Well, it's been such a long weird crazy week! I just got in from Tamil Nadu last night. So much of the trip was unplanned or improvised and honestly it could not have gone any better. I am so happy with how everything had turned out and how much I feel like I just did things that are so indescribably beautiful and surreal and could never be repeated. I just reveled in the moments of this trip like no other and I think they are really relaxing any other part of my life just by thinking about everything. I still laugh to myself (audibly) about some little moments.
I started out with my group by going to Chennai as a transit stop on the way to Pondicherry. Once in Pondicherry, which was sticky in weather, I was able to just reflect on one of my favorite books growing up Life of Pi and think about the place as a character, which it was. It was overpriced for India,as most of the income for the city comes from European tourists, but was a nice starting point. I was able to eat some really great seafood (pepper prawns and garlic grilled squid) and just walk around this quaint French quarter. Oh, and also we somehow ended up staying at a rooftop villa for less than the price of the hotel room that we were originally booked for. Very cool.
We then headed down to Madurai, via crammed bus that we almost missed our stop on and 7 hour train ride that was supposed to be 3 hours. It was a full day of transit as we later found out when we just decided as a group that we would catch a bus (which ended up being a cab because we missed the bus) to Kodaikanal later that night. But in our short 2 hours we were in Madurai we ended up going to probably the most beautiful temple (the Menakshi temple) I have ever been to in my life. We also ate about two dosas each for dinner because we did not really have any real meal that day. We then headed up to Kodai as I have mentioned, with full moonlight views of the mountains all the way up. Oh but I forgot the craziest part of Madurai, where a strange Indian man grabbed my face in the train station. It was all super weird, he like squeezed my cheeks like I was a child, which I won't lie that I got really Asian chubby cheeks but dear lord he wouldn't have done that if I was Indian.
So we then were in Kodai for pretty much the rest of the trip. I ended up waking up to sunrise views of the valley as our hostel (Greenlands Youth Hostel, I highly recommend it) was on the top of a mountain. The first day we went to the Pillar Rock (looks like those mountain island things from Avatar) and then up to the Guna Caves, which more or less ended up as just as some hiking on the mountain ridge with views of the clouds. Then I did some horseback riding, which was more or less just me trying to either get my emaciated horse to move or stop. Honestly, I was terrified and very proud of myself after the entire experience. We then headed into town and got Tibetan food that is also highly recommended, if I could remember the name of the place. Note to anyone going as well, the monkeys there are awful bastards. They honestly grabbed a box of Kodai chocolates out of my friends hand, those horrible little creatures.
The next day was also started with sunrise views and then walking down to the lake and to a crappy waterfall that had one of the most gorgeous paths in the woods. I then sat down at a cafe for a while, nearly froze because it was so cold. Bought a sweatshirt and had some good conversation before dinner at the same Tibetan place and then a bus down the mountain. We stopped to change buses at the dirtiest place in the world and took the second bus to Cochi.
In Cochi we took an auto rick to a beach just outside of town and watched the sunrise through the palms. Lastly, we saw dolphins that sort of solidified the magic of the trip. Then off to the airport where we waited for an extra 2 hours for the plane, which was obviously on India time. Well, I would show pictures but there is still something wrong with my photo deal on blogger (bitch) so just look for the album on facebook, specifically made for your enjoyment/because of the problems with blogger picture deal.
~The Finn
I started out with my group by going to Chennai as a transit stop on the way to Pondicherry. Once in Pondicherry, which was sticky in weather, I was able to just reflect on one of my favorite books growing up Life of Pi and think about the place as a character, which it was. It was overpriced for India,as most of the income for the city comes from European tourists, but was a nice starting point. I was able to eat some really great seafood (pepper prawns and garlic grilled squid) and just walk around this quaint French quarter. Oh, and also we somehow ended up staying at a rooftop villa for less than the price of the hotel room that we were originally booked for. Very cool.
We then headed down to Madurai, via crammed bus that we almost missed our stop on and 7 hour train ride that was supposed to be 3 hours. It was a full day of transit as we later found out when we just decided as a group that we would catch a bus (which ended up being a cab because we missed the bus) to Kodaikanal later that night. But in our short 2 hours we were in Madurai we ended up going to probably the most beautiful temple (the Menakshi temple) I have ever been to in my life. We also ate about two dosas each for dinner because we did not really have any real meal that day. We then headed up to Kodai as I have mentioned, with full moonlight views of the mountains all the way up. Oh but I forgot the craziest part of Madurai, where a strange Indian man grabbed my face in the train station. It was all super weird, he like squeezed my cheeks like I was a child, which I won't lie that I got really Asian chubby cheeks but dear lord he wouldn't have done that if I was Indian.
So we then were in Kodai for pretty much the rest of the trip. I ended up waking up to sunrise views of the valley as our hostel (Greenlands Youth Hostel, I highly recommend it) was on the top of a mountain. The first day we went to the Pillar Rock (looks like those mountain island things from Avatar) and then up to the Guna Caves, which more or less ended up as just as some hiking on the mountain ridge with views of the clouds. Then I did some horseback riding, which was more or less just me trying to either get my emaciated horse to move or stop. Honestly, I was terrified and very proud of myself after the entire experience. We then headed into town and got Tibetan food that is also highly recommended, if I could remember the name of the place. Note to anyone going as well, the monkeys there are awful bastards. They honestly grabbed a box of Kodai chocolates out of my friends hand, those horrible little creatures.
The next day was also started with sunrise views and then walking down to the lake and to a crappy waterfall that had one of the most gorgeous paths in the woods. I then sat down at a cafe for a while, nearly froze because it was so cold. Bought a sweatshirt and had some good conversation before dinner at the same Tibetan place and then a bus down the mountain. We stopped to change buses at the dirtiest place in the world and took the second bus to Cochi.
In Cochi we took an auto rick to a beach just outside of town and watched the sunrise through the palms. Lastly, we saw dolphins that sort of solidified the magic of the trip. Then off to the airport where we waited for an extra 2 hours for the plane, which was obviously on India time. Well, I would show pictures but there is still something wrong with my photo deal on blogger (bitch) so just look for the album on facebook, specifically made for your enjoyment/because of the problems with blogger picture deal.
~The Finn
