Day 17 - ... and then there were two

Breakfast this morning saw only Pooja, Carla, Tracy, Mark and myself at the table (Kerry was having a lie in). Sadly, Trudy, Carol, Alan and Chris, Dodie and Chris and Maggs had departed in the dead of the night (sad face emoji goes here). I wish them all safe travels to their next destination.

Kerry and I had spent a good couple of hours yesterday afternoon sifting through all our gear looking for  stiff we didn’t want or need in our bags anymore – just trying to lighten the load for the part of our journey. We‘ve been listening to the advice of all of our companions about how to travel lighter. There will be some changes and improvements on the next trip, rest assured! So, after covering our floor with the contents of all our suitcases and backpacks we mercilessly wielded the axe. When the carnage was complete we finished up with a pile of stuff whose last stop is the Spice Heritage hotel, a pile of stuff that will be making a visit to the Mattancherry post office and pile of stuff that will see daylight in northern India.

We’d purloined an appropriately sized and strong box from a paint shop yesterday and proceed to fill it with what turned out to be mostly my clothes. Can you believe that! Our suitcases were refilled but now they weren’t bursting at the seams and requiring a block and tackle to lift them. Progress was being made. I’m confident we’ll fit within the 20kg each limitation of our next flight. With filled box in hand we headed by tuk-tuk to the post office. Very fortunately, Tracy and Mark had had an Indian postal experience in Mysore so we knew what to expect. For anyone who might need to use a post office in India for a similar reason, read these words carefully. The still open box was inspected buy the postal clerk for any electronic or incendiary items. Next I wrote a list of all the items in the box and presented it to the clerk. The sender must provide the box – refer to the early comment. The sender must provide the tape to secure the box. For that, we were sent off to find a stationary store that sold it. We were directed to the Palace Road where we found such a store. Just had trouble finding the Palace Road! Next we were required to provide a photocopy of some form of identification eg: one’s Passport. For that we were directed to a photocopy store somewhere in the streets. OMG! What next! A well-spoken gentleman customer suggested to the clerk that she could take a photo of my passport on her phone, which she, I and all the other customers waiting in the queue thought was an eminently sensible idea. Bravo! The labeling must include to To: address (of course) and the From: address (which I knew in sufficient detail because it was in my itinerary on my offline phone). However, the From: address must include the name of an individual at that address who can accept the parcel should it be returned. Well, I didn’t have that information (who would?) so I wrote my name, which was acceptable to the clerk. The package weighed in at 7.36kg and 4000 rupees (AUD$80.00) later it was on its way! Phew! BTW, there are limited hours during which parcels can be dispatched so don’t trip over that one.

Next we went back to the store who sold us the tape because he also was a reseller of the AirTel mobile  service – a service others in our group were using with success. But he was just a recharge reseller, wasn’t he! Not a new service seller ie: one that required some hardware in the form of a SIM. But, bless his cotton socks, he got in the phone and after 15 minutes a chap on scooter arrived with a SIM and all the necessary paperwork. He used his mobile app to capture all my details, including a photo of my passport, and to activate the SIM. The store-owner acted as a go-between of sorts as the activation process requires a code to be sent to a local Indian mobile number. The scooter-riding AirTel rep left, the SIM was inserted in my phone, it came to life, the store-owner called the activation service using my phone and it then sprung fully into life! We were online!! It took about an hour, all up, all done standing on a busy street corner with scooters, motorcycles and tuk-tuks whizzing by! That’s India! The service from the store-owner was second to none. Exceptional! All he got for all his effort was 500 rupees (AUD$10.00). A true gentleman all the way through. A wonderful experience!

We headed down to Bazar Rd where we got a well earned cold drink in a little cafe we’d found two weeks ago. I’ve become a big fan of a cold lemon ginger soda. On the way back to the hotel Kerry stopped by a few stall to pick up a colourful shoulder bag that caught her eye and few other little trinkets. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little laundry and just relaxing after a hectic few hours. Tonight it’ll be a simple tea at the hotel and an early night ahead of our last day in southern India.