North India was dirty dusty and often hard freakin’ work. So we had been looking forward to what we’d heard was a much, MUCH more relaxed part of the country. Would it live up to the hype? Would we be able to finally have a ‘holiday’?
YES. For those not lucky enough to have visited the southern coasts of India, let us torture you for a moment or two.
Verkala – possibly the best beach we’ve been to in a long time. Admittedly, that might have something to do with the fact that (a) we’d been grubby, sweaty, dusty and city bound for weeks; (b) previously, we’d been living in Korea where the beaches are ridiculously policed, and swimming is nearly illegal as it requires being in water past knee height; and (c) we actually got to stop for more than a single day in this place…all in all one might say our appreciation of waters unfettered by Beach Police, gorgeous clean waters and beautiful open spaces was high.
It didn’t hurt this particular piece of the Arabian sea was fringed with a string of clifftop cafes, allowing for excellent refreshment breaks while looking back down at the…beautiful beach. Sweet as.
Hampi – Verkala having spoiled us for swimming, we now had the ‘bug’. You can take the New Zealanders out of New Zealand but you for sure can’t take the New Zealand coastal-baby affection for all things watery out of the New Zealander. Or something like that. Anyway, our appetites whetted, we sought out a reportedly stunning spot, the reservoir tucked nearly up the end of the backpacker road. We were not disappointed.
Oops…oh well, still totally worth it!
Kerala – while cruising through the backwaters to a homestay in this otherwordly piece of paradise our thoughts were again consumed with swimming. Luckily, our accomodation (a gorgeous, self-contained three bedroom house with yard – oh, how those days seem so long ago from our 19th story Hong Kong shoebox!!!) fronted precisely onto the water, allowing us to dive almost from doorstep directly into the brackish lagoon. Nice.
Oh yeah, and that yard we mentioned? Big enough for extended periods of Hammock-Time. Better than Hammer Time, for real. Sadly for you, we were way too busy lying down and napping between the gently swaying coconut palms to bother taking photos.
Palm trees, coconuts, cocktails, beaches, reservoirs, lagoons and hammocks. Surely we must have had our fill of all this relaxing by now, right? Just how much more holiday could be possibly find in the south?
Goa. Oh yeah, that’s right. Did we mention Goa, the state of endless beaches, parties, and lush scenery? Did we also mention that by the time we reached Goa we’d been in India for two crazy, hectic, full on months, staying in a total of TWENTY different towns?! All relaxing above aside, by the time we got to Goa we were exhausted and ready to lie down on a beach and not move…
Unless it was to the gorgeous pool right outside our pimpin’ brand new hotel room.
Life’s tough sometimes, eh.
Beautiful!!! it makes India ALMOST tempting for a wee “I only do luxury holidays, effort and dirt is something one does when one is working!” bunny like me. 🙂
Its, for sure, the ‘end’ of India most suited to the less-intrepid souls…gorgeous houseboats (with chef!) floating down the backwaters?! Yes, please. Sunsets while drinking cocktails overlooking the Indian ocean? Yes, please. Hammocks swaying gently in the autumn breeze. Yes, please.
Wow, never thought I’d equate India with luxury but this is noice… seriously pimpin’, as you say haha. How’s the food here? Is it really different from region to region? 😀
See, its totally made for a honeymoon, right?! Gorgeous, relaxed, romantic…!!! The food is incredibly different in each region of India and the difference between the north and south is even more marked. It was a real eye-opener as we now realise we had NO idea about the breadth of Indian food. We’ll blog specifically about this soon (YUM) but in a very small nutshell, the food in the south is much more ‘tropical’ I guess you could say – lots of fish and coconut. Rice features much more heavily down these ways too as opposed to the more bready nature of the north. Hungry now….
Ahhh sounds wonderful, I love coconut-based curries. I’m sure it would be lovely for a honeymoon, though it looks like my own will be a while away now 😦
Wow, odd how it’s exactly like China …there, the north is bready too, and the south is all about rice and noodles! Weird coincidence
There’s no doubt some fancy-pant geographical reason for it! Hehe.
Beautiful, a well deserved rest!
We think so too 🙂 There’s only so many times you can be thrown up on whilst on ‘holiday’, haha.
looks awesome, glad you had fun, thanks for the pictures
It was brilliant! What we’d give for a swim in these particular oceans right now!!!
I seriously need to learn from you guys on how to do Asia. I know it sounds silly coming from me, but there’s so much I don’t know about the places you guys went to… how to survive in India for example. I know at some point in my journey, I will end up at these locations and I wonder if I am as good a traveler as you both when my time comes…. learn I shall from you masters of Asia.
LOL, even though we messed up our culinary adventures in KL?!!?? Glad you still have faith in us 🙂 When you’re back down the Asia ways again we should hang. As for your adventures in Europe, you’re leaving us for dead! WOW. You seem to have hit the nail on the head for the things we really suck at (a) budgeting, and (b) planning. Or maybe that’s what makes us who we are…blindly stumbling into one adventure after the next hoping it’ll turn out for the best, haha. So far, so good!
Glad you got in some much needed quality reading… Heehee. Iwanagofindabeachandhangoutanddonothing!!!!
Yeah our choice of reading material was the stuff of literary awards, fo’ sho. Quality beach time is a must and its been far too long for us too now…sigh.
great pictures and memories of Goa are good enough to break to stress. http://indiadestinationsblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/enjoying-your-holiday-trip-to-goa-this-monsoon/
Thanks for your comments – and congratulations on your beautiful new blog 🙂
Now this looks like pure paradise – well done you guys!! I love Dan’s picturesque run into the beautiful ocean. And the awesome shot of HJ chilling with her book (was it good?) and the scenery reflected in her shades…again, amazing photos!
We thought it would be awesome to start our future India trip with an ayurveda cleanse in Goa, but I think it’s far wiser to end there, unless a person may never leave!!
Although, I’m concerned what weeks of eating delicious food would mean for the cleanse…we may never make that reservation…;)
I suppose if these are the worst case scenarios it’s not so bad!
Yeah life in India ain’t that bad when you add up the long, leisurely journeys, the beautiful swimming spots and the amazing food – consider it a de-tox for your soul 🙂
SO pimpin’!!! You guys deserved it!!! Crazy beautiful – I’ve only been to northern India myself, so I’ve only encountered the dusty, chaotic. Southern India looks like the tops!!!!
Its SUCH a different vibe, much more like a tropical holiday than the full on assault that the north can be.