India, February 2015

This trip to India startet off as a planned trip to Egypt. Let me explain.

In the beginning of the year 2015 I planned to go to Sharm El-Sheikh with Zeina and Marwan, two friends from Kuwait. We had almost everything booked and figured out - when Egypt got struck by a (minor) terrorist attack. We decided to not take any risks and blew off the vacation.

As you can imagine I was pretty unhappy about this so I started looking for an alternative.

And I found it: India. I had never been to India, I didn't know much about India (not as if I knew a lot now...) and I actually had never travelled all by myself before. Exciting! I quickly planned the trip as I wanted to see many places but only had 5 days to spend.

With a little help from my colleague Tony, who is indian, I managed to create a plan:

1. Fly to Bombay and spend one and a half days there

2. Fly to Goa and spend three days there

3. Take the train to Kerala and spend the last two days there

The trip started off with some trouble: I arrived at the airport and got a Taxi to take me to my hotel. Unfortunately the driver had no Idea where exactly the hotel was. He kept telling me 'we're there', but when I asked where exactly the hotel was he couldn't tell me. So I gave him to understand that I will not leave the cab without seeing the hotel. He got angry and kept mumbling stuff while I sat in the back, looking out of the window and gathering my first impressions: It was about 4.30am and this was clearly not the nicest part of Bombay. The sun was just about to rise, people were standing around bonfires on the streets or sleeping in some corner.

My rescue came in the form of a young lady. She passed by and noticed the cab driver being angry and me sitting there. She politely asked, whether she could help me and when I told her about my situation and the hotel name she offered to take me to the hotel, which was just 200m down the road.

Gladly I followed her and reached my hotel. I checked in and met a relative of Tony's, who had organized a local SIM card for me. Then I decided to explore a little, so I took a cab to take me to the 'Gateway of India'. From there I got on a small ferry to take me to 'Elephanta Island'. I heard that there were some caves worth seeing on that island and didn't want to miss seeing them.

As soon as I disembarked the ferry a european looking girl approached me and asked if she could join me on my tour around the island as she didn't feel safe by herself. Of course I agreed and she (Elodie, a half french - half spanish girl) turned out to be very nice and fun to be around. She was traveling India by herself as well, although she had several weeks (or even months?) and not just a few days.

Anyhow - we walked around the island, which was just as dirty as the rest of Bombay and found out that the caves were closed on this day of the week. Shoot! We went back to the main land and split up after agreeing on meeting up for dinner. I went back to the hotel, had a nap and then went back downtown to meet Arun, a friend from Kuwait, who was in Bombay too at the time by coincidence. We met up with Elodie for dinner and then went out for a few drinks. After that it was time to get back to the hotel.

The next day I checked out and took a cab to the airport - off to Goa!

A taxi picked me up from the airport and took me to Palolem, a small area in the very south of Goa - heaven as I would have found out later. I arrived at the hotel and got a small bungalow close to the beach. It wasn't very clean and there was nothing but a bed and a night stand in the room. The bathroom had a toilet, a sink and a hose from the ceiling (supposed to be a shower). Perfect!

I spent the afternoon walking up and down the beach, fighting off passive aggressive merchants and having dinner at the beach. Amazing food! Good beer! In the evening there were live musicians in many of the bars so I decided to sit down and listen to one of them. It was an elderly Irish lady who clearly wasn't sober. Her songs were catchy and the atmosphere was great - to this day (2,5 years later) I sometimes still hum or sing the songs I heard that night. My favorite was:

I could live on chips and guinness and the odd cup o' tea

I could live on chips and guinness it's the simple life for me

I've tried nouvelle cuisine but it didn't work for me

I could live on chips and guinness and the odd cup o' tea

Catchy, right?

When the live music came to an end some fireworks started - a great way to end the evening!

I went to bed very happy and a little tipsy that night.

The next day started early, I had a quick breakfast and then went off to go Canyoning. After an about one-hour-long drive we reached the canyon and started hiking. 30 minutes later we started abseiling and jumping - loads of fun! Abseiling right beside a big waterfall.. and jumping from cliffs into (small) pools from heights up to 13m.. I had the time of my life! We even saw a snake or two.

