Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Day 11: Alappuzha - Ernakulam: 70km

The houseboat ride had still refreshed me enough that I could so the final stretch to Ernakulum. It was all on NH and we knew that there is going to be lot of traffic and pollution. No surprises there. Going was slow, but ok, we were covering the distance. We reached a place called Aarur, from there we were able to take a Kochi bypass in Ernakulum. That was good, my cold was bad, whole respiratory system was fried and I had to get this over with. Ernakulum city was worse than expected, really had traffic and it took us really long time to navigate the last 9 km to railway station. Someone I got there, still alive. Then it was long wait for the train. We spent the time at a restaurant, having lunch and then coffee etc.
On train, we decided to take the bikes with us. After bus's terrible experience, I did not want to leave the bikes anywhere else. So we paied Rs1000 and took the bikes with us. Vaibhav helped us take them apart and we could adjust them under the seats. Here again I saw another reason for this country's backwardness. People are just mean and greedy. There was an empty cupboard in train where bikes would had fitted. But the person managing it probably wanted money, so he won't let us put bike in there. He locked it and just would not listen. We also decided, whatever happens, we are not giving him money. Luckily folks on other seats were nice and adjusted with the bikes. Train ride was overnight and turned out to be ok. Away from pollution, my cold was little better.

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