INDIA & NEPAL Day 30 - Delhi to Birmingham

All good things must come to an end

Day 30? Wow, well that's come around quickly. So I find myself here on our last day, thinking about the diverse experiences we have had on our travels through Nepal and India.

It has certainly been tough at times (a number of train journeys and some particularly unfriendly food spring to mind), yet the harder the journey, the more rewarding it can be. And the good here has far outweighed the bad - highlights to the trip have been plentiful. In Nepal, riding an elephant through Chitwan National Park in the early morning, watching rhinos and birds bumble about really captured the spirit of the sanctuary for me. Spirits were also observed in a slightly different way on Christmas day in Varanasi, with the sunrise ceremony and a boat ride along the Ganges.

Rajasthan then erupted in a burst of noise and colour, it's vibrancy demonstrated through intricate forts and the Taj Mahal, as well as bustling cities with their street art and bright bazaars. Even the desert of Jaisalmer retained this character, with riding camels at new year being the definite highlight of my time in this region.

Kerala, the next destination, introduced itself with a tropical wave of humid heat, as well as luscious green forests and a more chilled-out pace of life (despite the high temperatures!). The tea plantations of Munnar offered us our first real fresh air, and wandering the trails was a much needed leg stretcher with incredible views. A nature walk in Periyar gave us our last dose of big mammals, who seemed to all come out to greet us in the morning mist. Our final stop was the backwaters around Kumarakom, and how beautiful these were. The perfect place for us to spend our final days, with a new freedom of being able to explore by bike, hike, canoe and houseboat. The Keralan people were much less opportunistic than those in North India, and somehow came across much more friendly and open, which only added to the homely feeling I experienced in Kerala.

Overall, I have had a fantastic trip, and have so many good memories to reflect upon as the sun sets on our time here.


NB - a few things I would not have been without:

• Osprey Fairview women's bag - just the perfect bag for travelling, so well thought out, I would not be without this.
• Andrex "on the go" loo roll - compact and self-explanatory
• Nike Frees - worn all day, every day, no pain and just so comfy
• Anti-bacterial hand gel - I have no proof to the success of this, but even if it was the placebo effect, I think it was worth it!
• Surge protection plug - there are some dodgy electrics going on in India

INDIA & NEPAL Day 29 - Cochin to Delhi

Dilli Haat

Having stayed near the airport, we took our time getting up and packing, making our way downstairs for our free airport shuttle. Unfortunately, this didn't materialise, so we instead walked to the airport - probably only the second time I've ever walked directly from Hotel to airport, but it wasn't too bad. The flight was pretty good too, picking domestic airlines based on their punctuality record seems to have done us well (if only I could have had a choice of train companies!). Yet again the plane was new and roomy, albeit on discovering that the "neo" of A320neo meant "New Engine Option" rather than something altogether more glamorous, I was a little disappointed! Peter also seemed to have the hump that it wasn't a Rolls-Royce engine...

Upon landing in Delhi, we took the orange line metro to its terminus at New Delhi railway station. Here, we battled our way over the rails (I spent the entire time being relieved that we did not have to get on a train, even the horn noises sent shivers down my spine) to our nearby hotel. Bloomrooms as it was called, appear to be a chain of a few hotels, characterised by a quirky bright yellow art-deco themed decor.

We made a quick turnaround, not wanting to waste any of our penultimate day, then headed out to the local bazaars. Here it was nice to have some time to browse the stalls, making a few purchases along the way. To continue our shopping even further (we had 15 kg spare checked luggage capacity after all!) we took the yellow metro to Dilli Haat, which had been described to us as a craft market.

Upon arrival we had to pay 100 Rs to get in, but when we entered we realised it was not just the average Delhi market, but an inviting cobbled (car, bike, tuk-tuk and cow-free) street of tidy stalls, displaying their colourful wares. I wandered up and down, bringing our my best "haggle and walk away" tactics to buy a few more items at severely cut prices. Between stalls there were dance performances and music to entertain us, making the afternoon very relaxed (especially for Delhi) and a lovely way to spend our last afternoon in India.

