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India 2017

November - December 2017
A 26-day adventure by Jan Read more
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  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 1

    Relax in Gokarna

    November 27, 2017 in India ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Well this is it. Last morning in Goa with the group, the relax on the beach was amazing but it's time to go! I have to admit, get up from sofa is really difficult when there's amazing food and cold beer.
    The first stop - bus station. After few minutes it seems not so easy to get to Gokharna (final stop). But some bus is coming so gooo! The bus stopped and it's time to change, surprisingly, another bus but after this one there should be bus to Gokharna! For sure! Ok, so when you asked people on the next bus stop for a bus and answer is clear and simple - No bus, something is wrong. Well it tooks only 10 minutes and I discovered bus with Gokarna sign hidden around the corner! Nice!
    So after 3,5 hours, 3 buses, finally, beach, Sun and samosas!
    Well let's find accommodation. After few conversations the advices are simply, to the beach and right! First stop and I have a bed for 200Rs, well it's only a couple of bricks and plank with mattress but... it's enough.
    In the end of the village the small hill begins and sunset is coming, let's go! Nice walk during the evening, the views are amazing...
    For dinner fish curry and beer, everything what is needed! And with beer it's easier to find a friends...evening with guys from Australia and Ireland was really good. Beers, rum and in the end also merunkovice ended up with practice of German language.
    Nice evening...    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 1

    Gokarna - time to leave

    November 27, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Wow the night was disaster... the guy next to me has horrible cough and when the cottage has only leafy walls... But when I left a bed stepped onto beach everything was forgotten. Well what next so, two eggs, aloo parrota, masala tea on the beach mmm...
    After breakfast there was a time for last walk and bath. The beach here is endless, after one hour I had to turn back. The part of the trip I spent with some Indian guy. Most of our conversations were quite odd because his biggest questions were about marriage with foreign wife and sex in Europe. When he asked me if he can simply change a girl when he'll get bored by his wife I was quite worried what they're thinking about us. But I hope I somehow described how things work...
    Last hour I spent in the bar with fresh papaya juice and just writing notes, amazing...
    Well time to go, train is waiting. At first I visited local temple with fresh nature water and refill my bottles. Maybe I'm getting old. I thought that I'll just stop someone to take me to the train station for free. Riksas are for 150Rs... But in the end I was coward I took a bus nd I had to pay but 15Rs...
    And on the train station... what you can do? Take a nap because train has 2 hours delay!
    But at least I met Austrian/Italian couple and they have tips for cheap accommodation!
    Time to say goodbye to Gokarna. Finally on the road. Again.    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    1
    Day 2

    One day stop in Udupi

    November 28, 2017 in India ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Welcome to Udupi. With two hours delay, the train finally arrived to my station. At least I found the couple from Gokarna on the platform so.. let's find cheap accommodation. The advice from locals is go to the bus station, there you can find hotel.
    Udupi is not so famous or big city, there is only small city centre with beautiful temple. But, they have really big bus station. Yes there are bigger ones but this one is separated between local, government, private etc etc buses and between these stations are small streets up and down so for us it was like four bus stands in one city. Nevertheless, let's go and after half an hour we have two rooms! I don't know why but the owner gave us a discount only for two beds room, maybe I had a wrong haircut.
    Dinner time, Diana restaurant and famous Bombay cutlet. So we arrived to the recommended restaurant and there...No one! Nice! Famous. Now I know why, they were closing in 10 minutes. We were there at 9! Super early. But we received our orders and it was really good, totally worth it!
    Next morning is time for a walk. At least owner of the hotel is really good guy and let me store my big backpack in his room! But at first breakfast, besides 6 mini bananas I was in normal small restaurant but..WHAT?... Indian guy had idly and he was eating with fork and spoon! Not with hands. Wow.. never seen that before...
    So, let's check a temple. It's located in small square where in one corner is a temple and other sides are filled with monasteries (8 in total). Beautiful buildings where almost everyone of them is providing accommodation for pilgrims! A lot of locals are already waiting in queue and with sound of live music they are coming inside for Dharsan.
    Otherwise that's all from Udupi, the afternoon I spent in Malpe (different footprint). Nice moment was, when I was walking to the bus station I met some old woman and she has immediately started talking to me. Normal questions but.. farewell with words God bless you from doctor of theology. Quite nice.
    The last thing what really worth it is local Thali. I tried restaurant called Woodenland and for really cheap price I received tomato soup, unlimited thali and ice cream. I had really big problem to roll myself back to the hotel for backpack after that.
    And the last two experiences from Udupi.
    1) When I asked hotel owner if I can use a shower for one more time - sure no problem! Thumbs up!
    2) when I catch the bus to train station I paid with 10Rs bill. The conductor have asked me if I'd have 2 rs change and he gave me back my 10rs bill. When I gave him 2Rs he took it and gave me another 5Rs. So basically I get paid for traveling by bus. Nice    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 2

