Author: Captain Nidhi Singh

The travel to Trivandrumturned out to be an adventure.

We first decided to travel by a local train and went to the train station.

Being A Maverick on the way

Once arrived at the train station we learned that the next local train was 4 hours later so we decided to catch the bus and returned to the bus stop.

At the bus stand, we discovered the KSRTC buses to Trivandrum were all jam-packed with only a few air-conditioned private buses available and to our surprise these too were jam-packed.

We finally decided we couldn’t go by bus with two kids, a handful of baggage and uncomfortable hot weather.

Funnily enough, we decided to make a U-turn to the train station one more time.

Finally, we caught the local train and luckily the general compartment of the train had lots of empty seats to choose from and we had a comfortable trip.

Places to visit and its rules

In Trivandrum, there were two main attractions: The Kovalam beach (17 km from the city) and the Padmanabhaswamy temple.

The temple only allows the people from Hinduism faith and has a strict rule for visitors to dress up traditionally (Men and boys in Mund (Lungi in North) and no clothes on upper body and saree for women).

We decided to visit the temple the next morning as early as possible in order to beat the crowd.

We thought we were the smart people but, we were surprised to see the hordes of people in the temple (probably everyone had the same strategy….hahaha.).

It took 4 hours in a queue to avail Darshan.

The Padmanabhaswamy temple is one of the richest temples in India with worth 10 billion dollars.

The temple had a beautiful architecture with wide corridors all around and amazingly crafted pillars.

After the darshan, we changed our clothes to the beach clothes (luckily our hotel was nearby), had some lunch and took a bus to the Kovalam beach.

The Kovalam beach was a beautiful beach where kids played with waves while I enjoyed looking at a beautiful sunset and taking photos.

Alleppey is another city on the Laccadive Sea in the state of Kerala and the visit to Alleppey for backwater (a network of tranquil canals and lagoon)houseboat cruise experience was the most awaited one as we had heard heaps about it.

Initially, we had planned for a two days stay, however, later we shortened it to a day after the advice by friends and locals.

As per their advice, one day was sufficient for this experience as the houseboat travelled in close vicinity of the shore and the scenery did not change significantly.

Lessons to be learned

Unfortunately, it was a peak season in Alleppey ( 24-25 December) and we hadn’t booked any houseboat in advance ( based on the review provided on travel websites that one should not just rely on photos on websites but inspect the interiors personally as the pictures can be deceptive and this approach also provided the opportunity to bargain).

How we actually managed

In our case, we ended up paying a bit higher price (9000 rupees for one night) but definitely got to see few houseboats and choose the one we liked.

What was my experience?

On a side note, there is a budget-friendly option available too where a medium-sized boat (like shikhara in Srinagar’s Dal lake takes people around for few hours). The experience on houseboat cruise was worth every penny.

The cooks on the boat cooked local cuisines on our demand and we had the whole houseboat with two air-conditioned room all for us.

Kids had fun running around the two decks and watching their favourite movie while we enjoyed some us time on the top deck sipping toddy(local beer).

We also got to see an amazing sunset.

this turned out to be our most favourite destination. We travelled in Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus from Cochin to Munnar and would admit it was not as comfortable journey.

It took almost 5 hours of climbing up in humid and hot weather however once we reached the height, the weather pleasantly changed for a comfortable 23-24 degree centigrade.

Our hotel was remotely situated in a valley and took another 45 minutes of the ride in an auto-rickshaw to arrive. Most of the hotels and resorts in Munnar are located interiorly in the valley and the inwards roads to the hotel were in appalling condition (we were told this was due to 2018 Kerala floods).

The distance of 4 km from the Munnar central town to the hotel felt so far and shook our internal organs like a blender, however, once we reached the hotel, the view was amazing and which made us forget all the discomfort we had in past few hours.

The hotel was right in the middle of tea gardens which looked idyllic. Once again we were lucky that we had included breakfast in our hotel package or else it would have been a big hassle to go back to the town early in the morning.

