Location: Palolem, Goa. Panjim, Goa. Date: 23rd May 2010

Tessa says: Sand between our toes sitting beachside at a restaurant eating nachos Jared says “ooo I like Palolem!” Palolem is a laid-back beach town. There are enough foreigners here to poke a stick at, all the ladies wearing clothes of the western world making me feel almost out of place in my Salwar Kameez (Indian pant and suit top). There are hordes of Indian tourists here and all the Indian tourist men seem to smoke, drink beer, wear jockeys for swimsuits and stare at the foreign ladies in their bikinis. I guess it’s like a mini holiday from the more conservative parts of India for them.
We stay in a basic hotel room, which has cable tv and hot water all for the low price of 300rp ($10NZ) a night and it’s only about 2 minutes walk from the beach so we’re happy.
A restaurant “Cheeky Chapati” on the corner from our holiday home advertised a quiz night so Jared and I got there early for some brain warm-up exercises of Connect 4. Thinking we’d be better off being in a bigger team than just us two we offered our expertise and were snapped up by some long-term expat stayers. Our team totaled 6 and because the rest of them were Brits, we opted for the team name “Upside down-unders”.
Needless to say with our mighty brain power our team won (I think we were just really lucky because the quiz was aimed at Brits and we had a load of em) the grand total of 1000rp which we split between us.
After feeling rested, relaxed and beached up we moved onto Panjim and Old Goa. We arrived for the weekend so things were pretty quiet, the architecture and food had a real Portuguese influence.

Jared says: Palolem beach reminded me a lot of some of the Thai beaches, although the sand wasn’t quite so white and the water not so blue. But the feel of the place was very similar, with bars and restaurants dotting the beachfront, most even protruding as far as the high tide mark. There was also a similar mix of holidaymakers, ranging from those like ourselves, just taking a quick stopover, to the long-term stayer, such as one of the girls on our quiz team who had been in the area six months. Then there was also the ex-pats who had decided to extend their holiday and make this little patch of paradise their permanent homes. The food was also on a similar scale to many Thai beaches, with a mixture of international and Indian foods on the menu, but neither quite matching the quality if you were eating them in their regions of origin. Cheeky Chapati gave us our best meals here, with the overweight English owner obviously teaching his predominantly Indian staff well in the fine arts of good “chips, eggs and baked beans” as well as some great steamed vege and mashed potato. One other thing they do well in Goa is cold beer, with both the price and availability far more satisfactory than anywhere else we have been in India, which definitely kept me happy, maybe a little too happy on occasions.
Although we could have relaxed at the beach for another couple of weeks there is still plenty more of India to see so we headed to Goa’s capital Panjim. The city itself was quite nice by Indian standards and the area we stayed was very sleepy with rows of big old Portuguese villas lining the narrow streets. We took a trip to see Old Goa, the previous capital. Here there is an absolutely amazing number of big old churches, again with the Portuguese influence really showing through. The size and grandiose of many reminded me of Rome, with one even modeled on the original St Peters cathedral.
This was all definitely a different side of Goa you don’t hear so much about, but now for us it is time to go back to the beaches for a bit to get in some more R&R before some big travel days we have coming up.

Palolem
Accomo: Pritam Cottages, The classic concrete bunker style room but excellent value for money. 300rp ***.
Eats: Cheeky Chappati, a little expensive but quality food on every occasion ****.
Cuba, the most popular of the beachside eateries, but definitely nothing special on the food front for us **1/2.

Panjim
Accomo: Comfort Guest House, another basic room, but with a very slow fan and only a trickle of water for the shower. 400rp **.
Eats: Fishland, quality curries at a good price made this our regular eating spot ****.

