I guess we were lucky with the weather we had until now - except for Ooty maybe, but that was not abnormal either. Mostly warm and very few rain. If it rained, it was only for 10minutes or so. Today, that was different - all morning it was raining and raining and raining. Everywhere the landscape was wet to flooded, even the houses were often flooded. We sat in the train, both thinking that in this weather wasn't ideal for exploring Mangalore, nor for our good mood... Besides, we needed to fit in another laundry day and our schedule was already very tight. So we decided to skip Mangalore and go straight to Gokarna, where we are right now.
Not too sure whether Gokarna was such a good idea either
Getting there was an experience by itself, since the railwaystation was somewhere in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to take the bus in stead of the taxi, because those were really expensive and we knew we could catch a bus there. But with only taxi- and rikshawdrivers there it wasn't easy to get the right information. Finally we ended up in a minibus, kind of shared taxi. 22 people fitted in there, but that was still very comfortable compared to that time in Ellora where that amount sat in a jeep :) Halfway we had to stop, since foreigners -Els and me- needed to fill in a paper. We had to do that before, but mostly at the hotels or guest houses, not all these details (name, passport number, visa number, dates of issue and expiry, blood relatives, where we came from, when we arrived in India, where we wanted to go to, where and when we would leave India, how long we would stay in Gokarna) when 20 people were waiting for us...
Gokarna is a bit similar to Hampi, very touristic, but then rather for Hindus. We felt like we were the only Western tourists again, but we already met one other couple.
Trying to dry our laundry - but it is too humid.
Doing the laundry Indian style
When I was typing this, I suddenly had to go to the toilet - that's how it goes when you eat Indian (actually, we ate spaghetti, but that is still with an Indian taste:). So I asked downstairs where I could go to the toilet. Well, not here, but the bus station is only 2 min. away... You can go there if you want. I needed to, so I went - only 2 min. that's not that far. Well 2 minutes later I asked again, and it was still only 2 minutes (these are the minutes like when the train is retarded - we're leaving in five minutes => we know better by now). Finally I found it, but the toilets were locked and the light was shut off. There was one door that was not locked and where there was light, but that one was closed from the inside. After some time, someone opened the door: it was the toilet guard, who was living there... Indeed, in India they have jobs for the strangest things. Or it often takes a lot of people to do something: in the emporiums - big and expensive tourist shops - there is a person every 3 square meter. Or on the bus, it takes at least 4 people to manage: one is yelling where the bus is going, the other one is handling the tickets, one is looking whether someone wants to get in or out of the bus and one is driving. The bus we took from Fort Cochi to Ernakulam town was like that. But seeminlgy, in Kerala, they have all private buses. There was at least one bus every 30 seconds (without any exaggeration!) all competing and trying to get to the bus stop before the other bus arrives there. So everything needs to be in a hurry. Also we got used to buses having no doors, but this one didn't even get windows :) But actually, that was quite comfortable.
We finally got to the ocean!!! It felt really nice... We were quite near already in Cochin, but didn't go that far, but here I did. I had to go over a beach full of crabs but I got there. Tomorrow we'll explore further. Hopefully it won't be raining then.
Els playing in the ocean
Idyllic beach in Palolem
Well, I still owe you that part from Madurai and Cochin, but that's maybe for another time. For now, know that I'm fine and enjoying great India! Miss you all!!!
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