INDIA & NEPAL Day 28 - Alleppey to Cochin

A dip in the sea

Waking up on our houseboat was a treat - with the sun rising over the water, and a refreshing morning breeze. As we set off from our morning, a delicious breakfast was served, including fresh banana, pineapple, toast, butter, jam (similar to the strange red jam in Nepal, except this is a luminous yellow pineapple version), omelette, and the highlight - masala dosas (pancakes stuffed with sweet coconut). A huge portion of this later, and barely able to move for being so full, all I could do was sit back and take in the views as we were steered back towards Alleppey.

There, I waddled off the boat and into the car, looking forward to a walk on the beach! We arrived at Marari beach not long after, and it was much prettier than I had imagined. As soon as we were away from the hundred metres or so of fairly inoffensive umbrellas and chairs, the sandy beach stretched away endlessly before us. I paddled along the waterline, getting caught out by the occasional wave (it was so hot I didn't mind) and watching the birds take off before we reached them. There were also a number of pretty wooden fishing boats, some with men emptying nets of fish beside them.

On the way back, with temperatures rising, I just couldn't resist going for a dip. I wasn't really appropriately dressed - but that's been overcome on a humber of spontaneous swims before, so in sports bra and leggings I had a lovely, if salty, 400 m swim along the beach. Warm sea water is a real novelty to me, yet in the 30 degrees heat it was still refreshing. I did feel a bit guilty about being slightly soggy as I got back into the car, but again, it's so hot that I had dried out relatively soon.

Upon reaching Fort Cochin, I de-sanded as much as possible, and we walked along the more industrial coastline there, surveying the large Chinese fishing nets, different to any I've seen before. We then decided we were just hungry enough for lunch after that huge breakfast, and sampled some of the local catch in the form of a mango fish curry and tempura prawns, which were just what was needed.

Fort Cochin seems a fairly relaxed place, and the early afternoon was easily passed wandering the streets. A few interesting examples of street art could be found, as well as lots of large "Happy New Year" illustrations chalked on the road, which I vaguely remembered from our night-time visit here a week or so ago. Indeed that felt far more than a week ago, and in the evening we reversed our previous journey, being driven back to Cochin Airport, ready for tomorrow morning's flight to Delhi.

INDIA & NEPAL Day 27 - Kumakaron to Alleppey

Houseboat ahoy!

Similar to yesterday, the day was begun with a morning walk of a couple of miles, enjoying watching the locals wake up and go about their morning business. An unplanned detour did make me 15 minutes or so late to breakfast, but food here runs on Indian timekeeping, so actually, I was spot-on!

Following breakfast (which was so large - I am definitely eating three main meals a day here, and will miss that when back home!) we packed up and were driven to just north of the town of Alleppey to board a houseboat. This would be our home for the night, and I was certainly excited to have the opportunity for some down-time on the river. Some faff with passports ensued (every accommodation here seems to demand your passport which is frustrating and pointless) but once this was sorted we were off!

Our boat had a large seating area, from which I enjoyed fabulous views of the river, it's banks and the numerous other boats, which varied in size from narrow canoes like the one we had been in yesterday, to much larger, two-storey houseboats. It was interesting to watch from afar what everyone was up to, and although the river was busy, it was in a pleasant way, rather than being thorough-fare like.

Before long we moored up for an extremely plentiful lunch, which must have encompassed ten or so different Keralan dishes, which were all so good! Soon after we found ourselves out in the middle of Kumakaron lake, which was much bigger than I thought it was - the biggest in South Kerala apparently. Although I'd felt after lunch I'd never been hungry again, I somehow managed three banana-fry in the afternoon without too much difficulty, but was relieved to be able to walk a few miles once we had moored for the evening. Our route took us through some mirror-like watery fields at sunset, enhancing further the beauty of the local scenery.

Dinner was thankfully more modest, as we had rejected the meat elements of the dish. A pleasant evening was then spent reading my (sixth) book, doing puzzles and swatting a few very interested mosquitoes. Surprisingly, I could easily forget that I was on a boat, as it was fairly wide and stable. Only when a large or fast craft came past, creating waves, did I remember, which made for some odd dreams.

INDIA & NEPAL Day 26 - Kumakaron

Exploring the Backwaters 

An early morning walk blessed us with temperatures in the twenties, rather than thirties, and made for an enjoyable stroll around the Backwaters. This was followed by breakfast (which happened to be the same as yesterday, but good, so we didn't mind), and then a trip in a fairly narrow canoe. The canoe was powered by a combination of us paddling, and someone punting from the back - and largely from the latter! With the beautiful scenery being reflected into the calm waters of the narrow canals, this was the perfect way to spend the morning, and gave us access to much more secluded spots than a bigger boat would have.

