FCE train schedule for May 28th
Kristen and spent Memorial Day weekend (and our 4th wedding anniversary!) in Manakara, a sleepy coastal town on the eastern coast of Madagascar. It was a welcome break from Fianar and the cold and overcast skies that had moved in and settled over the area for the past couple of weeks. We took the FCE (see Crossing the Corridor by Drasine post) and it was a lot more comfortable than the drasine.
We left in the early morning, under the usual grey sky and feeling cold, but by the time we were descending out of the corridor, the sun had come out and we started peeling off our layers of jackets and sweaters.
The ride was long, but interesting. If we had wanted, we could have enjoyed unique culinary delights at each stop. Of course there was the ubiquitous banana and other seasonal fruit like papayas and mandarin oranges. At one stop we bought a bunch of finger-sized bananas to munch on. But the main attractions were the beignets, banana/rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves, samosas, little red sausages, crayfish, and chicken livers. It seemed like some passengers managed to eat something at every stop. We weren’t feeling that adventurous, so we stuck with the tuna fish sandwiches we brought from home, and the bananas.
We got into town around 3 in the afternoon. We were warned about the pousse-pousse (rickshaw) drivers at the station would, that they would overwhelm us and we weren’t disappointed. We weren’t interested in riding in a pousse-pousse, but we wanted help with our baggage, so I picked out a strong looking guy, negotiated a price, and off we went to our hotel. I couldn’t tell, but I think as other p.p.s went buy, they were taking the piss out of our driver because his fare was walking and not riding. We made it to the hotel, the Padula, which was right on the beach. It looked like it had seen better days, but compared to some of the other properties around it, the Padula was doing just fine.
The rough surf (and sharks) kept us out of the water, but from our room we could hear the waves and feel the breeze, which was lovely and helped compensate for the lack of hot water, absence of electricity, and sad mattress and straw-filled pillow. I thought Kristen might start crying at one point, but she soon took comfort in our guidebook. She read to me (in as convincing a voice as she could muster) that one contributing traveler thought the Padula was the best hotel they had stayed in during their entire trip. Our guidebook also recommended the food at the Padula, so after we checked in, we ordered up dinner for that evening: lobster (spiny) and fried fish (whole) as main courses and Bananas Josephine as dessert.
After making our dinner order, we struck off to see the town. There wasn't much to see aside from a game of soccer being played on a "pitch" that surly must have claimed many an ankle over the years, and a brand-spanking new gym, which-- despite advertising being open 7 days a week--was closed. By the time we made it back to the hotel, the sun had set and we were ready to have some good seafood. The lobster was quite good. Kristen really was impressed with a vinagrette concoction that was served in place of drawn butter. The fish, however, was disappointing; it had an earthy (that's being kind) flavor, and reasoned later that perhaps we made the mistake of assuming our fish would have been from the ocean and not the river. And the Bananas Joshephine for dessert was underwhelming. What's so special about sliced bananas served over yogurt? At this point, we began to question the credibility of our guidebook contributers.
The next day was Sunday and we awoke to the sound of music. The church next door was warming up for its service and treated us to Celine Dion's Titantic hit. After a revolting breakfast--blue band margarine and some coffee that even I couldn't drink--we struck off into town. We decided that we should really reserve our return seats back to Fianar, so we passed by the train station. The station was deserted, except for some kids playing inside and a guardian. We told the guardian we wanted to buy tickets for Monday's train and he told us to come back at 3, when the next train would be arriving and when there would be someone around who could help us. I was ready to leave, but Kristen's powers of persuasion are not to be underestimated because the next thing I knew the guardian was telling us to wait a minute as he mounted his bike. Off he pedaled and we waited for him to return on the platform.
Walking back to the hotel, with reserved and confirmed tickets in hand, we stopped and bought fresh coconuts to drink their milk. We grabbed a deck of cards, reapplyed suncream, and got some lunch. We had a lovely, leisurely lunch and the odd 65cl THB was drunk (mostly by me). Maybe it was the alcohol, but at some point we decided the Padula just wasn't quite the romantic getaway we envisioned for our anniversary, and that we should look for a better hotel. It had to be the alcohol that led us, after asking the restaurant owner for directions to guidebook-recommended hotel, to hop into a pousse-pousse. We spent the next hour fruitlessly trying to change our lodging, and after all the commotion, we wound up right back where we started.
Resigned to spending a second night at the Padula, we walked the beach. First we walked up to the jetty and warded off offers to buy precious stones and other tourist trinkets. Then, on the way back to the Padula we stopped and sat on a bench to watch a group of young kids doing flips and cartwheels off a high bank into the soft sand below. They were totally into it, so much so that they didn't even notice us noticing them.
The next morning we caught the train back to Fianar. We saw familar faces, other tourists making the same circuit. Kristen and I both agreed that Manakara is okay, but it's really the experience of the FCE that makes the trip worthwhile. As we climbed back onto the plateau, the clouds reappeared and engulfed the hills. But not before I was able to get a picture of some valley rice fields.
The train made record time back to Fianar and we picked up where we left off before leaving.
