Day 1 (Super early in the morning)

Off the plane on to a bus on a trip to the middle of nowhere.

There aren't many street lights along the roads. Any light comes of either the houses and stalls nearby or the headlights of the buss. Every object we pass is illuminated for only a split second before it fades back into the shadow, lending a somewhat eerie feel to the whole place. I look out the partially open bus window into rows upon rows of banana trees and half expect to scare myself to death. Lightbulbs from afar pierce through the darkness and appear to stare into your soul. Reminds me of cats eyes.

The air is cold and bracing. Not quite what I expected.

What the cab driver told me on the way to the airport was true. Kerala is a whole mish mash of religon and culture. Within the first 10 minutes of the ride, we drove past a house with a cross, statues of Jesus Christ and a Hindu temple.

We enter what I think is some sort of city centre. It seems creepy and abandoned. Some of the buildings are built and others are half torn down. I see houses with roofs barely taller than I am and wonder, what kind of people live there.

Virtually every ad we've passed so far has a picture of a stunning Indian girl on it. Hmmmmm.....

Finally! I see some people. They're closing up a prata shop. Here, that's probably just called a shop. ^^

5 more hours of this winding, bumpy, motion-sickness inducing ride. Should try to get some sleep.

Day 1 (Less early, but still early in the morning)

We arrived in the dark of the morning. With our luggage in hand and torchlight in the other, we trudge up a rock peppered incline which makes the cobblestone pavements of Olomouc seem like smooth marble. Fortunately, the heaviest of our luggage was transported up by lorry. ^^ When we reached the village entrance (which just so happened to also be the top of the hill >.<), we were warmly received with a cup of tea (Chaaya in Malayalam, the language spoken here) from the tribesmen. Sadly, I doubt many of us were awake enough to reciprocate their hospitality though. >.<

Because of the sleepless 6 hour bus ride, most of us were really tired. So instead of charging head first into work as sheduled, we were taken on a tour around the village... which was basically a 2-3 hour long trek down uneven paths and up barely marked trails. Bukit Timah cannot compare. The spiders here are HUGE and exist in great great numbers. Those with arachnophobia, beware. On a side note, did you know commandos in Singapore trekked 72km in less than 24 hours? Awesome huh. Well not for them xD.

I'm having a really hard time absorbing things. There's so much to do here, places to see, people to meet, trails to memorize, a whole language to learn, bricks to carry, animals (and insects!) to photograph, cultures to understand...and at this point of time, I'm at most only absorbing 0.0001% of it. Haaa....

They have a volleyball court here! xD Dunno, I always figured kids in a village would play soccer instead of volleyball. ^^

After the village tour, they brought us down to the lake... the name of which I did not catch. Not particularly exciting. We got to see the cows being herded though. ^^ The cows know the way back to the village o.o....That's way better than us already. Haha~!

Night 1

Gosh....The water here is cooooold. 3 months of bathing in cold water is nothing compared to this. It was a pretty uneventful night. Most of us were just trying to settle in and figure our some sort of system for living in India. xD Ah well, the girls have a stockade of snacks in case anything happens. Honestly, I haven't seen so much wang wang in my life.

Gah, so much for beautiful mud house. The 1 slug we found in Xiao Ting and Serene's room because 9 slugs which Keith killed. Homestay at another villager's house instead. Ah well. Maybe tomorrow huh.

Labels: india, OCIP, project cochin, school, travel