The Intermission

9 days in the UK- enough time to recover from jetlag, see my family, get to the Isle of Wight, help set up for the wedding, go the wedding rehearsal, be a bridesmaid, and see my best friend get married. Then recover from the wedding, get back from the Island, catch up with some friends on the way, find a South Africa plug adaptor, do some washing, and go to Heathrow to begin the next stage of my adventure!

The End of Part One

My final week in India was spent in the Kerala midlands, quite off the tourist trail, at a place called The Pimenta. I planned the time here with the intention of learning how to cook delicious vegetarian Keralan food, which I definitely feel like I did, though having not been back in my own kitchen yet I haven’t tested out whether any of my new skills have been retained. It was a busy week, with mornings out exploring the local area, visiting food markets and buying ingredients, and afternoons cooking up a feast for the evening meal.

Morning excursions were often fascinating, getting to see local life that I never would have even known about if I had just passed through on my way to one of the more popular destinations either direction of where I was staying. Wholesale banana and pineapple markets, snack making establishments making banana chips on wood stoves, and a truck painting warehouse were just some of the things I had an insight into. Actually writing this down and reading it back they all sound quite dull and/or nerdy… but really they were so interesting! Truck painting possibly wins on sounding the most obscure, but there is a long tradition in certain places in Kerala of having extremely intricate hand painted designs on lorries and trucks, and very few places in which this painting takes place. The winner for me though was seeing the products of the numerous rubber plantations I have seen so many of since starting my travels in Kerala. Seeing rubber gloves and a rainbow of rubber bands out to dry in the sun was quite a peculiar but brilliant sight. One morning I also took a trip to the government-run elephant training camp, and got to see the gorgeous baby elephants taking their bath and playing in the river.This trip happened to be on my birthday so it was a very memorable birthday treat!

One of many fried snacks being made over a wood fire

Hands up who wants a pair of marigolds!

But back to my main objective – cooking. Each day I made about 5 different dishes, under the watchful eye of Jacob who runs the Pimenta and has lived in the area his whole life, so knows a thing or two about what tastes good and where to get the best quality ingredients, though he grows most of the spices himself in the large jungle-like garden on-site. Most days there was a lot of coconut involved in a variety of formats, then lots of types of dhal and a huge range of vegetables, masses of curry leaves and few other spices. Rice is a big part of the diet too, and I learned that you can tell the quality of basmati rice by how long the grain is (value stuff at the supermarket just isn’t long enough apparently!) I was pleased to have a go at making my all-time favourite South Indian dish, masala dosa, though I haven’t quite refined my dosa batter spreading technique so more practice needed before any dinner party appearances of that dish.

Making masala dosa during a power cut

The end of the week came round quickly and before I knew it I was heading back to Cochin to get an early morning flight to the UK, feeling a mix of sadness to be leaving India after 4 incredible, challenging at times, but enjoyable months, and excitement for a whirlwind trip back for some very important bridesmaid duties, seeing family and friends, and as an added bonus the chance to show my clothes a washing machine which they hadn't seen in a while. So the next stop was home turf, for a brief intermission before part two of the travelling adventures began!

Jaya Ganesha

Pranams from Kerala. I have just spent possibly the most peaceful week of my life on the Kerala coast, at Arsha Yoga Gayathri, a small yoga centre north of Cochin. I was treated to excellent teaching, delicious traditional vegetarian food, a beautiful deserted beach (aside from a few fishermen and some dolphins) and stunning sun-sets each day. With only a short time left in India, it was a perfect way to spend my penultimate week and take some time to reflect on the past few months, with the wonderful company of Hari and Meera who run Arsha Yoga, as well as their adorable family of rabbits.

Each day was a 5.30am start, for a pranayama session at 6. Not being an early morning person I wasn't sure about this, but I got used to it surprisingly quickly, and the pattern of the days soon became a welcome routine. Living a yoga lifestyle, beyond just the physical part of yoga which I am more used to, was quite enlightening and something I learned a lot from. Being away from the hustle and bustle of towns and cities was so refreshing, and under the careful guidance of Hari and Meera I felt my practice improving day by day, along with a growing appreciation for all the other aspects of yoga. I didn't realise how attached I got to the place until my taxi pulled away at the end of the week, and I felt an immediate wish to stay for longer.