    Fish market and relax in Malpe

    November 28, 2017 in India ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Close to Udupi is village called Malpe located on the beach. Since I finished Udupi I had a free time to visit local fish market and the beach.
    When I was reading the guider, the fish market looked like a small market only for locals. Wrong. I hit the place and at first moment I saw only cottages and between them almost on the ground there were fresh fishes directly on Sun. And "nice" smell everywhere. Something is wrong.. and it was - my location. Around the corner there is a huge place with halls, trucks, and workers ready to sort fresh catches. Not so small market. Actually I had to ask a guard if I can go inside.
    The fishes were everywhere, one ship after another was delivering fresh catch. In one moment I was almost hit by truck filled up with ice! Just for imagination, outside was around 35°C.
    After that it was time for lunch. Well - fresh fish with rice and curry, what else you can have. And relax. Tea, sunset paradise...    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 3

    Thrissur and small surprise

    November 29, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    So, the train is arriving to the train station, but, Jan doesn't know about it! Never trust google in India. I checked the distance and according to google it supposed to be 1 hour more it sounded good to me also because of train's delay. So when I arrived to train station in 20min nobody can be surprised that I was just lying on my bed and doing nothing... After a sec I checked the position, asked the guy and yeah I was really fast outside! Well, adventure in the morning...
    So, at first, breakfast time... The recommended coffee house! Amazing masala dosa and fresh cup of black coffee. It was really good! But still here in India, always Chai addicted... And funny think in the end, when I received the bill the bug come out from papers...
    So Thrissur, there are not many interesting places around, it's not like famous city. They have one temple in the middle only for Hindu, at least there's really nice park around which can be (and it was) use for nap. There are also couple of nice churches worth to visit but in total it takes only one morning. The temple itself is in the middle of big roundabout, which has something between 3-8 car lines so as an adventure is quite interesting to cross it in Indian style.
    The most surprising thing about Thrissur and Kerala was (for me) that when I was standing on sidewalk and waiting to cross the road, suddenly all cars stopped in one line and waited until we cross the road! Never happened to me before! For example in Chennai there is always a bus which is trying to go through you if you're crossing the road.
    Anyway, it's time to make surprise and visit Arsha Yoga house. To get there I took a bus to the junction and walk to the beach. Actually, the walk was really short because some guy lift me up on motorbike, really nice.
    And I'm here. Ashram is on the beach, it's like a paradise. I spent whole evening with playing with little girl and talking in Czech! Really nice after couple of days. And as a karma yoga I was helping serve a dinner - good feeling.    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 5

