Wow it is about time I update!! In my defense I have so many pictures saved between 3 different hard drives so I am trying to organize so I can make some collages for this post. WARNING THIS IS A LONG POST!
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and our kids, and Vijay, had the days on countdown. The kids were so excited to skype with all of the Grandparents on Christmas, but then to think that they were going to see Grandma and Grandpa Erickson in just a few days was too exciting. (Can you tell we like it when people come and visit?)
They arrived on December 28th. In the past we have had a fun time welcoming our visitors at the airport, but this time we were a little too nervous to be there. We always get terror alerts from the US Consulate emailed to us, but this one was different in that it named the Bangalore Airport, not just "public places". We decided to lay low this time and just pick them up and leave.
Because the international flights here arrive so late, or I should say early in the morning, we decided just to hang out and rest on the first day. We walked around Adarsh Vista, played some ping-pong and played games with the kids. They were able to see the ironer working in the clubhouse.
We did also go to Lal-Baugh Botanical Gardens and walk around. Again Annie (little Annie) was the hit of the show.
Alan also took Cleve and Ethan to get haircuts and head massages. Check back for pictures of the head massage. I am trying to get them off of the video.
On the 30th we boarded the overnight bus to Kerala. We weren't able to book train tickets, and I was a little nervous about the bus, but it turned out to be OK. Other than the fact that there is no toilet on the bus and you have to wait for the occasional pit stop, and the fact that I think we stopped because we were "broke down" about 10 times throughout the night, it went relatively smooth. The beds were more comfortable than the ones on the train.
Thanks to Cleve and Annie most of their trip is on video. I am trying to import into Flip so I can take still shots off of it, but until then...
Boarding the bus was an event in itself. First, Vijay took us to the bus stop, but with all of our luggage, we didn't have enough room for everyone to ride in the car. Alan took Cleve and Annie in their first "Auto" ride. I think Cleve liked the "rick-a-shay". We decided to stop at KFC for dinner before we got on the bus. You never know what type of food you are going to find. If there is one thing I've learned...pack 1 suitcase full of snacks and food in case there is nothing edible where you end up, and if you see something that you might like to eat, you better eat. You never know when you'll find it again.
This is a video just outside the new Taco Bell/KFC in Koramangala. I mainly put in on here so you can see how noisy and crazy the traffic is here!
After we ate, Alan and his parents walked to the bus stop, while I rode with all the kids in the car with Vijay. We got to the stop and asked the bus company where the bus would stop. They told us to stand in a certain spot, and after the bus was about 20 minutes late we asked again. This time they told us they didn't know if it would stop on our side of the road or if it would be the other side. Well...with our luck it was the other. Alan ran across the 6 lane road to catch the bus while Vijay pulled the car around with our suitcases. When Alan got to the other side of the road one of his co-workers was there to make sure we were able to get on the bus with no problems. He had recommended the bus to Alan and after we booked our tickets I think he felt responsible to make sure we were safe. It's a good thing he was there because the bus driver didn't speak English and was pretty angry that he had to wait for us to load some luggage, and he had to wait for us to get to the right side of the road. When we booked our tickets, we booked sleeper beds, but then Alan decided to book 2 seats extra just in case we wanted to sit instead of just laying on our beds. I don't think that they have had people waste money on booking extra seats before and couldn't understand who was missing, or why there was extra seats.
The Pictures of the bus are all on the video. Again you'll have to wait.
Our first stop in Kerala was Kochi. We arrived a few hours late due to the bus breaking down, and traffic. When we got there our 2 cars were waiting for us to take us to the hotel. We stayed at The Harbour View Resort, and it turned out to be the worst of all the hotels we stayed at.
Cochi is more Christian than any other place I've seen here. It was kind of refreshing to see more churches than Hindu temples. We toured a few of them and then went and saw the Chinese fishing nets. These were pretty neat.
They have all of these little fish markets set up right by the water. You go and pick out what fish you want and then you can get someone else to cook it up for you. We didn't really know what we were doing and there was a little "restaurant" (canvas awning with a few tables and chairs set up in front of it). We decided to eat there, and we got ripped off. We also took the kids to play at a little park that was near by. At the park there was a peddler selling all sorts of junk. He hooked onto Cleve and wouldn't leave him alone. It was New Years Eve, and we were back in our hotel by 9. I'm pretty sure we were asleep by 9:30. I think we were all so tired after the long bus ride that none of us could keep our eyes open.
The next day we woke up and went to breakfast. Cleve was really excited about breakfast because from the balcony by our room he could see the buffet food. He was excited for the powdered doughnuts and the cake doughnuts. Needless to say...he needs to get his eyes checked. :) When we got down to the buffet the powdered doughnuts ended up being boiled eggs, and the cake doughnuts were an Indian food that I'm not sure of the name. He was pretty disappointed when he ended up having toast for breakfast. The food there really wasn't that good.
