Before escaping the hectic and cold north of India, we decided to make this state a home base for the next month, primarily for the warm weather.  We knew very little about the area, but since arriving here we have quickly fallen in love with the laid back lifestyle, friendly atmosphere, and fascinating history.

Kerala is a thin strip of land along the south west coast looking out towards the Arabian Sea and only makes up about 1 % of India’s total land mass.

Intricate networks of canals and backwater lagoons dip in from the coast and punctuate beautiful empty beaches lined with palm trees.  Above, eagles and crows soar as fisherman pull in loads of fresh fish and prawns in small, brightly painted boats and manually operated fishing nets.

It is also a considered to be the most socially advanced state in India, with an extremely high literacy rate and a relatively even distribution of wealth.  Incidentally, it was the world’s first democratically elected communist state in 1957 and has remained so ever since.

Sun setting over the Arabian Sea!

The beach where we have spent the last two days is called Mirari Beach.  The small coastal road to get here has silky smooth asphalt, having been recently rebuilt after the damage of the 2004 tsunami. With almost no traffic and little to no development along the miles of pristine beach, what more could you ask for in a cycle touring destination?

A bike perfectly placed outside a spice shop in Jew Town in Mattancherry, beside Fort Cochin

We are definitely not the only people to have “discovered” the area, however, as spice traders first started coming here over 3000 years ago!  Many towns along this coast were important trading posts and transit points for spices like nutmeg and cloves coming from Indonesia and heading to Europe and the Middle East.

The towns – including Fort Cochin were we spent 4 days relaxing and poking around -have beautiful crumbling colonial architecture left by the Chinese, Portuguese, Jewish and English traders.  The range of religious practices here is fascinating. It’s the kind of place you can hear Muslim prayer calls overlapping with Catholic Church bells, and see Hasidic Jews emerging from a historic synagogue walking beside women in colourful saris and men wearing mini skirt sarongs.

Chinese Fishing nets at sunset

Perhaps the most iconic image of this area is the Chinese fishing nets in Fort Cochin. Still operated by hand using huge boulders as counterweights, it is fun to watch these in action. We also got to eat some yummy seafood straight from the source! You can buy prawns by the kilogram for just $6- do you have any idea how many prawns are in a kilogram?!! A LOT!

From here the plan is to make our way slowly by bike to the very southern tip of India, but given how nice Mirari beach is it may take us quite a while!

Some sublime moments from the past few days:
- contentedly sipping vanilla tea and eating meusli- a definite treat in a neat tea shop in Fort Cochin

A sarong mini skirt in the foreground, with Patrick cyling in the background

- gliding slowly and happily down the coastal road south from Fort Cochin, and seeing village life pass us by- kids on their way to school, women pumping water from communal pumps, and men reading the newspaper in a shady nook
- stumbling by accident upon what has to be India’s best kept secret- Mirari Beach- beautiful white sand, palm trees for shade, and almost deserted coastline with a $30 beach hut just waiting for us!
- frolicking in the Arabian Sea… and then seeing dolphins frolicking just 30 metres away!
- being able to sleep through the night without the constant traffic, yelling, horking, and other noises that you couldn’t escape in the north
- sitting outside in T-shirts and shorts and soaking in the beautiful weather and sea breeze

No doubt about it- this has been both memorable and challenging, and looking back on our photos, we can hardly believe everything we saw and did. Before getting into the details, take a look at a few of our pics:

The budget travel scene here is not as smooth and developed as it was in South East Asia, so we are going to break down our week into the Good, the Bad… and the Random!

THE GOOD:

• The plentitude of ancient sights is fascinating. The display of wealth and grandeur in these old buildings sits in dire juxtaposition to the extreme poverty of many local people now.
• The bright and beautiful fabrics here in the saris, turbans, shawls etc.
• The breath-taking bathing ghats (where Hindu people gather to publically wash and purify themselves) in the holy town of Pushkar.
• Riding camels in the desert at sunset! Yes, it was touristy, but $8 for a two hour “camel safari” was a pretty good deal! Did you know that camels can gallop?
• Taking photos in Jaipur. The street life is so rich there that everywhere you look is a great photo!
• The tourist sights in Jaipur (Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal, and Jantar Mantar). We were impressed by the standard at which they are maintained (especially in comparison to Delhi’s sights), and enjoyed the stories that went with them.
• Going on two tiger safaris in Ranthambore National Park. We got the full safari experience in an 18-seater jeep-style truck! The scenery was beautiful and we saw tons of wildlife (deer, antelope, crocodiles, birds, monkeys).
• Visiting the Taj Mahal. Yes, this building gets a lot of hype, but it is truly merited. It exceeded our (admittedly wary) expectations. What a stunning masterpiece- it is truly like walking into a fairytale! The story behind the Taj Mahal is pretty amazing too- the complex was built as a mausoleum for the third wife of Emperor Shah Jahan. His beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died in 1631 giving birth to their 14th child, and he spent from 1632-1653 building her final resting place.

THE BAD:

• Crazy traffic to the point that we felt unsafe on the highway. There were too many moments when we were gripping the seat and holding our breath. While we appreciate that the norm is different here, our driver in particular made a habit of passing other cars with inches to spare, accelerating toward brake lights, and he even drove the wrong way for several kilometers on a mega highway to get out of a traffic jam! Oy! The traffic does not flow here- every intersection is just a total bottleneck with nobody wanting to let anyone else through.
• Poverty. The maimed and invalid. The child beggars. We saw this in South East Asia, but these kids seem much more sad, dirty, and persistent. They look like they are right out of a stage production of Charles Dickens’ “Oliver”. It is really hard to be constantly confronted by this and to struggle with how to give. Street handouts likely don’t land in the right place, but nor are there any safety nets set up for these people.
• Plastic garbage in the desert. It was everywhere along the desert outskirts of the city, and really took away from the beauty of the scenery.
• The smell of urine everywhere. It is really potent. Men in particular seem to relieve themselves absolutely anywhere… even in the corners of historical forts to which they have paid entrance fees!
• The cold weather. We are wimps.
• Not seeing a tiger on our tiger safaris =(
• The saga of getting into the Taj Mahal. We woke up early to be at the ticket gate when it opened at 6:30am, hoping to see the sunrise over the Taj. A nice idea… but we waited in a nearly unmoving line until after 8am (an hour after sunrise) before we got inside! Then three false starts with a faulty audio guide delayed our visit even more.
• The lack of internet access here. We got spoiled with easy and reliable access in South East Asia.

THE RANDOM:

• Our driver repeatedly opening his car door while going 45km/hr to hork out his chewing tobacco.
• Our hotel room in Jaipur! It was built as a mansion for the prime minister of the state, and we stayed in the master bedroom- full of character!
• Going to a Bollywood film (called Agneepath) at Raj Mandir Cinema, which is allegedly the fanciest and most outlandish cinema in India. Lonely Planet describes it as, “A huge pink cream cake with a meringue auditorium and a foyer somewhere between a temple and Disneyland.”
• Seeing GOATS wearing COATS! Oh yes- our friends Arieh and Blair will attest to just how common it is to see this four-legged fashion statement!
• Passing two stark naked Jain holy men walking down the side of the highway. Was NOT expecting that!
• The lavish town of Fatehpur Sikri which took years to build, and then was promptly abandoned a short very time later due to a lack of water. Where was the foresight?!!
• Visiting the birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna. The birthplace itself is a humble slab of marble, but another building on the premises houses an extensive collection of dioramas with moving, mechanical dolls that depict various (often gory) stories about Krishna. Only halfway through this somewhat disturbing funhouse-esque experience did we realize that Cayleigh was the only female there… oops- not sure why, but Hindu women did not seem to enter.

So, now we are off to Kerela in the south of India. As Jerry Garcia once sang, it’s time to “head to where the climate suits our clothes”!

The busy Pahar Ganj street near where we are staying

We had been warned by many people that India was “an assault on the senses,” and indeed Delhi is a very busy city, but actually not as crazy as we had expected it to be after all the stories we had heard. That said, our senses were all fully on alert with so much to take in!