On returning to our lovely homestay, we decided to persevere further with the bike mission begun yesterday. To this end, we called upon a man a few doors up, who apparently and did indeed have a bike, which crucially had tyres on that retained air. We took this and the "working" bike from our own place, and headed out west, stopping briefly to pick up some pastries from the local bakeries.

As soon as the sealed road ended - in some stunning rice fields - many of the baked goods disappeared. These included a "doughnut", which was some sort of deep fried thing with chilly, and very good, more samosas (this time with beetroot!) and a very greasy sweet thing that can be accurately described as tasting like the moist crust of a very slightly burnt fruit cake. I liked it. With a banana to wash this down (heavy meal I know) we carried on our journey, which was now on a mud track through more fields and villages, admiring the vivid greens and plentiful birdlife.

Three miles later and we made it to our aim of Kumakaron Lake, weaving through some houses to get to it. The lake was much bigger and wavier than I had imagined, but came with some lovely purple flowers, a very welcome breeze (after the 35 degree sunny ride) and another pastry. Having guzzled water down due to the heat, we stopped off at a bird sanctuary to get some water, before making the return journey, a total ride of over 13 miles and certainly my longest of the year. I even managed a two minute run after returning the bike, although this did leave me totally exhausted and ready for a cold shower!

It was still early afternoon, so I decided to arrange a full body massage for 17:30, a nice pre-dinner slot, and I'd heard there was a good masseuse here. I snacked on a banana fry (which was so greasy the paper bag it had been wrapped in was completely soaked through) and some chai tea, then at 18:30 it was time for my massage (only an hour late, not too bad). This turned out to be quite an experience!

As I entered the room, the door was immediately locked behind me by the female masseuse, who then said "clothes off" rather abruptly, and gestured to a chair. This I duly did (keeping pants on for modesty), and after being berated for forgetting to take my watch off (oops!) I appeared to be given a choice of two tables to lie on. Neither had a head hole, but one looked soft and plush, and the other bare and hard. The choice should have been obvious, but I am not good at estimating the length of things in the horizontal plane, and the comfy one looked rather short (lots of things are here due to the average height of the population). Not wanting my legs to be dangling off the end for an hour, I opted for the much longer hard table. "Back" was barked at me, which I correctly assumed to mean "lie on your back", and given the hardness of the plastic on the table this seemed reasonably comfy.

Within a few seconds I was absolutely covered in some sort of oil, and the massage began. It was an excellent pressure, and I certainly started enjoying it, especially as most massages I have had involve some sort of injury being excruciatingly kneaded into submission. However, when the masseuse expanded her vocabulary to "side", I instantly regretted the table choice as my hip and ankle bones took a bit of a beating. Up until this point it had been a largely silence experience, but whilst switching side there was a short conversation involving the questions "Husband? Job? How many children? Name?" before thankfully resolving back into silence.

I was extremely grateful to hear "back" again (which this time meant show me your back rather than lie on it), and was enjoying some guilt-free soothing of my numerous mozzie bites. I wasn't even worried about any residual mozzies in the room who may have stayed for an optimistic watch, because had they ever managed to land on me without doing a "bambi on ice" impression, the sheer amount of oil would have had them choking on it before getting anywhere near my bloodstream. Indeed there was so much that each strong downward massage of my legs had me slithering dangerously towards the end of the table!

Soon focus was turned to my head (for which I had to shuffle up back up the table in a difficult seal-style) which was relaxing, although I need not have put oil on my hair after my earlier shower. Eyes still closed, I heard a good deal of rustling, and quite suddenly my toes were being pulled by a newspaper lad hand. Weird! This was then repeated on my fingers, followed by an odd two minute pause, which made me a little nervous. There was then a great deal more rustling, which confused me until I was slightly horrified to realise that, like my banana-fry earlier, I was to be degreased using newspaper! A couple of minutes later and with streaks of the day's news covering my skin, I was done - Ayurverdic massage number one complete, and well worth the money I think, even if I did leave feeling a little violated and having well and truly soaked-up today's news!

