If only this was my photograph....

Yesterday I was on a safari with an objective of taking a picture much like this one, or at least of seeing them with my own eyes. However, that was not to be so as a brief rain shower followed by beaming sunshine for the remainder of the day ensured that pretty much all of the animals, be them Elephants, Tigers, Bison or Leopards stayed tucked away in their hiding places of the vast, dense jungle. All in all my safari into Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary was slightly disappointing, but only because of the rather large expectations I had of it to begin with. Other than the lack of 'exciting' animals it was a good day out, which featured a Jeep safari in the morning, a 2 hour trek, a brief paddle boat ride and some amazing views.

Previous to this however, I had been staying in Fort Kochi - an incredibly calm and laid back area just out of the reaches of a city that is as chaotic as the rest of them (Ernakulam). On my first day there I was exposed to the agreement that the tuk tuk drivers have going on with the 'local' handicraft shops. The tuk tuk drivers would offer a tour of Fort Kochi, practically free of charge, but in between every single location they would end up shuffling you into a shop identical to the last. I wasn't too bothere by this as it gave me a great opportunity to haggle like crazy, sometimes insult the items and then leave the shop nonchalantly with the salesman essentially chasing after you down the road trying to seal the deal. Very fun indeed! Anyway, the next day as I sat watching a local game of cricket I started chatting to a tuk tuk driver called Hamif, who told me that they were awarded points by the shops each time they brought them a potential customer (usually westerners) and once they got to 10 points with a certain shop, they got a full tank of fuel. I thanked Hamif for the information, asked him if he would take me to Vasco De Gama Square and he said yes... He took me to another shop on the way...

My next day in Kerala was spent on a backwater cruise, possibly the best experience I've had here in Kerala. Not suprisingly the views were amazing yet again and we even got a chance to go through some of the smaller, more secluded villages were this is their main form of transport. We went to a village where some elderly women were making rope on a machine as some kids were playing. One of the small girls, Shabana, asked me for a pen so I duly obliged. I'm fighting with my conscience over it now beacuse I haven't been able to write in my journal for 4 days. I'm just saying...

The next stage in this jam-packed Kerala week was to visit the village and home of a friend (you know who you are), just outside Kolenchery. Amal's friend Ashish was there at the bus stop waiting for me with his motorbike, from where he took me back to Amal's family's house. It was a great experience and although I was only there for an hour or so, I managed to eat enough local food to last me for about a week. Ashish then took me what must have been about 20km to Thodupuzha where I was to catch my next bus. Along that journey through the Indian countryside I couldn't help having thoughts of a slight hero of mine - Charley Boorman. This was a pretty cool leg of the trip.

After almost an entire day of me sitting on my arse and yet travelling so far, I had another 3 busus to get before I could rest easy for the night in Thekkady (where my safari was based). However, as soon as I got there I was told that I would have to be back up at 5am the next day for my jeep. Not my style. I got my head down, and the rest is history.

Next stop Chennai, on another sleeper bus.