Namaste, Shalom and Salam Aleikum dear Comrades

Dear friends,

Back again with B and J coming to you live from Fort Kochi, down south in the beautiful state of Kerala, where fish taste like heaven and alcohol is served in teapots.
Where everybody in India is searching for their spiritual roots, we found ours close by. The Dutch palace in Kochi showed me again what a great nation Holland once was, a feeling I lost since the 10th of July 2010. In the same palace Julia saw evidence of a great Indian Jewish prince once ruling the region. The Jewish empire is being held up by 5 Jewish families visiting the 500 years old synagogue on Shabbatot. Her heart swell with pride, especially when she saw the swastika (Hindu sign for the sun) brotherly hanging together with the Magen David.

Diversity is the key word for this beautiful state. The churches show their images of Christ and Maria in huge kitsch colourful display like in Hindu temples. Throw in a little Allah Hu Akbar coming from the mosques at noon and sunset, and you get your religious melting pot. Women are dressed in traditional Saris while the girls walk around in English school uniforms. Alcohol is officially prohibited but served anyway. The Communist party still has big influence over local politics displayed by flags with the Soviet symbol hanging all over the city.

Since we left Hami a week ago, we used almost every source of transportation possible. Bus, rickshaw, train and boat brought us to Kochi with stops in Mysore and Wayanad.
The trip from Hampi to Mysore taught us never to use a bus for long distances again. While at first we were comfortably laying in our sleeper corner, we totally forgot about the condition of the roads in India. Roller coasters are fun, but there is reason why they never last more the 3 minutes. We enjoyed our roller coaster ride for 9 hours and even learned how to fly horizontally until our heads bumped the ceiling and the laws of gravity proved their right once again.

Mysore is a beautiful city and the Maharadja palace is just breathtaking. Silver and ivory inlaid doors, amazing architecture combining Gothic, Colonial and Indian styles with mahogany wood ceilings. We visited the silk factory which made Mysore famous. There the employees showed us in their "best English" how Mysore silk is made into beautiful wedding saris. We ate the best chicken tikka ever served with a deliciously warm vodka ;-)

The bus to Wayanad brought us into the jungle and hills with tea, coffee and spice plantations. This is the India you know from pictures. Our guide showed us every beautiful place and rare plants and trees. He took us to the home of the owner of the car and we were welcomed by a big family all wanting to shake our hands, looking at us and asking 10.000 questions differing from; "are you married?" to "please sing us a song". In this home we learned to love coffee Keralan style.

At night we learned another lesson. Never leave your lights on and windows open during sunset in the jungle. Our house was invaded by thousands and thousands of moths. We tried to reach the light switch, but try running into a wall of flying insects..... Staying cool as always, we quickly developed a strategy to get rid of these uninvited guests.

We will stay in Kochi for 6 nights to enjoy this little peaceful town and take a tour through the beautiful backwaters of Kerala.

For today it's Namaste, Shalom and Salam Aleikum dear Comrades from Bas and Julia in Kerala, the sunshine state!