Location: Hampi, Karnataka. Date: 18th May, 2010

Jared says: As we drove into Hampi our rickshaw driver stopped to say “welcome to boulder city” and we gazed out to a quite surreal landscape which is a mixture of massive rock formations, with ancient ruins scattered throughout. After coming through our first overnight train journey unscathed, with us both getting a good few hours sleep, we were still a bit on the sluggish side, however, the beauty of the place quickly woke us up. We went for a walk round the sleepy little bazaar area, where shops and even the police station are built among the ruins and there is a big old temple at one end. We walked up some steps at the other end of the bazaar to find numerous ruins and a view of a big bazaar and temple that we just weren’t expecting to be so close and accessible. But that is the beauty of the place, and we found out the next day as we took a rickshaw tour around the big sights. We didn’t drive for more than 6-7 minutes each time before we were stopping to see another amazing piece of the 1500s nestled among the huge boulders. It is amazing to think what the area must have been like in its prime, with the Hindu dynasty that populated the area reaching 500,000 people. This was all ended quickly with a Muslim onslaught and although the ruins have been pilfered for their most valuable parts (numerous elephant statues have no trunks for example), there are still places left the same as they were in the 16^th century. We saw elephant stables, palace bases, bathing pools, watch towers, summer palaces and a number of other ruin types that overall gave a real feel for how the place must have been when it was a thriving community. It is also a very religious area, with the temples some of the best preserved of the ancient buildings. The best of them have graphic murals carved in the stone depicting different Hindu stories as well as numerous images of the various deities, among the ornately columned structures. All truly spectacular and again very different to other sights we have seen on our travels.

One other difference to other Indian places was the ratio of foreign tourists, This was the first spot we had been since Varkala beach that seemed more set up for overseas tourists than local ones. We experienced this in effect on the first day when we went for lunch at a restaurant recommended by the lonely planet. The Mango Tree was a great restaurant that was almost carved into the river bank, but as we walked in we were a little taken aback by the full house of western faces. It was good to have a few fellow travelers to talk to about various experiences and journey plans, but one can only imagine what the place must be like during peak season, as we were there during a very quiet time. Hampi is such a must see place I think it was well worth us bearing the off season heat (40 degree days), to get the majority of ruins to ourselves, or close to it, on most occasions.

Tessa says: On asking most travelers of India where their favorite place was to visit, almost unanimously the answer was Hampi. So even though the thought of melting in the Hampi heat made us weary we boarded our first overnight train. We traveled sleeper class, three tier, no AC, I was on the lower bunk, Jared in the middle. We were relieved to find that most people stick to their reserved bunk however I did have a little girl maybe 4 years old sleeping beneath me on the floor and her Mother next to her between the bunks. The 13 hour ride was smooth and the fans kept us cool enough that we both got a fairly decent sleep and felt more refreshed than if we had been on an Indian bus for 6 hours.

The first person to greet us coming off the train was a friendly rickshaw driver named Rahul, he offered us a lift into Hampi for a fair price so we clambered into his wagon and set off. He suggested a guesthouse for us to stay in and after our positive experiences with our previous two drivers we thought we’d give it a shot. He took us too Suresh Guesthouse who was run by an overweight Indian man who seemed to just sit in the rooftop restaurant above the Guesthouse yelling at a group of about 5 lads who seemed to do everything, from cleaning the rooms to running errands. Our room had neon green walls and was basic but only cost 300rp ($10nz) a night. Sitting in the rooftop restaurant having a very average breakfast of omelet a guy, Chris, that we met in Ooty and had spent a little time with in Mysore rolled up. Taking it as a sign that we were in the right place at the right time we set off on foot to explore some of the sites around Hampi Bazaar.

The only way I can explain the ruins of Hampi is a mixture of Angkor and Rome. It has majestic soaring temples with beehive shaped roofs and columned structures that would not look out of place in Rome. Visiting these ruins, reading and hearing about them I could imagine the throngs of people, Holymen, and Royals that used to work, worship, rule and live here. It’s as if this vibrant bustling past is imprinted in the very stone that we could now walk around on and try to glean a better understanding of by getting closer to it.

The next day Rahul took us on a rickshaw tour of Hampi, most people seem to hire pedal bikes but with the heat of the day easily soaring over 40 degrees we opted for a little open air in the back of the rickshaw. A lot of rickshaw drivers call it “turning on the AC”. We also had a young boy with us from the guesthouse who was the nephew of the manager and was on school holidays. He had very limited English but eagerly clambered over the ruins and was on most occasions more curious of us white folk than he was of the scenery.

Towards sunset we discovered Rahul’s passion for photography grabbing our camera from us he asked us to “pose romantic” for him so he could take photos at various monuments. Jared and I now have over a hundred photos of us “posing romantic” and some of them have come out beautiful. For the end of the tour he took us up a mountain of boulders where we could watch the sunset over the ruins. We were the only people there, we took a moment to watch the sun slink behind the boulders and reflect on our amazing day. It made us feel blessed to be able to have this quiet peaceful time in what can often be a harrowing whirlwind of emotions that traveling India is.

