Am currently having my relaxing few hours off. After a night spent in a nearby hotel, a 4/5 course breakfast (papaya followed by porridge followed by rice and sambar followed by eggs and toast followed by toast and marmalade - yes I'm a greedy pig!) and a relaxing back massage, I'm now safely ensconsed at the Windflower Hotel / spa just up the road from Fieldbase avoiding other people for a few hours and getting screeched at by an incredibly noisy parrot that seems to be sitting in reception making a racket about something.I'm also trying to sort out my bank, who appear to have cancelled my bank card, which I thought was sweet of them. Luckily I have spent about a grand total of 20 pounds in the past 3 weeks, so this isn't too inconvenient, but I would quite like it to start working again.
Trekking was great for the most part, in spite of 4.30am starts every day and leeches. The first few days and the last few days of the 12-day trek were certainly the most exciting, but also the most challenging, while there was a spate of road-walking in the middle that got a bit frustrating. Here's a summary of the trek on a day by day basis - the views, the leeches, the blisters and the pain. Enjoy the read...
Day 1, Thursday 6 November 2008
Coach journey Mysore to Marayoor
Deployed from Fieldbase in our coach and spent 10 hours driving down to Marayoor in Kerala. A long, hot and tiring drive but we got there in the end. Nothing very exciting to report; spent the night at a dormitory in Marayoor.
Day 2, Friday 7 November 2008
Top Station to Kolukkumulai
One of the toughest days of the trek. Left our dormitory at daybreak (6am) to drive to Top Station for a 9am walking start. A really long day - we didn't finish walking until 7.15pm and the last hour of the trek was by head torch up a big hill (apparently the climb was the equivalent of Ben Nevis). I kept motivating the group as much as I was able, but ended up throwing peanuts at people and begging them to eat them as it seemed the easiest way to keep them going. Slept in the inner of our tent under the stars, on a large patch of concrete where the coffee plantation farmers dry their coffee beans.
Day 3, 8 November
Kolukkumulai to Lakeside
Another really long day of trekking - 6.30am - 6.30pm - starting with a mad scramble to the top of the hill we had not quite finished climbing the night before. We hit a leech zone by mid-morning, just at the point where Emma asked our guide "so when will we reach the leech zone?" to which he replied we were already in it and she already had one crawling on her leg. Our guide then hopped on to a rock, her leg started bleeding, and all the venturers and myself got a bit panicky trying to tuck our trousers into our socks and fumbling around for salt and Dettol.
For the remainder of the leech zone, we donned our special leech socks that made us look a little bit like funny elf creatures, and set to work bombing the little blighters with salt bombs and Dettol whilst trying not to slow down enough to allow them to board our boots. Besides Emma's leech bite, the rest of us escaped lightly with nothing more than a bit of a fright and feeling knackered from non-stop walking for 1.5 hours up a hill.
By the end of a very long day we needed to organise the group into one hour elephant watch slots througout the night, something that no one particularly wanted to do after 12 hours of solid walking (least of all me). It was actually really nice, and I took the 12pm-1am slot by the camp fire with the local trek guide and tribal people. An experience that was most surreal but curiously relaxing; I practiced my Malayalam introductions and I snuggled next to the fire in my sleeping bag watching the stars and failing to glimpse any elephants.
I think the hardest thing at this point was not knowing whether it would get any easier (it did). It also didn't help that we were using 30 year old maps and a trek guide who tended to give "Indian" answers to questions like "How much further?" and "How many kilometres?", the general answer being along the lines of "not far" or "not many", or else giving estimates that were wildly variable in accuracy.
Keeping a group motivated without the accurate information needed to reassure them with credibility was difficult to manage to say the least. Scenery was stunning but spent most of the time staring at rocks and dirt on the path and trying not to fall into a leech-infested bush. Things could only get better at this point...
