Incredible India (Part 5 - Palolem, Goa)

Leaving the peace & quiet of Patnem, we headed to Palolem for a few days. Just a short tuktuk ride over the hill, and we were there!

Palolem is much busier & touritsy than Patnem, although still very underdeveloped in comparison with places like Phuket, or Koh Samui in Thailand for example. There is a law in South Goa that all the beachfront huts and restaurants must be taken down every monsoon season. Although a lot of work, this is a great idea as it stops any big hotels and developers rolling in & spoiling the natural beauty of the area. The beach is still home to many a roaming cow and retains a very honest charm! 

Happy cows.

Before we left London, Su & I had only pre-booked one accomodation for the whole trip, it was to be our little treat before Su headed back to London & work, and I started my intensive yoga teacher training course. We had booked to stay at Ciaran's, a little slice of paradise on Palolem! 

The bed in the room was like one of those big, tall, fluffy, bouncy white beds, I had to restrain myself from actually jumping on the bed like a 4 year old! One of the best parts of Ciaran's was probably the complimentary chai tea & cake every day at 4pm whilst dolphin spotting from the shore!

The view from Ciaran's terrace.

Whilst in Palolem, we did a boat trip to Butterfly beach, and saw lots & lots of dolphins on the way! It is amazing the number of wild dolphins in the sea here, if you look long & hard enough you can honestly spot them from the shore! Butterfly beach itself was nice, but not amazing- we did not even get off the boat, but the trip was more than worthwhile for all the dolphins! If you do go, be prepared to get soaked with the waves (and don't sit right up front!).

Tommy, Lex, Su & I (and our photobomber)!

My favourite time of the day, such a happy time! Coincidentally also the perfect time for a mojito!

Palolem gave us the gift of one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen! The whole sky was awash with colour. In the city it's so rare that anybody actually stops to appreciate the beauty of sunset, sometimes we are too caught up in the daily trials & tribulations of life to even realise the sun is setting. Everyday can be beautiful as long as we choose to see the beauty. Even if it's a dull, grey, rainy day you can still create your own sunshine & beauty! This is one of my sankalpas -  a resolution - from the trip, to choose to see the beauty everyday. If you follow me on instagram (@lisahladnik), you will know that I am participating in the 100happydays challenge, a challenge to find one thing that makes you happy everyday for 100 days. It tries to develop the ability to appreciate and enjoy the moment that you are in: to stop worrying about how stressed we are, and remember how blessed we are! Go on, I dare you to try the challenge too!

#100happydays

Back to Palolem! I discovered a Sampoorna Yoga Shala right next door to Ciaran's - with the course starting in less than a week and my yoga practice for the previous 10 days being minimal at best, I desperately needed to get myself back on the mat. I was almost suffering from yoga withdrawl symptoms! Although this branch of Sampoorna is not a full school, they offer morning & afternoon classes in a lovely little shala just back from the beach. All the Sampoorna team are super friendly & very welcoming, so if you do find yourself there, go & say hello!

Astavakrasana (eight angle pose) on Palolem 

Susan was a yoga virgin before coming to India, but she was a natural. By the end of the two weeks she was even doing bakasana (crow pose). I will turn her into a yogi yet!!

Palolem has a bit more of a bar scene to it then Patnem does - there is lots of live music almost every night. On our last night here, we had heard about a silent disco party at Cleo's and thought it could be quite amusing. We were told it was very close - a few minutes walk from the beach. We followed the directions given and ended up in some very dimly lit, quiet back streets, not ideal for two girls alone in India! Being a silent disco there was not even any music that we could follow. Luckily we bumped into some others who were also heading to Cleo's, although they had even less idea of where they were going! After finally getting there, we were two of approximately 15 people there. We were given headphones with a choice of three channels: The Grease soundtrack, Indian music, or hardcore techno! It actually felt like we were on the set of the Inbetweeners it was that dire! Fortunately for me, unfortunately for Susan, Susan started to feel queasy and we had to make a very quick exit. I can safely say that you will not be missing out on the time of your life if you don't go to Cleo's, but I can highly recommend Leopard Valley on a Friday night (more about that coming soon!)!

Palolem is a great people watching beach, there are lots of restaurants, bars and the most shops in the area (although don't expect shopping malls- more small touristy stalls!), while still retaining the Goan charm, lots of dolphins, and some beautiful sunsets!

Next & final stop, Agonda!

xx

Incredible India (Part 4 - Patnem, Goa)

From Alleppey we caught an overnight train all the way up to Goa's central station Madgaon. Although Su & I have traveled on a tight, shoestring budget through Brazil, this was many years ago and, although exciting, in our older age the thought of an overnight train in India did give us slight goosebumps! In the end it turned out to be quite a pleasant experience!!

We had pre-booked tickets and the only availability was in first class (a real shame!), for £30 each. We were welcomed aboard the Rajdhani Express and into our private 2 person cabin, air conditioned cabin. We were very spoiled!! Even the toilets were much better than anticipated! We settled in for a good nights sleep, and were awoken by a loud "BANG BANG BANG" on our door at 6.30am, we nearly jumped out of the train window we got such a fright! Luckily it was only the morning tea - despite us saying we did not want it on boarding, and them making a note of this. Oh well! It was beautiful watching the scenery roll by being bathed in the Indian rising sun. 