The next morning, we hired a jeep (unlike Goa, self-driven vehicles were not available in Munnar) and the driver already had a tour plan in a handout where we were provided with an option to choose the places of our interests.

The kids were super excited to travel in a jeep and even for us it was a thrilling experience. We chose to see a waterfall, a botanical garden, a couple of dams(kids had fun doing paddle boating), elephant feeding, tea factory and a visit to a tea garden.

We were pleasantly surprised to find an added attraction when our driver pointed out to the wild elephant herds on the hills. The herd looked chilled out and people enjoyed watching them from a distance.

I cannot forget how coconut water had become our favourite drink from Goa itself and we continued to enjoy it throughout our journey which also served the purpose of keeping us well hydrated in humid weather.

The tea gardens in Munnar were spread around to as far as our eyes could see and the greenery from it was so calming on the nerves. We visited one of the gardens which were on the top of mountains and had clouds floating in it which created a beautiful, mystic environment.

While we enjoyed taking lots of photos, kids were running around and even tried smelling the crushed leaf and taste it but to their surprise, it was nowhere near to the tea smell we are used to (later we learned in the tea factory that the tea flavour and smell only comes after processing and fermentation).

Surprisingly, we had covered most of the tourist attraction in one day. We decided to spend the next day as a quiet day in our hotel among the tea gardens however then we changed our mind and decided to do some local shopping and visit a spice garden.

We started with local shopping and bought some banana chips, spices and tea from the local market which are not only the speciality of Munnar but whole Kerala state.

The tour to the spice garden was an informative one. It not only provided us with knowledge of our daily spices but also an appreciation of how learned our ancestors were to have known the medicinal property of these plants thousands of years ago.

On day 3 we took another KSRTC bus to return to Cochin. We were sad to be leaving Munnar but excited for the next destination.

This was our first destination and i was happily Unveiling Glamor of Goa. Our resort had a comfortable one-bedroom apartment with a big swimming pool; the package also included breakfast.

Over time, we had realized that included breakfast deal was always handy as it not only saved time but gave a
head start for the day.

How we spend Day 1

In Goa, there were plenty of scooters, bike or car rental facilities and we decided to hire a scooter for commuting in Goa. We could have opted for a car rental but the scooty option appeared enticing; it was not only 60 % cheaper but presented as more fun for us including kids (kids had never been on a scooter in Australia).

Soulful Day 2

On day 2, we travelled to Panjim and South Goa and visited famous churches.

Day 3 was for Goa beaches.

Beaches appeared to be the tourists’ favourite place. These were flocked by people and the atmosphere at Goa beaches by the dusk was like a night party.

I found water in Indian
Ocean to be warm and pleasing (our experience in the Pacific Ocean in NZ and Australia had been different where the water around the year stayed too cold).

The shacks on the beach were something which I experienced for the first time with this being something beyond imagination on NZ and Australia beaches.

What are the Shacks ?

For people who do not know, shacks are the restaurants set in tents right on the beach. These shacks are decorated with ferry lights and loud music played in each of these shacks. This was a unique beach experience overall.

The other thing we could not ignore was hundreds of cashews shops around the Calangute area and all over Goa. The cashews were not cheap as such but were claimed to be of good quality.

The Koorg area apparently has the best climate to grow cashews. In terms of food, there was no dearth of restaurants in Goa however we found these restaurants comparatively expensive.

I migrated to Australia fifteen years ago in 2005 with my husband soon after our wedding. I soon developed a love for travel influenced by my husband who has keen interests in subjects like Geography, Culture, People, and Food and yes the mix of all types of travel.

My husband had been to South India multiple times for work purposes before we got married but never from a tourist perspective. On the other hand, I did not have any opportunity to visit South India with Mumbai being an exception where I studied for 3 ½ years.

In these fifteen years, we had expanded our family with two boys, who are now aged 10 and In November 2019, we were planning to go to India for our regular trip; this was when we thought we could also include a fun family trip to South India.

