12/30: Trip to Cochin
Posted by: Brent
Well, we have safely arrived in Cochin. Getting here was quite the adventure.
When we woke up this morning we heard the news of Saddam's execution. Later in the day we found out that there would be a state wide strike protesting the execution and that no cars would be on the road from 3 until midnight. The plan was for us to get going and get out of town before this strike. As we got to the city about half way to Cochin there were more and more people protesting in the streets. Someone put a poster with a picture of Saddam on the windshield of our bus as we passed.
As we came upon a large crowd of people in the street there were a few men on motorcycles directing us to turn right off the main road so we turned onto a slightly smaller side street. Those me then caught up with us and told our driver to follow them. They led us down a narrow back road and finally into the town's police station.
The police station is a concrete building with a courtyard/parking lot and bout a 5 foot wall arround the property. They told us that we should not attempt to drive through these crowds of protesters but instead wait about an hour until the crowds disperse.
The people protesting were showing their dissaproval of the execution. They view our president as a terrorist and maybe wouldn't have been too happy with a bus full of Americans driving through their crowd.
So we sat at the police station for about an hour and a half. All of the police were very nice to us. The set up chairs inside so that we could sit and wait. One of them handed out a piece of candy to each of us. At one point we started playing cards to pass the time but were quickly told not to do that. It turns out that card playing is either illegal or inappropriate in this area. Good to know. :)
When it started to get dark we set out again. This time with a police escort. We also closed all the curtains on the bus and tried to stay out of site as best we could. The police lead us to the edge of the town. We tipped them and were on our way.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. The town we are in now a bit more western. We are in a very nice hotel right now too. We'll be here for a couple of nights.
Here are some pictures of our drive today and a few at dinner too.
When we woke up this morning we heard the news of Saddam's execution. Later in the day we found out that there would be a state wide strike protesting the execution and that no cars would be on the road from 3 until midnight. The plan was for us to get going and get out of town before this strike. As we got to the city about half way to Cochin there were more and more people protesting in the streets. Someone put a poster with a picture of Saddam on the windshield of our bus as we passed.
As we came upon a large crowd of people in the street there were a few men on motorcycles directing us to turn right off the main road so we turned onto a slightly smaller side street. Those me then caught up with us and told our driver to follow them. They led us down a narrow back road and finally into the town's police station.
The police station is a concrete building with a courtyard/parking lot and bout a 5 foot wall arround the property. They told us that we should not attempt to drive through these crowds of protesters but instead wait about an hour until the crowds disperse.
The people protesting were showing their dissaproval of the execution. They view our president as a terrorist and maybe wouldn't have been too happy with a bus full of Americans driving through their crowd.
So we sat at the police station for about an hour and a half. All of the police were very nice to us. The set up chairs inside so that we could sit and wait. One of them handed out a piece of candy to each of us. At one point we started playing cards to pass the time but were quickly told not to do that. It turns out that card playing is either illegal or inappropriate in this area. Good to know. :)
When it started to get dark we set out again. This time with a police escort. We also closed all the curtains on the bus and tried to stay out of site as best we could. The police lead us to the edge of the town. We tipped them and were on our way.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. The town we are in now a bit more western. We are in a very nice hotel right now too. We'll be here for a couple of nights.
Here are some pictures of our drive today and a few at dinner too.
Nancy wrote: