...we saw a white church that I had a strong suspicion was a repurposed mosque. It had a dome, something of a minaret plus Jesus with two elephants on the roof
...we found decent cappuccino and espresso outside big cafe chains - in a small hotel in Aleppey; presentation is eerily cute (especially the cherry) and taste is great!
...we sampled an as yet unknown to us kind of Indian bread - after porotha, dosa, chapatti, naan, roti, papad and pav, Kerala treated us to iddli; tastes much the same as the Polish pampuch or Czech houskovy knedlik and looks similar too; we felt right at home
...we learnt that "chili porotha" can actually mean spicy vegetable curry and "vegetable balls" - rice with vegetables; that's creative English right there!
...we understood that Indian copywriters don't beat about the bush and call spade a spade - they don't advertise "lingerie" - they just proudly sputter: "Bras and panties!" (publicity on a bus)
...we had the first truly sunny and hot day in India; that happened in Aleppey (Alappuzha) where we also saw the magnificent Snake Boat Race (Nehru trophy) on local backwaters
See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJIm03MFrb8&sns=em
...we noticed that even though tickets for the race were sold all over town ranging from €2 to €30, it was very easy to sneak into bleachers through the back - hey, we just followed the locals
...in the race we saw a couple of rowing teams consisting of middle aged Indian housewives, by the looks of them, and they were surprisingly fast, too!
...we experienced unprecedented heat that sent me looking for an umbrella for lack of shade; I scouted the whole (small) town and took over 20 minutes to find one; then I realized there was a special street dedicated to umbrella and raincoat dealers; will provide directions for a fee
...we noted that creative Indian interior designers provided locks on the inside as well as on the outside of a bathroom door
...at night from the terrace of our hotel I witnessed a singing contest between a local imam and a howling dog - hard to say which one was lovelier - see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-e_jb4pde0
to make up your own mind
...we had a beer on the beach in Aleppey coupled with some spicy pepper and banana fritters!
...we took a backwaters cruise and Kama rode an elephant - both experiences great fun!!!