INDIA: Beaches and Temples of the South, Part 1

January turned out to be a whirlwind tour of Southern India (the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala), and a mixture of temple towns and beaches. It was also the month to meet up with friends. I'm splitting it into a couple posts, and will jump around in terms of the places we visited, but here's a map of the route we took:

We started out in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) where Josh met up with us. There's not much in Chennai – even the guidebooks say to get out as quickly as possible – but we did spend an interesting afternoon at one of it's beaches. Everything happens here: horseback riding, photo studios, mini hand-cranked merry-go-rounds, fresh (I think) grilled fish, fishermen mending their nets, kids jumping into the waves (near naked), families wading in the water (fully clothed)..... talk about life is a beach!


Take a picture with a Bollywood star or the Royal Bengal Tiger... your choice:

Hand-cranked merry-go-round:

However, our first real beach time (since we arrived in Asia) wasn't until we arrived in Mahaballipuram (about 2 hrs away from Chennai) the next day. The waves were pretty rough but Ashok & Josh liked it, and the beach was quiet and nobody bothered us.

Of all the beaches we went to in India, the best one is in Varkala, on the western coast in Kerala. Here, the sand was soft and the beach was clean (a rarity in India). One look at the blue waters of the Arabian Sea and you can't help but be relaxed.

In the early mornings, the water is the smoothest I've ever seen with gentle rolling waves. By late morning, the wind picks up but just enough to offset the heat from the sun. Perfect hammock weather, especially with the addition of a glass of ice cold beer. There must be some weird law with regards to serving alcohol in restaurants because they can't do it openly. Instead, beer comes in a teapot (chilled), and shows up as a dish called Mallabar Fish on the check.

Varkala was just what we needed after a very long 9 hour train ride in 2nd class (no AC). Normally I like train rides, but in this case we had to put up with people with no reserved seats trying to squeeze into our bench, and getting indignant because there are only 3 people sitting when clearly you can fit in another 1-2 people. At night the train really fills up, with people sleeping anywhere they can: in the aisles, under the seat, and up on the small luggage rack above the seats which is probably the cleanest part of the train.

Traveling around on a budget in India gives you a completely different experience and view of India. Going one step up doesn't even require a lot more money (the train ticket would have been $20 for 1st class AC sleeper vs. the $2 we paid), but the experience is almost like seeing 2 different countries. One is not more authentic or real than the other. Rather, it just provides a glimpse into the lives of the different classes of people. On this trip, I realized that the Indian governmen may make it affordable for everyone to travel. However, there's no thought given to how the people are treated during the trip... it's literally "cattle class". The bar is set extremely low when it comes to the quality of the goods/services.

Next up: the temples of South India