Thanksgiving with pilgrims to Chinese fishing nets

Its been some time since we left the confines of Kudlee Beach to head inland. As plans do over here, ours changed. Passing on Udupi we instead headed by state bus to the Muslim dominated town of Hassan. It's not exactly a mecca for tourists but its proximity to the towns of Halebid, Belur and Sravanabelgola made it the perfect base for our next adventures. These three towns, although now little more than dusty villages, were once capitals of the Hoysalan dynasty (13th to 16th c.) as well as sacred spots for the Jain religion. The typical Hoysalan temple is situated on a star shaped plan and is composed of layers of carved imagery depicting scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabarata and scenes from the life of Krishna. Mixed in among the more secular themes are carvings of musicians along with a few erotic friezes, showing the Hoysalans were not all buisness. The sheer number of these carvings is astounding. The Jain presence was heaviest in Sravanabelgola, their most sacred site. The town is dominated by Vindyagiri hill, toped by an 18 metre high monolithic sculpture of Gomateshvara, the first human to attain liberation from the earthly cycle of life/death/rebirth. It is said to be the largest free standing sculpture in all of India. It was there we spent Thanksgiving with the pilgrims in a Darmshala (housing for religious pilgrims) as the temple authorities control all the lodges and not many westerners make it here in the first place. After another mad session on a state run bus and we landed in the princely state of Mysore....known as the sandalwood (and rip-off) capitol of the world. I mention the rip off factor because we came accross more than a few travelers that had their wallets lightened by the slick scammers preying on the less than street smart. There is a huge market in fake essential oils usually cut with alcohol or kyrosene. The temptation to buy this crap proves to much for some westerners, knowing that a litre of real sandalwood oil will fetch $10,000 in the west. The city itself though was fairly charming by Indian standards. Located prominently at one end of the city is the Mysore palace, home of the Maharaja untill Karnataka became a state in 1956. With rooms reminiscent of something out of the Arabian Nights, Radka and I were entranced by the marble work, gold leaf and stained glass...not to mention the Maharaja's throne created from 80 kg of 24k gold. A mild bout of food poisoning extended our visit to Mysore by a few days alowing Radka time to rest and me time to explore more. She is feeling fine now and we were able to take in the city zoo (interesting) and an India water park (hillarious)before leaving town. If they had allowed me to bring in my camera to the park I would be returning with photos of woman in their finest sarees swishing down water slides.....classic. Kerela was our next destination and we planed to do that leg by train....untill we figured out there wasn't one. As I said, plans change here. Our only option was 12 hours on an overnite "super deluxe" bus...not Radkas favourite as she tends to get just a little ill from motion sickness. The chemist had given me something for the long ride that worked fine. It worked so well in fact, I slept through a nail-biting decent down the mountain followed by two accidents (one our fault. one the other drivers fault.), Radka throwing up twice and a fight between the driver and a passenger that wasn't pleased with his skills behind the wheel. We arrived in Ernakulam on the Kerala coast the next morning...me a bit groggy, the rest of them a bit shaken but generaly no worse for the wear. Ernakulam and Cochi (Kochin) is a city and town comprised of small islands and canals with our guest house located on the isl of Fort Cochin. This is the beginning of Kerela's famed backwaters region, a fresh water system of natural lakes and canals that extend for over 100 kms. We took a ferry yesterday to Vipeen Island and a bus to Cherai beach to reconnect with our friend, the Arabian Sea (or Lakshwadeep Sea as it's known down here). Returning hungry in the evening we set of to take advantage of the towns main industry, fishing. Fresh seafood is hauled in by ancient chinese fishing nets and is offered for sale almost immediatly at the market next door. After picking out your fish/prawns/lobster one simply carries them to any of the restaurants along the water to have it prepared to your likeing. Last nights feast was over a kilo of huge prawns, grilled with garlic, lemon and butter for the total price of 130 Rp (about $2.50).
Today (i think) we'll move on to Allappuzha to hire a house boat to cruise the back waters in style....should be a real highlight. Also as of today, our tickets to Sri Lanka are booked....dec. 18 to jan. 15th for those following along at home.

ps- thanks to everyone that has writen comments on these pages. sorry to not respond peronaly to each of them as it is a major chore just to post these entries some times. i have enjoyed reading them very much and do look forward to seeing them!