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Having kind of wasted the first day (which was supposed to be expected) I wanted to do as much as I can in the second day. Woke up around 7 am (that’s around 2.30 am Cairo time). Had a quick breakfast at the hotel (which wasn’t that impressive really) and took the ferry -which took around 20 minutes- to Fort Cochin….big difference between Ernakulam (where my hotel is) and Fort Cochin. Seems that For Cochin is more tourist oriented, its relatively cleaner and quieter. Next time I go to Cochin -Insha2Allah- I’m going to stay in Fort Cochin. Walked around Fort Cochin, went to a Bascilica over there and a couple of other sites…interesting…but that impressive.

Made it back to the hotel at around 10 am, I was going to have a pickup for my backwater trip at 10.15. The hotel told me that they don’t have any availability for one extra night so I checked out and left my luggage with them. I later checked into another hotel (which was recommended to me by some of the travelers I met on the backwater trip). The pickup was around 10 minutes late, we passed by 2 hotels and picked up more people. for the rest of the post…it should really be more pictures and less words…

Basically it was a day that included a lot of this:

and these…

Of course there was this on the boat…

This is what a backwater trip is…you basically go on smaller canoe boats through the canals..or a bigger one on the river…I understand that in a place called Alleppey its even more famous for the backwater trips in which you could actually live in a house boat…thought of doing it..but time was too short…

Have a nice day!

Akef

I know this is out of order…but just take a look at this picture…just took it in Munnar a few hours ago…beautiful isn’t it?

Cheers!

Akef

As some of you’re aware I came to India around 2 days ago…and I’ve to admit…it has been a pretty different experience…

I’m just going to run through the past few days in this post so that I’m going to be on track..

Didn’t take a direct flight from Kuwait to India, found ticket on Emirates slightly cheaper than Kuwait airways…and frankly…Kuwait airways isn’t my favourite airline. Decided to take an earlier flight to spend a few hours in Dubai where I met with my uncle. Arrived in Dubai around 8.55 pm and my connecting flight was at around 3.40 am. Arrive to Cochin around 9 am, looks like a very old terminal from the outside…however it was pretty clean inside. For some reason the passport control took forever…actually the queue that I was in took forever. Seems the immigration official at my desk was much slower than the others. After sleeping for only 2 hours on the plane in the whole night I was pretty tired in the morning..just couldn’t wait to go to my hotel and get some sleep. After immigration got my bag from the luggage belt then passed through customs.

I had arranged for an airport pickup before I flew in, however  I didn’t find any So I called up the hotel and they apologized and recommended that a I take a taxi from the ‘prepaid’ taxi stand. I like the idea of prepaid taxis at airports…saves you the hassle of negotiating with a taxi driver that wants to rip you off (Cairo airport?). The taxi journey took around hmm..don’t really remember 45 minutes or so.

In Cochin there’re 2 main places…Ernakulam (which seems to be more business oriented) and Fort Cochin…which has the interesting sights and seems to be more tourist oriented. After arriving at the hotel I found out that there was no reservation (although I had previously recieved a confirmation via email). They had rooms avaialbe so no problems there. Anyways…enough of these boring details. Although I was tired….I though of wakling around to get a SIM card for my mobile (I’m going to post the number in a seperate post) and to arrange for one of those ‘backwater’ trips which kerala is very famous for. AFter checking these out went back to the hotel to get a 2 hour nap…of course I wasn’t able to wake up..and instead of sleeping from 2.30 till 4.30…I ended up waking up at 7 pm. That wasn’t really planned..probably wasted half a day of the already very tight schedule.

Went out for dinner..went to a place called Fry’s village restaurant…I ordered a certain kind of fish which is prepared in banana leaves…don’t remember its name though. It wasn’t that impressive though…something to note…so far the North Indian cuisine (which I’ve tried prior to my coming to India) seems to be better than the South Indian cuisine.

Went back to the hotel and went to sleep relatively early..so that I ‘ve an early start the next day…

Cheers!

Akef

Its been a good few months since I had a post on my blog…is there a specific reason for that…well…it could be that nothing that interesting was going on….I guess I was just too lazy.

If everything goes as planned the coming few weeks will be a true revival of this blog, tommorrow evening I’ll be starting another 2 week trip Insha2Allah. Its a country which 1 billion people call their motherland.

Ladies and gentlemen…stay tune

 Cheers!

Akef

Its been a good few months since I had a post on my blog…is there a specific reason for this…well…it could be that nothing that interesting was going on…or I guess I was just too lazy.

If everything goes as planned the coming few weeks will be a true revival of this blog, tommorrow evening I’ll be starting another 2 week trip Insha2Allah. Its a country which 1 billion people call their motherland.

Ladies and gentlemen…stay tuned

 Cheers!

Akef

Following are some pictures I took in Beijing a few months ago. They were taken in the Temple of heaven, you could read more about the Temple of heaven at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven

Cheers!

Akef

I still have loads and loads of pictures from my China trip but I guess I’m too busy/lazy (could these be put in one sentence?) to upload them. Anyways here’re a few pictures of the Forbidden City in Beijing. A picture of Chairman Mao Zedong is very clear at the entrance of the Forbidden City. Basically this was were royalty lived for hundreds of years and it was off limits to the general public during this time. I’ll be posting more pictures of the forbidden city soon!
Cheers!
Akef

Check out the following link…seems we’re not that bad after all…maybe this might work in places that have a small population…
European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs

Cheers!
Akef

I just read the following on CNN : ” President Bush says “America is safer and the world more secure” because of Donald Rumsfeld’s leadership.”
huh…what?

From ancient times the human being has believed in life after death. At the times of the Pharos they used to burry treasures with them. In China…one of the most important archaeological sites is located in a city called Xi’an. In China if your talking with other travellers and Xi’an comes up, the Army of The Terracotta warriors immediately comes to mind. Its even the cover page on the latest China Lonely Planet.
Basically there are around 8099 Terracotta Warriors. These warriors are life-like and life-size. Each warrior has unique features. They were buried close to the Mausoleum of the Emperor. Anyways you could read about this in more details on wikipedia.
Here’s a few photos…

Cheers!
Akef