Kerala

(Alex) After traveling together in a pack with 17 other planners and a tour guide in urban-centered India, I must confess to being ready to head off solo to the more kicked back coast. My destination, the state of Kerala, a tropical backwater known for India's highest literacy rate, Aryuvedic healing centers, diverse religious heritage, houseboats, and leftist governments. To keep it simple, I flew from Mumbai to Kochi and took a long taxi ride straight to Greenwoods Bethlehem, a small home stay (that I learned about from the Lonely Planet guidebook) in the low key, historic Fort Cochin area. My room was surrounded by vegetation and came with a ceiling fan, a cool invigorating shower, and only cost 800 rupees ( about $18) per night. My hosts, Ashley and Sheba couldn't have been nicer or more gracious. They immediately offered tea and steered me to an open air roof deck where several European and Canadian travelers were talking organic teas and exchanging travel tips. I decided to stay there all 4 of my remaining nights in India and just do day trips from there.

The street scene in Fort Cochin was definitely less chaotic and much easier to walk around. Nevertheless, western traffic rules such as respecting travel lanes remained optional. I don't recall ever being approached by any beggars in Kerala, although the sidewalk hawkers were equally if not more aggressive than other parts of India. After trying to politely say no thanks, I found myself telling a few of them them that they were not listening. There was plenty to do between the port, historic buildings (including an old synagogue), shops, museums, restaurants, an Aryuvedic massage, and going to Cherai beach - an engaging ferry and bus ride away. Along with every other tourist in town, one evening I saw a traditional Keralan mime-like Kathakali story play performance - characterized by vivid facial expressions, elaborate make-up and a gender bending male cross dresser. I also took a backwater boat tour and cruised by remote, coconut dominated shorelines and witnessed fisherman tugging at nets and woven baskets along shallow estuaries threatened by invasive water hyacinth. It was plenty interesting but next time I would head further south and check out the even more remote backwaters by overnight house boat excursion.

Upon my return and on the advice of our home stay hosts, I immediately hopped in an auto rickshaw with a delightful, young British couple and attended a Hindi celebration in nearby Ernakulam. Despite the long day, it was especially cool because there were a dozen elephants and only a handful of foreign tourists at the temple grounds. While I often shy away from organized religious events - the live, harmonic singing and drum beats quickly inspired and moved even a novice like me to a realm beyond feeling tired and hungry.