Accommo: Suresh Guesthouse, basic room, good fan most of the time but power was out most of last night which made it hot, ***.

Eats: Mango Tree, great location, tasty food. ****

New Shanti, great pizza and lasagna and good atmosphere ****.

Location: Mysore, Karnataka. Date: 15th May 2010.

Jared says: After a few bus rides up and down the steep and winding roads to the hill stations we were expecting the trip down from Ooty to be more of the same. And it was, just a far more severe version. There were 38 hairpin corners in total, each numbered as you go (and we counted down almost everyone). Although our bus was only in second or first gear the entire time, we must have gone down 1000 or so metres in about 45 minutes. The road was like a combination of some of the more hairy access roads up to some of NZ’s skifields and a ride on a roller coaster. Good fun, but happy when we made the bottom. And as we reached the flats and started to drive through National Park we were lucky enough to spot a couple of wild elephants, many wild dear and a species of monkey we had never seen.
A nice ride into town was followed by an arrival to a nice town. We were expecting Mysore to be similar to any other Indian city, but it wasn’t. The streets were clean (by Indian standards), the footpaths were wide and you could walk them with out having to worry about what or who you stood on, and the general feel of the pace was very cosmopolitan. Twice we went out for dinner and were happy to walk the 15-20 minutes home in the dark, something we had never considered before in a city. There were also shops like Levis, Nokia and Pizza Corner, the latter of which we had to try. We had one Indian and one standard vegetarian style pizza and over all they were pretty much like any average takeout pizza back home. But they were pretty expensive by Indian food standards at about 280rp ($9.50NZD) per pizza.
Also we managed to find another happy and helpful rickshaw driver to show us the sites. Julian was a super friendly guy and spoke good English as well as five other languages (he proclaimed), but at 24 he had never been to Bangalore (about three hours train away). He was super helpful while showing us the sites, and also really admired my long straight hair (as he called it), as he was trying to grow his own the same but it just wasn’t straight enough. If we are ever in Mysore again we will be getting Julian to show us around, and if anyone else is there his phone number is 09880240087
We got to see a few great temples and palaces in Mysore and also go a good dose of history of the area. Definitely the best city we have been in so far and somewhere very livable.

Tessa says: The wide streets and footpaths of Mysore was a welcome change to the dirt tracks we had previously experienced. Glittering majestic roundabouts and even signal men for crossing the road meant that we walked most places. Mysore is famous for three things, it's Palace, Sandalwood, and Incense.
Our accommodation “Hotel Roopa” on the first night was promising, being clean and with tidy décor. Unfortunately around 11pm the bugs crawled out from their hiding space. At first finding only a couple we thought we could deal with it, but 30 min later and they were crawling all over the bed. Jared spoke with reception and they changed us to another room, no upgrade, no discount just a new room but at least no bed bugs! During all our travels we have never experienced bed bugs (perhaps we are lucky!) we were disappointed that this particular Hotel had bed bugs as it is one of the more expensive hotels we have stayed in and it was recommended by the LP (Lonely Planet).
The highlight of Mysore for me was the Mysore Palace, a beautiful magical palace, situated in the heart of Mysore, at night lit up it almost looks like a mirage. Walking around the palace from grand room to hall to wrestling courtyard (that’s right!) I felt like a Princess. There are ivory inlaid doors and the soaring ceilings are stained glass. Mosaic tiles cover the floors, the over all style having an Indian-anglo-arabic influence. Mysore Palace construction was completed in 1912 for the Wodeyar maharajas.
The next highlight in Mysore was the array of food options. Three nights in a row we managed to spend a third of our budget on dinner. Having a Thai Grill (mutton, chicken, fish and prawns) on a roof top restaurant, was the first time I ate meat since being here, and didn’t have one little belly ache to complain about. We also had a delicious tandoori dish of paneer (cheese) stuffed mushrooms, potatoes and a huge family size naan which was the size of a double large pizza.