    Yoga and festival in drum rhythm

    December 1, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Only thing what I'm not missing is a sound of alarm around 5:45 am. But it's time for yoga! However we're good team with my Canadian roommate and after spending couple of minutes with encouragement we're on our yoga mat in the yoga hall.
    Since my Karma yoga is serving a food, immediately after lecture, it's time to prepare place for breakfast and serve food to the others. I know that I shouldn't be expected any rewards for my Karma yoga but local food Puttu for breakfast was amazing. Kind of reward. Never had it before and they said it's possible to get it only in families...
    Well, I'd like to find some time for a relax but little Gayatri has a different opinion and the rest of the afternoon is filled with games and performances which I have to attend to. But it's nice! Energy in children is inspiring.
    During the lunch the plan is settled. In the evening we're going to visit Sri Krishna temple in Guruvayur where is a festival. Amazing rhythm of drums and trumpets... sadly we're not allowed to visit a temple. But nevertheless we met the elephants and the rest of the evening we spent with tea, shopping and "hands art". On the way back we met another performance. Group of guys sitting in front of the temple and, also, singing and playing amazing rhythms on drums. The music is full of energy! I was stuck in one place for 30minutes and just listen. Interesting thing is that Indian as a super loud country, they don't clap with their hands after performances. Just quietly sitting. Also I realized their passion about festival and music, they're totally inside themselves while playing... aand time to bed, the storm is coming, we don't have electricity so what else to do.
    Last morning in this paradise. Also with yoga lesson, only this time I was the only one "tourist" there, the others are still sleeping! I just had to serve the last food for the others and it's time to go again.
    Thanks to Arsha yoga for nice two days!
    Namaste.    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 6

    Fort Kochi and Mattanchery

    December 2, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    So after 2 days on the beach it's time for some bigger city and street live. Next stop Fort Kochi and Jew town in Kochi.
    The bus from Thrissur stopped far far away from the final destination so local bus it is! It's always lots of fun just running from one bus to other and just asking if this one is the right one. But! They have ferries here! Wow I have to try it and it's really cheap. The combination of local bus and ferry cost me 12Rs otherwise the bus between main bus stand and Fort Kochi is around 40. Kochi is basically huge harbour so the big ships are everywhere and also the water is really dirty... anyway after couple of minutes I reach my hostel and I have to say I was really lucky. It was only dormitory but when the manager just asked me how long I am practicing yoga even I have my yoga mat hidden in the backpack... and also he knows arsha yoga and Marie so. Yes, this is the right place.
    And it's time to go to observe a city. Fort Kochi is small but different than normal Indian city. It's touristic place but I like small streets and just walking and discover the architecture...
    The second part of Kochi which worth to see is Mattanchery, the Jew part of the town. It's also only small part but really nice, just small streets with shops inside and nice places to take a coffee or juice.
    What I'd recommend is Dal Roti restaurant, traditional indian food (quite hard to find in this touristic place) with really good taste. I had filled Parrota with vegetable, panner and eggs inside and it was really good! And also... I was just sitting there alone and suddenly my friends appeared! The India is quite small, probably.
    Well, that's all from this city. Next morning I just met really nice guy from Barcelona, he said to me that I should come, ok, sure! And with my friends we visited nice magical place for a morning tea!    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 8

    Aleppey, houseboat and backwaters

    December 4, 2017 in India ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Well famous Kerala backwaters... The plan is simple, go to the harbour and find the cheapest houseboat with full service for our little party and relax.
    So at first accommodation for night. It's really good to be here out of the season because room for three people is possible to get for 800 when the normal price according to price list is 3000. Directly next to the harbour, perfect location.
    Let's go to the harbour and check the prices! First offers around 10000. Ouch... But when we crossed harbour from the end to end twice we have two offers for 8k, so we're waiting till the morning to check one boat which is not there now.
    Meanwhile the city is... Well there are two canals, they're nice for the first look but for the second one. Thrash everywhere. Nice...
    The city is famous only because of the backwaters so in the centre is...drum roll... nothing. It's not completely true, at least they have couple of good restaurants.
    Next day in the morning is time for our negotiation skills! And the results, 6000 for good houseboat and really nice crew.
    So, let's have a breakfast, pack our things and nothing more just relax... funny thing is that even we're in India is possible to meet friends from IIT. As in our case when we met one guy from campus on our way for a breakfast.
    So we're ready. We have all necessary things as our backpacks, good mood, beers, rum... that's it! Time to go.
    Whole trip was filled with amazing views. Just sitting on the roof and looking around. Exhaustive exchange semester. And after lunch we figured out that we have really good chef with us because the fish and curries were really good!
    The rest of the day we spent with chilling on the mattresses and drinking beers... Well as a proper pirates we switched to rum after dinner. With sunset to look at. Wow...
    Morning was quite weird. We parked no so far from main harbour and from the crew's behaviour was obvious that the end is coming. We didn't stop for a breakfast, we had it during the journey and also there weren't morning tea! The gas tank was empty.
    So quite disappointed but in good mood we left the boat and took a morning tea in tea stall.
    Time to move!    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 9

