Today we arrived in Cochin India and we went on a day tour to Alappuzha, which was a 90 minute drive each way. This is my first visit to India and it an interesting place. I don't know why there is a centre line painted on the roads, and our bus driver was using the speed limiter on the bus as a challenge not a safety feature. The traffic was horrendous which I am told is normal for here. I have worked in traffic safety and traffic studies for many years and I was astounded when our guide told us the road toll is low, because there is a zero alcohol limit. I really don't know how we didn't hit any cyclists, pedestrians or anything else that was either on the road or near the road.
After a harrowing 90 minute drive we boarded a boat in Alappuzha. We were told to be careful walking along the plank to the boat we had to walk through to get to the other side where our boat was tied up. No OH&S here. We were on the upper deck of the boat, on plastic chairs that were not secured to anything. We cruised to a motel for lunch, which was a buffet of local foods, based mostly on rice. We were then asked to walk to another 'dock' to re board our boat. The dock was where the boat was tied up to a wall, where we had to basically jump to the side of the boat. We then cruised around the canals for 2 hours. Everyone we saw was waving to the boats and were so happy and proud of their homes. This cruise was amazing to see how these people live and fish in the canals. I love visiting different countries and seeing how different cultures live, work and play. No matter how much people have or don't have, everyone has their own benchmarks of standards, and it really doesn't matter what that benchmark is as long as they are happy, and everyone I met today in India was happy.
Looking forward to another tour tomorrow in and around Cochin.