Day 4, 9 November
Lakeside to Shantanpara
This day was an easier walking day - thank god - mostly spent on the road wending our way through Teletubby-esque tea plantations, lots of rolling impossibly green little hills but luckily no scary creatures bouncing towards us saying "eh-oh". We were able to stop twice for chai breaks and also took a toilet break in the home of a lovely Keralan family, as we were desperate and weeing in a tea plantation is a little bit too exposed for my liking. Didn't realise it then, but this was the start of a series of toilet breaks in the homes of different people that we ended up approaching in desperation and begging to use their loos.
This was the first evening we got into camp before dark and we all managed to have a bucket wash. Felt like the most amazing shower ever, despite being freezing cold and taken next to a squat toilet (hey, at least it was a porcelain toilet rather than a hole we'd dug ourselves in the ground!). Funny how quickly little things start to feel luxurious.
The day ended with a campfire and we three PMs cooking dinner. We listened in to Radio Raleigh and fell into bed at about the time of the evening call to prayer from the local mosque. Best night's sleep I've had in ages!
Day 5, 10 November
Shantanpara to Chaturangappara
A stark contrast to the first two days of 12-hour trekking days. In fact we finished at 10.30am, possibly because we opted for the road route rather than the jungle route to allow people's feet to recover! Spent the day relaxing at our campsite and attempting to write my diary. Will killed a chicken for dinner, although it refused to die and the sight of it being killed meant half the group (including me) didn't really fancy chicken after all. We had fresh vegetables brought out by the fieldbase loop team (who were doing our first food drop), mushroom soup, sweetcorn and noodles for dinner, which felt like a feast after days of rice bags and protein deprivation! Three of the venturers tried fishing in the duck pond at the campsite but didn't catch anything. Geese seemed a bit disturbed by our presence and did a lot of honking. It was nice to spent a few hours recovering from the difficulties of the first few days.
Day 6, 11 November
Chaturangappara to Pushpakandom
Another relatively day of trekking, although we had all acquired food rations for the next five days which meant our bags were considerably heavier. We started the day with a 6am bag weigh prior to departure, and asked the group to put their bags in order of relative weights. Mine was the joint second heaviest! No longer worrying that I wasn't taking enough group kit, I powered on with a brilliant day of walking that felt like we were finally performing as a team, supporting and encouraging each other and laughing and joking as we walked on together.
We started the day by trekking along a ridge with great views over the Tamil Nadu plain. Cool breezes, bracken-covered moorland, mists... very much a North York Moors kind of feel.
Amazing views from the evening campsite which was located in a family garden. The site was on the side of a hill with panoramic views across the valley to a windfarm, over forests and palm trees and smoke curling up from tiny settlements dotted around the valley below. At 5pm music came wafting across the valley to mark the end of the working day, something that seems emblematic across Kerala, India's only communist state.
The family were incredibly generous and brought us vegetables, chillis and coconut for dinner, and also allowed the girls in our group to use their shower to get clean (so we didn't have to strip off in front of all the local people next to their well). Personally I don't mind as my quest to stay clean was far more pressing to me, but there are definite cultural sensitivity issues there!
Day 7, 12 November
Pushpakandam to Kambammedu
A fairly long day of road walking involving lots of ups and downs (literally and emotionally!). I really struggled, probably because this was our 6th day of walking, and actually had to offload some group kit for the last couple of kilometres. Didn't feel too guilty since I did have the 2nd heaviest bag out of 15 people and was certainly not the 2nd heaviest in build!
When we arrived at our campsite, located next to a church, I had a little rest and went to the local village with Emma and Nikki for chai, packets of crisps, basically anything we could lay our hands on to eat! Had a bucket shower at the church and watched venturers amuse themselves with sticks (limbo, martial arts etc.) and roll mats (boxing a tree). Wondered at this point how they would manage to amuse themselves for the whole of the next day at this site, as we were due a rest day.
Day 8, 13 November
Kambammedu - rest day
Didn't do much but washed some more, went for ta and cake, did some one-to-ones, cleaned trangias properly (a job that I found curiously satisfying but that took 2 hours and turned my hands black with soot and meths grease). Had lovely lunch in village - rice, sambar, green beans with coconut etc. This cost 17 rupees (about 20 pence) and the food just kept coming!
