Going South instead of North

wow. I just saw a picture of Amir Khan...he's hot...I am flattered!

Leslie and I ended up going south to Kochin at the minute due to a somwhat funny story. We were walking along the beach in Calicut and everyone kept coming up to us and introducing themselves. A couple guys asked us if we knew specific addresses in the suburbs of New Jersey and wanted us to call some friend of theirs when we got back to the states....anyway. This one guy introduced himself and said that he would show us around for the day for no money (we have heard that one before!) We kindly said no thanks. Then then next day we were getting on an Autoricksaw to go to a Ayuvedic hospital for a massage that we had read about and this same Indian guy (Altaf) jumped in and told us he was coming with us and would show the driver where to go. He also said that the place we were going wasn't good and he knew a better doctor in a small village (we have heard that one before as well). At that point we were so exhausted from dealing with beggars and shopkeepers and everyone else, we said what the hell, take us to your better doctor. I didn't have much money on me so I figured at the very worst he could take us for $40. The good news is that he took us to this cute little small town with the cutest little Indian doctor. We got two massages (very oily!!!) and stayed there most of the day while he read our palms and we drank tea. He gave us a bunch of Ayuvedic oil, charged us too much, and then we headed back into town. The bad news was, from this point on, we couldn't get rid of Altaf! All night he wanted to hang out with us, drink tea with us, eat with us...The next morning he was waiting outside our hotel to take us to the train station...He kept trying to convince him to stay for two more days and when we told him that we were thinking of heading north, he asked if we would buy him a train ticket so that he could go with us since he has friends in Goa to stay with...of course then we quickly said that we had just gotten an email from some friends and decided to go to Kochin. We quickly bought our ticket, grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed for the train. Of course that didn't stop Altaf from following us the whole way and even buying a platform ticket so that he could wait on the platform with us. To his credit, he was wonderful to us and even tried to get us a seat in the common car (the reserved class was sold out) to no avail. He also held to his word and never asked us for money (although we gave him some anyway) and as the train pulled out of the station he kept yelling to us "don't forget to write me!!!" Thus, the story of how we landed in Kochi! We never did get a seat on the train and thus stood for 5 hours. It was not as bad as we thought and we spent most of the time talking to some students who were amazed that we were in the common class car. We fully expected Altaf to poke his head out from us a seat or on top of the train and say "hey guys, here I am, I decided to join you!"

Love to you all from Kochi!

-Kevin & Leslie