The sights range from beautiful (vibrant colours, fresh fruit displays, small gestures of camaraderie) to heart-wrenchingly sad (children begging, men sniffing glue etc.), and their effect is heightened by the contrasting wafts of lovely smelling incense and the less-than-lovely odour of urine and sewage. We picked our way carefully through the streets, navigating cow dung, refuse, unidentifiable puddles and more, hearing honking, yelling, chanting, and music.

I think that having spent the last five months in South East Asia prepared us well for what we have experienced to date here, both dulling the ‘shock factor’ at some of the things you see, and also preparing us for wild traffic, different standards of hotels and washrooms, and the general attention you get for being a foreigner.

This population graph from the Lonely Planet gives you a sense of the population here!

We have seen some pretty memorable things already! On our very first night, we happened upon a wedding procession in the road, complete with the groom on horseback, and a bunch of people drumming and dancing in front of him! They even had chandelier-type lights being carried on people’s shoulders… powered by a generator that came behind on a bicycle!

Yesterday we were overwhelmed by the number of ‘extremely friendly men’ who were willing to help us find a travel agency! After 7 touts in the morning alone, we  stopped singing the praises of all our new Indian friends and realized that perhaps… just perhaps, we were being sought out for a quick commission.

Today we had a day exploring some of the tourist sights in Dehli, and tomorrow we leave to spend a week in Rajasthan, an area in the north west of  India that has many beautiful sights to see.

And after that? Well, we *were* going to head north for a month to Rishikesh (“yoga centre of the universe” where the Beatles wrote their White Album)… *until* we got to Delhi and found that it was 12.8 celcius and would be even colder up north! While that may sound balmy to those of you back in Canada, it was a frigid awakening to us delicate creatures, and we promptly decided to head south instead. After all, Cayleigh only brought one pair of pants, and all the delicious chai in India couldn’t overcome the cold as we snuggled under two blankets in bed last night! Ah the joys of a flexible travel schedule!

And as a sidenote, speaking of chai, we can get room service chai in our hotel for only 25 cents! Doesn’t get better than thaClick to view slideshow.

Today we were reunited with another long lost friend… Patrick’s camera!

India, here we come!

Despite an initial estimate that it would cost $900 to fix his camera (a camera that is only $600 to buy new, for which we paid $300 used!), we found another place that fixed it for just $80! Hooray!! A happy reunion indeed.

Cayleigh has also replaced her camera with a sleek red version of the camera she used to have.

ps. Totally random, but check out the video that we figured out how to add to an old Indonesian post of ours- worth a good laugh, we promise!
The video is at the bottom of this post:  http://off2greatplaces.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/farewell-to-parigi/

That said, there are (of course) times when we really miss home, and miss having a home base, and miss seeing the faces of our friends and family.

Fortunately, the past week has afforded us the opportunity to see a number of familiar faces.

First, we met up with our friends Rob and Gilly. We met Rob and Gilly initially at the all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet in Hanoi. What a ‘sweet’ way to kick off a friendship! By keeping in touch via email and following each other’s blogs, we were then able to cross paths again in Hoi An and Shianoukville. However, when we parted ways in Shianoukville, we didn’t expect to see them again until they come to Toronto at the end of their trip next fall. When they coincidentally showed up at our same guest house in Trat, it was a very welcome surprise, and we enjoyed a ‘bonus’ dinner together.

From Trat, we returned to Bangkok- our fourth time passing through this city this year.  When we were here in December, we were generously invited to stay at one of Patrick’s colleague’s sister’s apartments. Sound like a stretch? Most people would say so, but Julia and Christine extended this offer without ever having met us! We enjoyed a lovely evening chatting with Julia (Christine was out of town that night) in their gorgeous downtown apartment. Upon returning this time, they offered us the opportunity to stay in their apartment, even though they are out of town. Luckily, they were back overnight last night between trips, so we were able to meet Christine. What an inspirational pair of women they are- we are so glad to have gotten to know them.