Day 9, 14 November
Kambammedu to Sethukuzhy
Really boring day of walking, spent on the road. I got very frustrated with the lack of excitement and challenge, and my joints started to ache with the constant tarmac pounding. However, managed another local lunch similar to the day before, as well as tea, cake, paratha and sambar in a local "family restaurant." We were possibly the most dysfunctional "family" the owners had ever seen, but they kept bringing us different things to eat so we were definitely content despite the few stares we attracted!
Day 10, 15 November
Sethukuzhy to Kumily
More never-ending road walking but excellent company. As the last group had found camping in Kumily a bit too much (lack of privacy and constant staring), we had a night of luxury in a fantastic guest house. On discovering there were only 12 beds available, the PMs were delighted to be "forced" into a separate room replete with en suite bathroom boasting hot water no less! Far more luxurious than I'd expected.
We had lunch at the guest house restaurant - paneer butter masala, coconut rice, lemon rice and rotis, all of which was lovely. We had another food drop from fieldbase that had been left in a barrel for us, and Sulfi our guide went to pick it up in an auto.
As it was one of the venturer's 18th birthday the following day, the whole group went out for dinner at a Halal restaurant in Kumily. Unfortunately my huge lunch meant I couldn't eat much besides some fried tomatoes and rice! Early(ish) night at 8pm - didn't see a whole lot of Kumily but bed felt far more important with the regular 4.30am wake-up calls we've been enduring.
Day 11, 16 November
Kumily to Hiburia
After making breakfast for everyone, we left the guest house at 6.45am - luxury to have spent the night in a real bed! A lovely day of walking through tea plantations and not so much tarmac as in the preceding few days. Huge spiders glimpsed en route. I shuddered as they rasped their legs in my direction.
One of my favourite campsites yet! Hiburia is a small settlement right next to the river, where I took an afternoon nap listening to the river flowing, birds chirping and palm fronds rustling overhead. Wildlife glimpsed included a kingfisher fishing in the river and a water snake that wriggled past in the water. Was very pleased I didn't brave swimming, and just went for the bucket wash option instead.
Day 12, 17 November
Hiburia -
Long walking day - 32km. Main meories include eerie tea plantations in the morning, loudspeakers blaring out music through the early morning mist, the sun breaking through the mist at about 9am when we'd been walking for 2.5 hours and lots of workers picking tea in the fields.
After a morning of fairly laborious uphill climb, later in the day we ended up amongst a Yorkshire type landscape filled with dry stone walls, rolling hills, stiles and, um.... palm trees. Yorkshire gone a bit tropical perhaps?
We finally rolled into camp at about 5pm after 11 hours of trekking and met up with the second loop of fieldbase staff, all of whom were staying to walk with us for a few days. Ivan had brought the PMs lots of treats such as Dairy Milk and Pringles, which we wolfed down like we hadn't eaten in days. We decided that we felt like we were at fat camp - never quite enough food and lots of exercise, but illicit eating round the back of buildings whenever the opportunity arose.
Day 13, 18 November
Pat, Sam and Ivan (fieldbase staff) were walking with us on this day. Tea stop in the morning for our first break, which was in the midst of yet another tea plantation. Once we escaped the road we headed up a track then a jungle path with amazing views in every direction. Walked along the ridge for a bit, endured a slippery and slightly scary descent on slippery rock, saw a freshwater crab stuck on said slippery rock, followed by a humid and sweaty jungle to our campsite for the night, based next to another river where we bathed. Luckily no water snakes to be seen, but one of the venturers accidentally uncovered a snake when trying to build up the camp fire. They all tried to prod it with sticks while I tried to get them to stop being idiots.
Day 14, 19 November
The last day of trekking. Following a steep, fairly strenuous descent amongst a rubber tree plantation, we managed another tea stop for break no 1 of the day where we stuffed our faces with cake at 7am! Cannot believe the amount I ate and that I didn't put on any weight. As we walked on we saw sheets of rubber hanging out on a washing line to dry.