INDIA & NEPAL Day 25 - Thekkady to Kumakaron

The giant squirrel

First breakfast today was a couple of bananas, eaten whilst queueing at 06:30 for a bus into the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Half an hour later and we were in the park, being greeted by our guide for our Nature Walk. There seemed to be four other pairs of western tourists doing the same thing (each with their own guide), whilst the hundreds of Indian tourist headed straight for what looked like the boat cruise from hell.

Thankful to be away from the crowds, we slithered onto a bamboo raft to cross the water (it was of interesting construction, most of it seeming to sit below the water when we were on it) and then disembarked onto the bank. Setting off in pairs, we all started to follow the same well-used trail along the lakeside. I was feeling a bit dubious about the experience at this point - the park is known to be quite commercial and it didn't really feel like a "private" tour, or one where you would see much nature, with four other groups in front. This wasn't helped by the fact that in the first half mile or so, all that was pointed out to me was a bit of fresh porcupine poo!

However, we were soon all hushed, and on the opposite bank we could see some wild dogs, which were together tearing apart a deer for breakfast, not a normal sighting apparently! There were also some interesting birds lurking, including herons, eagles and a pretty Kingfisher. Things were looking up! Also, the park itself looked particularly stunning in the morning mist, set of beautifully by it hanging over the water, and the sun streaming through the trees.

Another half mile or so on and we saw three wild elephants mooching a few hundred metres away, including a calf. I could watch elephants for ages, they are so large yet graceful, and indeed we were treated to seeing a few more further along in the walk. These only made their exit when a Gaur (big black boar thing) decided to have a wander towards them.

On our way back to base, all the pairs split off, and our guide seemed excellent. He found us some black nilgiri langur monkeys, perched in a beautiful flowering tree of Australian origin (ok I am not good with remembering species names), and then - the highlight of my walk certainly - a giant malabar squirrel! This really was huge, about the size of a large cat, and had lovely autumnal colouring.

Feeling pleased at all we had seen on our walk, but also starving hungry as it was now 10:30, we returned to our home stay for breakfast. The owner here was really helpful, bringing us food and for once telling us now to eat it (normally we are left to guess / watch others). Some sort of rice noodles and coconuts were served to start with, and into these we mashed banana, milk and sugar (coincidentally this combination was a childhood pudding favourite of mine). Next up was more noodles and a lovely onion and egg curry. I think he was surprised how much we ate, but brought us seconds nevertheless.

The journey to the Kumakaron area was a twisty four hours, but I think I am adjusting to the roads here and my passenger car-sickness seems to have abates. I am very glad my stomach has recently been on the good side of normal though!

On arrival we were greeted and immediately in undated with trip suggestions (this is quite normal although a little frustrating when all you want to do is put your rucksack down and pop to the loo!) but decided that as we had the whole day tomorrow, we would just take the bikes that are here at the home stay for a spin. This turned out to be quite enjoyable, with lovely flat quiet roads spoiled only by the single flat tyre (we kept swapping bikes as it was quite an ugg). The views encompassed small waterways, local houses spread along them, then further out, vivid green rice fields. We paused at a bakery to buy some snacks (and bananas, I definitely won't be short of potassium after this trip) and then sat and ate these at the furthest point of the ride (a whole 2.5 miles out!).

Getting back to the home stay we enjoyed dinner to views of the canal, as the local mosquito population also enjoyed a good feed....

INDIA & NEPAL Day 24 - Munnar to Thekkady

For Grandma

The day was begun with masala dosas, sambar, idli and chutney. The latter was not chutney (disappointing) at all but some soggy coconut thing with mustard seeds in - the rest was quite nice. We then got into be car and drove the few hours to Thekkady. Or Periyar. Or Kumily. I'll go with Thekkady, why three names are necessary I do not know! On the way we stopped briefly at Idukki's dam, which is one of the biggest curved arch dams I've seen, and reminded me of one I saw in the Alps a few weeks ago.

On arrival we booked a nature walk in the national park for early tomorrow morning, and then lunched on what was a bit of a pot-luck of baked goods. The "banana pup" (as it was called on the bill) was particularly good. We then went for a walk in the villages, climbing steadily through the houses and being greeted on the way by both excited and very shy children.

