Namaste,

Our southern part started off with a 30 hours train trip from Varanasi to Mumbai. From experience we can say that most trains are late but since it was the starting point of the train we had hoped for it to be on time. In the end it was over 8 hours late and we spent a good 10 hours at the station between cows and tons of Indians on the floor! Due to the delay we arrived in Mumbai only at 10:30pm, not really the ideal time to arrive in a strange city if you have no accommodation booked. Thankfully we had Ann's friend Mohit who worked with her in New Zealand and lives in Mumbai, he was our saviour (yes, another one) and not just picked us up from the station but also arranged for us to stay at his friend's hotel. After a good night sleep we went out on the streets of Mumbai to find ourselves a guesthouse. Mumbai is a nice, clean (at least the parts we saw) and an extremely modern/urbanized city which kept its historical charm from the colonial time. We spent the days of our fairly short stay (2 days) wandering around through the Colaba, Fort Area & Churchgate neighbourhoods, eating some amazing butter chicken (and lots of other food) and meeting up with Mohit who took us around and showed us where the locals eat. Thank you for the fun times Mohit!

Always planning ahead can be exhausting and frustrating but it was necessary especially for our South India journey. We wanted to spend Ann's birthday in Goa and take the ferry from Chennai to the Andaman Islands (tickets had to be purchased 10-7 days in advance from the ticket office in Chennai) on December 23rd. Setting those dates we had to figure out how to fill the days in between the most efficient way to not lose time. From Mumbai we took an overnight bus to Hampi in Karnataka. It was a semi-sleeper bus and the most comfortable bus we ever sat on, even got blankets - only downside, we had bed bugs bites all over our legs the next morning.

Hampi was a sanctuary and one of the most relaxed and quietest places we have been so far. The town is surrounded by forlorn ruins, jade-green palm groves, banana plantations and paddy fields which create such a relaxed atmosphere that one could easily stay for a while. Unfortunately we only had 1 night/2 days to spend there and rented a bicycle to tour around. Everything reminded us very much of the Jungle Book and we love to call this our real Mowgli Experience!

Another overnight bus (sleeper and this time no bed bugs) brought us to Goa. We split our time in Goa into 2 parts, at first the relaxed beach town Palolem in the south and then the Russian filled party area of Candolim in the north. Palolem is a small village with some shops and restaurants but most tourists look for a time out of the Indian craziness and stick mainly to themselves. We started out our days with morning runs and spent most of the time on our little balcony overlooking the Arabian Sea. Once across the state in less than 3 hours and we arrived in busy Candolim where busloads of Russians spend 3 months each winter. Since Sabrina still had contacts from her time in Canada we were able to spend 3 nights in the luxurious Aashyana Lakhanpal Hotel (away from the noise) where we got spoilt from our Indian Prince, Ajai. Big room with comfortable bed and huge shower, more or less private pool, private beach access and Ayurvedic Treatments - no better way to spend Ann's birthday!

We really did not want to leave our Goan Paradise but we were still on a tight schedule. Next stop was Fort Kochi and the Keralan backwaters. Kochi is a quiet town and we enjoyed a bike ride through local neighbourhoods. Kerala is world famous for its backwaters which reach around 200km??? Into the country. We did not rent a houseboat for an overnight stay but enjoyed a day trip which included a houseboat tour, a canoe tour, a spice plantation visit and an amazing Indian lunch on banana leafs. The silence you experience in the backwaters is magical and fills you with a calmness inside that is exhilarating; especially in a country like India which is otherwise fast moving and chaotic. Brett we will never forget our nice dinner, intense conversations and your guitar playing - hope to catch up with you in Australia!

From the hot and humid coastal areas we headed inland to Munnar, a small town in the Western Ghats and used our long pants and hoodies the first time in a long time. Munnar is a scruffy little hillstation but once you wander a few kilometres outside you will be engulfed in a sea of thousand shades of green. The lolling hills all around are covered by a sculptural carpet of tea-trees, and the mountain scenery is magnificent. Today Munnar is the commercial centre of some of the world's highest tea-growing estates. We hired a rickshaw driver for 2 days and were driven around everywhere. Since not just tea but also many spices are growing in the area we went to a spice plantation where we saw an insulin plant, cardamom trees, cinnamon trees, pepper (green, black and white come all from the same corn - yes, we didn't know that either), coffee and cocoa beans and many more.

Public transportation in India is always exciting but our bus ride from Munnar to Kodaikanal tops really everything. The bus had to cross a pass to get from Kerala into Tamil Nadu. The way down the mountain was 27km long and we took 45 minutes. The roads are built for one way traffic with the mountain on the one side and death on the other. We sat all the way in the front and had to close our eyes more than a few times; all our trust lay in our driver who managed to get us to our destination alive. After one night in rather unspectacular Kodaikanal we took an overnight bus to Chennai where we arrived at 6:30am. We headed straight away for the ticket counter of the Shipping Cooperation but convincing a Chennai autorickshaw driver to use the meter is a Vatican-certified miracle and it took us some fighting to not getting completely ripped off (comments like "The meter is good for you but not for me" from drivers are not uncommon). We had to wait 2.5 hours outside the ticket office until it opened at 10:00am. We were nervous, it was already the 19th of December, only 4 days before the ferry would leave and if we couldn't get the ticket we had to come up with a different plan for Christmas and New Years! Once the clock ticked 10:00am we went inside and all our worries of the last few weeks were over when the Lady told us that we still can get a ticket. We could not hide our smiles and felt so happy and relieved; the tension and worries were gone - we will spend Christmas on the ferry and New Years in Paradise!!! Less than 1 hour later we left the office with the ticket to the Andaman Islands in our hands, 60 hours on the ferry in bunk class for 2200Rs. (25Euro).

Chennai was just another city for us and we had no intentions of spending much time here after our ticket was sorted. We took another overnight bus the same evening to Kanyakumari, the most southern point of India. Since we refused to pay the 100Rs. luggage charge (it was a complete rip off as nobody else had to pay and we were the last ones to get off), the driver stopped 1.5 km away from the city centre where they were supposed to drop us off! 2 nights in Kanyakumari with hot days, amazing food and watching the sunset over 3 seas taking another overnight bus back to Chennai to catch our ferry the same afternoon.

Food is a big part of traveling in India as not just every region but really every town has its own specialties and different versions of cooking the same dish. We got warnings from many people in advance to stay away from street food "That's what makes you sick, gives you a Delhi Belly" but every backpacker or budget traveller you meet will tell you that street food is not just the cheapest option but also the only true way to experience the Indian food culture - besides, it's the best food you can find anywhere! Whether it is the northern thalis ("all-you-can-eat" dishes with rice or chapathi, 2 veg curries and dhal, a lentil soup), southern breakfast with dosa, vada and idli or the 4pm chai time with samosa or other snacks; there is always something for someone.

We got asked from many other travelers (mainly couples) whether we ever ran into any trouble or dangerous situations because we were 2 women traveling alone through India. No, we haven't! Of course our parents and friends are worried and would us rather not be here (mildly saying) but their fear is caused by media who shines such a negative light on an entire country. Though some things might be true, one cannot inflect this on an entire nation.
Traveling as young, western women through a country which is unfortunately still mainly dominated by men, brings a lot of attention. We got stared at and felt uncomfortable more than a few times but we respect the country for its culture and covered up accordingly (knees and shoulders covered). Regardless, we can't say that we felt unsafe and always met at least one person that made us rethink all our prejudices. Nevertheless we have deepest respect towards all the women out there who conquer India by themselves.

Our trip through the south of India was very different from the north and we can't believe that after almost 3 months our time on Mainland India is over (so we hope). We look forward to spend the rest of our time on an Island Paradise.

Cheerio,

Ann & Sabrina