Needed to find toilet again as area was too built up to find nice tree. I did almost get caught weeing in someone's vegetable patch, but luckily a lovely woman offered her toilet to me instead.
The group was jubilant on reaching camp, and we all chilled out admiring the 360 degree views across the Keralan mountain ranges where we'd spent the past 12 days trekking.
Days 15, 16 and 17
We then spent the next two days inflatable rafting and bamboo rafting, which was a less positive experience than the trek. Second day of rafting involved a hellish 8 hours of near continuous paddling to travel a grand total of 4km. The group suffered sunburn, burst tyres, not to mention a sore bottom from uncomfortable bamboo. Possibly the less said about the whole experience the better, but suffice to say it did not meet my expectations of gently floating down a stream, mocktail in hand being serenade by lute music. We did sing "50 Green Bananas hanging on a tree" and Christmas carols though. Very badly but we were desperate to do something to take our minds off the tedium of going nowhere fast.
Given the disaster that was rafting, we squeezed in an unexpected day in Fort Cochin before coming back to Fieldbase in Mysore yesterday. No one in the group could face the final day of rafting and the river was dangerously low in any case.
Fort Cochin seemed really nice, although we only spent 4 hours there and given this was my first glimpse of civilisation in weeks, most of the time was spent drinking western style coffee in Cafe Day, eating Keralan fish curry at a lovely restaurant and shopping. Saw the Chinese fishing nets at a distance but not a whole load else, but I'm looking forward to revisiting Cochin come Christmas, when I won't be responsible for 12 young people or have to lug a water-tight bright yellow pelican case containing a mobile phone, GPS, sat phone, various chargers and a solar panel around with me all the time. Somehow puts a little bit of a dampener on the whole tourist experience!
After a few hours at Fort Cochin, we were ready for the long journey back to Mysore. Stayed in a hotel which wasn't particularly luxurious or exciting on Saturday night, but we did manage to fit in a farewell dinner for the group and also picked some tasty snacks from lorry driver style jaunts en route back through Tamil Nadu. Ravi, our driver, was amazing, and coped with the crazy Indian roads admirably, including a traffic jam that started on bend 6 out of 27 incredibly steep hairpin bends leaving the state of Tamil Nadu for Karnataka.
We all breathed a huge sigh of relief on reaching fieldbase with everybody fit and well with their limbs still intact. Did some report writing last night then escaped for 15 odd hours of peace and quiet.
Will find out my final project allocation tonight... watch this space.
Trekking was great for the most part, in spite of 4.30am starts every day and leeches. The first few days and the last few days of the 12-day trek were certainly the most exciting, but also the most challenging, while there was a spate of road-walking in the middle that got a bit frustrating. Here's a summary of the trek on a day by day basis - the views, the leeches, the blisters and the pain. Enjoy the read...
Day 1, Thursday 6 November 2008
Coach journey Mysore to Marayoor
Deployed from Fieldbase in our coach and spent 10 hours driving down to Marayoor in Kerala. A long, hot and tiring drive but we got there in the end. Nothing very exciting to report; spent the night at a dormitory in Marayoor.
Day 2, Friday 7 November 2008
Top Station to Kolukkumulai
One of the toughest days of the trek. Left our dormitory at daybreak (6am) to drive to Top Station for a 9am walking start. A really long day - we didn't finish walking until 7.15pm and the last hour of the trek was by head torch up a big hill (apparently the climb was the equivalent of Ben Nevis). I kept motivating the group as much as I was able, but ended up throwing peanuts at people and begging them to eat them as it seemed the easiest way to keep them going. Slept in the inner of our tent under the stars, on a large patch of concrete where the coffee plantation farmers dry their coffee beans.Day 3, 8 November
Kolukkumulai to Lakeside
Another really long day of trekking - 6.30am - 6.30pm - starting with a mad scramble to the top of the hill we had not quite finished climbing the night before. We hit a leech zone by mid-morning, just at the point where Emma asked our guide "so when will we reach the leech zone?" to which he replied we were already in it and she already had one crawling on her leg. Our guide then hopped on to a rock, her leg started bleeding, and all the venturers and myself got a bit panicky trying to tuck our trousers into our socks and fumbling around for salt and Dettol.For the remainder of the leech zone, we donned our special leech socks that made us look a little bit like funny elf creatures, and set to work bombing the little blighters with salt bombs and Dettol whilst trying not to slow down enough to allow them to board our boots. Besides Emma's leech bite, the rest of us escaped lightly with nothing more than a bit of a fright and feeling knackered from non-stop walking for 1.5 hours up a hill.
