Sitting in the hotel lobby with a couple of hours to kill before the taxi arrives to take us to the airport and time to reflect on our trip.
Despite initial reservations - which I still blame on the jetlag - we have really enjoyed our month in Kerala. The weather has been great throughout - it has only felt a bit too hot in the last week or so - and we have only seen one evening shower of rain - and of course no snow!
The accommodation has generally been good - only one homestay was poor - and we have eaten well and cheaply almost everywhere. With the exception of a couple of breakfasts, our pizza in Munnar and a pasta night in Thekkady, it really has been curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner - in fact we've been choosing the Indian breakfast option for the last week or so even when there were western options on offer. It has also been great to learn about the Keralan style of cooking and I am sure some of this will creep into our menus at home.
Linda tells me that over the last 30 days we have slept in 8 different beds - but only had alcohol on 6 days and no coffee either. However there is a good chance that we will be out for a steak and a bottle of red wine as soon as we adjust to the temperature in Newhaven.
We have seen most of the central area of the state from the sandy beaches on the coast to the spice and tea plantations in the Western Ghats. There is still a lot of Kerala to see to the north and south, and of course 28 other states in India. We recorded 93 new bird species - not as many as we have seen in SA but still a reasonable haul and we have only seen three people begging on the street - less than you will see on Princes Street any day of the week.
So if any of you are thinking of travelling to India, Kerala is a very good introduction - relatively clean and safe with little sign of people living in real poverty such as you see in the major cities across India. There is still a lot of plastic pollution - although there also lots of plastic free zones - but it was hard to travel anywhere without the ubiquitous plastic bottle in your line of sight.
However the overriding memory will probably be the friendly, helpful and welcoming nature of everyone we have met along the way.
Despite initial reservations - which I still blame on the jetlag - we have really enjoyed our month in Kerala. The weather has been great throughout - it has only felt a bit too hot in the last week or so - and we have only seen one evening shower of rain - and of course no snow!
The accommodation has generally been good - only one homestay was poor - and we have eaten well and cheaply almost everywhere. With the exception of a couple of breakfasts, our pizza in Munnar and a pasta night in Thekkady, it really has been curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner - in fact we've been choosing the Indian breakfast option for the last week or so even when there were western options on offer. It has also been great to learn about the Keralan style of cooking and I am sure some of this will creep into our menus at home.
Linda tells me that over the last 30 days we have slept in 8 different beds - but only had alcohol on 6 days and no coffee either. However there is a good chance that we will be out for a steak and a bottle of red wine as soon as we adjust to the temperature in Newhaven.
We have seen most of the central area of the state from the sandy beaches on the coast to the spice and tea plantations in the Western Ghats. There is still a lot of Kerala to see to the north and south, and of course 28 other states in India. We recorded 93 new bird species - not as many as we have seen in SA but still a reasonable haul and we have only seen three people begging on the street - less than you will see on Princes Street any day of the week.
So if any of you are thinking of travelling to India, Kerala is a very good introduction - relatively clean and safe with little sign of people living in real poverty such as you see in the major cities across India. There is still a lot of plastic pollution - although there also lots of plastic free zones - but it was hard to travel anywhere without the ubiquitous plastic bottle in your line of sight.
However the overriding memory will probably be the friendly, helpful and welcoming nature of everyone we have met along the way.
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