ppppppPEN?......ppppppPENCIL?........ccccCOIN?

Today we got up early and headed out to get on the houseboat. It was an hour away on the bus.. An hour on the bus seems like nothing on say......septa.. But on oii buses, it's a whole new story. So let me tell you a little something about oii buses. When you get on one it would seem like your bus driver was in a real rush to get to your stop. Then you get on another bus and the same thing, the bus driver is going really fast to get you to your destination as quick as possible. Now this theory only works when one or two people on the road are feeling this "need to go super fast". The problem arises when the entire street seems to think they have the right of way and are of importance. This is transportation in oii. So you take your trucks, buses, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, bikes, and the unfortunate or most lucky, pedestrians. Then you embed the "I'm important so let me through" mentality.. And that's where all the fun begins.

Ways to conquer your fear of oii transportation:
1. DON'T LOOK AT OPPOSING TRAFFIC
2. If you are on a bus, keep thinking to yourself that the crowd will help dampen the pain
3. If you are in an autorikshaw, your pretty much screwed
4. i will never get on a motorcycle, but seems like you can crowd on as many children possible on one scooter.. lets see Rome beat that! ( i saw 4 children on a scooter and a grown man driving it. )

after our stressful bus journey we finally get to Allephy, south of Cochin. (the picture is from the boat looking at our captain) From there we were transported to our houseboat. Which was grand. It was really quite lovely. So we got all excited and were on our way. There were 3 crew members, a chef, a captain and a driver. The scenery was magnificent, and very peaceful. Then we hear amongst the coconut trees...."....ppppppp.PEN?"
and we both look to see a little boy in the depths of the woods asking for a pen, i look blankly at him and say nope.. no pen here.

a couple of meters away we stop so i can grab some biscuits for tea.. And there were 3 little boys all screaming "Pen".. the scenario was best described as the scene in Finding Nemo when the sea gulls keep saying "mine, mine, mine" So Colin says why don't you buy them some pens..

I get out to get some pens (keep in mind there were only 3 to begin with). So i get out and buy 3 pens. Once i turn around there seemed to be 20 men and children behind me. I couldn't believe how fast they multiplied, there seemed to be a secret message sent into town saying free pens.. come quick. I'm not lying, and older women and her granddaughter(on the left of image) came from nowhere. And the grandmother was pushing her granddaughter at me....Telling her to come close so i can buy her a pen.. Oh man. Thank goodness i only had enough money to buy 8 pens, but it was strange how they all wanted pens.

The rest of the day was pretty much laid back, lots of sleeping...eating...more sleeping. The south sun is hot and makes everyone so sleepy. Then when nightfall finally came, the sky was lit up with sparkling stars. It was really pretty. We could see so many stars. So then i passed out, cause Kerelan food also makes me sleepy.