    One night in Ashram

    December 5, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ -2 °C

    Last stop for us a as a group. Amritapuri ashram. Famous place, base for hundreds of volunteers and place of relaxation and meditation. Home of hugging Amma.
    After entering the gate to the community I had quite weird feeling. I don't know what was it maybe the first impress of unknown. Nevertheless, at least one night for experience. After check-in I had to find my room. Quite hard when you're staying in the other side of community. But I found it!
    So let's discover what is here. The first thing, lunch. Nice start. The feelings were getting better immediately. For the food there's a place with plates and everyone is taking it, using it and also washing it after use! So everything is ready for next use. Who wants to work and help, it's possible to join as a volunteer and just help to the others. With garbage, cooking, painting, everything. So nice! Everyone is working not because of reward but because they want to. We had only one night so we couldn't join to work...
    In the evening we took guided tour around all facilities as Amma's home, temples and also Main hall where we ended up for singing Bajans (for us just listening but we were part of it). I have to admit, they have really good food there, its all cooked by volunteers (also served) and is...
    The next day it's time to try how is the normal day here according to schedule. Thanks to my Japanese roommate, who was snoring whole night so loudly that I didn't have any proper sleep, we got up around 4:20. For me it was useless because morning chanting starts at 4:50, so much time to sleep! But still. Around 5am I was in Main hall listening chanting of Lalita Sahasranama. One hour of vibrations and relaxation. And where do you wanna spend the meditation after this experience? On the beach. With sunrise, just sit down for one hour and listen and watch the ocean... Yes and one think, between chanting and meditation there was a tea at 6am. Separated lines for men and woman and in 10minutes everything was gone. 4 big pots were empty and everyone has tea in cup.
    The perfect morning I ended with 1. series of Ashtanga yoga on the top of my building with the Sun in my eyes!
    Well, time is running and after breakfast was time only for the tea, packing things and leave. Sadly, both, the shop and juice shop were closed so we just left the community filled with feelings.
    Just wow.
    And...Time to say goodbye, Julian and his girlfriend are going back to Kochi so again it's time for traveling alone.    Read more

  • TravelerIndia 2017
    Day 10

    Varkala

    December 6, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Don't you think that visiting and chilling on one beach after another could be boring? Me neither. So I took 3 buses from Amritapuri to Varkala and here I am. Again on the beautiful beach with lots of tourists...
    This place was not only about nature beauty but mainly about stories of people. The first one is connected to accommodation. When I was sitting in the third bus I booked a nice (and mainly cheap) accommodation in guest house. It took me while to find it because it's behind buildings hidden from main street.
    Shit. Nobody's home and nobody is answering a phone, nice start. So I entered a property and... The only thing what was there was small board with notes for newcomers. Please take your room, single room numbers... Wow! I love it! So I choose my room, did laundry and meanwhile the owner came. After small conversation I figured out that almost all of money from accommodation are used for food for poor people! Even better feeling from this place! Well the only thing what I didn't need it was huge almost dead cockroach in my bathroom.
    Well some time to relax so I went to the beach and I was just roaming around, snack, juice with sunset on nice promenade. You know, normal afternoon.
    The evening went on in the same mood, I just moved my body to hamak which is placed on the balcony of our staying. So just talking to new guys (France and the UK), playing guitar... also paying was really funny. When manager just asked me how much I'm paying?
    In the morning I went to the beach just observing morning ritual of locals... when I was walking back I met the other guys in the tea shop so it's time for Masala tea. And the stories of the others. For example the guy from England is living on Ibiza, better place I think. And he's just leading yoga retreats and traveling. I like this style!
    Well, that's all from Varkala. I'm glad that I've been there. But now, train and the next stop is... we'll see.    Read more

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