Once Shannon and I had some much needed down time in Goa, we decided to make the trek to Kerala. Shannon was indifferent to the idea as she’d been there before but I was keen to go to see the backwaters, spice plantations, tea plantations and just get the vibe of the area so she was happy to go along with it. We psyched ourselves up for a 15 hour train ride to get to Alleppey.

It started with a 1 hour delay in Goa, which was fine. We were in a train station that didn’t feel dodgy. There were friendly locals and quite a few travellers. We got on our train at midnight and of course, one of our beds was taken, meaning we caused a bloody scene just trying to get to our beds. A woman had taken my bed as she was uncomfortable on the one that transforms into 2 chairs. She was elderly so obviously, no problems and it just meant Shannon and I would have proper seats the following day! Winning!

Surprisingly, I slept really well on the train and felt rested waking up at 6.30am. I opened my curtain and got to watch the sun rise with a cup of chai as we travelled through lush green areas, watching local people begin their day. I was so happy to just sit and watch the world go by. A great start to the day!

We transformed my bed into 2 chairs and got comfortable for the remainder of the journey. This train ride was a lot more manageable. The first train we got in India was during the day, the 14 hours dragged and we were uncomfortable. (We now realised we’re idiots and we could have changed the bed into two chairs but we were new to the whole thing and didn’t realise this…morons!) I managed to read, do some writing, eat, drink chai and have the chats. We watched a movie together (separately on our phones at the same time) and just had a great time. I really didn’t want to do a train again in India after the Varanasi trip but I’m so glad I gave it another go. We arrived at our first stop in south India, Alleppey, by 3pm and were able to get a tuk tuk to our guest house immediately for much cheaper than what they were in Goa.

Our guest house was a cheap and cheerful spot which we were paying 150 rupees (£1.60)  for and although we had booked a 4 bed female dorm, the owner actually organised for us to be in our own room for the same cost. It was very basic but sure it’s all we needed! I grabbed my mat and went to do some yoga, much needed after 15 hours on a train. I felt magical after it! We set off on a 2km walk to the beach for sunset. The sunset was actually beautiful and I felt immediately at peace being by the ocean. We grabbed some uttapams for dinner. Uttapams were the most delicious breakfast I’d had in Varanasi. In Varanasi it was laced in butter but in south India they don’t use ghee and butter like northern India. It felt a lot healthier and a hell of a lot spicier. It was so tasty but very different to my first experience. After some chai and biscuits we headed back to get an early night.

Day 2 of south India started with a run and a church visit. I’m not usually one for running but I felt like I needed it while I was in Goa after my binge drinking of wine in Nasik so I tried to continue. I had a lovely run and ended up passing a church so obviously stopped in for a few prayers for Nana B and Granny P. I continued my run, got back to the guest house, meditated and got my one and only student, Shannon, onto her mat to do some yoga together. I’m enjoying teaching her a lot! Between a dodgy shoulder and some very funky hamstrings, she makes for an interesting student!

After yoga and showers we got ready to go on our backwaters tour! I was really looking forward to this but didn’t know much about it other than we were getting on a house boat for the night. We got brought down to the dock and got onto our house boat. We booked this through our guesthouse and ended up paying 8000 rupees between us (£86) for the 22 hours on the boat. This included everything. We met our crew, 2 very nice gentlemen, 1 captain and 1 chef. Shannon and I had the boat to ourselves and we were squealing with excitement when we saw our room. The bedroom was large and clean, we had a dining area downstairs and a viewing point upstairs. We got our welcome drinks and got comfortable. 

The next few hours passed with us sitting and basking in the sun while floating around the back waters. We passed lots of boats but not so much human activity. We docked for lunch and were fed an absolute feast! The chef was really sweet and made us an amazing lunch of vegetable curries, fried fish, dal, poppadoms and salad. I was very impressed with it!

We set off again for the afternoon and finally got to the communities that live on the backwaters. It was so nice to see people going about their daily life living here. Life runs here like anywhere else, there were kids going to and from school, builders at work, shops and restaurants bustling and tuk tuks even going along the banks. We docked for the night and took a stroll around. When we got back we had an amazing dinner (this chef man was a dream) and we got an early night. 

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We hopped into bed and were thankful for the air conditioning for all of 5 minutes and then we realised we’d freeze to death! We had no access to the remote. I tried unplugging it and no luck. I went out to get the men working on the boat but was stopped in my tracks. One of them was snoring and sleeping on the floor. I felt an awful pang of guilt in my heart. I felt awful. Here I was on my way to complain to him about the aircon in our private double room and this man who’s been feeding us and looking after us was asleep on the floor. It’s something I struggle with as I travel. I travel to these cheap countries to make the most of my money, see a completely different culture and meet people from completely different backgrounds, but when I’m confronted with the stark contrast in our lives it can be a bit difficult to swallow. These men had very good jobs but in the 8000 rupees that we paid how much were they actually getting? Here they were sleeping on the floor of a boat for the night to get up and cook for us and keep us safe. I was so grateful for them but also felt a little uneasy.

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I went back to bed without waking them and just put up with the aircon for the night. Shannon and I dressed in our warmest clothes for the night (a waste of air con and electricity which I had the guilts about). We each had leggings, jumpers and I even got my jacket on.

We had a lovely breakfast and made our way back to the dock to get a taxi to Kumily. This was a 4.5 hour journey in a taxi. We could have done 3 buses for almost 8 hours but at this stage in the trip I’m not opposed to spending the money on convenience to make sure we get to see as much as possible. I didn’t anticipate it being such a windy road and feeling car sick while I’m just trying to write my blog posts! Our taxi driver was very nice and actually stopped in on a spice garden on route to Kumily saying it would save us time so we weren’t doubling back on ourselves.

