>> IM IN INDIA!! Today is Day #4 that Ive been here. Im traveling with my lover and best friend Barbara. For the past 2 months, we were in Bali... mostly in Ubud. We also visited the Gili Islands. Truly an amazing 2 months. Bali is just an amazing place... and Ubud is magical. Its a town focused on health/yoga/meditation... juice bars everywhere, organic restaurants galore, and conscious/spiritual people go there from all over the world. Im very grateful for the time we spent there, and now weve moved on! Were in India now, and its amazing!! >> LINK TO THE INDIA PHOTO ALBUM: https://facebook/viberider/media_set?set=a.10152694572552275.1073741830.534217274&type=3 STARTING A TRAVEL JOURNAL Im going to start posting a travel journal here on FB about our travels. How fun! Ill post photos, and journal about our adventures. Maybe Ill even start a blog soon! Ill write about our adventures, and you can see the photos attached depicting all the fun times we had, people we met, and sites we see... how fun!! :) I landed in Kochi airport on the morning of the 23rd... we took a Tuk Tuk (also known as a Rikshaw) to Fort Kochi... its about 45km away from the airport. We needed a place to stay for our initial arrival, and this was the perfect place. The tuk tuk driver guided us right along through the busy, hustling bustling streets of India. At first I was shocked at how chaotic everything is on the streets here in India, but I quickly got used to it. After all, Ive been in Asia for many many months now... but India is a totally different world. FORT KOCHI ADVENTURE On the way to Fort Kochi, we stopped at a local restaurant and enjoyed our first meal in India! Wow, it only cost us 255 rupies ($4.32) for 4 main entrees... Barbara, our driver, and I ate to our fill for just 4 bucks! Including tea before and after... great deal. The food was delicious, although some of the breads were super oily (fried!)... we learned to just order chapatis and not the fried stuff from now on. And we were off!! We arrived to Fort Kochi and the tuk tuk driver took us straight to a place called Harborage Inn... its a nice, clean little guest house about 10 min walk from the main area of the town. The room was perfect, and just 500 rupees ($8.47) per night... awesome! We arrived at around 10:30AM, so we put our bags away inside and headed out to explore the town. At first I was a bit culture shocked at all the chaos on the streets, garbage everywhere and the general uncleanliness, but it was nice to be in a different environment. We had been in Bali/Ubud for so long... One thing I forgot to mention was that the tuk tuk driver told us about a place called Varkala when we were on the way to Kochi... we asked him about cool places to go in Kerala (which is the state in India we are in now)... and Varkala was on the top of his list... This was a preview of what was to come, because Im actually writing this from a bungalow in Varkala now! Its a beautiful little beach town that Ill tell you about soon! :) We spent 2 days in Kochi exploring around town. Nothing too exciting, but it was the perfect place to get acclimated to our new environment in India... not too crazy or busy like other cities like Mumbai or Delhi, so it was nice to be slowly introduced to India in this way. It can get pretty hectic in the big cities! In Kochi, we hired a Tuk Tuk who drove us around to the different scenic areas, and in exchange we visited a few shops from which the driver gets 100 rupees commission each shop. So we got to see the town, and the driver made some money from us visiting shops. Win/win situation, which is the best way to go... check out the photos attached of Kochi. We visited an organic spice shop, several shops with Indian art, antiques and statues, and walked around Jew Town... a very remote and unique place with a Synagogue from the 1500s. After a couple days, we headed south to Varkala, which is where we are now... and its amazing! I havent taken too many photos yet because this is our first morning and full day here, so tomorrow Ill post more photos of beautiful Varkala. THE TRAIN RIDE TO VARKALA We took a train here from Kochi, it was a 4.5 hour ride. And let me tell you, one of the most magnificent train rides Ive ever taken! First of all, it only cost us $1.77 per person! A bargain! And the train was a great experience because it feels like youre back in the early 1900s... I really dont think the train has been upgraded much since then. It feels super authentic. Its low season in India now, and we must have been the only few tourists on the train of hundreds of people. Awesome. The ride was scenic and we rode through the backwaters of Kerala... Imagine riding through a jungle with coconut trees all around, full of green everywhere, with water canals flowing in and around rice fields, breaking into the ocean with the sun shining down. WOW... just beautiful. One of the highlights of our India trip so far. We also met 2 super cool Indian guys in our train compartment. I love their cool, laid back attitude here. We added each other on Facebook and now weve going to keep in touch. Its so cool how open an connected the world is now. Even in these third world countries, everybody has a phone and is connected via the internet. Love it! I took some photos during the train ride. Check them out. After what seemed like a quick 4.5 hours, we arrived at Varkala. We immediately were greeted by a tuk tuk driver who offered to drive us around to find a place to stay for the night. Perfect! Since weve been here things have been flowing super smoothly... its like magic! We rode into whats called The Cliff Town here... wow... imagine a beautiful beach down below, and a 100ft cliff that goes on for miles and miles, and on that cliff is a town with restaurants, guest houses, and a walkway along the cliff that you can walk on. Ill take some photos today and post them tomorrow. We are going to hike all along the cliff today. Last night when we arrived, we found an awesome place called Kerala Bamboo House... we are only paying 600 rupees ($10) per night. Its right on the beach, on the cliff overlooking the whole ocean. Our room is a 15 second walk to the cliff. We can hear the waves crashing as we sleep. Ill take some photos today and post them tomorrow!! Well... its 10:30AM now, and were about ready to head out. Another adventure today! Ill be sure to take lots of photos and post them tomorrow along with another entry to this travel journal. Its really nice to be sharing this with you.... STAY TUNED! and I hope you enjoy the photos :) Love always, Q-Mars Imandel & Barbara... ----------------------------------------
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 05:31:03 +0000
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