und ist dann mit jeder Entschuldigung mit dem Preis hinunter gegangen.
Von solchen Frauen gab es mehrere hier auf Kovalam Beach. Natürlich waren auch Männer am rumlaufen, haben Tücher verkauft und anderen Kram. Ich habe mir hier "Lungis" geholt (ober auch nur 3 Stoffe), diese Röcke, die die Männer tragen. Ich glaube, da ich davor nett mit jemanden gesprochen hatte und sowieso solche Dinger wollte, war ich hier allerdings viel zu nachlässig mit dem Preis. Ich zahlte 300 R/ Stück. Viel zu viel ist mir recht bald klargeworden, aber ich glaube man darf sowas auch mal machen ;-)
Leider hat sich nun in Kochin herausgestellt, dass 2 der Stoffe, die er mir verkaufte (ich hatte nämlich das eine an) gar nicht wirklich Lungis, eher ein Schal/... ist. Als ich darüber nachdachte kam ich auch zu dieser Erkenntnis. Ziemlich ärgerlich, aber nun habe ich 2 schöne dünne indische Decken! :D

Da mein Geburtstag war, ging ich Nachmittags noch schnell ins Hotel, um mit meinen Eltern zu sprechen, was ganz schön war (in der Lobby des Hotels gabs freies WLan). Für den Sonnenuntergang eilte ich wieder zum Strand und konnte noch einige Fotos machen. Zur Feier des Abends habe ich mir im "deutschen Restaurant" Kaiserschmarn geholt und der Kellner war so nett mir noch eine Kerze dazu zu geben!