Big Tent

Jophie, one of my co-workers, went to a Jehovah Witness convention in Kochi. It is the biggest one in all of India. There were around 10,000 people at the convention. What fascinated me about the event was that it all held under a tent. That's right, one very large tent. The tent is so large it has a ceiling with fans. So if you ever wanted to see what 10,000 people look like under a tent, look no further.

 

 

O.K. Some of you are going to say, you have seen bigger tents. If so, make a comment on how many people fit inside your big tent.

 

People could be sleeping in the back, and this speaker would never know...I mean, wow...people could have a soccer match going on in the back and the speaker would never know. It makes me wonder what other sinful things might have been going on in the back rows.

Waffles and a Band

Roel was kind enough to take me to a place in Kochi which had "Waffles" on the menu. That was just too tempting. I had to see what a Waffle in India would be like. I have to say, I was very disappointed because it tasted like...well...a Waffle. I was expecting a Waffle with a chilli pepper in it, but that didn't happen. I got a Waffle, some syrup, some butter, and little squirts of whip cream - good stuff. It reminded me of the all night Pancake houses where you eat breakfast for dinner. I also saw someone who was younger with an Apple laptop...this was a hip and cool place, and the music was techno. Can you imagine going to a Krispy Creme or Dunkin Donuts which serves waffles to the fast beat of techno pop. O.K. proabably not, but you can live the experience if you go to Kochi.

We then went to the Casino Hotel which has a live band that plays 6 days a week. The band works during the day, and for extra money they play at the hotel. I was expecting some local Malayalam type music, but apparently these groups don't exist except on CD's, and we were treated to 80's rock Pink Floyd and U2 type songs. They were very good, and the audience of around 20 which was made up of 17 waiters and 3 patrons were loudly clapping 6 hands of approval at the end of each song...it felt like a jam session. If you like more people around you, go on Friday's, Sat or Sunday, but I like mid week because it's more of a challenge to try an keep 17 waiters busy at the same time.

Here is a link with some pics of the Hotel:

http://www.cghearth.com/imggal_casino.htm

 

Picnic

I was invited to a picnic by Savi to see Kodanad where there is a nice park and an elephant training ground. I was unable to participate because of work, but Savi was kind enough to take some photos for all of us to see.

This place is near Perumbavoor called Paniyeli Poru. Here are some links Savi found for me if you want to know more.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2006020601150300.htm&date=2006/02/06/&prd=mp&

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/02/06/stories/2006020601150300.htm

 

 

Kodanad is also known for the elephant training ground. A baby elephant was recently rescued after almost drowning in a river like the one you see in the pics above. The elephant was sent to Kodanad for special care.

 

Here is a link to the new article about the baby elephant resuce:

http://www.newkerala.com/news3.php?action=fullnews&id=19231

 

Savi took some nice pics of other baby elephants too.

 

This one is taking a bath as all good baby elephants should.

 

There are a few other elephants at the training ground too. This is a fairly large elephant.

 

For those who would like to know more about the training center, here are some links:

 http://www.kodanad.com/

http://www.keralatourism.org/index.php?source=desti&destid=332&zone=1

http://www.kuruppampady.com/kodanad.php

 

Thanx for the invite Savi. I'm sorry I missed out on this, but I'm sure you and your wife would rather picnic together without a foreigner as a chaperone.