Palolem

After 3 weeks of south India we chose to rest a bit in Goa in a little place called Palolem. Contrary to the other beaches of Goa it was clean and quiet, a little paradise! Dogs and cows are the real masters of the beach and would hunt you down for food but they aren't dangerous.

Fishermen leave their boats on the beach during the day. Cows usually wander around for food.

At night they would even sit in restaurants waiting for a treat!

Hampi

We took the infamous government bus from Mysore to Hampi, a 250km journey that took 12 hours.
We were quite happy to get there as Hampi is a beautiful place part of the world heritage monuments. The place is surrounded by hills made of huge stones resulting of volcanic activity. In between theme are temples that formed a city of 500.000 people some 500 years ago. This is one of the nicest place we have seen so far.

The temples are full of monkeys. But be carefull if they smell food in your bag or see that you have water they will just steal it from you. They usually get together to commit their crime so you wont try to get back your belongings!

The landscape is made of granitic stones, temples of all sizes ans shapes are spead around the main bazar.

The ruins are well preserved, still now you can visit the ancient city which had big avenues, stairs everywhere and massive temples.

We could admire the landscape from the top of the hills, dry with stacks of stones and a sea of green with palm trees.

Locals still live the same way as their ancestors. They sleep on the floor and clean clothes in the river.

We went up to the Anuman temple. On top was this offering tree, where people would tie a piece of clothe when wishing for something.

Mysore

After Kerala we crossed to Karnataka and stopped in Mysore. An ancient city with a gigantic Maharaja palace and a livelly bazaar.

The palace attracts loads of tourists Indians and foreigners.

The bazar is quite big with alleys for bananas, other for onions and so on.

Another part of the bazar sells color powders, it is used for almost everything to diying hair, painting skins or clothes.

Kochi

Kochi (also called Cochin) is an ex Portuguese colony with a lot of charm. Contrary to Pondicherry the city is not so crowded and the architecture is more interesting. Muslim, Christian and Jewish areas are still preserved which makes Kochi special.
We also went for a day trip to the backwaters, many little canals south of the city. This place is very calm and green.

The Chinese introduced these fishing nets centuries ago. Several men are needed to pull them up.

Kochi has many colonial houses such as these ones, it gives the city a unique character.

Goats are also all around the place! They would eat anything and are not scared to climb  any obstacle.

On the backwater trip we had a wonderful ride on this typical boat. The canals are narrow and there is no noise except the birds.

South Indian food

Our first day in India was specifically marked by our first meal, we were surprised and really impressed by the diversity and the flavours the Indian food can offer.

Here is a little post about the food we have tried in south India...

Idlis are mostly eaten as a breakfast, they are fermented rice cakes with plain taste. They are served with different kind of sauces, such as coconut or onion chutneys and green or red curries.

For lunch most people eat a Thali, it is served on a banana leaf as a plate. At the center is plain rice, surrounded by different sauces (coconut, coriander, curry leaf, red chilli, green chilli, tomato, onion, ginger, mint, mango or lentil), usually a puri (flat crispy bread) is also served with a sweet coconut sauce. This meal is inexensive (60 Rupees, 1 Euro) and you can ask for more until you fill up, amazing!!

In the drink section we cannot miss the famous Lassi! It is a drink made of yoghurt, really helpful when the food is spicy. It can be ordered sweet, salty or fruit flavoured.

For dinner we were proposed Dosais, they are big crepes that we dip in sauces. The Masala Dosai is also popular, when the crepe is stuffed with puree like filling.

Munnar

We left the state of Tamil Nadu and after a long trip by bus in the mountains we crossed to the state of Kerala. Our first stop is the mountain city of Munnar, a place surrounded by tea plantation. The city is at the altitude of 1500 meters so the heat of the day is not as strong as in the valley but the nights are chilly.

The road to Munnar is 7 hours long and most of it is on mountain roads. We did the trip with the public bus which was a nice experience however frightening sometimes!

When arriving on top we discovered the tea plantations, they cover the mountains which makes this palce so special.

Munnar is a little city with its noise and constant activity, here are the local riskshaws awaiting for clients.