Tonight we had dinner with Sarah Fleming, a dear friend of Cayleigh’s from university. Sarah has been living and teaching overseas since graduating from Queen’s, and started working in Bangkok this fall. It was such a treat to be able to connect with her so far away from our home turf in Canada. Three hours of eating scrumptious food and chatting at a mile a minute, and we just barely scratched the surface of all the things we needed to catch up on, but it was good for the soul to see an old friend who is living her life to the fullest and accomplishing all sorts of wonderful things.

There have been many other wonderful people who we have met on the road- some other cyclists, some backpackers, and some ex-pats. There is a real sense of community amongst people far from home, even if ‘home’ to each person is a very different place.

Having now been on the road for five months, we are almost halfway through our travels. The past few days have been a good chance to reflect on our adventures to date, on the things we are looking forward to, and on the dynamics of our relationship. We have literally spent the last five months 24-7 in each other’s company, a pretty good relationship test by anyone’s standards!

Fortunately, we have found that we are extremely compatible travelers- willing to splurge in the same ways, willing to rough it in the same ways, and able to support each other through the highs and lows of navigating unknown territory. Our few moments of frustration with each other have been few and far between, and usually fueled by exhaustion and/or calorie deficit! Overall, though, it has been an incredible and strengthening experience.

We are now about to start a new chapter… getting on a plane to Delhi, India on Thursday! India is a country that neither of us have traveled to before, and it is equal parts exciting and terrifying!

A local bicycle in the back roads of Cambodia

Today we completed the last day of our South East Asia cycle tour.

4 countries
3 months
3000 kilometres

Longest day: 144 km
Hottest day: 47 degrees celcius!!!

Needless to say, there have been more highs and lows that we could possibly tally, but yesterday was the perfect example of how your emotions can swing in the blink of an eye…

Upon crossing the border from Cambodia into Thailand, we were welcomed by beautifully smooth asphalt, and our tires hummed as we enjoyed the undulating hills-  just steep enough that the momentum from each descent brought us nearly to the crest of the next hill. Our plan was to cycle halfway to a city called Trat, and then find a guesthouse for the night. Wouldn’t  you know that on our very last night of cycle touring, we wished for a tent for the very first time. We found ourselves riding alongside stretches of nearly deserted, picturesque coastline, but the only hotels were the few and far between expensive resorts. In a moment of resolve, we decided to push on and cycle the remaining 45km to Trat, even though it would mean nearly two hours in the dark. While we felt tired, we mustered our strength and positive thoughts, gobbled down some pad thai, and set out at good clip of about 22km/hour. There is something to be said for the power of juicy prawns and tangy lime juice to get your blood moving! Yum! Nonetheless, about an hour later, Cayleigh had just about had enough of trucks whizzing by in the dark, and started imagining that every home with lights on would like nothing more than to welcome two sweaty Canadians into their midst for the night. We pulled over to ask if one place was a hotel, but apparently not. Only as we were leaving did we wonder if the red neon lights were indicative of ‘by the hour’ activity rather than what we were asking for! But I digress… Just 15km from Trat, we spotted a very warm-seeming restaurant, and just thought we’d ask if by chance they were also a guest house. This was our lucky break. They are not a guest house, but they invited us to stay. Hooray! We were thrilled. “How much?” The woman in her very sparse English said something that sounded like “three”. “Three hundred?” we asked, which is the equivalent of $10- perfect! “No- FREE- no money!” “Really?!!” Indeed, we were fortunate enough to experience true Thai hospitality at a time when we really needed it. Not only that, but  the ‘room’ they showed us too was our own private wooden cabin with a bedroom, living room, two porches, a bathroom with hot water, air conditioning… and internet! The whole place reminded us of a cozy Muskoka cabin. Bliss. Just as we were moving our bags in, the son of the family said to us, “Same same like your home.” Cayleigh almost cried.

We do not have photos from our last few days of cycling, but we have many great shots from our three weeks on the road in Cambodia that we have not had a chance to share with you yet, so please enjoy this slideshow:

What we hadn’t expected, however, was beautiful and not yet over-developed South Coast.  Biking though Kep and Kampot, we were totally seduced by the wonderful food and the quiet, laid-back vibe of these nearly forgotten French Colonial get-aways.  If there was anyplace in Cambodia that we could see ourselves spending a long period of time, this would be the region.

