Kochi to Munnar: Cycling from Sea to Tea

We left lovely Fort Kochi so that we could start our bicycle tour of Kerala. This tour is a big splurge for us, and we are really excited to get to ride in this beautiful area. We are riding mountain bikes, with tires for the road conditions we will experience: slightly knobby to handle the potholes and loose gravel, but smooth enough to roll well on roads.

We stopped often to look at the types of plants that were being grown, and to enjoy the landscape. This is a picture of a rubber tree which has been tapped to collect the sticky, milky-looking latex.



The first night we stayed at Hornbill Camp on the Periyar river. The tents were first class!



It was incredibly peaceful and we heard lots of unusual birds. Here's a picture of Greater Cormorants.



We saw them while we were taking an evening paddle in a kayak.



We are dealing with the humidity and heat while we're riding by taking lots of breaks. Our favorite refreshing snack while we are riding is coconut water from the young, green coconuts. After we drink the water, the coconut is split in half so we can eat the coconut flesh inside, yum!




Kerala means "land of coconuts". In addition to coconut trees, there are also pineapples, bananas, and spices. This is cardamom. Even though the seeds were young, they still smelled deliciously like mature cardamom seeds - a key spice in chai and Indian cooking.




Here we are with our guide, Safi Hyder. He was a bike racing champion for Kerala. He says it's more fun to lead tours than it was to be a pro cyclist, and through his job he rides over 4,000 miles a year.



We get a lot of attention from the locals, who are interested in our funny clothes and high-end bikes. Here's a picture of a school - the kids were so excited to see us and wanted to be in our photo!



A great deal of tea is grown in Kerala and the plantations are incredibly beautiful, with the vibrant green leaves glowing in the sunshine. It is harvested every two weeks, which keeps the bushes well-manicured like topiary.



These women are having the tea they picked weighed, which will determine their earnings.



Kerala is filled with flowers. We recognize some because they also grow in the US, like bougainvillea and marmalade bushes and poinsettia and jacaranda trees. Here are some pretty trees (sorry, we don't know the names).

Kochi: Traveler's Delight

We have arrived in the tropics of southern India, in the state of Kerala, in Kochi, where it is lush and beautiful. We are staying in Fort Kochi with a lot other travelers, probably the most we have seen anywhere on our trip so far. The pace here is relaxed, and we are enjoying strolling around the waterfront, acclimating to the heat and humidity. The town is filled with towering trees with broad canopies in which we've seen orchids growing. It is surrounded by water, much like San Francisco; maybe this is one reason we feel so at home here.



Kochi, formerly known as Cochin, has been an important sea port for centuries. Spices like vanilla, cardamom and pepper were exported to Europe, and spice bazaars were common.



These are fishing nets, which were introduced by the Portugese in the 15th century.



The nets are still in use today primarily for tourists to buy a fish and then have it cooked by a nearby restaurant. We didn't try this, but instead have been enjoying seafood dishes such as fish cooked in banana leaves. Here Pete is enjoying jumbo prawns in a Kerala style curry made with thick coconut milk, tamarind and spices, eggplant cooked in coconut milk with turmeric and fried shallots, and the rolled bread is called appam and it's made from rice and coconut milk. For dessert we had crepes filled with shredded coconut, cashews and raisins and drizzled with honey. We love coconut, which is a good thing since it's a key ingredient in Kerala cuisine.



We are staying in a "homestay", which is similar to a western B&B, except that the buildings are hotels rather than homes. Chack Inn was built in 2005 and is run by a lovely older couple, the Chackaputurals.



We are happy that our visit to Kochi is overlapping with India's first Biennale, a contemporary art show with site-specific artwork made by artists from all over the world. (We saw the Venice Biennale show in 2011 and loved it too, because there was art all over the city and it was like going on a treasure hunt to find it.) Kochi is something of a cosmopolitan city, so it was a great choice for the Biennale. It seems the city has really embraced the show, which opened 12/12/12. These stencil artworks were around the larger sites with artwork. Can you identify these three?



The Biennale had a lot of thought provoking artwork. The artist Amar Kanwar brought to light the situation in India where people are being forced off their land so that it can be used for industrial purposes, which has resulted in thousands of farmer suicides. Others, like this piece, "The Last Supper Gaza" by Vivek Vilasini, juxtapose religion, popular culture, and identity.