Acommo: Roopa Hotel. Bed bugs, bad service, bad time. 1106rp –
Luciya Hotel , a great view including the Palace but a little damp smelling. 700rp **

Eats: Roopa Restaurants, downstairs buffets had good options but were latish both times so a little cold and average service **1/2, upstairs fine-dining had awesome food and cocktails and location, but we paid for it ****
Café Armane, nice thali and curries ***1/2
Tiger Trail: Very expensive but ice cold beer and great tandoori mushrooms ***1/2

Location: Munnar, Kerala. Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Ooty, Tamil Nadu. Date: 12th May 2010

Tessa says: Munnar, Kerala.
We arrived at the hill station of Munnar (1524m above sea level LP) after a windy 5 hour local bus ride from Fort Cochin. Munnars two main industries are tourism and tea. The town was chock with Indian tourists fleeing the heat of the lower plains and the hills surrounding us were chock with vibrant green of the tea plant. Munnar has a mystical air too it, mist hovers over the craggy mountains and tea plantations during the morning and in some places the tea plantations roll into the distance as far as the eye can see. We met up with a nice rickshaw driver who offered to tour us round the sights of Munnar. During the off season he works in the tea plantations so was able to offer us interesting information about the life of a tea plantation worker. Only the women can pick tea and this can be done by hand or machine, which is kinda like a pair of scissors with a catcher on it, the newest leaves are green tea, the ones below these are brown tea, and the one below these, the older leaves make black tea. Black tea can also be a combination of all three leaf types. The resilient tea trees are pruned back every five years and have a life-span of 100 years Typically, a tea leaf picker will work five and a half days a week with the option of overtime. They live at the tea plantation and are provided with accommodation which looks like a little village of shacks. They earn 120rp ($4NZ) for every 22Kg that is collected. During the monsoon (heavy rains) they still can pick tea but a lot of the pathways between plants can become muddy, slippery and treacherous.

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
We were a little sad to leave Munnar as the scenery was so spectacular but we comforted ourselves with the knowledge that we would be heading up into the hills again with just a brief stop in Coimbatore. Unfortunately the highly recommended toy train from Coimbatore to Ooty was fully booked for the next week so we had to go by bus.

Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
Again we wound up the crazy roads to the hill station of Ooty (2240m above sea level LP) we were expecting Ooty to be similar to Munnar but it was quite different. Again the main industries were tourism and tea, but also coffee and vegetables. It also had a population of 93,921 (LP) making it a lot bigger than little Munnar. I’m not sure if they were re-vamping the bus station or if it’s always like that but you had to cross a muddy dirt track to get across to the main road and the throngs of people with the stench made it an unpleasant place to want to walk around in. We stayed in very basic accommodation, but our host was a lovely Bahai man that really made us feel welcomed. Due to the cooler climate we decided to go for a day trek, we baulked a little when they said it was a 16-17km walk but decided to give it a go anyway. Luckily for us Indian kilometres are way shorter than NZ kilometres.
Jared says:
Munnar, Kerala.After the slow and winding 5 hour bus ride, the rolling sea of green that met us on approach to Munnar was nothing short of magical, as was the cool temperature. However, the arrival in the small shabby and awfully busy village left us wondering just how magical. Luckily our luck with rickshaw drivers is on the improve and this guy not only found us a cheap hotel room, but we also clocked up about 13 hours traveling time with him over the next two days, as he showed us many a local sight and picture taking opportunity. Definitely a spectacular place to visit and something completely unexpected for me. It is a little sad to be leaving the state of Kerala, as it has had beauty of a level to easily match the title the locals call it (the same as New Zealand) “Gods own country”.

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
Our first experience in this state was overwhelmingly average. We were only in Coimbatore for the night to catch the train, so we were really wishing we had of continued straight to Ooty once we found it was fully booked. Admittedly it was not a tourist city so we were hoping Tamil Nadu would improve.

Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
As Tess mentioned, we were quite shocked to discover how unlike Munnar this hill station turned out to be. The magnitude of Indian tourism here was far greater, and it made it more like going out in any Indian city when we ventured onto the streets. We took the Lonely Planet’s advice and optioned for a trek to see the impressive landscape. This is something none of the Indian tourists do so we had the complete opposite of the crowded city streets, open hills. Some of the scenery wasn’t as impressive to us as what it probably is for many tourists, as it had a very New Zealand feel to it. There were rolling pastures with sheep on them (first time we had seen sheep in India), pine forests and big hills everywhere. Again this was something unexpected from India. We also walked through small Indian villages growing tea and numerous fields of vegetables, and had our lunch in one of the most local eateries you could ever encounter, where the curry was as good as it is everywhere, but the flys were far more abundant. The pinnacle of the journey found us on top of a mountain that is covered in snow during the winter, maybe 2400m above sea level and right on a big cliff. In the distance was national park, where our guide managed to point out some black bear (although we think there is a chance they were just cows). This walk made the Ooty experience far more enjoyable and for what sounded like it was gonna be a tough trek, it was a pretty easy and beautiful stroll in the end. But if I had to rate them, Munnar wins hands down for our favourite hill station so far. Maybe we will see more later in our journey, but now we are heading down from the hills and back to the city heat. At least it will be another state this time, as during our short stay we were left far from impressed with Tamil Nadu.