We decided this was a good opportunity not just for some family fun but also to introduce our children to the rich culture of India. We were so excited to visit places other than beaches this time.

If you wonder why we had seen millions of beautiful beaches in NZ and Australia in the last 15 years and were craving to visit a place which had a completely different landscape.

Travel Preparation

In preparation, we started to read extensively on places of interest about six months leading to travel.

Every weekend we would watch videos of these places, kids borrowed travel books from library whereas, I started to do a bit of research on weather, making a list of what to pack, friends I could meet and creating space on my phone to be able to take photos (would like to mention here I have an interest in photography).

I was tickled for the potential photo opportunities which would include not just beaches and beautiful scenery but temples, historical buildings, mountains and palaces.

Commercial tour package versus self-planned tour

We were suggested by friends to take a package tour to make it easier but we decided to plan it ourselves as we believed it would make the journey not only cheaper but provide flexibility which we needed with kids. Getting closer to the journey date we had done a lot of background research on each place, mode of travel and chalked out a rough itinerary.

Since the train journey in India demanded a well advance booking, we booked all long/overnight journeys 3 months in advance while keeping an eye for good flight deals.

Travel Itinerary

We booked some of the flights, as well as good offers, came along. We also received some useful tips from friends who lived in these places or had travelled before.

The travel plan we chalked out was for a duration of three weeks (16 Dec 2019-11 Jan 2020).

We were to take a flight from Gorakhpur our hometown to Goa; spend 4 days in Goa, take an overnight train journey from Goa to Cochin, spend two days in Cochin to meet friends and;

if possible visit Fort Kochi and get the feel of the city, travel to Munnar (4-5 hours by bus) and spend 3 days in Munnar, travel to Alleppey ( 6-7 hours bus journey via Cochin),

2 days in Alleppey and then travel to Thiruvananthapuram (4 hours train journey),

1 day in Thiruvananthapuram and then travel to Kanyakumari ( 5 hours train journey),

1 day in Kanyakumari and then travel to Bangalore (overnight train journey)

spend 6 days in Bangalore which included Mysuru visit and a visit to Ananthpur district ( 3 hours road trip from Bangalore) of Andhra Pradesh for a family get together.

From Ananthpur we planned to return to Bangalore to catch a flight to Gorakhpur. We managed to stick to our original plan for most of the trip with a minor change at the Bangalore train station when we decided to visit Mysuru first.

We took a local train and arrived at Mysuru 3 hours later. As per the revised plan we were to spend 2 days in Mysuru and then return to Bangalore.

Spend 4 days in Bangalore which would include 2 days in Hindupur town- Ananthpur district. From Ananthpur, we were to return Bangalore to return to Gorakhpur.

Travel Experience

Travel to south India has imprinted fondly in our memories forever. Most of our time was spent in Kerala with a touch of Tamilnadu ( Kanyakumari), Karnataka ( Bangalore, Mysuru) and Andhra
Pradesh ( Hindupur).

The striking feature of Kerala was food. We loved variety of dosas, idlis,
sambhar vada, chutneys and of course coffees and coconut water. The added value was that food was not only authentic but cheap.

Some of the restaurants also provided refilling with sambhar,chutneys, rice and papadams. The waiters in these restaurants fed its patrons with warmth and respect and we enjoyed hearty meals every day.

The coconut water vendors always left me in awe when they cut coconuts with precise speed and skills and even made spoons with the coconut shells
to eat coconut tender flesh known as malai. The spices and banana chips were sold everywhere.

The cities and towns looked cleaner compared to North India and people came across as honest with friendly attitude.

There were also wooden craft shops in tourist places and we brought few pieces home.

Kerala also displayed a perfect mix of Hindu and Christian harmony with churches and temples standing side by side. The only downside of south India was hot and humid weather in the middle of winter however the 3 Cs (coffee, cane juice and coconut water) kept us going.