This is the official PART II of my India travel blog post. For PART I refer to
here. In
PART I I talked about the food, the scenery, and the culture. Now, I realize they are very broad terms, so this time I'm going to be a little bit more specific in my "love"s.
Alright, here we go:
4. the train
One week into the trip, we travelled from Karnataka to Kerala (even more down South). It was a nine-hour train ride, on the train in the photo above. We got seats in economy class with AC, which is really nice for a regular Indian person. The people who were riding in our car all looked somewhat knowledgable, and some of them were working on laptops during the ride (while I dozed off...because the train left at 5 in the morning).
The train ride was nine hours (loooooong, I know). In between cars there was this open area where people could take a smoke, or just chill. And of course, I did only the latter. The view was absolutely killer. As we got more and more South, the flat-ish landscapes began to yield to rocky mountains. The sky was a vast, endless blue thing that looked full of magic, and the dirt ground beneath us was just moving so fast, as the train emitted soothing rhythmic sounds, tkt, tkt, tktttttt.
While on the train, I met a really cool old man who talked to me about yoga and how being young is just so wonderful because we as young people get to live fully in the moment (I will talk more about that in PART III, I promise). It was an eye-opening (ear-opening?) conversation indeed.
5. the hike
While we were staying in the mountains at Periyar Tiger Reserve, we went on a two-hour hike on a nature trail. A local guide, a middle aged man who seemed to know all about plants and animals and could talk about it for hours on end, accompanied us, so I had the fortune and pleasure to discover some amazing things about the ecosystem in India.
While we were walking amongst the trees (and I made the stupid mistake of wearing shorts in the tickly long greass and freaking Sperry's can you believe it) the guide pointed out random wild animals to us along the walk. We saw some pretty amazing BIG GIANT WHITE SQUIRRELS FOR EXAMPLE. (okay I need to calm down. Calm down Vanessa.)
(Look at this giant of a tree, isn't it ah-mazing?)
6. The coffee
Okay I'm lame I didn't take any pictures of the lovely coffee I had while in India. But just to feast your eyes, I decided to upload a picture of a beautiful blossoming fried egg (yes, I said blossoming. WUT).
BUT STILL. The coffee was really good. I don't know what it is about it, maybe it's the Indian water, or the way they prepare it (which, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see), it just tastes different from American coffee (which is usually, I'm sorry, crap, anyways). The Indian coffee I had at Kochi tasted slightly burned, almost a little charcoal-y, even. With just a little bit of milk and sugar, it is heaven.
7. The currency
Do I sound like I'm running out of things to say? Actually, quite the opposite. But I decided to talk about the Indian money because they look really cool! Again, I don't usually take pictures of me holding a bunch of bills, (and even if I do I would feel super duper weird uploading them here...) But Indian money has Ghandi's head on it! It is very nice-looking (and the large bills slightly VERY confusing).
8. The saree
I mean, just look at it, isn't it so exotically beautiful?? My friend got a saree that is magenta, with blue skirt and underpants and golden lining all over the fabric. She is seriously thinking of wearing it to prom. Certainly nobody would wear the same dress! :P
Alright. That's it for today! I still have so much more to say though! Sadly, only 3 more "love"s to spare. I will make sure those three are some awesome three's next Tuesday :)
Namaste.
Vanessa :]
