After sitting like a battery farmed chicken on the Indian Railway for 27 hours, I’ve convinced myself that I’m justified in taking the plane back up north for the extra ₤50 for the sake of my sanity. I boarded as fresh as a daisy and arrived in Kochi (Kerala) looking like I had been dragged the whole way here through the jungle. I was covered in sweat and various dust and dirt (probably shit) particles which stuck to me like glue. I’m not knocking the Indian railway system, I’d definitely recommend it for over night journeys, heck I even got to hang out of the door for a bit and chill with the locals who said they would pray for me to get married. But would I do another full 24 hours? Really have to think long and hard about that one.
Despite the agony of sitting in a sauna and then sleeping in a freezer at night, I got to see the landscape from Mumbai transform into the lush tropical vegetation that is Kochi, now I remembered why I had chosen to spend a month in India. Kochi is amazing so far, the heat here is pretty intense but the pace of life and the people are so much more relaxed compared to Mumbai. Mumbai was like London in its crowdedness but with the added humidity, the continuous wafting of various smells interchanging between food, burning incense and sewage. On top of this, you’re also dodging the cars and taxis as well as the people.
So a monkey also attempted to mug me when I was high up on some hill in Mumbai. Literally. I was enjoying a tranquil stroll after visiting my first temple and before I knew it, a monkey popped out of the trees and squared up to me and stared me out with its evil eyes. I was actually scared (even though he only came up to my knees) but it was proper aggressive as it tried to bully me for my bottle of water. I didn’t scream though, first instinct was to turn my back to it and it worked, even though I thought I was risking it jumping on my back and beating me to a pulp. I hate monkeys now; they are all little mofos, even though I am the year of the monkey.
I’m finally more accustomed to the climate and food now and I’m going to book some trips to see some villagers tomorrow. I’m then going to head further south to Madurai to see some ancient temples (boo hoo another train journey but at night, that’s OK). After that, I’m probably going to go to Goa and chill with some hippies. But right now, I really need a beer after that crazy ass ride and to chat to some travelers just to have a much needed rant.
Despite the agony of sitting in a sauna and then sleeping in a freezer at night, I got to see the landscape from Mumbai transform into the lush tropical vegetation that is Kochi, now I remembered why I had chosen to spend a month in India. Kochi is amazing so far, the heat here is pretty intense but the pace of life and the people are so much more relaxed compared to Mumbai. Mumbai was like London in its crowdedness but with the added humidity, the continuous wafting of various smells interchanging between food, burning incense and sewage. On top of this, you’re also dodging the cars and taxis as well as the people.
So a monkey also attempted to mug me when I was high up on some hill in Mumbai. Literally. I was enjoying a tranquil stroll after visiting my first temple and before I knew it, a monkey popped out of the trees and squared up to me and stared me out with its evil eyes. I was actually scared (even though he only came up to my knees) but it was proper aggressive as it tried to bully me for my bottle of water. I didn’t scream though, first instinct was to turn my back to it and it worked, even though I thought I was risking it jumping on my back and beating me to a pulp. I hate monkeys now; they are all little mofos, even though I am the year of the monkey.
I’m finally more accustomed to the climate and food now and I’m going to book some trips to see some villagers tomorrow. I’m then going to head further south to Madurai to see some ancient temples (boo hoo another train journey but at night, that’s OK). After that, I’m probably going to go to Goa and chill with some hippies. But right now, I really need a beer after that crazy ass ride and to chat to some travelers just to have a much needed rant.
1 comment:
Haha. Great blog Soph! Keep it up.
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