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Published: November 25th 2015
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a tequila sunrise to celebrate arriving in Goa! Goa and Kerala I’ve now arrived in Bangalore after a really relaxing trip to Goa and Kerala for one week. My journey further down South India started with an overnight train from Mumbai CST, the station where they filmed the final scene in Slumdog Millionaire, to Karmali Station in Goa, where I took a tuktuk to Anjuna beach the place where I’d chosen to stay for the following four nights. Anjuna is a touristy beach but a lot quieter than the more popular Candolim or Baga beaches. I arrived at Roadside Hostel and was shown to my room, a shared female dorm, to be greeted by three really friendly girls who straight away invited me to the beach that afternoon. I spent my first afternoon in Goa exploring the Anjuna flea market which occurs every Wednesday and then relaxing on the beach with a tequila sunrise in one hand and my kindle in the other! This is how I continued to spend the rest of my days in Goa which was absolute bliss!
On my first night a group of us girls went to a nearby night club for ‘ladies night’ where we had a very cheap night –
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cows on the beach in Goa - yep still in India! free entry and free drinks all night! It felt strange to be clubbing again as I haven’t done that in a while but it was a really good night and the owner of the hostel accompanied us too so I felt really safe. On the Thursday a group of us decided to rent some scooters for the day and we rode to another beach called Vagator beach. It was super fun going in convoy on scooters with new friends and in the evening I even tried out driving the scooter home from the restaurant; I made it back in one piece but I still think I need a bit of practise before I decide to buy one myself!
It’s been so fun staying in hostels and meeting other travellers who are very similar to me, I met some great girls in Goa and it was really amazing that we were all checking out of the hostel on the same day! On our last night myself, Verity (from England) and Laura (from Australia) went out to a really fancy Australian restaurant which was opened by one of the Australian masterchef finalists and overlooked the beautiful sea. We had a really
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about to go riding scooters for the day delicious, but slightly expensive, meal with many cocktails and red wine consumed! It was a great way to spend our final night together in sunny Goa.
On the Sunday I took another overnight train to Kerala from Madgaon station to Ernakulam station. As I was checking out of my hostel in Goa I got chatting to a girl called Özge from London who had been staying in the same hostel but I hadn’t met her as she’d been busy doing a diving course all week. It turned out that she was getting on the same overnight train as me to Kerala and had booked into the same hostel as me in Fort Kochi! So when we got off the train at Ernakulam we took a local bus together to Fort Kochi and after asking many people for directions eventually found Maritime Hostel where I was to stay for two nights.
As I said in my previous blog every new place I visit in India is completely different and Kerala was no exception. It is very far South and the hottest place I’ve visited in India, it also has a huge Portugese Influence and there are a lot of
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a wonderful final meal in Goa with great friends Christian and Catholic churches around – it’s very strange to see Jesus on signs around town rather than the Hindu Gods that I got used to around Palampur. Due to the Portugese influence I felt like I was walking around somewhere in the Med rather than India.
Fort Kochi is a very pretty historic fishing town in Kerala, it’s home to the famous Chinese fishing nets which are an attraction for all tourists visiting. On the first day myself, Özge, and a guy called Ryan from America who we’d met in the hostel, went for some lunch in a boutique art café in the town, we then wondered around the main boardwalk of Fort Kochi where the Chinese fishing nets are taking photos and chatting to the various market stall sellers. It was here that I tried my first ever street coconut! The man cut a hole in the top of the coconut first and let me drink the water with a straw; it had a very subtle taste but was slightly sweet and refreshing. After I drank all of the water I handed the coconut back to the man and he cut it open revealing the coconut meat
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having a cultural evening watching a traditional Kathakali dance show inside. Unfortunately this time my coconut didn’t have too much meat in it but it still tasted good.
In the evening I attended a Kathakali dance show which is the traditional dance of Kerala. It was really interesting as I was able to watch the main male dancer putting on his makeup before the show. He used bright colours to cover his face; it almost looked quite clown like! The show itself was really entertaining, it started with a solo female dancer dressed in white with beautiful jewellery on, she danced a traditional erotic dance. Then a man dressed as a woman in a huge dress and comical makeup came on stage and demonstrated all sorts of emotions and themes by literally making his facial expressions dance! Finally the man that I’d seen putting on the makeup previously joined the other dancer and they proceeded in the finale where I’m not entirely sure what happened, but it involved a lot of crazy facial expressions, huge costumes and makeup, a lot of noise from the live band and a fake (I hope) sword that was being waved in all directions constantly!
On Tuesday myself and a group of people
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relaxing on the backwaters of Kerala from the hostel went on a backwaters boat tour in Kerala. This is noted as one of the top things to do whilst in Kerala and I’d been recommended it by many people and I’m so glad that I did. It was such a relaxing day; floating on a boat that was being punted by two Keralan men, soaking in the sun and incredibly peaceful and beautiful surroundings. We got the chance to see two of the industries that occur in the backwaters; calcium powder being made from clam shells of the waters and incredibly strong rope being made from six month soaked coconut hair, these were both really interesting to witness. Afterwards we floated to a small island where we were given a traditional Keralan lunch on a banana leaf. It was a vegetarian meal of the fluffiest rice I’ve ever seen with a variety of different spicy veg dishes on the side, so delicious. After lunch we were taken onto some smaller canoes where we explored the really thin and jungle like back waters and were taken to a tiny village where they grow many different spice trees. We were able to smell and taste these different spices
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a delicious Keralan meal on a banana leaf and asked to guess what they might be. For a while I fancied building myself a house on one of these backwater islands and living out there, but then I thought about the intense heat of the South and reconsidered! I really had a brief but wonderful stay in Kerala and feel like I got a good taste of what this magical state has to offer.
So far I’ve had an amazing experience of the South of India; I’ve been very surprised to see how English is very widely spoken, particularly in the big cities Also the food is very different; Beef is often found on the menus and the curries tend to be a lot spicier than in the North. But the main thing I’ve been very struck by is how vastly different it is to be a tourist travelling in India as to actually living in a community in India, as I did in Palampur for five months – I know which one I prefer!
K xx
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