Adrift

After an 18-hour journey by train and then plane and then train again I arrived in Kochi, India a few of days ago.

I was delighted to find a hotel that had a bathtub.

I squealed with joy when I saw it.

It was the first bathtub I’ve seen in India.

Even though it was over 100 degrees outside (and very humid) I took a hot bath because I’ve missed soaking in hot water.  Showers in India rarely have hot (or even warm) water…at least in the places I’ve been staying at.

The first day in Kochi I simply adjusted to a new environment.

The next day  I noticed that I felt a bit lost. I wasn’t ‘clicking’ with Kochi. To me it is a noisy, dirty, expensive city and I decided to get the heck out of there. So three days later I packed up and headed to the backwater town of Alleppey.

Unfortunately I’ve been here for 2 days and have not clicked with this place either.

It’s making me feel a bit homesick and lonesome, this not clicking with a town twice in a row.

Up until now this trip has been mostly an ease-filled experience as far as the places I’ve been have gone.

Even Pune, as stinky and dirty as it was, was filled with people that I met who really made the experience wonderful.

And that, I’m realizing as I’m writing this, is exactly the issue that I’m experiencing right now.

In the past two towns I’ve stayed at there was no ‘meeting point’ to meet other travelers within the guesthouse or hotel.

In all the other places I’ve stayed I have experienced a spot at my accommodation where I would meet people (usually the accommodation restaurant or on a common balcony where we would chat).

The only place I didn’t experience this was in one place I stayed in Bali but I had met Wayan the taxi driver who was a touchstone for me while I was there.

The past couple of days I spent some time in Alleppey searching for a guesthouse where I could meet fellow travelers and I just haven’t found any place that feels ‘right’.

In fact, I’ve barely seen any tourists at all in this town.  Not seeing tourists is usually my idea of a dream trip but…in Alleppey whenever I walk into town I stick out like a sore thumb and get gawked at.

It’s getting a bit old and I’m getting a bit cranky by not having found a spot that felt as ‘homey’ as Hampi and the other spots I’ve been to so far.

I’m realizing that just like in the Bay Area it is my people that make my town ‘homey’.

And when I am traveling I’ve got to have access to people that I can meet and connect with otherwise I just need to move on to find my travel peeps. 🙂

Today I was so confused. It had taken a lot of time, energy and money to get me to here to Alleppey from Hampi and all I wanted to do was to go back to Hampi!

I talked it over with the Indian travel agent and we realized that it was best (cheaper and more time-saving) for me to head north to Kannur and then head east to Hampi after exploring Kannur.

So I’m taking a risk by going to a 3rd town that might not feel right but at least I’ll be a little closer to Hampi.

I have less than 2 weeks left in India so I also have to start thinking about threading my way to Pune for my flight back to Bali on March 23.

On a different note,  last night I did something I really wanted to do which was take an overnight houseboat on the backwaters of Kerala.

The houseboat ride was wonderful even though, as I wrote above, I have been feeling a bit unmoored.

On the ship there was me, the captain and a chef. Their names were so difficult to pronounce that I asked if it was okay if I call them Captain and Captain Cook.  Captain Cook  was part chef, part captain.

They said that was fine.

The Captain had a real mischievous side to him. We had a lot of fun. At one point he let me drive the houseboat. (Which reminds me.. .a few days ago I had a rickshaw driver let me drive a rickshaw too–I’m getting the real Indian experience!)

We also docked the boat and went swimming. After I got out from swimming the Captain kept egging me on from the water, “You go swimming again.”

I said no, no, no and then he finally wore me down and I dived in.

And then I egged him on to swim across the channel with me.

He swam until he reached the middle and then he said, “No, no more swimming.”

(Indian people rarely swim in water that is deep enough to go over their head.)

“You are getting a taste of your own medicine, egging me on, come on!” I laughed, swimming ahead.

But he wouldn’t follow me so I turned around.

The backwaters of Kerala were filled with the sounds of birds, fish plopping out of the warm water and diving back in, and women beating their clothes to submission on the river rocks in front of their homes.

It’s mesmerizing to watch. They hold one end and whack! whack! whack! against a smooth rock in front of them. Then they lather the item with soap and knead it like bread dough and then whack! whack! whack! and then rinse in the river water (uggh, the river water is disgusting, can’t believe I swam in it).

The men fish from the rocks with large nets that they fan out in front of them into the water and then pull back quickly and look to see if they have caught anything.  If not, back goes the fan. And on and on until they catch something.

The women use sticks of bamboo to fish with. They plop the line in quickly and then pull it out just as quickly. I’ve never seen a fish on the line from the  quick pull in and out of the fishing line.

I feel like saying, ‘Uh, lady, you might want to give it some time” but they probably know something I don’t as the Keralans have been fishing on the banks of the backwater for centuries and I’ve never fished on the banks of the backwater so what do I know?  🙂

After swimming the Captain Cook made us a delicious dinner of vegetable curry, dahl, curd, and chipatti.

We sat and ate and spoke to each other in broken English (when I’m talking to Indians I can’t help but speak broken English back at them, I’m like a chameleon that way).

When we were finished with dinner Captain turned to me and said, “And now, you dance!”

“No, I’m not dancing, Captain,” I laugh.

“Yes, you dance,” he orders, smiling a toothy white grin.

“No.”

“Yes. Dance. Here,” he points to the spot between the table and the bow of the boat.

“Showing me where to dance will not make me dance. You dance,” I smile.

“No you dance American dance.”

This goes back and forth for about 5 minutes. Finally he changes and says, “You sing then. Sing American song!”

Oh brother. Dancing on command is my least favorite thing, singing is a close second.

After much no, yes, no, yes, no, yes (he yes, me no) I finally sang Happy Birthday. And then we sang happy birthday to each of us (me, Captain, Captain Cook.

After we sang Happy Birthday the captain burst into a Hindi song.

It was incredible.

Even though I couldn’t understand a word of it, there was so much emotion in his voice. His eyes crinkled up and he belted it out.

His song went on for at least 5 minutes.

After he was done we clapped.

Then he turned to me and said, “You sing.”

And I did.

I sang Amazing Grace and I remembered most of the lines and I belted it out with such a lusty, deep, heartfelt voice that I have never heard come out of my throat before.

It felt great. And, not to brag but I think it sounded great too.

Unfortunately I don’t think I can repeat it.  It was one of those in-the-moment things.

Captain and Captain Cook applauded wildly.

Then Captain belted out another song.

And then I went to bed on the boat which was pretty cool as I love the movement of the Kerala backwaters. It lulled me to sleep.

This morning when I got off I felt like the earth was moving. Haven’t felt that sensation in awhile.

So even though I’ve been feeling a bit adrift and unmoored by no ‘right’ spot these last few days I have had moments of pure joy which have helped get me through this time.

Tomorrow I’m off to Kannur (home of the trance dancers; they go into a trance and can perform super human feats like rolling around on hot coals for an hour or dancing around with a crown that is as tall and heavy as a coconut tree!) I’m hoping to see them while I’m there.

After that I’m off to Hampi again unless I find another spot that I’m drawn to.

Thanks for being there everyone! I realize that writing this blog and knowing you are all reading it has helped keep me feeling connected when I’m feeling disconnected. 🙂

PS. I’m excited to upload pictures when I get to Bali. I’ve been having to upload stock photos of places which feels so impersonal.

Tagged as: houseboats in Alleppey, houseboats in Kerala, India houseboats, Kerala houseboats, travel to Kerala