Kristina is pictured with grinding stones in an installation by Sheela Gowda. The stones used to be part of every kitchen in Cochin. They were set in the kitchen floors and the household cooks (women, of course) would crouch down and use them. This was how spices were prepared for cooking. But people now use electric spice mills or small mortar and pestles. The artist was able to gather 175 of these heavy castoffs and bring them together for this site installation.




Another representation of displacement was this boat filled with household items (by Suborn Gupta), to make the journey from the country to the city. A boat was used since Kochi is surrounded by water.



In this garden area was a huge woven sculpture entitled "Erase" by Srinivasan Prasad, whose form reminded us of Martin Puryear's sculptures. Kristina climbed up a bunch of sandbags for a closer look. One is supposed to climb the sandbags to the piece, whisper into the structure a confession or something that wants to be given up. At the end of the exhibition, the structure will be lit ablaze so that all that is left is the sand below. Mr. Prasad's other pieces included pictures of an installation in which he used unclaimed ashes from crematoriums as a medium to make patterns on about 2,000 square feet of wall space using his index finger. He made approximately 45 million finger prints.



The Biennale also has a collection of portraits of the 13 Kochi Christian bishops and head priests, reminding us that there are about 30% Christians here (primarily Catholics and Episcopalians). There is a large Hindu population, about 47%, and about 15% are Muslims. This results in Christian influences, such as crucifixes on car dashboards and on buses with banners saying Ave Maria almost as often as we see prayer wheels and Om Nama Shivaya banners.



We were fortunate to get to see part of a Hindu festival called Sani Pradosham on the 23rd of February. The elephants were dressed up and paraded to the temple, as a tribute to Lord Shiva.




We will have 3 more days to enjoy Kochi after we finish our two week bicycle tour, and we are looking forward to having more time to explore this charming place.

Bodhgaya to Delhi: From Meditation to Urban Adventure

There are few events as rejuvenating and rewarding as meditation retreats are for us, and our 10 day retreat couldn’t have been better. Our days were spent in sitting, walking, standing and lying down to do meditation practice, interspersed with yoga, lectures, meals, work periods and sleeping. About twenty people on the retreat opted for tents, including Pete whose tent is the green one with yellow trim:

 

Bathing was done with a bucket of hot water that was poured over the body with a dipper, which worked quite well. Meals were prepared by Indian cooks over an open fire and consisted of hearty breakfasts of porridge, bananas and chai and tasty lunches as shown here of eggplant and stewed tomatoes, salad, dhal, rice, carrots with green beans and chapatti (which are like tortillas).

 

In keeping with the Thai Buddhist tradition, food is not eaten after the noonday meal so the two meals we had were quite large. In the evening we had tea and fruit. Since our primary activity was meditation, we didn’t need a large number of calories. The teacher of the retreat, Christopher Titmuss, was wonderful. His personal knowledge and engagement with us really helped us to learn and grow. Here’s a picture of the temple where we listened to his lectures and meditated.



We left Bodhgaya and took a plane to Delhi, closing the first chapter of our trip, which focused on Buddhist pilgrimage.  It has been 22 years since we were in Delhi, and it's incredible how much it has changed! We visited the Lotus Temple, which has 27 "petals" which are covered in marble, giving it a glowing, cleanly curved shape.

 

We enjoyed meditating in the awe-inspiring interior. They don't allow pictures or any talking. The resonance was unbelievable when there was any sound, like a cough; we imagined what a din a handful of marbles would create if dropped on the floor.



 

Nearby was the Hare Krishna temple, so we checked it out.



We were happy to connect with our friends from San Francisco, Anurang and Bulbul.


 

We met up in Khaz Haus Village, where the old serpentine streets have been taken over by new artsy shops and restaurants. Anurang treated us to a delicious lunch of Kashmiri foods.

 

From Delhi we will go to southern India, to the state of Kerala, which is known for its natural beauty. After a few days of sightseeing in Cochin, we will ride bicycles on a tour for two weeks, so that we can really see the landscape. We have wanted to visit Kerala for quite awhile, so we are excited for this next part of our trip!

Bodhgaya: Our Return Trip

We travelled back from Lumbini, and spent a night in Varanasi at Surya Hotel which we again enjoyed. We indulged in their delicious restaurant for both dinner and breakfast. Here's a picture of our tasty savory dish of spinach with yogurt sauce and a mug of Kingfisher beer which was complemented by curried lamb, chicken biriyani and of course of favorite Indian breads, stuffed naan and paratha, for dinner.