It was time to move on though, as my Keralan cooking adventure awaited (more about that later...)

Since my last post I have covered quite a lot of ground, but very much enjoyed staying long enough in each place to soak it up. After a few days in Varkala, I headed back to the hills to Munnar in the Western Ghats, where I spent a couple of days surrounded by tea plantations, visited a tea museum, and was thrilled to get another wild elephant sighting while I was zooming through the hills on a tuk-tuk. Almost more amazing than seeing the elephants however, was a large group of 20-something male Indian tourists who seemed to be unaware they were risking their lives in getting too close for a photo. I watched in disbelief as they walked towards the elephants down the bank from the roadside, seemingly thinking they were invincible - possibly one of the most idiotic actions I have seen on my trip. Very luckily for them the elephants didn't seem too bothered by their presence.

One of many well-meant signs, surrounded by litter

Top Station, on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border

I was determined to take a trip up to the ancient capital Hampi during my time in India, so this was my destination from Munnar, involving a long journey by bus to Coimbatore, the first part through some stunning scenery, then a train to Bangalore, and an overnight train from Bangalore to Hospet. It was well worth the journey though, despite my slight apprehension of travelling alone overnight. The travelling went seamlessly and I met a friendly Israeli couple and an American guy on the train who I shared a tuk-tuk ride with from Hospet train station to Hampi.

Entering Hampi you get an immediate sense of the unique landscape which is home to the majestic former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Incredible temples are strewn across dry, rocky hills, with outcrops of huge boulders impossibly balanced dotted around ancient structures. Another striking observation is that of destruction. In recent months, much of the Hampi Bazaar area, which is where many Hampi residents live and work, has been bulldozed, and its residents relocated to a new settlement a few kilometers out of town. This has happened in the name of historic building conservation, as housing a population so close to the ancient monuments was having a detrimental effect on their preservation. The move is obviously a controversial one, and has had a huge impact on Hampi residents who have lived and worked in Hampi Bazaar for their whole lives, not least because their compensation has been minimal. It's quite a topic of conversation with locals, it's so current and the bulldozers are still there amongst the rubble.

On the more positive side, Hampi was a fascinating place to explore for a few days. I met another solo traveller at my guest house from the US, and after realising over a banana pancake that we have a lot in common and a similar outlook on travel, we ended up exploring a lot of the area together, including doing a cycling tour of some of the main temples surrounding Hampi.

Vitthala Temple

View of the Virupaksha temple

Lotus Mahal

At the elephant stables

Making friends with Lakshmi, the Virupaksha temple elephant

A morning greeting at my guest house

Leaving Hampi involved another overnight train journey. This time I seemed to make quite a few friends at Hospet train station, firstly chatting to a few children, then with their siblings, parents, aunts, uncles... It made the hour delay to the train pass much more quickly!

Thankfully the train caught up most of the delay and I arrived back in Bangalore at 6.30am, with just enough time to race to the botanical gardens to join a guided walk starting at 7am, which I had booked a place on optimistically hoping my train would arrive on time at 6.10am. Initially I hadn't been looking forward to spending the day in Bangalore, but train times forced it, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable day. The walk was excellent, Vijay our guide was incredibly knowlegable, and the tour ended up taking almost an hour longer than planned because everyone in the group was keen to learn more. We also had an excellent breakfast stop at MTR, where I had been for lunch on my last trip to Bangalore. Once again it rates highly in my food experiences!

One of 4 courses for breakfast at MTR - rava idly

From Bangalore I took yet another overnight train, so my second night in a row sleeping on the move. I was en-route to Thrissur where I arrived at 3am, attempted to nap for a couple of hours in the ladies waiting room, then took a bus to the Thalikulam, the closest town to Arsha Yoga. From there I took an auto rickshaw to the beach, and somehow instantly on seeing the sea and endless golden sand I was flooded with calm.

The next part I've already attempted to describe, and I'm now at my final destination before my India journey comes to an end, where I'm spending a week learning to cook Kerala style. So next time, another foodie post...