After breakfast we headed for the cars and drove to Munnar. Munnar is a hill station city. It was very beautiful. On our way we stopped at some waterfalls. I can't remember the names of these even though our driver repeated it about a million times until I could pronounce it right.
We also saw elephants working. While we've been here the only elephants I've seen are the ones that are giving rides, or the ones giving blessings in the temples. Apparently the elephant takes his lunch to work with him. He is carrying his lunch in this picture.
We also stopped and rode elephants in the tea gardens. The tea gardens had a little area that you could walk around and climb up into the bamboo huts. It was a good break from the car.
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| I handed my camera to the guy giving the ride and he was supposed to take a picture of us. He only got the elephant's eye, but when I was making the collage I decided it looked pretty cool. |
There are 2 collages of this because I made one and then found pictures I liked more on another hard drive. After I made the 2nd, I couldn't decide which one I liked better.
We finally arrived at our hotel, The Deshadan. It was really pretty. They kept saying it was the highest hotel in Munnar. It was very "Indian", but it was clean. The bathrooms didn't have showers in them, only a spout that had a sprayer, and a drain in the corner of the bathroom. We stayed here for 2 nights.
While we were in Munnar we went to the dam and walked through the little market areas. Ethan shot an air gun at some balloons with the help of Alan. We saw honey bee hives and drove around the tea estates. As we drove through one of the villages, there was a "circus". Basically one little girl doing a tightrope routine.
The women out picking the Tea Leaves.
One of the evenings we went to the traditional Kerala dancing shows, and to the martial arts show. I think this was the highlight of Ethan's trip. After watching the martial arts they let the kids come down and try out the swords and all the equipment. Ethan was doing jumps and karate moves the rest of the trip.
After touring one more church we were off to Thekkady. The ride from Munnar to Thekkady was a rough one. Not the roads, but our drivers were driving so fast along the winding roads. Annie ended up throwing up and the rest of us felt like we could. We finally had to ask the driver to slow down, and eventually to stop so we could get out and rest our stomachs.
Along the way we saw rubber tree orchards. I have never seen a rubber tree before and it was neat to see how the sap really does turn to rubber. They make a slice down the tree and place these little cups on all the trees to catch the rubber.
Thekkady is more jungly. Again the hotel here was nice. We stayed at The Ranger Wood Nature Castle. When we checked in we walked out of our rooms and were met by a family of monkeys.
We went on a boat safari here. I don't know what our luck is with the safaris, but this one ended up being pretty much a bust again. We saw a few animals, but no big ones. It was fun though and we have stories to tell. Getting tickets to the Safari was an adventure in itself. We were too late to get the 50 rupee government issued ones, so we had to go stand in another line to get the 150 rupee ones. The only problem was while standing in line they put you pretty much in a cage. It got more and more narrow the closer to the front you get. The nice family that was in front of us helped us get our tickets. After we got out of the "cattle shoot" they told us that they put that in because people here don't stand in lines. This is very true. They say that if they don't make it narrow enough for just one person, the people push their way to the front and then foreigners never get tickets.
That night Annie (grown-up Annie) and I went to get massages. That is a whole different story for another time.
After Thekkady we traveled to Allepey. I was excited yet nervous for Allepey. Everyone talks about the houseboat rides and raves how wonderful they are, but I was afraid that the kids might get bored. I was very pleasantly surprised. We checked into the houseboat around noon and checked out the next day around 9. It was such a scenic and peaceful ride. We enjoyed watching the people live their lives on the side of the river. The people use the river like a road. They have water taxis to take the people up and down the river. We saw a canoe full of kids on their way to school. We also enjoyed watching our kids entertain themselves for hours putting on plays and having talent shows.
When we got off the boat we headed for the beach. I didn't realize we were headed to the beach until we were there. If I had realized I would have put swim suits on our kids. I don't think they cared though. They had fun playing in the sand and the water, and trying to catch crabs on the beach.
That afternoon we drove back to Kochi to catch our sleeper train back to Bangalore. When we were booking out trip we weren't able to get 2nd class AC seats and ended up in 3rd class. I'm still trying to decide whether the bus or the train was better. When we got back to Bangalore there were some men trying to help us carry all of our luggage. One man loaded up 4 of our suitcases. 2 on his head, and one duffle bag on each arm. The other man did the same thing. Cleve decided that he would also carry the last piece of luggage in pure Indian style.
Up next...
Erickson's visit India December 28-January 14 part 2
Really if she's not potty trained by the time I come home, I won't be sad. I think I want to keep my baby as long as I can, but potty training in a house with no carpet will be much nicer that having to clean carpets everyday.