Munnar, Kerala.
Accommo: JJ’s Cottage, considering the level of Indian tourists we were happy enough with this small concrete box room (although the TV did stop just before the cricket was due to start) 400rp **1/2

Eats: SNR Restaurant, just down the road from our hotel and the only place we ate, as the typical Indian food was both cheap and delicious, although it was very busy. ****







Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
Accommo: Legends Inn, a proper hotel but with an expensive hotel price, 1089rp ***
Eats: Legends Inn room service, typical Indian menu but most food seemed like it had been microwaved. **

Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
Accommo: Hotel Sweekar , nice host, however very basic for the price (too be expected with how busy), first squat toilet and concrete bunkers for rooms. **1/2
Eats: Hotel Sweekar, most food delivered form different restaurant had big delicious curries, but breads and rice not so good, onsite omlettes were tasty enough but a little expensive. ***1/2

Location: Fort Cochin, Kerala. Date: 07 May 2010.

Jared says: After quite a hectic morning in Alleppey, stepping in to an air conditioned train and easily finding a couple of unoccupied seats, we were expecting it to be only a two hour respite from the full on pace of an Indian city. How pleasantly surprised we were that after a quick and painless rickshaw and ferry ride, costing the grand sum of 30 rupee ($1NZ), we arrived to the sleepy island suburb of Fort Cochin. The Lonely Planet sure got this one right, “a place in India where the number or goats on the streets outnumber the rickshaws”.

We spent the first couple of days relaxing and enjoying being able to walk to close eateries and stores down the narrow quiet streets. We did struggle at times in what was a well priced quality homestay, as we kept up the cost-saving measure of no AC and opted for sweat and a fan (which remained on 24 hours a day), as our cooling option from the 35+ degree highs.

On the third day we went on the obligatory rickshaw sightseeing tour and had a whirlwind view of the Portugese, Dutch, English inspired area. There were the obvious stops at the arts/souvenir/antique shops, which had an amazing range of well priced jewelry, fabrics and clothing, statues, carpets, and other nic-nacs, the majority of which were painstakingly hand made. The spice markets were a highlight of the 2 hour trip, with such an array of smells and tastes all around. We also saw a number of churches, temples, and museums, with some 1700s Hindu murals in the Dutch Palace of a religious devotion to equal Michael Angelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel, although on a smaller scale.

We continued the day on the tourist trail, heading to a traditional Keralan dance/play called Kathakali. It proved to be both an interesting and enjoyable display of outrageously costumed, expression orientated acting, to a beat of continuous drumming and chanting that was a little mind numbing while accurately depicting story we were seeing.

After that rather busy time, today we will be spending most of the day sitting, as we will head to the hills by bus, where we are expecting a respite from the heat to be the reward for an anywhere between and 6 and 1/2 hour journey, based on the enormously varying timeframes we’ve been told.

Tessa Says: Fort Cochin, a suburb of Kochi (population 1.4 million, LP 2009) is a beautiful quiet little town fringed with a fishing market. We had lunch at the LP highly recommended restaurant “Dal Roti”. Coming so highly recommended Jared decided to try the Mutton (goat) Thali – the first meat he’s had since being here! Unfortunately this upset his belly and meant that he couldn’t come for the cooking class that we had booked for the evening, so I braved out alone. Leelu a boisterous Indian woman, with Dubai residency ran the class which cost 500rp. I was in a group of five people, a freelance Australian camera man who had been filming the IPL and his girlfriend. He loved his cricket but proclaimed the IPL to be a very “garish, and distasteful sideshow.” And a family of Indians who live in Holland and have been their whole life. They spoke a mixture of Dutch and Hindi together. The daughter said that Indians kept approaching her telling her she was from Goa and she would say “No, I’m dutch!”