By the end of a very long day we needed to organise the group into one hour elephant watch slots througout the night, something that no one particularly wanted to do after 12 hours of solid walking (least of all me). It was actually really nice, and I took the 12pm-1am slot by the camp fire with the local trek guide and tribal people. An experience that was most surreal but curiously relaxing; I practiced my Malayalam introductions and I snuggled next to the fire in my sleeping bag watching the stars and failing to glimpse any elephants.I think the hardest thing at this point was not knowing whether it would get any easier (it did). It also didn't help that we were using 30 year old maps and a trek guide who tended to give "Indian" answers to questions like "How much further?" and "How many kilometres?", the general answer being along the lines of "not far" or "not many", or else giving estimates that were wildly variable in accuracy.
Keeping a group motivated without the accurate information needed to reassure them with credibility was difficult to manage to say the least. Scenery was stunning but spent most of the time staring at rocks and dirt on the path and trying not to fall into a leech-infested bush. Things could only get better at this point...
Day 4, 9 November
Lakeside to Shantanpara
This day was an easier walking day - thank god - mostly spent on the road wending our way through Teletubby-esque tea plantations, lots of rolling impossibly green little hills but luckily no scary creatures bouncing towards us saying "eh-oh". We were able to stop twice for chai breaks and also took a toilet break in the home of a lovely Keralan family, as we were desperate and weeing in a tea plantation is a little bit too exposed for my liking. Didn't realise it then, but this was the start of a series of toilet breaks in the homes of different people that we ended up approaching in desperation and begging to use their loos.This was the first evening we got into camp before dark and we all managed to have a bucket wash. Felt like the most amazing shower ever, despite being freezing cold and taken next to a squat toilet (hey, at least it was a porcelain toilet rather than a hole we'd dug ourselves in the ground!). Funny how quickly little things start to feel luxurious.
The day ended with a campfire and we three PMs cooking dinner. We listened in to Radio Raleigh and fell into bed at about the time of the evening call to prayer from the local mosque. Best night's sleep I've had in ages!
Day 5, 10 November
Shantanpara to Chaturangappara
A stark contrast to the first two days of 12-hour trekking days. In fact we finished at 10.30am, possibly because we opted for the road route rather than the jungle route to allow people's feet to recover! Spent the day relaxing at our campsite and attempting to write my diary. Will killed a chicken for dinner, although it refused to die and the sight of it being killed meant half the group (including me) didn't really fancy chicken after all. We had fresh vegetables brought out by the fieldbase loop team (who were doing our first food drop), mushroom soup, sweetcorn and noodles for dinner, which felt like a feast after days of rice bags and protein deprivation! Three of the venturers tried fishing in the duck pond at the campsite but didn't catch anything. Geese seemed a bit disturbed by our presence and did a lot of honking. It was nice to spent a few hours recovering from the difficulties of the first few days.Day 6, 11 November
Chaturangappara to Pushpakandom
Another relatively day of trekking, although we had all acquired food rations for the next five days which meant our bags were considerably heavier. We started the day with a 6am bag weigh prior to departure, and asked the group to put their bags in order of relative weights. Mine was the joint second heaviest! No longer worrying that I wasn't taking enough group kit, I powered on with a brilliant day of walking that felt like we were finally performing as a team, supporting and encouraging each other and laughing and joking as we walked on together.We started the day by trekking along a ridge with great views over the Tamil Nadu plain. Cool breezes, bracken-covered moorland, mists... very much a North York Moors kind of feel.