After the canyoning we had a snack and then drove back to Palolem.

I spent the evening at the beach, having great food once again and had the pleasure to meet Michael and Cat, a lovely couple from Manchester. The day ended early for me, I was pretty shattered and knew that the next day would be long.

The next morning I checked out after breakfast and was taken to the station by a cab. Luckily I had a seat reserved 'second class sleeper', as the train station was packed with people. I didn't even expect the train to be on time so I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't. I made best use of the spare time and bought a bunch of biscuits, bananas and water to survive an 18h train ride.

Finally the train arrived and I found my spot: A bench, 180cm by 60cm. Not quite enough space for me and my two rucksacks... but hey - better than a plastic chair. I spent the time eating, reading and listening to music. Whenever I felt like having a smoke I'd just sit in the open door, watch the jungle fly by and smoke. With the wind in my hair and the amazing scenery this train ride was amazing. I didn't care about the unhygienic restrooms or the occasional rat.. I loved it!

After being on the train for about 11 hours I noticed that the train would almost pass my hotel soon (just to kinda drive a full circle afterwards, arriving at the same spot again 7 hours later), so I decided to hop off and make my way to the hotel by taxi. It was dark already and the views were not longer to enjoy.. so I wouldn't miss out on anything. I got off at Thrissur and found a tuktuk to take me the remaining 60km to the hotel. The tuktuk driver was pretty excited about the long drive and bragged about it in front of his colleagues.

He took me about 30km towards the hotel and then stopped in a small town right beside a little banana-shop. I thought he'd just go for a pee or buy some water or something.. but he turned around and explained to me that he would not drive any further as there was a risk of being attacked by wild elephants in this area at night.

So there I was, 11pm in the middle of nowhere, exhausted and hungry. I started talking to the banana-salesman who luckily was pretty fluent in english. A very nice guy - he even tried getting one of his friends to take me to the hotel (but didn't reach him) and gave me bananas and coke. In the end he called my hotel and got them to pick me up.

While I was waiting there some of his friends passed by and I had to take pictures with everyone. Well.. it's not like I had better things to do, so why not!? After they left an old lady came to buy some fruits or veggies at the shop. She was tiny and looked up to me and then asked, where I was from. When I told her that I am german, she started speaking german to me (not fluently, but easy to unterstand). I was amazed and asked how she knows german so well - her answer was, that she learnt it in college for two years (1971/72). Utterly amazing.

Shortly after this conversation my taxi arrived and took me to the hotel - without seeing any elephants of course. Just some giant deers and a snake. Off to bed.

The next day started with a disgusting breakfast. I then rented a scooter and decided to simply drive down the road for a bit, towards the center of a national park. On the way I had a few stops at some breathtaking waterfalls, hiked down the river for a bit and almost got robbed by monkeys.

I went back to my scooter and continued my way down the road, which got smaller and smaller the further I got. At some point I decided to have another break, so I just stopped in the middle of nowhere and switched off the engine. A beautiful silence. The only thing I could hear was the sound of some birds, the wind.. and the sound of water somewhere nearby. I followed the sound and reached a river - untouched.

That was my resting place for the next 3 hours! Within that time I did not see or hear any sign of other human beings. Just wonderful nature and me lying in the sun on a rock. On the other side of the river I could see tracks of elephants and hoped to see some - unfortunately I was not lucky. So when the sun started to set I decided that it was time to head back. Before reaching the hotel I stopped at a bakery and bought some pastries - my dinner on the last day in India.

The next day I had to get up early to catch a ride to the airport.

An awesome vacation ended without any further trouble.

This was a truly amazing experience. I really am no fan of Bombay.. but Kerala and especially Goa stole my heart. Really nice memories and the wish to go back many times (which I did 10 months later..).

I am happy that Egypt didn't work out! It couldn't have been any better than this!

#Indien #Goa #Kerala #Bombay