We cooked five dishes, including chappati. Below is a recipe for Thoran which is a shredded vegetable and coconut dish.

Thoran

For 2 People

300 grams of any vegetable (we used cabbage) diced or shredded finely.

1 Onion chopped

1 Chilli chopped

1 cup of shredded fresh coconut (if only desiccated coconut is available soak in warm water for 30 minutes before use)

Salt to taste

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp tumeric

Mix ingredients well, depending on vegetable add water, if using cabbage just sprinkle some water on, if potato/carrot use ½ cup of water.

Place mixture onto medium heat and steam vegetables until tender. 5 minutes for cabbage, longer for firmer vegetables.

Accommo: Orion Homestay, nice double room with tv and hot water, no AC, 500rp. ***1/2

Eats: Del Roti, strong flavoured North Indian food that although it upset Jared’s belly, we still went back to eat their Kati rolls a couple of times. ***

Talk of the Town, our regular breakfast spot with cheap and tasty Indian favourites. ***

Location: Alleppey, Kerala. Date: 04 May 2010.

Tessa Says: Our first experience of the Indian train system was hot, sticky and chaotic. Ordering tickets to Alleppey from Varkala was fairly easy but this was mainly due to the fact the ticket counter person had a good command of English. We chose to go second class, seated, no AC (air-conditioning) 70rp each (about $2NZ). We knew that the ride would be around 2 hours so if it was too full-on at least it would only be so for a short time. The seats were thinly padded bench seats that fit 4 to one. At night the seats convert into a three tier sleeping compartment. The best seat seems to be next to the window which is an open metal grate and gets a bit of breeze through. Luckily I had that seat. On the train we met an Indian man who had the appearance of an Indian rockstar, he told us about a homestay he works at and that if we go there and mention his name we’ll get a discount. Jared and I decided we might as well head there as we had made no plans for what to do.
The guest house turned out to be a cute collection of cottages, bamboo huts and a tree house, but all were of superbly average quality. We opted for a bamboo hut which was 400rp a night and was the first time we chose to go without AC. That night was spent tossing and turning under the mosquito net trying to cool down.
That morning Jared was in contact with Ben, who we had met in Varkala, and he had kindly suggested to help hook us up with a deal on a houseboat to travel the backwaters of Kerala. Initially he was going to come with us but his work did not permit, so off we set on a rickshaw to meet a couple of Bens friends, Shams and Shamzeer, who guided us round Alleppey making sure we were happy and content until they dropped us off at our houseboat “St Thomas” for the night. First impressions of the houseboat and the crew were positive. We had a lovely little cabin and a living area decked out in “Kerala” style which is bamboo chairs, ornaments and furniture. Feeling comfortable and relaxed we motored down one of the first canals of many where all sorts of daily riverside life could be observed. From snakes in the water, women washing their clothes, toddy makers collecting up coconut trees (toddy is a fermented coconut drink, they climb a coconut tree and tap the coconut, then collect the juices the next day), to people harvesting rice in the paddies. There is much to see, all with the back drop of beautiful palm lined canals. The night was quiet and peaceful on the boat but still steamy hot as we didn’t have any AC. The next day we made our way to the train station only to find that our train didn’t leave for another three hours, our rickshaw driver suggested we he take us to a beach so we could relax, we agreed, only to find a Tamil movie being filmed, they instantly took a liking to Jared and asked him in to be an extra! I got the prestige of sitting next to the director and watching a small screen of what was happening. The lead actor was dreamy but the heat seemed to be getting to them all, including Jared. The scene was shot over and over again as little things didn’t come across quite right. The dancing being too quick, the waitress walking through the scene off cue etc. But all in all a really interesting view of how a Tamil movie is made, considering we had only recently heard how the Tamil industry is bigger than both Bollywood and Hollywood.

