So Indian trains...
Can also do one at this stage. Our journey from Palolem was another rough one. We had to get a taxi to south Goa station (Margao), which was our worst form of transport in India to date. A vomit-inducing journey on twisting roads in the dead of night. Not fun. We had to get the taxi that late, as our train was delayed from it's 9p.m. departure time to a....vomit-inducing new departure time of 4a.m. Indian transport punctuality leaves a lot to be desired. We read it on other blogs, and here we are complaining about it again.
The journey that was supposed to take 12 hours also took 18.5 hours. So that didn't help. We finally got off the train at 10:30p.m at Alleppey station, our first stop in Kerala. We rushed to our guesthouse/hostel for the night, Seashore Homely Stay, to be greeted again by our now long-term travel partners Jack & Fui, who had left us two days before (and had a similar train experience!). We were also greeted by this, our "deluxe double room":
While a beach hut was something we had wanted to get during our stay, after a near 20 hour train journey, this felt a little too.....scaldy for our liking. The owners of the guesthouse though were absolutely lovely, welcoming us with a late dinner, and helping us to sort out the main reason we had come to Alleppey - a houseboat through the Kerala backwaters, which was to be booked for the next day. Jack kindly went with the guesthouse staff to view our two-storey floating fortress for the next two nights. Off we set in a tuk-tuk, and after separate ATM, alcohol, and cigarette stops, the four of us finally made it to the dock. When we got to the boat, we soon realised Jack did good, so he did:
This experience was absolutely amazing, again one of the best things we've done. The scenery is mind blowing, a cool breeze staves off the 33+ degree heat, you've plenty of time to chill out and read, and all food is included + cooked for you. Can't recommend it enough.
After humming and hawing for a while, we decided it'd be a good idea to pull ashore and all of us get a traditional Keralan massage. Full body for 90 mins. Good price. Off we went into our own rooms. All going well. Until the masseur/masseuse asked us to take off our clothes. Alright, it's a massage, down to our underwear - fair enough. Apparently that doesn't fly in Kerala, as we were all asked to strip down another layer to our birthday suits. Oh, ok then...what have we done? (I believe that covers our collective minds racing through the start of our...experience) - and so began 90 minutes of a somewhat odd, completely bollock naked, massage. After a while you sort of get used to it - they're trained to do this, it's obviously the custom (we fucking hope it is), so on we go. Even more odd though, was the ending - a shower room is attached to the massage room. Finally, we can wash ourselves and begin the process of washing away this memory, and forgetting it ever happened. What we didn't expect, was for the masseur/masseuse to come in with us, get the soap, and give us a complete rubdown, head to toe (thankfully leaving out anything between the legs, or just about).
It happened when we were babies, it'll probably happen again when we're much older, but we don't think we needed a reminder on what it's like to be washed by someone else at the age of 28. After all our dignity was finally washed (and dried) from us, it was finally over. We were able to laugh about it after, thankfully...
After we all had extensive discussions on what had happened, and made sure we all got the same treatment, we all calmed down and took it easy for the next 36 hours - reading, lying in the sun, taking in the scenery, a few drinks and card games after dinner, and an absolute blast to celebrate both Valentine's Day, and our final goodbyes to Jack and Fionnuala. They set off for Puducherry on the east coast, while we set off on planning for our next stop, staying in Kerala. Thankfully no more delayed trains, dangerously scary taxis, or nightmare sleeper buses for us.
We've only a few more stops in India, with a quick 10 day whizz around Sri Lanka planned in less than a weeks time, so blog posts might be a bit shorter in the next while. Or delayed. But they should still be up every few days. One last special thanks to Fionnuala and Jack, we had an absolute blast the past few weeks.
Next stop, heading up to the mountains of Kerala for a two day tour.
Big love, Dani & Stu.