I had a vision of fields and fields of plants (like a large winery but with spices) but this wasn’t the case. It was a winding path through lush green forest that had different spices along the way. We were charged 100 rupees (just over £1) on entrance. The man who gave us the tour was very knowledgeable and went through all the different plants they have and their uses in ayurvedic medicines. I was fascinated and made quite the list of plants for different ailments:

Asparagus – ovulation and menstrual cycles

Scania – aging skin and acne

Adulsa – respiratory system

Indian indigo – hair growth and health

Stone banana – kidney stones

Wild ginger – digestion

Snake plant – eczema and psoriasis

The list was endless! I was fascinated with all of this and look forward to looking further into all these after my travels. At the end of the tour we were brought into the shop and then I realised this is where they make their money. Products were fired at us, we were told to smell things, test products on our skin and were encouraged to buy all of these (I was given the products for acne not so subtly, sound lads). We politely declined initially but I decided to give the hair growth one a chance. I asked to pay by card which they said they were able to accept. This initially didn’t work so I said no problem and was ready to walk when they insisted on trying again and again. I got angry and demanded my card back and then we left. We are the worst people to sell to as we’ve got backpacks and that’s it. These guys don’t understand or don’t care.

We arrived to our guest house a little while later and checked in. Another basic accommodation but perfect for what we needed (bar a hot shower which was desperately needed but we’d have to do without). We organised a spice plantation and tea plantation visit for the following day with the owner of the guest house and enjoyed the rest of our evening having a potter about and doing a cooking class.

This is the 3rd cooking class of my trip and I am delighted that I’ve managed to do so many. I’ve managed the lessons in Jaipur, Goa and now in Kumily. This cooking class wins hands down! It was in a mans kitchen at the other side of town and had some decent reviews on google. He was lovely! We made 7 dishes in total and he made all of this seem easy and manageable! The Jaipur lesson was simple enough but the amount of ghee used in the dishes means you’d die of a heart attack eating that too often and the one in Goa was quite complicated. This man made it easy and manageable! We made 2 vegetable dishes, a masala curry, a pineapple curry (THE BEST), poppadoms, masala fries and parathas. We had an amazing feast at the end of it and this man only charged 500 rupees each (£5.40). We were stuffed and walked home for an early night!

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The following day was absolutely jam-packed. We managed another spice garden, a tea plantation, fried plantains and tea (this was delicious), cafe time to catch up with family, a martial arts evening and finally a night bus to Bangalore. It was actually a mad day but it was brilliant.

Our guest house owner had offered to bring us around in his tuk tuk for 300 rupees (£3.20) which seemed so cheap! We jumped at the offer. The spice garden was the exact same as the one the previous day, all ending with us not buying anything again and them not liking us too much! We went to the tea plantations (or so our guide said) next and I was thoroughly confused. Connemara tea plantations is a huge plantation in the area of Kumily and our guide landed us in the middle of the actual plantations (like as in the actual plants and nothing else for miles), gave us a few lines of wisdom and then we went for a walk. I was so confused as I was dying to go see the workings of the tea plantation and the actual production of it. He had dropped us off in the Connemara tea plantations but we were looking for the tea tasting and tour. After our walk I told him I wanted to do an actual tour and tasting and our man delivered!

He brought us to Connemara tea plantation factory where we had to wait to get a tour and tasting but while waiting we sampled some tea across the road in a small cafe. Sugary black tea hit the spot and I was so excited for the tea tour! We started our tour with a tasting with Jayan who gave us the history of the place. It was established in 1941 (funny how our chef told us 1921 the previous night and told me it was set up by Irish people). Jayan was pretty knowledgeable and the tasting was amazing. We sampled regular black tea, green tea and white tea. I had never had the white tea but it was delicious. The leaves are picked between 3am and 6am and dried in the natural sunlight for a certain amount of time the following day.

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After Jayan gave us the tea and the history he brought us around all the machinery which was in use (but not allowed to take pictures). It was so exciting to see the whole process, from the picking of tea leaves to the actual bags of produce in the shop. I often take all of this for granted when I go into a store and buy something. It got me thinking about potential day trips for school…. Hmmmm. It was definitely the highlight of my day. Needless to say, I bought tea that I don’t actually need or have room for in my bag but I’m convinced I’ll drink it when I settle for a little bit in Thailand with my own kitchen (I am so excited to rent somewhere with a kitchen and cook). 

The afternoon was spent pottering about Kumily eating fried plantain, drinking tea and then making some calls to family members and friends back home. We went to a martial arts show which is called Kalaripayattu. It is a traditional form of martial arts of the area. I volunteered myself to go down to the performance area for some fit men to jump over me, nearly killed myself in the process by missing a step but styled it out. 

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That night we got on our final night bus, which was the most comfortable bus we’ve had in India. We couldn’t believe it! We had had some very interesting bus journeys along the way and we were apprehensive about getting another night bus. We booked it through our hostel man again who had let us stay in the room until 8pm because of the weather being shit and he had it available. We were so thankful for him. The bus was over an hour delayed, which is just kind of the norm in India. We were so thrilled to see a double bed with curtains that was clean and spacious. It was class!

We had a long journey of 10 hours where we both managed to sleep and arrive in Bangalore safe and sound by 7am. This was only a stop off to get us to Mysore, where I had planned on doing some Ashtanga classes and seeing what the area was like for further yoga training before returning to Bangalore and finishing off our big trip of India. I was really happy we made it to Kerala and I would 100% return!