Jared says: Arriving in Alleppey and heading to the suggested accommodation I was a bit worried about the general quality of the small (by Indian standards) city, but everyone we met was super friendly and after checking into our sparse bamboo hut we were put in a rickshaw to head off to a suggested restaurant for lunch. Immediately from this experience we knew they were on the right track, as we had a quality thali meal for lunch which cost all of 44rp ($1.50NZ) each for a range of curries, bread, rice and chapatti bread.
The next morning there was a bit of stuffing around getting hold of Ben and his Indian mates, but once we were at their shop they were super hospitable and all worries were allayed. Once we got to the houseboat I was stoked with the quality, as good (if not better) than any of our previous resorts, and this was only a mid-range boat. The number and range of boats is hard to believe as they line the canal edges, three to four deep and as we headed out at the regular noon starting time it was like being on a houseboat motorway. But the beauty of the Keralan backwaters is their immense size and quite quickly we head down a side road (canal) where only one or two other boats are in sight. The locals going about their daily life, as one with the waterways, is a sight to see. Local shops, houses with satellite tv dishes, churches and hindu shrines, banana and coconut palms, goats and cows are all nestled on thin strips of land in between the main waterways on one side and the rice fields (often filled with water) on the other. After stopping at one of said shops to pick up some large tiger prawns we headed into a bigger lake and found a quietish spot to stop for lunch. Here we were cooked up fried fish to go with a range of Indian vege dishes and plenty of rice (of course). The rest of the afternoon was spent cruising the myriad of canals and lakes with our skipper taking special effort to take us down some of the smaller less traveled routes. After docking for the night we got to walk around the thin tracks of land and even spotted some youngsters playing cricket in one of the recently harvested rice fields, definitely not one of the flatter pitches I have ever seen.
After a glorious sunset, magnified by smoke in the air from the burn off of some rice paddies, we were delivered an absolutely sumptuous meal of fresh tuna fish curry, our tiger prawns done tikka style and more veges, rice and some quality chapattis. The next day we just cruised it back for our scheduled 9.30 disembarking point where Shams was on hand to greet us and offer any further advice towards our next move. As the Lonely Planet said, the houseboat might be one of the most expensive things you do in India, but at 4300rp ($140NZ) all inclusive for the night it was well worth it for a superbly relaxing time in one of the most beautiful areas of the world. Highly recommend it to anyone coming anywhere near India.
As mentioned by Tess we then headed to the beach to wait for our train time, only for me to receive a request to be in a Tamil movie. I was reluctant at first, but thought why the fuck not, you don’t get to do that everyday. It was a bit of a nervous experience as the scene I was in kept getting re-shot and, as I couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying, I kept thinking maybe it was the fat kiwi bloke in the background doing something wrong. Overall it was a pretty easy gig though, as all I had to do was stand with a wine glass of coke in my hand and pretend to be chatting with an Indian fella who was more than happy to tell me where to stand and let me stay in the shade as much as possible in between takes, as we were in fully 35+ degree heat that even the Indians were feeling. Quite a funny experience all around and I will be keeping a look out for “Happy Happy Ga” when it is due for release in June. I have already googled it to find plenty of press about it so will be absolutely crack up if I do end up in it. After that surreal, but rather sweaty experience an AC train to our next destination of Kochi seemed like a more than relaxing endeavour.
Happy Happy Ga: http://telugu.way2movies.com/?p=29606

Accommo: Gowri Homestay, cheap bamboo hut without AC, 400rp, **1/2.
St Thomas Houseboat, everything very nice but not luxury quality and without AC, 4300rp all inclusive ****1/2.

Eats: Hot Kitchen Vegetarian Restaurant, proper Indian style thali in AC room, 44rp each, ***.
Gowri Restaurant, dhal and noodles for dinner, Idli set for breakfast, **1/2.

St Thomas Houseboat, fish fry lunch, fish curry and tiger

prawns dinner, omelets breakfast, ***1/2.

