Steven Raucher's World Tour
2001-04-01 in Kodai Kanal
Leaving Cochin and on the way to the East Coast
Well a lot happened before I actually got to leave Cochin.
Upon arrival in Cochin I noticed that the leaking of my oil cap had reached critical proportions, it was time for action! I decided to bite the bullet and write off 5 days in order to wait for the parts to arrive in Cochin. So I, obviously, added a few extra items to my shopping list. Uhm� Let�s see� 1 x Windscreen. I also got myself a lid to match Ariella�s, you know the type , BMW System 4 Metallic Blue � very swish.
So while I was passing the time, I decided to go back to Varkala to rest my tired bones. Upon arrival I met up with Benka again, this time I was not going to get away lightly. As she was busy studying Ayurvedic Massage in Varkala and needed a body to work on� sounded too good to be true ( it was � apologies Benka!). I was covered head to toe in Coconut Oil and then walked all over by an Eastern European Woman � God I hate that!
During all this time Ariella had decided to go backpacking with some luvverly ladies (Hi to Amanda, Serena and Harry, everybody gets a mention here!) The plan was for me to meet up with Ariella in Mamallapuram on the east coast, as soon as I was able to.
So back to Varkala then. There I was relaxing, getting walked all over and checking emails, when to my surprise I get an email from my mother who informs me (how does she still know everything?) that my visa is about to expire in 5 days! So I quickly hire a car, cruise down to Trivandrum, speak to the head cook and bottle washer at the Police Station and his reply is: �Sorry can�t help, next!�. I then hightail it back to Varkala, catch the 5pm train back to Cochin (can you believe they have me taking trains now??). The next day I went to see the Commissioner of Police, this time armed with my trusty newspaper cutting (see Press Cuttings link) and blag my way into a 2 week extension. Fan-bloody-tastic. Two weeks to drive 3000 kms, thanks Sport.
The Parts arrived, I left Cochin, did a drive-by of Munnar, a really beautiful hill-top tea plantation and then drove to Kodai Kanal via the road with 17 Hairpin turns (they actually number them � very proud.) Kodai is wicked. It is 2 kms high and has a great climate, hot during the day, freeze your bollocks off at night. Perfect. I met a whole bunch of very cool travellers (Hi Oliver, Nava, Chris, Mimesh and Marcus, everyone. I told you�) So I spent an extra day talking rubbish, searching for apple crumble and admiring the view from the top of a beautiful mountain. Check out the picture below for the view from my front porch.
I finally made it to Mamallapuram and had a great reunion with all the girls, ie got absolutely smashed on cheapo Indian vodka, terrible stuff. So one more day in Mama� and then the 2000km slog to Calcutta � see next story!
 Harder! HARDER!! |
 The Home of Tata Tetley |
 Can you believe this view? |
 Carwash - Indian Style! |
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