Time log of the trip. As events are unfolding. Mostly for us, but if you find it interesting dig in.[07:30] Snoozing. Went to bed to late. We slept well. Under AC in a sweater and with extra blanket is manageable.[08:05] Wake up.[08:15] Breakfast. OK toast. Some white like noodles and toast with butter. Hope the stomach takes it well. Black tea.[08:45] Time for the pickup for Backwaters tour from our Hotel.[08:54] We’re waiting by the main road now. Let’s see if this pickup shows up.[08:55] Ok now a guy on a motorbike showed up to tell us that they are picking up the tourists and that the van is on the way. Then he'd go check every few minutes where then van was.[09:01] Ok on the shuttle. Mostly European folks. Let’s see what is 16:00 by Indian time 😅[10:02] At the destination:[10:10] At first stop. Selling us water and chips already[10:15] On the boat. We’ll have lunch at 13:00. Apparently this area gets flooded regularly and they have to move the people until water retrieves to the nearby schools and collages.[10:30] Nice canal a lot of nature then:[11:09] Well we are not really in the middle of some rural waters.A clever motor engine cover:That's how they farm fish:Water taxi:[11:14] Ok off the boat. We’re looking at dead trees and the tour guide is presenting them as a treasure.[11:22] He made business for his friend:[11:30] Visiting a temple and shoes off. Had to wipe our feet with hands. Hope the hand sanitiser after helped. A pretty nice temple though.[11:45] Back to the boat. It’s pretty chill and cozy on it. In the shade near the water. Air breezing.[12:25] In the breeze I took a nap. Mind simply drifted away. Sleep deprivation and hot air do the job.[12:45] It’s really peaceful and quiet here. Nice change from the chaos of India.[12:55] Back where we started the boat ride. Apparently lunch time.[13:00] Lunch. Ok if we don’t get food poisoning from this we’re good. Need to drink a coke after this. We did eat only cooked stuff. Water was from a bottle but not properly sealed, so we stuck to the one we brought.[13:27] Finished lunch. Some people really dug into it.[13:37] Had to pay for the day trip here now. 2k INR per person as we agreed, but was wired that a random dude, apparently the boss showed up to collect cash.[13:45] Chatting with other tourists. From Italy, France, UK, Canda.[13:57] OK now in wobbly boat. Physics of balance of this one is unclear to me.[14:34] Back on shore. This was wired.[14:42] Tea time.[14:51] How they are making ropes out of coconut 🥥 fibres. They leave coconuts in the water for 6 months.[15:06] Off we go to our shuttle[15:13] On our way back to the hotels.[16:00] Just realised that we are a white van full of white tourists. Sort of business opportunity on wheels here.[16:20] At the Princess street. Trying to figure out if we can rebook the train. Noup exchange guy not an expert you need the other guy for trains. But he left for today, ...[16:30] Bought the water and snacks for 425 INR. Tried to haggle for rickshaw to hotel for 50 INR and they were no, no not below 100. Aha. We ended up walking back. On the way back we didn't get another rickshaw. But we did see a car/motorbike photo-shoot though.[16:45] Snack. Shower. Cool down and figure out what to do with the train.[17:47] Ok. Back to the wild.[17:50] Discussing with hosts our plans. And asking if they could get us a rickshaw to the train station.[18:10] To city for dinner.[18:30] Show. They charged us 600 INR instead of 1000, since we came half an hour late. "No, no sir I can't charge you full price." Quite fair.[19:10] Rickshaw army smelling tourist money. 500 INR per ride easily 😅Way to get to the show. Street looks shady, but then you get to a giant theater.[19:20] Exchanged 200 dollars. He said that new 100 dollar bills go for more. We’d get 150 INR for same amount of cash.[19:25] Trying pants. Could have them custom-made by tomorrow for 850 INR. Know now what kind of pants shop we are looking for.[19:35] At the hotel Malbar that our host recommended for dinner. They are full and suggested Brandon boatyard hotel. Got a rickshaw in 1 minute for 10 minutes walk for 50 INR. Paid for convince this time.[19:40] At the Brandon boatyard. This must be some sort of formal colonial building. 400 EUR per night hotel. You don’t have a feeling you are in India. Place next to the port and mud road though. But really nice.[19:57] Ordered sea bass on Portuguese style, rice and white wine.[20:36] Food was nice so far. Let’s see how they do with the fish. Watching the cook I’m not too confident in his skills.[21:07] Ok so lower part of the fish was super spicy. Upper part was OK. Thank good that I said to clean the fish myself cause right now the cook basically butchered the fish for the table next to us. Large meet knife and fork 🤦️ OK those guys need to see a good restaurant first before they can be a fine dining restaurant. But they are really trying. No dilemma there. If they are fast learners, this can be in no time a really cool place. [21:22] Now they are learning how to open a bottle of wine.[21:24] Got the muffin. That was a brownie. But really good.[21:30] Gave a polite lecture on fine dining. Hope they don’t take me for complete asshole. They did ask for feedback. But I might have miscalculated badly with saying that they are really enthusiastic, but only lack experience a bit 😬Was still a great dinner though. [21:40] 130 INR for water, coke, Kit-kat. 20 INR for two chips.[21:45] Getting a sim card from Ari-tel. Minimal is for 1 month. For 500 INR. Since we didn't have the spare phone with us, because it was in the hotel, we had to believe that the whole thing works. [22:15] Walk home to digest the dinner.[22:40] Back home. Talked with the host. Cab for tomorrow ready. Rest we do in the morning (payment, ...)[22:46] Packing time.[23:22] Food and water stash for tomorrow's trip with train. Ironically the chips, coca-cola and sweets. Sth we don’t buy at home but have no choice with what to get. [23:38] Blog: page update, post on IG, web page fixes.[00:00] Shower time. With buckets. Not the worst.[00:16] Adding a web page for our trip: India 2024 trip .[00:34] Photo editing of the day.[00:50] Finishing: day two blog post .[02:18] I’m not going to lie. Live blogging takes quite a lot of time and energy.[02:19] To sleep. Again too late.
