Kerala Relaxation

If India is the land of a thousand faces, then Kerala must be the land of smiles. As soon as I stepped off the bus in the small mountain town of Munnar, I was overcome with a sense of relief. Everything about this place was different from the dusty, crowded, rapid-paced cities of northern India. The air is clearer, the trees are greener, and at the end of the day I can blow my nose with turning the tissue black from pollution.

Kerala is one the southernmost states, and has developed at its own pace separated from the rest of the country, resulting in a profusion of languages, religions and foreign cultures more evident here than anywhere else in India. The climate is perfect for creating tropical paradises of inland lakes surrounded by waving palm trees, and also for agricultural industries that bring rice, tea, rubber and coffee to the rest of the country. At 91% literacy rate, Kerala has the most educated population, which has led to the 'People's Campaign' to decentralize the government to local communities, improve public services and bring about greater caste, ethnic and gender equality.

I guess the people here know how good they have it because they're all just so darn happy all the time. Munnar in particular is filled with shopkeepers, pedestrians and roadside food vendors all grinning from ear to ear, whether or not you decline their service. Whether it was dancing by firelight to Bollywood music at a local celebration, learning to create delicious flaky parottas on sizzling woodstoves at the night market or going on a homemade chocolate sampling tour of the city, I couldn't stop smiling in Munnar either.

I was also totally unprepared for the gorgeous scenery of the town's surrounding hillsides. Tea plantations of waist-high bushes in brilliant greens make beautiful patterns etched into the mountains.


On our last day, we took a day long tour driving through the winding roads past tea, cocoa and coffee plantations, sandalwood forests and waterfalls. We ended with a trek through the Chennai Wildlife Sanctuary. After an hour of sweaty hiking and seeing nothing but animal droppings and termite mounds, the guide suddenly grabbed my arm and motioned for silence. As I looked to where his finger pointed in the distance, I saw the outline of a huge animal foraging in the trees. It was a family of wild elephants, only 200m from us. Two more emerged nearby, and you could hear their trumpeting across the entire valley. We watched them for almost 20 minutes, but the sun started setting and we had to turn back. With a heavy mist creeping up the mountains at dusk on our drive back, the scenery was even more beautiful than during our journey there.

Golden Triangle

The Jaipur-Agra-Delhi cities are often advertised as the 'golden triangle' for tourists, and a well-travelled route. With Taj Mahal in Agra being the number one tourist destination in India and Delhi as the captial, I thought that Jaipur would be packed with tourists. I have been wrong before (please see last post).

After leaving my hostel I decided to take the pedestrian route to take in the city sights, and also avoid having to hassle with rickshaw drivers for prices. This can be a problem when the ratio of drivers to pedestrians is about 20:1. During my two hour walk I failed to see any other obvious tourists on the streets, and very few women. Even dressed fairly conservatively, I could feel all eyes on me as I walked. It felt a bit like 2am closing time at Rev, except that it's broad daylight in a public place. Some people whistled and yelled 'koni-chiwa,' others zoomed past on mopeds, ten doubled back again to take a closer look.

Being that conspicuous has its advantages though. For example, my taxi driver from the night before recognized me on the street and treated me to the best 'lassi' spot in town, which is a favorite Indian yogurt dish. I can't count the number of times that people have asked me to pose for pictures with them, or of children leading me along and tugging my hands so I can meet their friends. Makes me feel special.

Anyways, so where did I end up finding all of Jaipur's tourists? MacDonalds (not so surprising, actually) and.... the movies! I thought that Mickey D's would be an interesting experience in India. I mean, do you sell Big Mac's in a country that has the world's biggest vegetarian population, including those who consider cows to be sacred? The answer is no. The menu had some interesting variations to what we find in North America, like the McAloo Tiki vegetarian burger and the Maharajah burger, which is a fancy triple decker chicken sandwich. The rest was disappointingly familiar, except 1/5 of the price.



And the movies - I caught my first Bollywood film in an actual Indian cinema! It was a pretty cool experience, mostly due to the highly interactive crowd. Indians take their cinema very seriously. As soon as the curtains are drawn, the cheering begins, and its hard not to get swept up in the movie with everyone else. The movie was called Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani. I still have no idea what it means, and neither did the other tourists around me. The entire movie was spoken in hindi, but the plot was simple enough to grasp - boy falls for girl, girl can't be with boy, they break into musicals (everyone knew the words!) and it all works out in the end. It's the most fun I've had so far on my trip and hopefully not the last that I get to enjoy for my next two weeks of travelling.

After hanging out in Delhi for a few days, it was time for me to begin my travels to Rajasthan, India's largest state just east of the capital city. I was to travel to the city of Jodhpur by train, covering 600 km in ten hours, leaving at 10:30 and arriving the next morning. According to the Lonely Planet for India, 'Train travel is one of the joys of India. The network is extensive, prices are reasonable, and the experience of travelling on an Indian train is a reason to travel all by itself.' I was looking forward to this first part of my solo journey, not only because trains were definitely fit my budget (overnight trains means I don't have to pay for a place to sleep), but I always thought that trains were kind of a romantic way to travel.