Amazing views from the evening campsite which was located in a family garden. The site was on the side of a hill with panoramic views across the valley to a windfarm, over forests and palm trees and smoke curling up from tiny settlements dotted around the valley below. At 5pm music came wafting across the valley to mark the end of the working day, something that seems emblematic across Kerala, India's only communist state.The family were incredibly generous and brought us vegetables, chillis and coconut for dinner, and also allowed the girls in our group to use their shower to get clean (so we didn't have to strip off in front of all the local people next to their well). Personally I don't mind as my quest to stay clean was far more pressing to me, but there are definite cultural sensitivity issues there!
Day 7, 12 November
Pushpakandam to Kambammedu
A fairly long day of road walking involving lots of ups and downs (literally and emotionally!). I really struggled, probably because this was our 6th day of walking, and actually had to offload some group kit for the last couple of kilometres. Didn't feel too guilty since I did have the 2nd heaviest bag out of 15 people and was certainly not the 2nd heaviest in build!
When we arrived at our campsite, located next to a church, I had a little rest and went to the local village with Emma and Nikki for chai, packets of crisps, basically anything we could lay our hands on to eat! Had a bucket shower at the church and watched venturers amuse themselves with sticks (limbo, martial arts etc.) and roll mats (boxing a tree). Wondered at this point how they would manage to amuse themselves for the whole of the next day at this site, as we were due a rest day.Day 8, 13 November
Kambammedu - rest day
Didn't do much but washed some more, went for ta and cake, did some one-to-ones, cleaned trangias properly (a job that I found curiously satisfying but that took 2 hours and turned my hands black with soot and meths grease). Had lovely lunch in village - rice, sambar, green beans with coconut etc. This cost 17 rupees (about 20 pence) and the food just kept coming!
Day 9, 14 November
Kambammedu to Sethukuzhy
Really boring day of walking, spent on the road. I got very frustrated with the lack of excitement and challenge, and my joints started to ache with the constant tarmac pounding. However, managed another local lunch similar to the day before, as well as tea, cake, paratha and sambar in a local "family restaurant." We were possibly the most dysfunctional "family" the owners had ever seen, but they kept bringing us different things to eat so we were definitely content despite the few stares we attracted!Day 10, 15 November
Sethukuzhy to Kumily
More never-ending road walking but excellent company. As the last group had found camping in Kumily a bit too much (lack of privacy and constant staring), we had a night of luxury in a fantastic guest house. On discovering there were only 12 beds available, the PMs were delighted to be "forced" into a separate room replete with en suite bathroom boasting hot water no less! Far more luxurious than I'd expected.We had lunch at the guest house restaurant - paneer butter masala, coconut rice, lemon rice and rotis, all of which was lovely. We had another food drop from fieldbase that had been left in a barrel for us, and Sulfi our guide went to pick it up in an auto.
As it was one of the venturer's 18th birthday the following day, the whole group went out for dinner at a Halal restaurant in Kumily. Unfortunately my huge lunch meant I couldn't eat much besides some fried tomatoes and rice! Early(ish) night at 8pm - didn't see a whole lot of Kumily but bed felt far more important with the regular 4.30am wake-up calls we've been enduring.
Day 11, 16 November
Kumily to Hiburia
After making breakfast for everyone, we left the guest house at 6.45am - luxury to have spent the night in a real bed! A lovely day of walking through tea plantations and not so much tarmac as in the preceding few days. Huge spiders glimpsed en route. I shuddered as they rasped their legs in my direction.One of my favourite campsites yet! Hiburia is a small settlement right next to the river, where I took an afternoon nap listening to the river flowing, birds chirping and palm fronds rustling overhead. Wildlife glimpsed included a kingfisher fishing in the river and a water snake that wriggled past in the water. Was very pleased I didn't brave swimming, and just went for the bucket wash option instead.
Day 12, 17 November
Hiburia -
Long walking day - 32km. Main meories include eerie tea plantations in the morning, loudspeakers blaring out music through the early morning mist, the sun breaking through the mist at about 9am when we'd been walking for 2.5 hours and lots of workers picking tea in the fields.
