I don't think I was fully prepared for just how different the south of India was going to be compared to the north. I had just got used to the chaos which was Varanasi and Kolkata when I found myself driving in the taxi from Kochi airport, on a flat well maintained road, past lots of green palm trees, European style buildings, and very little litter. It was a bit of a shock to the system and truely felt like I had landed in a completely different country. I arrived late at my hostel in the seaside town of Fort Cochin, and tried to sleep as the air con over the last couple of days and on the plane had given me a cold... again. In the morning I woke and realised another difference, it was extremely humid, where the north had been dry heat. I had to adjust myself to feeling sweaty all the time, just like I had done in places like Thailand. I decided not to waste any time and rented a moped that day with an American girl called Maddie and we zoomed around the town. We stopped at the Jewish sector of the town. Yes, I was just as surprised as I am sure you are to find that there was a old Jewish quarter in an Indian town. There was even a synagogue whoch I had a quick look around and learnt some of the history of the area.
The king of Kochi had seen that Jews were being persecuted and had decided to dedicate a part of the town to any Jews seeking refuge. Nowadays, only 2 Jewish families remain and the synagogue and surrounding beautiful terraced buildings are a popular tourist destination, many of them turned into shops selling lots of very tempting items (Bonnie, I may or may not have bought your christmas present here)
You can imagine how disoriantated I felt, walking around these very European streets, but I must admit, it was a welcome change and I was very interested too see this side of India, a country that has hosted so many cultures (welcome or not). Maddie and I had some lunch and continued on our bikes out of the town and into the nature that surrounds it. Kerela, the state which Kochi is found in, is most famous for its series of interlinked rivers which are known as 'the backwaters'. We drove past many small towns and lazy rivers and noticed, strangely, a lot of communist political posters, which I never got the chance to ask a local about.
Kerela is India's wealthiest and most educated state, with nearly 100% literacy. You can feel this as you move around, almost everyone is able to speak English and there is a definite lack of litter compared to other states I have visited. So, perhaps with this focus on education, people feel more free to challenge the current political system? That evening Maddie and I went to watch a traditional dance show which was pretty weird but wonderful. The whole story is told through music, singing and gesture. Every movement the performers make means something and the performers study for years to perfect their act. Both dancers had detailed make up and costume and it made for a pretty fantastic spectacle, reminding me a lot of the dance show I had been to see with Jess in Bali, which makes sense as that style had been bought there by Indian tradesmen many years ago.
On the 20th I experienced the backwaters with a day long backwater tour on a traditional wooden house boat. We spent the day floating slowly down the mirror-like rivers and the surrounding where just so green and dense, I felt like I was in Jungle Book. It was extremely peaceful to watch the man gently paddling our boat in the right direction using a long bamboo stick and to hear nothing but the nature around us.
We had a delicious thali for lunch and moved onto a smaller boat to make our way through the narrower areas. We stopped at various points of interest including a sodium hydroxide factory, where they used clam shells from the river to make the powder, a house where they make coconut rope using a simple spindle and coconut husk to make the super strong rope and a spice farm, where I saw a cinnamon tree for the first time (to be honest I didn't even know it came from a tree!). It began to rain heavily and we jumped in the minivan and drove back to Fort Cochin.
The next morning a caught a bus with two other girls from my hostel and journeyed to Munnar, a green, cool, tea plantation town in northern Kerela. I arrived and booked a private room with a very very comfy bed and relaxed for a while. I decided to go for a walk alone around the local area and had a great time. I was walking and smiling to myself through the incredible scenery thinking about how lucky I am and enjoying as the sky turned different colours as the the sun started to set. Travelling solo is awesome.
I had an early night and was up bright and early the next day for a morning trek. I met a few more people who were staying in my hostel including an American couple and a woman from Germany who had packed up her job and followed her dream to come to India and train to be a yoga teacher, which was pretty inspiring. We walked for hours up into the mountains, getting some beautiful views and eating a big breakfast at the top. It started to rain a bit, which was a bit of a downer but we battled through and it was totally worth it.
The main downside of it being so wet there was that the leeches were out in full force. So when we made it back to the town we uncovered all the bites on our feet that just didn't stop bleeding for ages afterwards. Eww.
We were all so hungry by the time we had returned (unlike the leeches who had already feasted) we went out to a restaurant that the American couple recommended and I had the largest, most delicious thali I have ever had. Oh my word, it was good. And they just kept filling up your banana leaf plate every time you finished something! All for only about £1.80 + £0.20 for the best chai so far.
As it gets closer to the end of the trip I realise that I can't stick around too long in one place, so I caught a long bus out of Munnar to Mysore the following day. Getting the bus ticket was another classic Asian backpacker story where everything works out in the end. The day before I had asked the owner of my guesthouse how I would get to Mysore and he had told me that I would have to catch three buses or a very expensive taxi. The day I was going to travel I was stressing myself out thinking about the journey ahead and when I checked online it looked as though the sleeper bus I was supposed to take was fully booked! I saw the owner and in passing told him about my situation and whether he knew any other way there and he replied 'Get the bus from here.' I paused, looking puzzled and he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world 'The bus to Mysore leaves here at 3.' Of course it does. The journey itself wasn't great an involved me sitting upright all night with a big snoring Indian guy next to me, but it got me there.
I arrived really early in the morning in Mysore and grabbed a rickshaw which got lost, then finally found my hostel where there was a sleepy guy waiting to let me in and give me a bed to catch some shut eye. When I woke up I met the other girl who was sharing my dorm, Victoria, who was from Hampshire and who I hit it off with almost instantly. We decided to go and explore the town that day and head for the Palace first. It was a very impressive building, built not too long ago and designed by a British architect which you can tell by the real mix of Indian and European design within.
We went for some lunch and then wandered around the markets for hours, taking in all the sights and smells. There was an especially beautiful flower market, which went on for ages and was a burst of colour.
We met a man called Sam and he took us to some other little shops, including a beautiful little old pharmacy, some skilled carpenters and a incense and oils shop where we both bought some oil, got some free insense sticks and relaxed with Sam and the owner for a while. We knew Sam had probably been trying to sell us stuff this whole time, but we didn't mind because we had a brilliant time being toured around by him and learning about the old trades of Mysore (plus my oil smells amazing and was a right bargain). The next day we began with a very early yoga session with a professor of Yoga and the four girls who were staying at the hostel. It was Astanga Vinyasa yoga and was mainly focused on flexibility so for many of the poses I found myself in strange positions and in a lot of pain. I really enjoyed the challenge though and managed to do a free standing headstand to top it all off, which I was very proud of. I think I will look for this style of yoga classes when I get back to Brighton and become a super flexible yogi.
After such a 'shanti' (the hindi word for peace/relax) start to the day, Victoria and I stressed out about buying her a last minute train ticket to join me on my journey to Hampi that evening. One thing I will NOT miss about India is their train booking system, I realise how much I love nationalrail.co.uk, which is not something I thought I would come to India and discover. We left the lovely hostel, Sonder, where the staff had been so friendly and helpful that evening and caught our overnight train to Hampi, a destination I had been very excited about for a while after hearing so many good reviews.
I will write a seperate post all about Hampi, because you guessed it, I absolutely loved it there.
Thanks for reading
Emma x
More Boo-Boo than Yogi!
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