My train left from an older station north of the city, and the scene that lay before me is something that will stay with me for awhile. The entranceways, floors and halls of the station were lined with sleeping bodies. Children, the elderly, the disabled, entire families, all were gathered under one roof. It was a miserable, dark and dusty place to be. Even though the station was crowded beyond belief, it was eerily silent. No hum of conversation, no laughter, not even the haggling beggars. Picking my way through the motionless crowd was like walking through a graveyard.

After reaching the sole platform, I found my sleeper class car and bade farewell to my sister. There were no doors to the trains, just an open entry way, the lights were off and most of the people in my compartment were already sound asleep, covered head to toe in thick blankets. I climbed to my spartan top bunk and read some of my Rohinton Mistry novel before drifting asleep to the sounds of the train.

A couple hours later, I woke up with a start- it was cold. Really cold. Shivering, I looked around enviously at my neighbours and their blankets, but I had picked as lightly as possible and was wearing most of my clothes. I thought that I had done most of my travel homework by consulting blogs and the Lonely Planet. They mentioned bringing a blanket to cover the benches or to substitute as a pillow for long journeys. I had brought an inflatable pillow, thinking 'haha, I'm so smart!' However, I had failed to take into account that temperatures in Rajasthan dip to 5C this time of year, and that there are no doors or fully closed windows on the trains. Curled up in the fetal position to stay warm, I wondered what I was going to do for the next six freezing hours on the train.

For some reason, I kept thinking about bedbugs, and how glad I was that at least the barren benches pretty much eliminated the chances of harbouring any nasty bugs. I had a pretty nasty experience with bedbugs while living in Toronto for co-op, and the only way of getting rid of them is by putting all your belongings in the drying machine for 45 min, or leaving them in tightly closed garbage bags to bake in the hot summer sun for several hours.

Garbage bags....that was it! I rummaged through my knapsack and found two huge Glad trashbags that I had stashed at the bottom. I quickly opened one, stuffing my legs and numbed feet into one, then tearing a hole through the other with just enough room to push my head through. The effect was almost immediate- my upper body and legs were enveloped in a synthetic, plasticky warmth from by body temperature captured by the bags. Now if only the open ends would stay shut. The solution was almost too easy. I grabbed quick-tie closures and tied them shut, sealing in the warmth.

In the morning I was pleased to discover that I had safely arrived in Jodhpur without any signs of frostbite. My pillow had completely deflated. I will be writing a letter of thanks to the good people at Glad upon my return.

I was rewarded by these views of Jodhpur 'The Blue City' from Meheranghar Fort that morning.

Planning for Takeoff

I'm sitting in Terminal 2 of the Changi Airport in Singapore. While taking advantage of the free leather massage chairs, surrounded by views of cascading waterfalls emptying into peaceful koi ponds, I can finally unwind and reflect on the events that transpired today to bring me here.


I booked my plane tickets to India a couple of weeks ago on a total whim, the deciding factors being the India Airfare sale going on, combined with the fact that if I didn't visit my little sister (who's doing an internship in New Delhi) for her last week in the country, chances are I wouldn't be able to see any of my family for the next 18 months, a thought that's tough for me to handle. The cheapest fares happened to coincide with the day of my last exam. Perfect! What better way to celebrate the end of my first term in Australia? Several days later, my travel agent contacted me to say he found even better tickets with a sweet airline (Singapore Airlines) and a much shorter layover. Awesome right? The more time I get in India, the more bonding time I get with mini V-Ho.

Fast forward to Sunday evening as I'm going over final exam notes, when I get a phonecall from someone who sounds like they're hosting a Japanese gameshow. After a few seconds I realize its a Korean exchange student looking for a tutor to practise conversational English. Her and a friend are willing to pay $20/hr for 10 hrs, which would pretty much solve my money situation for the rest of the break. The only catch is that they want to meet before I leave for three weeks, to which I agree because it sounds perfectly feasible. Which leads me to today's events (best read while listening to Stress by Justice):

6:30 am - Wake up, eat 6 bowls of cereal, shower (a totally pointless task, I would soon discover) 7:30 am - Leave house to walk to school
7:31 am - Being Australian summer, it is already 31C and I am covered in sweat
8:00 am - I sit down and commence my final exam
9:00 am - I'm finished! With 30 minutes to spare! Wooooo! India here I come!
9:15 am - Walk to my friends house for a farewell breakfast. I arrive covered in sweat.
10:30 am - Run home, pick up my pre-packed bags and rush out to catch a bus to the city.
11:00 am - I have been waiting for the bus while wearing my travel pack in the hot sun for 5 minutes already. My bag is soaked with sweat.
11:30 am - Meet with the Korean girls for an hour-long, high-pitched, giggly and semi-productive conversation. I get the job!
12:30 pm - Leave the library to catch the 12:41 airtrain to the airport
12:35 pm - Hmmm this walk was longer than I thought it would be...
12:38 pm - Reach central station and the lights are flashing the 3 min countdown for the airtrain
12:39: pm - I'm almost at Platform 3 when I encounter a sign saying 'escalators are closed. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please find an alternate route.' Interesting...
12:40 pm - I locate another set of stairs and FLY through them, just in time to ease through the closing doors of the airtrain
1:20 pm - Arrive at Brisbane International Terminal and check in
1:45 pm - Boarding for flight SQ236 begins
2:45pm - Take off. The best part? I'm on the plane.

This post was meant to put my parents at ease. India should be a breeze.





-Aiport Planner Extraordinaire