Heading north

Kerala is beautiful, but riding on the national highway in Kerala is far less amazing. We've spent the last few days plying NH 17 as we've moved up the coast toward the beaches in Kannur and Bekal, by and large uninspiring days of riding. The dust and exhaust on the highways finds its way into every little crease on my face, so by the end of the day I've got enough dust caked on my face that it looks like I'm wearing eye liner. Even so, it is still an enteraining way to spend a day and you usually encounter a fair share of random acts of kindness from strangers along the road. It's amazing how a few encouraging words or a cup of tea from random people on the road make up for a day of sucking in dust and exhaust.

The beaches in Kannur and Bekal have been worth the ride, large sandy expanses minus the overwhelming masses of people. Swimming in the Arabian Sea has been a pleasantly warm experience, like swimming in a giant bathtub full of sand. After spending a day at the beach I now know how all those coconuts make it from the top of the tree to roadside where they provide such a delicious treat in the middle of the day. Apparently the best way to climb a palm tree is to place a cord of rope around your feet that prevents them sliding off the side of the tree, and then shimmying up the trunk. I have the feeling that it is much more difficult than it looks, and in the interest of staying healthy for the duration of this trip something I don't plan on trying anytime soon. A direct benefit of this display of tree climbing prowess was a fresh coconut milk provided by the local tree scaler. Again random acts generosity make for a better day. Now we have a few days to wander the coast of Bekal and search out uninhabited stretches of coast line to bake our skin on.


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Parambikulam

Pollachi was not much of a town, but Parambikulam national park just 40k out of town was awesome. We rolled out of bed at 5:30 in the am to catch a 6:15 bus, giving ourselves plenty of time to figure out exactly which bus it was we needed to take. As always the extra time was put to good use since we never seem to find anything on the first try. After running back and forth between the two bus stands in town based on contradictory advice, somebody finally set us down on the curb where our bus would arrive with about ten minutes to spare, to that man I am grateful. The bus ride, was, well a bus ride in India, bumpy and long. We arrived at the park a little before 9 am. After taking some time to scavenge up the required guide for our hike in the park we took off for a nice long 6k hike straight up the highest ridge line in the area. Whoever builds their trails isn't all that interested in switch backs. On the hike it also became apparent that our guide was not a regular, due to the frequent stops and generally labored breathing as we climbed, but he did eventually get us to the top.

In a country teeming with people we were sitting atop a rocky mountain with miles of untrammeled forest surrounding us and just the sound of the wind in our ears. The scene was so peaceful I found to time to recoup some of the lost sleep from the night before. Too bad for me that I had rubbed my sunscreen off on the hike up and forgot to reapply before my nap. Pasty white skin meet high elevation sun and cower before its brilliance. Ouch. Outside of that the hike was spectacular and well worth the time and money. Now we are back in the thick of the heat in Thrissur, where my pores are currently expelling vast amounts of perspiration as I sit in the internet cafe and write this. I may actually be able to produce enough to short out the keyboard if I stay here long enough.

Updated bike route


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Munnar

Munnar was a great place to kick back and take it easy for a few days, if for no other reason than I didn't break out into a fierce sweat when I sat up in bed in the morning. We had a chance to wander the hills with our bikes and amazingly enough our dumb luck led us to some nice trails. The tea plantations are pretty epic, undulating waves of green blanketing the hillsides.

Turns out on bus rides the undulating hills don't agree with some people. We took a bus up to a place called Top Station and I got to be witness to a little girl three rows in front of me letting her lunch loose all over the floor. If people were sick already, nothing brings out the naseau like the sweet smell of vomit wafting throughout the bus.

Sadly we had to roll out of Munnar and leave the cool mountain air to re-enter the humid plains once more. From Munnar we took off for Pollachi about 120k to the northwest just outside of Kerala in the state of Tamil Nadu. Fortunately on such a long ride about half of it ended up being downhill, a great way to cover long distances in a short time. The valley after we left Munnar was probably the highlight of the trip so far, the scenery was unreal. Early morning sun setting off waves of green in the hills, poinsetta trees lining the road; it felt like riding through a scene from somebodies imagination. Cheesy I know, but the hills were pretty damn epic. Alas the beauty did not last. By the time we arrived in Pollachi the rolling hills had dissolved into flat plains of dead grass littered with trash. The best and worst all in one day, the joys of traveling in India.

This one is long, bear with me

Kerala has been amazing so far, super mellow vibe, lush beautiful forests, and ridiculously nice people. I could have spent our first day in Cochi sitting in the tropical garden at our homestay drinking tea and reading. As it was we managed to make it out into the town and take in the eclectic mix cultures foisted up on the town by various colonial powers, consisting of churches, synagogues and the dutch palace. The waterfront is lined by huge Chinese fishing nets operated by six or seven Keralan men decked out in a kind of kilt/loincloth/manskirt. One guy walks out to the end of the net of the net to submerge it in the water and then the other six guys pull it up with the help of massive rocks attached to the other end of the lever. Everything about the town was pleasant and hassle free, such a nice change from the chaos in Delhi.