Location: Varkala, Kerala. Date: 01 May 2010

Jared says: Varkala-aaaaaaaaah. It could be any tropical beach anywhere in the world, and many would say it is not even India (and they are probably right), but jeez what a relaxing and easy place. We left Trivandrum in some peak heat, dripping like pigs on a spit we managed to find the right local bus and paid about $1NZ each for the hour and a bit journey. Whenever the bus got stuck in traffic the sauna-riffic effect had us feeling like we were cooking, but most of the time the fully open windows kept us well aerated.
The resort/hotel/tourist area of Varkala is nestled on a clifftop overlooking the beach and the Adriatic ocean and there are plenty of accommodation and eating places on offer. Tess sat in one of said cafes while I headed out to find suitable digs, and again after a fair deal of sweating I managed to find us a quiet little wooden cottage, with all the mod cons of air con and cable tv, and for a steal of a price, 800rupees (about $25NZ) where it was quoted in the Lonely Planet as 2-3000 rupees. But this was the start of the low season, and by all accounts the best time to be there as the number of tourists was about 10% of what it is supposedly like in “the season” as they call it.
Our first couple of days were spent in pure relaxation mode, making the most of how easy everything was and eating an array of western food (pizza, burritos, sandwiches, omelets, and even some quality coffee for Tess). And the quality was far superior to any of the western options we have erroneously negotiated in the similar resort type towns in South East Asia. Beer was still a rare and bizarre commodity, with none of the places advertising it on the menu and when they did serve it they did so in ceramic mugs and left the remainder of the bottle under the table out of sight. By all accounts the police know all about this and are bribed to allow it even, but the game of cat and mouse continues for the sake of someone, we are just not sure who.
On our third day we had our first fellow guest arrive at our resort, an Aussie fella called Ben. He was quick to get chatting and we found he is now living in India and absolutely loving the place. Along with him in the neighbouring unit was an Indian guy he called “Why Not” and two 5 week old puppies he had just purchased that day. Ben’s main reason to be there, apart from the will to party, was that his Indian boss Joe (who he lived with on a farm a couple of hours away) had sent him to try and help/sort out one of the local restaurants. He had been there a couple of weeks earlier to find the place with no water, power or food to cook, so had spent numerous rupees stocking them up, only to return on this occasion to find things back to how they were, in the dark without a chance of serving anyone. Hanging out with Ben that day, we got to witness some of the politics that go on with places like this, with various people turning up to talk with him and ask for money. In the end I think he saw it as a lost cause and was more interested in consuming the bottle of vodka and bottle of brandy he had brought with him. Something I was more than happy to help him with, as was Why Not. Anish was the real name of Why Not, but Ben called him so, as everything he asked of the pleasant and interesting young Varkala local was met with a cheeky smile and the simple reply of “why not”. This went from heading to the shop to get more mixers for his drinks or being the designated spliff roller. Supposedly Ben thought this to be an exceptional trait, as any other Indian he had met usually meant “no” when they answered “why not”.
After an afternoon of drinking Why Not was sent to the shop for another occasion to get more Red Bull and Soda Water, only to return a short time later with a cut finger and angry story to tell, and no mixers. By this time Ben was feeling the drink and brushed it over, only to find out the next morning Why Not had caused quite a commotion and had to accompany Ben in a round of apologies to all and sundry.
To add to what was already becoming a quite surreal evening for me, after Tess adjourned to bed not long after dark, Ben’s boss Joe arrived. Ben had already been gushing lyrically about this man and when he arrived all I could think was that he was some version of an Indian Mafioso. He came wearing a bandana, spoke softly with an almost lyrical content and commanded the utmost respect from all the locals, to the point they would try his drink to make sure it tasted right and break up his ganga for him before he would roll numerous fat spliffs. From Ben’s talk, Joe was a powerful man, owned the biggest catering business in Kerala, had a farm with all manner of animals from a parrot to an enormous Great Dane, wants to buy a tiger and a kangaroo, and has concerts at the farm where images are projected onto the accompanying waterfall. All very surreal and kinda gangsterish. Joe didn’t stay that long though and sauntered off into the night leaving me, Ben and Why Not at one of the local bars with a couple of the boys from there, drinking cocktails to the early hours. We even had a visit from some of the local elders (I presume), which left the boys scurrying for their pockets to pay off the obvious bribe for serving such drinks at such a late hour (I can only presume, again). All in all a highly eventful night and a very different look at Indian life, although not the real India, as Ben was quick to point out. After such a raucous night Ben left quickly the next day, however, we do have his contact details and have been told to call him if we ever need anything.
Our last day was spent with a long walk past some of the local fishing villages and a quick trip to the actual beach (for the first time), before having an early one as we will head to the train station in the morning for the couple of hour trip north to Alleppey, where a houseboat on the backwaters is the recommended attraction and highlight.

Accommo: Puthooram Resort, 800rp cottage with A/c, very nice for the price ****

Eats:
Calfouti: Our favourtie of the clifftop eateries with an array of tasty western and Indian meals at more than reasonable prices and the cheapest beer too. ****
Café Del Mar: The best coffee around and nice food although a little on the expensive side ***
Hungry Eye: Nice food and location, although a mouse did drop from the roof next to us one night we were there ***1/2
Little Tibet: Good momos and fruit juices, something a bit different and a more relaxed feel ***1/2