As a reward from the long days of cycling (we have cycled 1000 km in Cambodia), we took a vacation from our bikes and spent three amazing days on Koh Rong, a stunning island two hours by boat from Sihanoukville.  This island has it all: beautiful white beaches that stretch for miles and are nearly devoid of tourists, laid back beach bungalows and treehouses (there are only three resorts on the island), and long inland jungle hikes.

In fact, this island is so perfect and unspoiled that while we were there they were in the process of filming the French “Survivor” reality TV show!!! Oh yes- we were on the newest Survivor Island! Is it too much to say that “Koh Rong was Oh So RIGHT”?!

If any of you are looking for the perfect beach get over to Koh Rong ASAP as it will definetly not stay like this forever!

Due to our camera-less existence in these beautiful places, we have had to pull stills from our Flip Camera, so the quality is not as good…. oh well! Better than nothing!

His camera, however, may have had its last photo session.

We were riding along the south coast of Cambodia on the way out of the lovely and quaint “Kep sur Mer” when we noticed a priceless photo opportunity.   With only seconds to spare, Patrick raced off in hot pursuit with camera in hand.

His motivation? Attempting to capture an excellent example of “Khmer pooling”.  This is ‘car pooling’ taken to a whole new level. The Khmers (ethnic Cambodians) have mastered the art of cramming as many people, livestock and goods as possible into a moving vehicle.

This is what Patrick captured moments before hitting the pavement (after the car pulled to an abrupt stop), much to the delight of the Khmer poolers.

In hot pursuit of the Khmer poolers

Notice the beer in hand and the peace sign!

picture taken of asphalt as camera (and Patrick) hit the ground

Throughout our time in Cambodia we have seen various examples of Khmer pooling at alarming speeds that have literally left our jaws on the ground, including:

-5 adults on one motorbike
-40+ adults as well as 40+ live chickens tethered to the back of a pickup
-three motor bikes hanging off the back end of an already full truck, with passengers riding on the seats of the motorbikes at precarious angle to the ground.
-a mother riding a bicycle with young son riding on the rear rack and her very young daughter sitting in her front basket.
-Three full grown “sleeping” pigs belly up on the back of a motorbike
-a tuk tuk in the back of a pickup truck…with someone riding in tuk tuk!
-a 9 passenger minivan crammed with at least 20 people plus luggage…as well as 4 people riding on top with nothing more to hold on to than the radio antenna.
-trucks packed a meter higher than the truck frame…with someone riding, sometimes sleeping on top.  (We call this position the “Khmer shotgun”.  Even with an empty cab, there is almost always someone riding shotgun.)

We wish we could have had photographic evidence off all the prize-worthy Khmer pools we see daily, but they often pass in the blink of an eye and all we can do is gawk and laugh.  Needless to say it was hard to get the camera out in time, and when you do…well…see pavement photo above!

We took a slow boat from Siem Reap to Battembang- a journey which is sold as 6 hours, realistically should be 7 hours, but took us 9 hours after breaking down twice and also getting wedged in the bushes for a good 40 minutes! Nonetheless, it was a beautiful journey across the Tonle Sap lake and adjoining river, which showed us just how many Cambodians still live their lives on the water- and what a different lifestyle that is!

In Battembang, we rode on a “bamboo train”- a very cool contraption which is simply a wooden platform resting on top of two axles which are placed on the railway tracks. The engine was a ten horsepower affair, which effectively served to zip up along for a very fun ride!

We only rode the train one way, then hopped on our bikes and cycled out to a beautiful hilltop temple.

Party time at the wedding we crashed!! The bride is in yellow, and the groom is between her and Patrick.

En route, we were flagged down by a bunch of wedding revelers, who insisted that we come in (dirty and sweaty as we were!) to dance the last few songs with them- what a hilarious experience!

