Trip to Kerala, India - Day 4

Hi Guys,

It's day 4 today... and as usual, today was really packed and tiring. I thought this was the best day so far during the trip...

On the bus, we got to enjoy some Indian sweets... I particularly like this one...

It's colourful, and I like the silver thingy at the top... I've never seen an icing like that...

I snapped some quick shots of interesting formations of people sleeping...

We visited a place where there were lots of elephants... a big one and a few other young ones. All of us got the chance to take an elephant ride and we took a few photos...

{ for a start... elephant dunk...}

{ all above 3 pics taken on the elephant...}

{a pic with the elephant... }

I saw this wooden structure... it's quite sophisticated... it doesn't look like a typical cage...

Later on, we went to some park to take a quick look at a river... and a view of the mountains...

We decided to play near the river... but because it was said that someone had died in that river, we decided not to go too close...

After visiting the river, we climbed a tree house nearby to get a nicer and clearer view of the scenery.

As it was Mrs. Beena's birthday today, we were all treated to a sumptuous lunch at a restaurant. The food there was good, and some adventurous people decided to try eating with their hands...

After filling our tummies, we headed to the SOS village for children. It is actually an orphanage. However, it's system of managing the orphans is very different from other orphanages. They provide the orphanages with a new family within the orphanage itself... so there would be 10 children in every "family" and they would be "siblings". There would be a "mother" to take care of these kids permanently until they become independent. The orphanage funds the orphans on their accommodation, daily needs and education.

The head of the orphanage brought us to a pottery to take a look at how pots are made, because the orphans were still at school when we arrived.

{ newly made pots - fresh from the oven }


{taking a tour of the pottery (conducted by head of the SOS village that we visited)}


{ a very simple machine used to make blocks of clay from soil }


{ (left) worker skillfully making "piggy banks"... and then there I am, trying to make a pot }



{ (left) holes which allow hot air from the bottom story to dry the newly made pots; (right) a wheel which controls the amount of hot air coming through the holes }


{lady putting on bricks to seal the heating chamber}



{ a lady making the bases for the pots}


{ a random pic of a plant struggling to survive in the ridiculously burning weather }

After the tour at the pottery, we returned to the village.

{taking a break}

Then, we decided to play a game of badminton with them.

{Song Ken preparing to hit a shuttle}

{ during the game of badminton...}


{Song Ken with 2 children}


{Dorje showing us the gift he received from some of the children}

After the game of badminton, we were interviewed by a TV crew... not really we, but Dorje and JY. Of course none of us expected media coverage but well... we just gotta go ahead with it. So the TV crew stayed with us for a mini concert arranged by the SOS villagers. We went up to sing a song but it didn't go well...

The concert was pretty Ok with dances, songs and a presentation on Kerala.


So that's about it...

bye for now

Trip To Kerala, India - Day 3

Hi guys,

Once again, it's a wonderful and busy day here at Kerala. We had many events lined up for us and today's a day of Kerala's culture, heritage, architecture, history...

We started out day at Rajagiri Public School attending a session called "Confluence" where Grade 11 & 12 students compete with each other in several activities such as buzzer rounds, skit, case study, interview scenario...

{ Guests being invited up the stage, Mr. Dennis Ong being in the far left}


{Father Austin and Mr. Ong lighting the lamp to mark the start of the event}


{Johnny so happy to be present for "Confluence"; The emcee of the buzzer round }


{Reveal of the lady's ruined face; The lady and her boyfriend secretly admiring each other}

The skit was pretty cool and funny. It was meant to give the audience a clearer picture of the scenario that the 2 students from 2 teams would be debating on... something like re-enactment for a law-suit... So the case this skit was about concerned a lady and a facial product company. The lady had decided to buy a product from that company upon hearing that its effective rate was 97.5% and signing a disclaimer that she would bear the full consequences if she misused the product. The debate was about who was in the wrong after the lady's face was ruined...

{ Students debating...}



{Judges giving their comments to the debaters}

We needed to leave halfway through because there were other events lined up for us. But before going for the other events, we proceeded to the college canteen to have our lunch.

{Authentic Indian food...}


{ Mr. Ong and Man Tong enjoying the delicious Indian dishes }


{ Yum yum}

After lunch all of us went to Mr Ong's room, which was just near by the canteen, to change into casual attire for the upcoming events. (couldn't take any pictures for this)

Some random shots while making we were making our way to the bus...

The bus ride was pretty long... and a few interesting things happened...


{Dorje meditating... ; Dorje getting tricked... Lol}

At last, we've arrived at our destination...



We did some shopping as the synnagouge wasn't opened yet. There were lots of bargaining too, of course...
random photos while shopping around...

{Nice little dog; We walking around.... shopping}

There were many places which do not allow photography, so not many photographs of the places we visited...

{South India Church}

There was this church with a very nice painting about the stairway to haven...

I like the visit to the beach the most... there were chinese fishing nets.... and many nice scenery...

    

After a long afternoon, we went to have dinner... because I was really hungry, I didn't get to take many pictures... but there are still many more opportunities for me to do so.

After a whole day long of events, we headed back home in a bus... everyone slept until I needed to leave with my host along one of the roads...

So yeah, that's it for today... really, really tired now... so good night!