Currently Listening to:
Can also do one at this stage. Our journey from Palolem was another rough one. We had to get a taxi to south Goa station (Margao), which was our worst form of transport in India to date. A vomit-inducing journey on twisting roads in the dead of night. Not fun. We had to get the taxi that late, as our train was delayed from it's 9p.m. departure time to a....vomit-inducing new departure time of 4a.m. Indian transport punctuality leaves a lot to be desired. We read it on other blogs, and here we are complaining about it again.
The journey that was supposed to take 12 hours also took 18.5 hours. So that didn't help. We finally got off the train at 10:30p.m at Alleppey station, our first stop in Kerala. We rushed to our guesthouse/hostel for the night, Seashore Homely Stay, to be greeted again by our now long-term travel partners Jack & Fui, who had left us two days before (and had a similar train experience!). We were also greeted by this, our "deluxe double room":
While a beach hut was something we had wanted to get during our stay, after a near 20 hour train journey, this felt a little too.....scaldy for our liking. The owners of the guesthouse though were absolutely lovely, welcoming us with a late dinner, and helping us to sort out the main reason we had come to Alleppey - a houseboat through the Kerala backwaters, which was to be booked for the next day. Jack kindly went with the guesthouse staff to view our two-storey floating fortress for the next two nights. Off we set in a tuk-tuk, and after separate ATM, alcohol, and cigarette stops, the four of us finally made it to the dock. When we got to the boat, we soon realised Jack did good, so he did:
This experience was absolutely amazing, again one of the best things we've done. The scenery is mind blowing, a cool breeze staves off the 33+ degree heat, you've plenty of time to chill out and read, and all food is included + cooked for you. Can't recommend it enough.
After humming and hawing for a while, we decided it'd be a good idea to pull ashore and all of us get a traditional Keralan massage. Full body for 90 mins. Good price. Off we went into our own rooms. All going well. Until the masseur/masseuse asked us to take off our clothes. Alright, it's a massage, down to our underwear - fair enough. Apparently that doesn't fly in Kerala, as we were all asked to strip down another layer to our birthday suits. Oh, ok then...what have we done? (I believe that covers our collective minds racing through the start of our...experience) - and so began 90 minutes of a somewhat odd, completely bollock naked, massage. After a while you sort of get used to it - they're trained to do this, it's obviously the custom (we fucking hope it is), so on we go. Even more odd though, was the ending - a shower room is attached to the massage room. Finally, we can wash ourselves and begin the process of washing away this memory, and forgetting it ever happened. What we didn't expect, was for the masseur/masseuse to come in with us, get the soap, and give us a complete rubdown, head to toe (thankfully leaving out anything between the legs, or just about).
It happened when we were babies, it'll probably happen again when we're much older, but we don't think we needed a reminder on what it's like to be washed by someone else at the age of 28. After all our dignity was finally washed (and dried) from us, it was finally over. We were able to laugh about it after, thankfully...
The scene of the crime
After we all had extensive discussions on what had happened, and made sure we all got the same treatment, we all calmed down and took it easy for the next 36 hours - reading, lying in the sun, taking in the scenery, a few drinks and card games after dinner, and an absolute blast to celebrate both Valentine's Day, and our final goodbyes to Jack and Fionnuala. They set off for Puducherry on the east coast, while we set off on planning for our next stop, staying in Kerala. Thankfully no more delayed trains, dangerously scary taxis, or nightmare sleeper buses for us.
We've only a few more stops in India, with a quick 10 day whizz around Sri Lanka planned in less than a weeks time, so blog posts might be a bit shorter in the next while. Or delayed. But they should still be up every few days. One last special thanks to Fionnuala and Jack, we had an absolute blast the past few weeks.
Next stop, heading up to the mountains of Kerala for a two day tour.
Big love, Dani & Stu.
Currently Listening to:
Hahahahahaha that massage and wash down jaysus
ReplyDeleteOhh sounds a lovely ayurvedic treatment...!
ReplyDelete