Finally, we ended the day with a visit to the “killing caves” where Khmer Rouge soldiers mercilessly threw their victims down into what was essentially a mass grave. This was haunting, especially as a ten year old local boy showed us around, whistling and singing to himself as we absorbed the sight of real human skulls that were found in the cave, some of which clearly had a bullet hole in them. Please be warned- there is an upsetting photo of this in our slideshow.

Patrick bikes into the temples

Upon arriving in Siem Reap, we bought a three day pass to visit some of the many incredible temples in the area. These temples date back to the 11^th and 12^th centuries and are in various stages of ruin and/or restoration. Nonetheless, they are breath-taking for their beauty, intricacy, and historical significance.

The most famous of these temples is Angkor Wat, which is deemed the largest religious structure in the world (1.5km x 1.3km!). It is also the national symbol of Cambodian people and is pictured on their flag. These temples used to be the focal point and worshipping centres for the most advanced civilization of that time.

Ta Prohm temple was made famous in the movie 'Tomb Raiders" with Angelina Jolie!

At its height in the 13^th century, the Khmer Empire was the most extensive urban complex in the world. Its capital, the Greater Angkor area, hosted a population of a million at a time when London England was a town of only 50 000 people. Our favourite temples were probably Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, as over the centuries they have been largely enveloped in huge trees, showing the power of nature to reclaim it s place amongst man-made constructions.

On our third day of temple viewing, we got on the road at 5:30am and biked out to the farther temples of Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean, despite having been told it would be “impossible” to bike that distance (100km return)! These were both beautiful and well worth the effort to get there!

These are bullet holes from the Khmer Rouge time, left in a post of Angkor Wat temple

None of the Angkor temples evaded being affected by Cambodia’s complicated and war-torn history. In fact, all the temples were hidden in dense jungle vegetation for many years until they were rediscovered by French explorers in the 1920s. Conservation efforts, however, halted during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which turned Angkor Wat and surrounding temples into a no-go zone for two decades. Sadly, once troops withdrew at the end of the war, looters descended on Angkor, swiping statues and even chiseling off bas-reliefs.

Various landmines uncovered by Akira, now on display at the landmine museum

En route to Banteay Srei on our bikes, we stopped in at the Landmine Museum. Every tourist to Siem Reap should stop here, even though it is a little bit out of the way. It is incredibly powerful and important. This museum was founded by a man named Akira, who was given his first gun at the age of ten and was a Khmer Rouge child soldier. Under Khmer Rouge command, he planted thousands of landmines, but has since dedicated his life to removing as many landmines as possible. It is estimated that he has cleared well over 50,000 mines and UXOs, many of which are on display at the museum. However, there are anywhere between 3 million and 6 million active mines still left in Cambodia. The Landmine Museum is actually a Canadian NGO, run by Cambodians. It is impressive not only for its informative (and upsetting) displays, but also because it has come to be a home for  many children whose lives have been impacted by land mines. We left deeply moved, and hope to support this  centre in the future. Check out www.cambodialandminemuseum.org and http://www.landmine-relief-fund.com.

All the girls- an impressive group!

Another impressive project we visited was a girls’ dormitory that provides an opportunity for village girls to come to the city and attend school. This provides a chance for these girls- who are all impressive and natural leaders- to get a good education and know the breadth of jobs that could be available to them in the future. We spent two nights teaching night courses about leadership and literacy to these girls, and thoroughly enjoyed being inspired by their passion and enthusiasm.

Our last two dollars- yikes! (Yes- they use American dollars here, and only use local currency for small change insted of American coins)

Quite negligible in comparison to the various challenges that Cambodian people have – and continue – to face on a daily basis, we had our own challenge in Siem Reap as our bank card would not work, leaving us without access to money. We converted all our leftover Thai Baht, but still over a course of several days watched our funds dwindle dollar by dollar. Fortunately, you can eat a meal (including 50 cent draft!) for a total of $2.50 each! With Cayleigh’s dad’s help, we finally connected with our bank back in Toronto, and everything got sorted out… just as we were down to our last $2!! It sure makes you realize how dependent we are on the all-mighty plastic access card!