When we returned, it was nearly time for us to go to see the "cultural program", described as a dance show, then a martial arts show. I am always highly skeptical of these, but with little else to do and some heavy persuasion from our driver, I went along. Gosh did I wish I hadn't gone to the dance show! It involved two men, very oddly dressed (one as a woman) basically pulling faces and rolling eyes at each other, in an exceptionally creepy way. I'm not sure if it comes across in the photo well enough! The background noise to this was a guy alternately wailing and talking into an extremely loud microphone, whilst also clashing symbols to a drum accompaniment. I'd initially been a bit grumpy it had started 20 mins late as we could have walked further, but I actually think that was 20 mins of spared pain.

The martial arts show in the other hand, was quite entertaining! Five rather fit looking young lads demonstrated skills in things like "sword fighting", "long stick fighting", "two short stick fighting", and "fire jumping" (all very original names). Even the audience involvement wasn't cringey, with the boys leaping over a huddle of ten people.

With the shows finally over (and my ears ringing a little) we headed out for some Keralan food, including a perfectly spiced fish dish wrapped in a banana leaf, and an actual biriyani rather than the veg fried rice we had managed to accidentally order before. All of this was eaten alongside parotta bread of course, and I even risked a lassi for the first time, which did wonders to counteract the heat of the biriyani.

INDIA & NEPAL Day 23 - Munnar

A rare goat (or three)

After another set of albino pancakes (still not found out the proper name for these!) we were ushered into our car to go and buy a ticket for Eravikulam National Park. I thought it was a bit weird buying this about 13km from the park, and it turned out what we had actually purchased (for 50 Rps each) was some sort of queue jump ticket. When we arrived at the park itself, we soon understood why, skipping straight to the front of a queue of a few hundred, and onto a bus to do the final 4km to the entrance.

This bus journey was lovely, the morning light falling in the abundance of tidy tea plants. A shame I couldn't really take photos as it was a twisty and pacy ride! We were dropped off and carried on by foot, up a switch-back type sealed road. We certainly hadn't been first to the party this morning so it was fairly busy with Indian tourists, but nevertheless we kept our eyes peeled for the rare Nilgiri Tahr (a type of mountain goat). On the way down we managed to spot one - well three - and get a portrait of it too (albeit on the long lens).

Back in Munnar, we arranged a short trek for the afternoon, then our driver took us to a few "sightseeing spots", including a dam and an echo point. He seems very good at picking the same spots as everyone else, so rather than being able to enjoy the views, I took advantage of the stalls to buy some tasty chocolate, before asking the driver to stop a little further down the road for some unimpeded photos. The dam and lake themselves were fairly impressive, but we were certainly looking forward to some fresh air and walking.

Lunch was had (we chose some parotta and a chickpea curry from the fairly extensive menu, plus a biryani that turned out to be just veg fried rice) before we got into a jeep to go to the start point for our trek. Jeeps I find a little confusing - the seats in the back (so most of them) don't have enough headroom for a normal person to sit upright without hitting their head on the roof bars, a fairly fatal design flaw and I wonder why anyone buys them for passenger use. I was glad therefore to soon reach the start point and set of with Jose, our guide. Over the course of 15km or so, on a mixture of tracks, trails and sealed roads, we enjoyed stunning views of tea plantations, luscious valleys and a few dry season waterfalls. Jose told us in great detail about the local fruits, spices, GST tax system, corrupted government and the varying price of cardamon. It was so great to be out and walking in relative quiet, treating ourselves to oranges from the trees on the way, as well as some weird pink fruits a cute little girl gave us when we passed. The orange peel also proved very handy for repelling the hundreds of mosquitoes swarming in the one cardamon plantation we walked through, thankfully we stayed well clear after that!

After returning by jeep from our end point (and getting out head intact) we dined at a menu-less little place at the side of the road, recommended to us by our driver. This would have been great (and was good) but by unfortunate coincidence we were served the exact same food that we had chosen to eat at lunchtime! However, it was very tasty yet again, and super cheap - I think we paid £2 for the entire meal.

Foodwise, most things here seem a tad spicier than up north, which is OK as they are normally served with something starchy or bready. The oddest thing I think is that we are in a tea region yet haven't had any tea, despite drinking loads of it up to this point...!