Singing Yeti Girl

o.k.,... i found out i like yetis.
my brother's playing his ukulele all the time now, and when i'm there for a visit i can't stop to pick the strings. he showed me some stuff too. so i went and bought my own uke. everybody should know it's mine too. so i had another try with paint and glitter and nail polish. i think i figured it out - and i'm sure i'll do that again!

Walking over stick and stone

Had a nice walk yesterday... the panorama was stitched of 3 shots from 3 different spots.










and this is the most beautiful shop window i've seen since i left NY. the winner is bluma in linz!

Little Sas

This sasquatch has one purpose - to save my girls day..

Backwater Birds

We went south to Kumarakom to visit the Backwaters - we also had the spiciest food there in our whole trip. It burnt our throat like acid, I have no idea what it was...
This place is awesome - you got everything: a lake, channels, birds,...













On the way home we visited the the Institute of Science again, met Anil Kumar, drove around Bangalore in autorikshas, and had very good dinner with Jayanthi and Sankeerth.



Then there was only the way back home...

Fishermens Fiend & the Bicycle

Comfort for Ladies & Gents

Strolling through Fort Kochin

Take your time to look around - or you will miss everything you don't find in tourist guides...

On the Way to Kochin

School was over - so we could finally go on holidays... On the way down from the mountains I found out how the honking really works. You got no chance to get it if you try it in town, but on the curvy roads on the hillside it was pretty easy.
It's nothing more than question & answer :
Ideally you honk, and than the car coming from the other direction honks - so don't overtake. If there is none, the car in front of you (in most cases a truck) will answer, and the driver sometimes even waves to you to overtake...
Then you start honking and overtaking so everybody knows the road is now yours! Trouble is, everybody wants to talk, so in town it's just a mess...

We also saw a huge bison in a tea garden, towering motionless above the road. Very impressive! I thought it was twice the size and weight of our car...

When we reached the plain, our car broke down. The driver said it's the battery. Then he put about 10 l of cooling water back into the system, after getting a hitch on a bike to the next fountain.
Then we just had to push the car to start the engine again, and reached Coimbatore in time for our train.



In Ernakulam we had the most insane taxi driver, who thought he had a magical horn, so that honking would solve everything. It worked well enough for all the two-wheelers, but there were some trucks with a bigger horn, and he just couldn't believe it.
When there was less traffic he gave me his cell number and told us, he would bring us to Kottayam for only 9000 Rs !! 3 days later we got a tourist cab for 1300 Rs instead. Anybody wants his number? He is a friendly smiling guy, a little adventure guaranteed!



Fort Kochin is a great place. I really liked the atmosphere around the ancient chinese fishernets. You see a lot of guys working the nets, repairing small nets that are thrown from small boats, you sometimes see men fishing - they mostly catch very small fish, but at the kiosk some of them got real big fish. I had the feeling it's mostly a show for tourists, but it's a nice show nonetheless, and you get a feeling how pple lived before we came to watch.

This restaurant on the right had great sea food too. We went there twice.







We were walking all the way from the fishernets down to Jew Town. You just have to ward off all the autorikshas ("Ferrari, Ferrari"), who will try to convince you that it's too far, too hot, and you just won't make it alive. You have to be strong minded, or else they will eventually convince you on the last 300 m.
Then you can continue your walk (maybe 30-45 casual min) and enjoy the view.