North India

North India

It's been two weeks since I've written a post and I'll struggle to recap on all we've done, I'm not sure where to start...I guess the recent wedding, the anticipated highlight of our India visit, is a great place.

We met our friends James and Bronnie for a third and final time in Amritsar, picking them up at the airport and whisking off in a taxi to a city called Bathinda. We where held up by a sit in protest on the highway, just 5km out of Bathinda, so we arrived a bit late and had to rush straight to Karrendeep's house where the family was preparing for the evening wedding celebrations. We arrived just in time to join in on getting some henna done on our arms and hands, then Bronnie and I both had to hang out slightly helpless for a good hour+ while it dried. 

Several more hours passed and we wondered when the party would be starting. The plan was for dinner/ partying on Saturday, followed by more formal ceremony on the Sunday.

Finally at about 9pm we headed to the venue for an interesting night of dancing, very loud music, yummy food and a bit too much attention from the wedding photographers. I'm sure we had a photo with almost every guest, but it was lovely to be made so welcome at the wedding.

The next days events where similar to the previous evening, but with some beautiful ceremony thrown in, such as Karen arriving in traditional dress on a white horse, and my favorite part of every wedding, seeing the bride dressed up in her gorgeous wedding dress. Oh, and on the Sunday,  Bronnie and I wore traditional India clothes too. Bronnie wore her custom made sari and looked stunning, and I wore a very bling outfit that the family kindly arranged for me.

All in all it was a beautiful occasion that we where thrilled to be apart of, and another great opportunity to share with James and Bron.

Previous to the wedding, we travelled through some amazing places as we worked our way up North from Mumbai. We learnt to make Malai Kofta's at a cooking class in a lakeside town called Udaipur. We checked out the best fort we've seen in India in Jodhpur. We did an overnight camel safari in Jaisalmer where we slept under the stars on sand dunes (loved this). In Delhi we joined in on carnival festivities during their Navaratri festival, and finally in Amritsar we enjoyed a free lunch at the beautiful Sikh Golden Temple and got stuck into the dance party like atmosphere at the India/ Pakistan boarder crossing.

This concludes our very busy, quite amazing time in India. We have travelled a lot of km's have seen many sides of this remarkable country, and we leave having had a great experience.

Hampi, Goa and Mumbai

Hampi

An unusually cool town, our brief trip to Hampi was well worth the diversion inland. Hampi is a small settlement in the middle of flat plains, with a landscape scattered with oversized boulders and 14th century ruins indicating it was once a bustling trading hub.

The locals have in recent years settled in the ruins, using the foundations to build their houses and shops, but the site is being restored to preserve what is left, and the locals are being encouraged to move 3km down the road. What remains of the old town is a just a few streets of tourist accommodation and local housing amongst a crumbling mess of demolished buildings. 

We hired bikes and a guide to show us around and explain the history of the ruins.  We finished the day with a climb up a nearby mountain for a panoramic view and a gorgeous sunset.

Moving on from Hampi, we headed back to the coast for two relaxing days at Goa's southern beach-Canacona- with our friends James and Bronnie. So good to see them again- we spent the days swimming in the sea-retreating in the heat of the day to a beach side restaurant for cocktails. 

An overnight train plucked us from paradise to the city sprawl of Mumbai. A pungent mix of wealth and poverty, we saw as much as we could in 1 and 1/2 days through a city tour with a local guide. He took us through the rich intercity suburbs to the slums Mumbai is well known for. My initial reaction was that the slums aren't 'that' bad, many with satellite dishes and set amongst lively markets and busy industry like recycling sorting- there is a strong community feel. But none have toilets and most probably don't have running water. And the waterways that surround the neighborhoods and thick and toxic. And as we pull away from the city, these shack neighborhoods just keep going. The scenery of India is certainly changing has we leave the South.

Coastal India

Cruising up the Coast

We are on a day train from beachside Goa to an place inland called Hampi. We have sleeper class tickets again, which means chilling with the locals, but it doesn't matter for a day trip. In fact, it's great sitting amongst a big family, watching all the goings on-seat hopping, chatty children, card playing, hair brushing, continuous home cooked food being shared around, chai and curry sellers working the aisle. It's like being in someone's home.

The adults and kids are friendly and chatting to Hamish and I, with few words and mostly smiles and gestures. We keep getting offered food, and the adults insist we try the egg flavored digestives and the breath fresher, which tastes like rose perfume.

We have been cruising up the coast at a steady but enjoyable pace. We stopped for two days at a quiet beach near Kannur for Hamish's birthday and splashed out on some beach front homestay accommodation for the occasion.  The food was amazing (typical coconut flavors of South Indian food) over long conversations at the dinner table, just awesome.

We kicked on up the coast to Goa on an overnight train, and spent two days speeding around on a scooter checking out the forts, churches, temples and Portuguese era houses within the three main areas- North, central and south Goa.

South Goa was the most beautiful, so after a two day trip inland to Hampi, we will return to South Goa for two days of chillaxing with James and Bronny, before heading up to Mumbai! 

Keralan backwaters

Keralan backwaters under a full moon

Hamish and I are now in Alappy, 2 hours down south from Kochi. We are here to tour the Keralan backwaters on a converted rice barge house boat. We got a tip from a German couple on a good place to hire a small private boat, complete with captain, driver and chief, and our setup is amazing. It's a public holiday today (Ghandi's birthday) and lots of Indian groups have hired out boats for family gatherings (and what sounds like a lot of karaoke) so the waterways are almost as busy as the roads!

This avo, we putted around palm fringed canals and waterways, and have parked up at a quiet lake for a night under a full moon. Bliss! 

Tomorrows challenge is to catch our first train. We have been trying to buy our tickets online for days, but the booking site is rubbish, so we will have to try our luck at the station!

South India

South India

Three flights in one day transported us suprisingly easily from Nepal down to the South of India. Madurai was our first taste of India, a hot and dusty city, but with intriguing hints of ancient history and culture evident in daily life.

We booked ourselves into a government hotel, the best available choice amongst slim pickings, but a perfectly good base for exploring the impressive 2 acre sized Sir Meenakshi Hindu Temple, an ancient palace, local bazaars, the flower market and the Ghandi museum.

The hindu temple was the star attraction, a lively meeting point for just about everybody, and all sorts of worship and family gatherings where in progress when we visited.

We returned for a second visit to the hindu temple at night to witness an interesting nightly ceremony where statues of the god Shiva and goddess Meenakshi are whisked in a frernzy around the temple by priests before settling in a romantic bed chamber for the night. It was such an ancient practice, I don't imagine it would have been much different 500 or 1000 

After visiting Madurai we caught a local bus over to the mountains to a town called Munnar for a few days of blissful relaxation. We settled on a basic homestay, and while the ceiling mould and bucket and cup shower might have been a reason to keep looking around, it was amongst the only places set in the middle of a tea plantation, so we where more than happy.

We have now moved on to the south west coast, to a very touristy place (but in all the right ways) called Fort Kochi. It's like a little Portugal, with white wash buildings and an array of churches.

Today was the most amazing day- 7.30am 2 hour yoga class with a beautifully bearded Indian yoga instructor, where Hamish was told (as a beginner) he was a natural. Post yoga, we had the best brunch of our trip at an art cafe, followed by a site seeing tour during which Hamish splurged on a rug which will apparently be posted to our house (if where lucky). Then afternoon tea of chocolate  cake and tea at another awesome cafe...

Finally our day finished off with a cooking class in the evening, in a local lady's tiny kitchen. We cooked 5 Keralan dishes, half of the time under candlelight and Hamish's phone torch, as the power cuts out here too.

Just loving India so far.