While at the hotel we saw two more weddings. Both were very elaborate events with DJs, marching bands carrying lights, fireworks, food and drinks, and fancily dressed guests. It seemed that only the boys danced, but they had a great time showing their moves.





At one wedding the bride arrived on horseback. At the other, the groom was carried up to a stage for the wedding ceremony.




The ceremony included first the bride lassoing the groom with a necklace of flowers while he was picked up, making it a challenge to get the flower garland around his neck. Then the groom had to catch her with a flower necklace too. After the ceremony, the newlyweds were photographed with what seemed like each family at the wedding, which took a really long time; We don't know for sure, but it seems to be good luck to touch the heads of the new couple on their wedding day, so they sat on a couch while the families stood behind them with their hands on the groom's turban and the bride's head.



We had a pretty easy time getting back from Lumbini to Bodhgaya because we took three days to make the trip and neither of our trains were very late. While we were at a station we witnessed the boarding of a train headed to Allahabad for Kumbh Mela, which is an enormous Hindu festival held on the Ganges every three years. This picture doesn't fully capture the intensity of the people who wanted to get on the train, but since we don't like crowds, it was about as close to Kumbh Mela that we wanted to get!



We have seen a lot of poverty while we've been in India. Perhaps the saddest sight is to see children begging on the street. We talked with Raju, an Indian shopkeeper we met in Varanasi about it; His advice to us was to NOT give money to the children because it results in them earning money for their family but at the cost of them not going to school. While in Kushinagar we heard from others that the begging children had been "dirtied up" by their parents to make them seem destitute, but in fact they had homes. We wanted to do something to help, so we found a local charity in Bodhgaya called Shanti India, and made a donation to them. We visited their tutorial school for 250 kids from nursery school age through high school. There are 7 classes of students. These are the 1st through 3rd graders, and they are meditating; All the classes do this for a few minutes at the start of class.



The school runs from 2:30 pm to 6 on school days, with most of the kids attending regular school in the morning/early afternoon before coming to Shanti India school. We were told that the public schools teach with both corporeal punishment and learning by rote, with English language introduced only at age 14; Shanti India's program is completely different to encourage the children's curiosity and development of English language skills. These are high school students preparing for a mathematics exam at the end of the month.



If you are interested in learning more about their programs (which include micro-lending and healthcare too), check out their website www.shantindia.org The students gave us marigold necklaces to thank us for our support.



It is really nice to be back in Bodhgaya, because this is a place of deep spiritual connection for us. And we've always enjoyed returning to a place that is familiar as it's easier to navigate. We took the flower necklaces from Shanti India to the Mahabodhi temple and put them on some Buddha statues after meditating under the Bodhi tree. As before there was a lot of chanting at Mahabodhi and the birds were singing - it's a lively place! As a leaf fell off the tree we watched several people who wanted to have it, but the first person to pick it up was a boy and he got to keep it. Here's a picture of Kristina near the Bodhi tree - take a look at the flags in the photo.



This is the Buddhist flag. We first noticed it while we were in Sarnath at the Mahabodhi Society and we assumed it was the Sri Lankan flag. Then we saw Cambodian monks with this flag on their bags and we got confused. So we asked Professor Google, and learned that the Buddhist flag was created about 100 years ago as part of Angarika Dharmapala's efforts to revitalize Buddhism (he was the Sri Lankan who restored Sarnath and Bodhgaya).



Coincidentally there is a big Sri Lankan festival going on in Bodhgaya and their president, Mahinda Rajakapsa, was here for the ceremony (which shows how important Buddhism is to Sri Lanka). Security has been very tight as a result, since Tamil militants (who assassinated the previous Sri Lankan president and Rajiv Gandhi) have threatened to kill President Rajakapsa. This is a picture of the Mahabodhi Society building which was covered in fresh flowers for his visit.

Now that we're back in Bodhgaya we've been helping out with retreat preparations at the Thai temple. We will be on a silent meditation retreat led by Christopher Titmuss for 10 days, Feb 10th through 20th. This is the 39th annual Bodhgaya Vipassana retreat with about 45 retreat participants. We've been helping to get everything ready, along with 8 other retreatants, who hail from Serbia, Berlin, southern France, southern Russia and Australia. Pete will be staying in a tent, and Kristina in the dorm because it appears to have room for yoga. We are looking forward to the retreat!