My Two Week Adventure in Amazing India

By Fabiola Pon

A taxi driver told me that Mumbai has about 28 million people! I couldn't stop gawking at all the interesting and good-looking people around me. It seemed that almost every male sported a moustache. The city seemed chaotic, yet it functioned and made New York City look like a village. The drivers didn’t stick to any of the lanes, and I got a headache from the constant beeping of the horns.

I explored Palolem Beach, which was too lively and busy for me. Then I strolled to Patnem Beach, which I thought was cute but not as quiet as Agonda.

I left Goa via an overnight train ride from Margao to Ernakulam Town. It turned out to be quite a comedic experience, although I didn't think so at the time. I couldn't get into any of the air-conditioned cars, so I ended up in the Sleeper Class without air conditioning.

Unfortunately, my top bunk was right next to the toilet and the exit doors. Every time the toilet door opened, the stench was unbearable. I tried not to drink any water so that I didn't have to use the toilet, but I still had to go. I was aghast to see all the cockroaches in the toilet!! Everyone would also congregate around the exit door area to chat and smoke cigarettes. I didn't get any sleep and my arms kept on sticking to the dirty vinyl covering of the bench.

My room at a homestay in Fort Cochin was such a luxury after the train ride. I loved Fort Cochin and Montecherry, walking around for the two days I was there, talking with the locals and doing some shopping. I became a bit more daring with sampling different Indian dishes, and even indulged in my first Ayurvedic massage. I felt like a rag doll, so relaxed and dripping with oil all over my body as I walked back to my hotel.

Then I went to Alleppey to embark on a houseboat for two nights to cruise the backwaters of Kerala. I was treated like a queen on my own private houseboat with my own skipper, cook, and steward. I enjoyed the scenery around me, watching the local people along the water's edge and all the boatmen doing their errands. But one night would have been enough, because I was by myself and had nobody to talk to. My crew didn't speak English, except for the chef who spoke very little English.

I looked forward to my three meals a day, with snacks in between. The chef was an incredible cook, making me love the cuisine in Kerala. I felt so full for the forty-eight hours that I was on that boat.

My last three days were spent in Kovalam. I spent my first night in a gorgeous hotel near a touristy beach area, where the beaches weren't as pretty as in Goa. The beaches were crowded with Indian families who loved to spend their Sundays in the hot sunshine. The Indian men had no qualms about standing around and staring at the European women who were clad in bikinis.

Houseboat on the backwaters of Kerala

I spent my last two nights at an Ayurvedic resort, which was so beautiful and relaxing. I would hear the waves crashing at night from my room, but it sounded like they were crashing right over my room and then surrounding it.

I spoiled myself by getting two Ayurvedic massages, which were far superior to the one that I had gotten in Fort Cochin. I attended a yoga class on a deck, went for walks, lazed in the sun, finished my book, ate and slept, ate and slept.

The two weeks that I had spent in India felt like a whole month. It was an exciting yet profound experience. It’s a place that I want to go back to again and again and again.