After a morning of fairly laborious uphill climb, later in the day we ended up amongst a Yorkshire type landscape filled with dry stone walls, rolling hills, stiles and, um.... palm trees. Yorkshire gone a bit tropical perhaps?We finally rolled into camp at about 5pm after 11 hours of trekking and met up with the second loop of fieldbase staff, all of whom were staying to walk with us for a few days. Ivan had brought the PMs lots of treats such as Dairy Milk and Pringles, which we wolfed down like we hadn't eaten in days. We decided that we felt like we were at fat camp - never quite enough food and lots of exercise, but illicit eating round the back of buildings whenever the opportunity arose.
Day 13, 18 November
Pat, Sam and Ivan (fieldbase staff) were walking with us on this day. Tea stop in the morning for our first break, which was in the midst of yet another tea plantation. Once we escaped the road we headed up a track then a jungle path with amazing views in every direction. Walked along the ridge for a bit, endured a slippery and slightly scary descent on slippery rock, saw a freshwater crab stuck on said slippery rock, followed by a humid and sweaty jungle to our campsite for the night, based next to another river where we bathed. Luckily no water snakes to be seen, but one of the venturers accidentally uncovered a snake when trying to build up the camp fire. They all tried to prod it with sticks while I tried to get them to stop being idiots.Day 14, 19 November
The last day of trekking. Following a steep, fairly strenuous descent amongst a rubber tree plantation, we managed another tea stop for break no 1 of the day where we stuffed our faces with cake at 7am! Cannot believe the amount I ate and that I didn't put on any weight. As we walked on we saw sheets of rubber hanging out on a washing line to dry.Needed to find toilet again as area was too built up to find nice tree. I did almost get caught weeing in someone's vegetable patch, but luckily a lovely woman offered her toilet to me instead.
The group was jubilant on reaching camp, and we all chilled out admiring the 360 degree views across the Keralan mountain ranges where we'd spent the past 12 days trekking.
Days 15, 16 and 17
We then spent the next two days inflatable rafting and bamboo rafting, which was a less positive experience than the trek. Second day of rafting involved a hellish 8 hours of near continuous paddling to travel a grand total of 4km. The group suffered sunburn, burst tyres, not to mention a sore bottom from uncomfortable bamboo. Possibly the less said about the whole experience the better, but suffice to say it did not meet my expectations of gently floating down a stream, mocktail in hand being serenade by lute music. We did sing "50 Green Bananas hanging on a tree" and Christmas carols though. Very badly but we were desperate to do something to take our minds off the tedium of going nowhere fast.
Given the disaster that was rafting, we squeezed in an unexpected day in Fort Cochin before coming back to Fieldbase in Mysore yesterday. No one in the group could face the final day of rafting and the river was dangerously low in any case.Fort Cochin seemed really nice, although we only spent 4 hours there and given this was my first glimpse of civilisation in weeks, most of the time was spent drinking western style coffee in Cafe Day, eating Keralan fish curry at a lovely restaurant and shopping. Saw the Chinese fishing nets at a distance but not a whole load else, but I'm looking forward to revisiting Cochin come Christmas, when I won't be responsible for 12 young people or have to lug a water-tight bright yellow pelican case containing a mobile phone, GPS, sat phone, various chargers and a solar panel around with me all the time. Somehow puts a little bit of a dampener on the whole tourist experience!
After a few hours at Fort Cochin, we were ready for the long journey back to Mysore. Stayed in a hotel which wasn't particularly luxurious or exciting on Saturday night, but we did manage to fit in a farewell dinner for the group and also picked some tasty snacks from lorry driver style jaunts en route back through Tamil Nadu. Ravi, our driver, was amazing, and coped with the crazy Indian roads admirably, including a traffic jam that started on bend 6 out of 27 incredibly steep hairpin bends leaving the state of Tamil Nadu for Karnataka.
We all breathed a huge sigh of relief on reaching fieldbase with everybody fit and well with their limbs still intact. Did some report writing last night then escaped for 15 odd hours of peace and quiet.
Will find out my final project allocation tonight... watch this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment