The organised trip ended in Goa where we were booked into a hotel near the Calangute beach. This is also known as the Costa Del Sol of Goa and it really is true. I felt like I could have been in Spain. There were so many tourists and white people- quite a shock after being the only ones for so long. The beach was just a mass of people and street vendors everywhere. As we were booked in the hotel for a few nights, we decided to make the best of it before going to...

So a bus ride took us back to Bangalore and a train ride saw us in Hampi. This is one of my favourite places in India and I would recommend anyone to visit this magical place. The way to Hampi passes by 15th century ruins of the Vijayanagar city, set against a backdrop of granite boulders, green paddy fields and banana plantations. The contrast between the boulder mountains and the lush valleys is stunning. The boulders balance precariously on top of each other ...

From Cochin, we took an overnight train to Bangalore, then a 3 hour bus ride to Mysore. The main highlight of Mysore is the Maharaja's Palace. This is a stunning palace and is still lived in by the current Maharaja. Being a little bit palaced out, I abstained from going in the Palace and enjoyed the beauty from outside. And so, instead, I and my friend, Laura, went up Chamundi Hill to Sri Chamundesawari Temple to watch the sun set. At 1062 metres high, the view...

Cochin is listed by the National Geographic as one of the top 50 places in the world to visit. To be honest I had a hard time seeing why. Kochi (Cochin) is a mixture of islands, all demonstrating the colonial history of India, from British influence to Portugese to the famous Jew town. The island of Fort Cochin and Mattancherry are lovely. However, the heat and mainly the humidity did mean that doing anything much was limited. There is only so far I can walk wit...

The next place we visited was called Kerala Backwaters. Here, spindly network of rivers, canals and lagoons nourish a seemingly infinite number of rice paddies and coconut groves. Houseboats lesuirely wander up and down in the waters. Everything is at a slower pace. This part of our trip enabled us to visit a family and stayed in their home. As we were a large group we were split between 3 families, ironically all named Matthew. We were given a home cooked lunch...