It is already the New Year here in Kerala. I know that many of you have yet to cross into 2013, so The Kid and I wish you a Happy New Year.
Midnight came and went in a cacophony of Indian fireworks.
We spent the last day of the year touring about Kannur. After a frustrating attempt with the tourist desk and the the train information desk, we discovered, on our own, how to get to the weaver's co-op that we had wanted to visit. Directions and information in Southern India seem to fall into two categories. The first is a mish-mash of Indio-English that accomplishes nothing for either party. This is usually associated with vague waves in the general direction of somewhere else. All of this is usually accomplished while the other person is hovering over one of the super-secret lined ledger books that every official person seems to be writing in every waking moment.
The second category of help comes from some Indian gentleman standing nearby, who speaks the King's and solves problems like the PG Wodehouse character Jeeves.
Either way, we continue on. We found the weaver's co-op, a fairyland of arcane looms and spinning devices in a rambling and ramshackle series of buildings far fro the city center. We had a lovely private tour and then bought a ridiculous amount of textile things from the co-op store for a pittance. Oh, and if you think that an Indian size 42 will equate to an American size 42, you would be vastly mistaken (as well as squeezed a bit tight).
We trekked about St. Angelo's fort, a Portuguese, then Dutch, then English, then Indian fort. If you add in the Arab traders, you have a good picture of the local colonial battles that went on form even before Vasco De Gama landed here in the late 1400's. Spice. Like "Dune", in this part of the world, spice was the driving force behind everything. Spice made rich men of some traders and killed many more. Vasco De Gama left Lisboa with 28 ships and arrived here with 8. This was not an unusual attrition rate during those days. Yet a single load of cardamom, Mace, or malabar pepper, successfully delivered to London or Amsterdam of Lisboa, could make a captain a very rich man.
Sunset on the last day of the year found us wading in the Arabian sea at the local beach. We found hundreds of hermit crabs, a type of small predatory moon snail, clams and nudibranches. There is nothing quite like watching women in Burkas on the beach for realizing that one is not at Alki in West Seattle.
I will have to find another computer from which to post pictures. This one is problematic. Suffice the words for now. Be well, be happy, and avoid silly resolutions if you possibly can. Liam asked me what my resolution for next year was and I replied "To Travel More." After a second we both cracked up laughing.
Ciao!
Midnight came and went in a cacophony of Indian fireworks.
We spent the last day of the year touring about Kannur. After a frustrating attempt with the tourist desk and the the train information desk, we discovered, on our own, how to get to the weaver's co-op that we had wanted to visit. Directions and information in Southern India seem to fall into two categories. The first is a mish-mash of Indio-English that accomplishes nothing for either party. This is usually associated with vague waves in the general direction of somewhere else. All of this is usually accomplished while the other person is hovering over one of the super-secret lined ledger books that every official person seems to be writing in every waking moment.
The second category of help comes from some Indian gentleman standing nearby, who speaks the King's and solves problems like the PG Wodehouse character Jeeves.
Either way, we continue on. We found the weaver's co-op, a fairyland of arcane looms and spinning devices in a rambling and ramshackle series of buildings far fro the city center. We had a lovely private tour and then bought a ridiculous amount of textile things from the co-op store for a pittance. Oh, and if you think that an Indian size 42 will equate to an American size 42, you would be vastly mistaken (as well as squeezed a bit tight).
We trekked about St. Angelo's fort, a Portuguese, then Dutch, then English, then Indian fort. If you add in the Arab traders, you have a good picture of the local colonial battles that went on form even before Vasco De Gama landed here in the late 1400's. Spice. Like "Dune", in this part of the world, spice was the driving force behind everything. Spice made rich men of some traders and killed many more. Vasco De Gama left Lisboa with 28 ships and arrived here with 8. This was not an unusual attrition rate during those days. Yet a single load of cardamom, Mace, or malabar pepper, successfully delivered to London or Amsterdam of Lisboa, could make a captain a very rich man.
Sunset on the last day of the year found us wading in the Arabian sea at the local beach. We found hundreds of hermit crabs, a type of small predatory moon snail, clams and nudibranches. There is nothing quite like watching women in Burkas on the beach for realizing that one is not at Alki in West Seattle.
I will have to find another computer from which to post pictures. This one is problematic. Suffice the words for now. Be well, be happy, and avoid silly resolutions if you possibly can. Liam asked me what my resolution for next year was and I replied "To Travel More." After a second we both cracked up laughing.
Ciao!
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