Kerala

Kerala is recommended in all the guide books, it is mostly famous due to the backwaters and the house boats but it is also known by the nice beaches and the several spice and tea plantations. We read a lot about Kerala and going on the backwaters was something we really wanted to do so the expectation was really high...

We came from Mysore on a bus to Kannur, government bus again, which means hard seats like wood, tiny space to seat and a very shaky travel, but at least we saved a lot of money.

Kannur was known for having really beautiful beaches a few km away... we got on a tuk tuk to the beach and actually it was beautiful like a paradise, with rivers and lakes surrounding the beach. We tried to search for a place to stay but the beach was like a private beach surrounded by expensive resorts... for our budget it was impossible... we even considered sleeping on the beach.. it would have been really nice but there were no stores at all so we couldn't buy water and food and by that time it was already 8pm... unfortunately we had to go back! After discussing our options we all agreed that we should go by bus to Alleppey instead of staying in Kannur and waste money on a room. So our second adventure of the day started... we had to figure it out how to find a bus to Alleppey in a city where we had been just for a few hours. After discovering the bus that would take us to Allepey we all went for a fast dinner before taking the bus, again government bus but this time it was super confortable semi-sleeper bus and even had wifii.

Alleppey is the most important city for the backwaters, there are a lot of cruises, house boats, canoes and kayaks around... the goal was to find a house where we could stay for a week or so.. Agata and Mateusz would be able to cook and we would be able to enjoy the backwaters environment. It happened that Alleppey wasn't exactly what we were expecting... it was a true city environment and not the backwater village type... we definitely didn't feel like staying for long... Agata and Mateusz decided that they would stay... they needed to stop in one place for a while, they wanted to cook and relax but they had more time than us... we needed to move again. We stayed in Allappey for only two days so that we could do the boat trip through the backwaters... we did the public ferry to Kotayam, 15 ruppies for 2h30 on the boat. The boat ride was beautiful as they show on the guide books. We also rented a motorbike to visit the city and we were ready to go. It was really hard to say goodbye to Agata and Mateusz but this things happen... of course there were tears but we are sure we will meet again!

We left by ferry again, this time to Kollam. An 8h journey through the beautiful backwaters... the journey was really nice we stopped for lunch in a place with really nice food and we got the chance to see the Amma Ashram in Amritapuri the famous ashram of the hugging mother.. the boat stopped for some people to leave but unfortunately not for enough time for us to hug Amma.

When we arrived to Kollam, we saw that it  was again a city environment with not much to do. We walked through the city to try to find a cheap room to stay for a night but the cheapest that we got it was a 600 rupies room. On a city that there are not many things to do and the prices of acomodation are high, we just thought that probably we should move again. We initially thought about exploring Kerala by motorbike but with our backpacks it wouldn't be easy and so far the cities in Kerala were nothing special... we were affraid of being running after an expectation that wouldn't happen, we would end up just spending money... we decided that our best option was to go to Madurai in Tamil Nadu state, skiping Munnar in Kerala which is one of the places that we realy wanted to go but unfortunately it is raining there. In addiction, going earlier to Madurai would make us arrive on the new volunteering earlier than expected...that way we would spend Christmas with the kids and we would, possibly, go to Gokarna for new years eve.

We were both not feeling Kerala the way we expected... yes, we liked the boat tours in the backwaters and we loved the cheap cheap cheap food in the south but it wasn't enough.. maybe after 3 months travelling in India jumping from one place to the other, we feel like staying in one place for a few days where we can relax and recharge batteries to Thailand.

Now, we are excited about the volunteering and about the possibility to go to Gokarna.