Of course we had to try the tea which is amazing, it comes in several flavours: cardamon, ginger, lemon and masala which is the spiciest. People also drink chai, a mix of tea and milk which is steered to give it some foam.

Madurai

Madurai is west of Trichy, it is one of the oldest city of India. We visited the Temple of Sri Meenakshi dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi consort of Shiva.

The inside of the temple is full of colours and details, one of the nicest temples we have seen so far.

This tower is one of the 4 entrances to the temple, it holds many status of deities.

Each status seem to have a role.

Here is Ganesh, the good of good fortune with his elephant head.

Trichy

We tried to find a hotel room in Trichy before we went to Tanjalore but we couldnt find anything because of a "wedding" or a "festival" depending on the hotel, that's why we first went to Tanjalore. Few days later we tried again with more success this time. Trichy holds the biggest Temple of India (Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple) it is a temple city, made of 7 gates, the highest one is 73 meters, in its center it holds the heart of the temple.

This is the first gate to the temple with the happy chaos from the street. 

After passing the 7 doors we finally got to the temple, with columns and buildings with statues of the deities.

The 1000 columns room. 

Elephants often are present in the temples.

The statues are very detailed and impressives.

Tanjalore

Tanjalore is south of Pondicherry, it is famous for its sandstone temple (Brihadishwara Temple) which changes of colors depending on the time of the day. We were surprised to see that these temples have commons characteristics with the ones from Angkor in Cambodia, actually the civilizations who build them were related. Contrary to Angkor the Indian temples are still used by devotes which make them much more lively.

The inside of the temples are beautiful with vivid colours. Unfotunately we couldnt get any closer of the holy places as only Hindus are allowed to enter. 

Temples are usually surrounded by a wall and contain towers. You must take off your shoes if you want to enter (the floor is not always very clean!).

The main tower of the temple was impressive with many incrustations.

Pondicherry

We landed in Chennai which is the capital of the state of the Tamil Nadu. Straight after arriving we went to Pondicherry as many people advised. Pondicherry is an ex french colony some parts of the city still keep traces of these times. This was our first contact with the Indian culture: chaos everywhere, bazaars and animals in the streets, but it is an amazing experience!

The cows have priority on the roads! They are also very friendly animals who tend to follow you everywhere! 

Each Indian city has its market or bazar, it is a noizy place with differents smells that are not always good!

The streets are always busy with horns honking constantly and people walking everywhere. Surprinsingly this system works pretty well!

Kuala Lumpur

Our next step being India we had to go further south and catch a (cheap) plane in Kuala Lumpur. We expected a big messy city like Bangkok but Kuala Lumpur is actually more charming. Indian, Chinese and Malsian communities live here in harmony which makes it a special place. It is also very developed with modern means of transport and a lot of sky scrappers.

The famous Petronas Towers in down-town Kuala Lumpur. 

The Batu caves hosts the Hindou Thaipusam festival every year, it usually attracts 1.5 millions people. The statue at the entrance is 43metres high.

Sadly (or not) we missed this festival of a day, but the place was full of offerings and litters brought by the devotees. This wasn't lost for all as the numerous monkeys from the mountains came for a free lunch.

Koh Lanta

After the Gulf of Thailand we crossed the country to go to Koh Lanta, a quiet island in the muslim part of Thailand. The beaches are not the best because of many stones, the places was also hit by the tsunami in 2004, therefore many corals were destroyed.

The beach was very nice with shallow waters and little pubs. 

Pili watching the sunset.

Many crabs go out at night, this one seemed surprised to see us!

Koh Tao

After a 44 hours ride from Vientiane to Koh Tao we finally got to the famous clear waters! This tiny island is famous for being the Mecca of divers. We applied for the first level but we enjoyed so much that we passed the second one too. It included several dives with wreck discovery, deep and night divings, really worth it!! The aquatic life is impressive, full of corals and coloured fishes, definitely one of the best moments of this trip so far!

Really happy after our first dive

The island is very green and water transparent, in the background is a narrow beach linking 3 islands.

Pili going down the rope for her first dive.

I wish this was my office!