Antything I do in Kerala, waking up or walking to the bathroom, results in an absurd amount of perspiration, probably enough to water a small houseplant if the plant didn't mind really salty water. The first day on the bike out of Cochi left my skin with a wonderfully reflective sheen that might have blinded a passerby when hit by direct sunlight. Despite the epic amount of bodily perspiration it felt great to be riding my bike again, passing through the lush forests and over the rolling hills, taking in the serene beauty of Kerala. I really love traveling by bike.

70 km later we rolled into Thattekad bird sanctuary at the base of the Western Ghats along the Periyar River. Our hostess met us at the gate and guided us to her homestay set just off the river within the park. Amazingly for the amount of ponds and still water surrounding the park I don't think I got bitten by a single mosquito, the benefits of staying in an area with a large population of insect eating birds. On our bird watching foray into the park we were fortunate enough to see an Indian Pita, a rare Himalayan bird that winters in the park, as well as a few wild elephants. The elephants ultimately cut the expedition short, apparently they are really aggressive and I'm pretty sure much faster than me. In the interest of staying alive we took a quick peek at them and than left them alone. Our remaining days in the sanctuary we spent riding around in the hills and luxuriating in the calm of the jungle.

The highlight of Thattekad was witnessing the opening procession of the Shiva festival on our second to last night in the sanctuary. The faithful honor the god by staying awake all night to allow Shiva, who protects them, and doesn't sleep for 364 days during the year, one night of rest. To kick off the festival there is a procession of drummers and dancers to lead Shiva out of the woods from his hunt.

The procession consists of two lines of women on either side of the road holding trays with a candle perched in the middle, casting a soft light on the path in the middle of the road. At the rear of the procession there are six drummers and two cymbal players who provide the rhythm for those taking part in the procession. In the middle of the road between the women there was a large group of men dancing and just going nuts to the music, waving bunches of tropical leaves over their heads. Toss in the occasional fountain of fireworks of the deafening blast from an M-80 and it was quite a show.

By far the most impressive performance belonged to the drummers and the cymbal players at the end of the procession. Even though the whole procession only goes about 200 meters, the whole celebration took over an hour and a half. The drummers began with a pretty mellow beat, creating a steady rhythm and performing some group dance moves. But, in order to move the procession forward they would gradually increase the cadence, begin dancing a little faster, until a few seconds later their sticks would be a blur in the half light of the candles. The two rows of drummers would furiously pound their instruments as they set themselves down on one knee creating a space between them for the cymbal players to go to work. Amid the kneeling drummers the cymbal players would run back and forth jumping and spinning in the air clashing their instruments together and working the dancers up into a frenzy. The whole scene would reach a crescendo with the drummers jumping up and charging forward into the mass of dancers jostling them forward a few steps before stepping back into their formation and falling back into a slower rhythm. Amazingly the drummers kept up the energetic show for the entire hour and a half of the procession, working themselves up into a rhythmic frenzy every 10 minutes or so with the same energy and passion. My description doesn't do the performance justice, the procession from start to finish was an epic feat of stamina and skill.

After spending a day to recover from the late night of the Shiva festival we took off for Munnar. Up until yesterday the terrain has been pretty mellow, flat with a few rolling hills. I knew that we would have to climb a big hill eventually, despite that knowledge yesterday's ride still spanked me. We started early to avoid the heat, which we did for the first big 20 km climb, topping it at around 10 am. Unfortunately, it was just the first big climb. The second climb started about 30 km from Munnar and finished in Munnar. Which meant that we spent the hottest part of the day grinding up the windy road to Munnar laden with all of our gear (gear that seems unnecessary right now definitely includes my zero degree sleeping bag and huge cold weather puffy jacket). Despite what I thought was epic amounts of sweat before, my glands maxed themselves out and left a lake of perspiration in my clothes. Despite my glands going into overdrive, the ride was awesome. Every turn on the road provided a new expansive vista of the hills and the valley below, revealing the thick jungle all around me. As we climbed the final few kilometers into Munnar the hills opened up into a shimmering sea of green as we entered the vast tea plantations that populate the slopes of the upper reaches of the western Ghats. After a brutal day in the saddle it was a nice to be rewarded with such a beautiful destination.

Our bike route thus far


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Return to Delhi

After patronizing the private buses to finish up our tour of Rajasthan we hopped a train for the final leg from Udaipur back to Delhi. The bikes traveled safely in the luggage car and the train was considerably more comfortable than the previous bus rides. I imagine all of us would have slept better if we hadn't had a lumber jack sawing logs underneath us for the better part of the night. Maybe its karmic payback for all the people I have perturbed with my own episodes of epic snoring over the years. Anyway we found some bike boxes for the trip to Kerala, and now we are just killing time in Delhi until our flight, absolutely riveting.