View from the train

If you are planning to travel by rail in India, I highly recommend signing up for a Clear Trip account. Reserving tickets on Indian trains is quite a complicated process, with a very complex system - Clear trip hugely simplifies the process for you for a very small fee (about 30p per ticket). Many trains will sell out as soon as tickets are released (normally 90 days in advance), and you are then put on a waitlist for tickets. Normally as long as you are under 20 on the waiting list you should be fine! Also, be prepared for everyone to ask you for a tip, even people you have never seen and some people will ask you twice!

From Madgoan we jumped on an hour long bus (for 30p!) to the southern beaches. The first thing we noticed on the bus was how much more colourful the saris are here than in Kerla - so many fluorescent colours! Goa is much drier and dustier than Kerla, but there was still some lush jungle along the way.

We arrived in Patnem, and (still not having learnt our lesson) based on a Lonely Planet recommendation we went to 'SeaView Rooms'. The place was a dive and definitely didn't have seaviews, but we decided to stay anyway as we had been basically travelling since getting off the house boat the day before and were in desperate need of a shower! After checking in & paying for the night we almost skipped back to the room to have a shower. Guess what?? Water doesn't work!! And we have a HUGE cockroach in the room too. We tell the lady downstairs who promises us it will be fixed so in the meantime we went for some lunch & a swim in the sea - next best thing to a shower! We returned 3 hours later to find the water still not working and the cockroach still there too. All we want to do is have a shower now, so we politely explain the situation to the lady and say we would like to leave as we have not spent more than 5 mins in the room. Her answer "No". To put this lady into context, she could easily have been Miss Trunchball's twin in Matilda. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of her, but I'm sure you can imagine! We ask to speak to the manager, she says she is the manager but the man next door tells us she isn't, and she then concedes that she isn't the manager and he will be back later. We leave again, and go looking for a better place to stay, we found some lovely little huts which are 100 times nicer, and 100roupees cheaper. Winning! Returning to "Seaview" the manager is still not there and Miss Trunchball is refusing to give us even half of our money back so we went to get our bags from the room and leave. Seeing as they would not give us any refund we decided to keep the room key for the night we had paid for so that nobody else could be ripped off that night. Miss Trunchball then started screaming at us "NO, YOU CAN'T GO, I AM CALLING THE POLICE", excuse me?! After we have paid full price for a room where the water doesn't work and you have done nothing and we are now criminals?! We finally spoke to the manager on the phone who happened to be Miss Trunchball's brother and was just as helpful as she was and actually hung up on us! So we walked out with the key, at this point Miss Trunchball finally managed to get off her behind and come running after us into the street telling us to wait while she called the police, anything we tried to say she just replied "SHUT UP", the icing on the cake was when she screamed "SHUT UP, I DON'T LIKE YOU" whilst trying to grab my suitcase whilst the whole street was watching! We kept walking and she told her restaurant boys to follow us, but they were secretly giving us the thumbs up whenever she wasn't looking, so didn't really pay her much attention! All the tuk tuk drivers said "nasty woman", but we were still on the run! 

We checked into Casa Fiesta (which is a delight, if you happen to be going to Patnem), and explained the situation to the owner just in case the police did turn up and then we headed for some cocktails on the run (yogis like cocktails too sometimes)! 

Criminal cocktails on the run!

Of course, no police turned up, and we got to watch this magical sunset which made everything ok again!

As promised to Miss Trunchball, we diligently went to "check out" of Seaview Rooms the next morning, to which we received no more than a grunt from the ever delightful Miss T herself. Definitely give this one a miss, unless you enjoy the comedy of such situations!!

Aside from Seaview, Patnem is a lovely little beach full of beach bars & restaurants, and lots of puppies too! After the eventful arrival, we spent a quiet few days relaxing here in the sunshine - there is a very shanti (peaceful) vibe, lots of yogis and families too, no crazy wild parties (that we saw anyway). Once again, were joined by Lexy, & Tommy too, for a few days before they headed off on their North Indian adventures. 

Susan almost adopted a few puppies!

Beach-side yoga challenge!

Tough life!

Next stop, Palolem 

xx

Incredible India (Part 3 - The Keralan Backwaters)

We had another beautiful, but life threatening (!) drive down from the hills to a city called Kottayam. Kottayam is listed in the Lonely Planet guide as being a hub for backwater cruises to start so this is where we headed. 

We arrived late-afternoon and headed to the Ambassador hotel (again recommended by the Lonely Planet guide, despite feeling a bit like a prison camp - Thank you Lonely Planet!). Not knowing anywhere else to go and the city feeling rather intimidating after the peace and quiet of the hills, we decided to stay here anyway as it was only one night. 

After dumping our bags we went for a walk to find this 'hub of cruises' and hopefully get some information or arrange something for the morning there and then. After walking for a while, we had not seen any other tourists, any travel agents or the river itself and could not find anyone who seemed to understand the word river!! This was not going quite as planned....and it was getting dark! Just as we were starting to panic, we see what seemed like a 5 star, 'leading hotel of the world' looming in the distance (in hindsight it was probably more of a 3 star but it was the most luxurious hotel we had seen in a while!)- being the daughter of a hotelier I knew we would find a sanctuary here! We almost sprinted through the front doors much to the alarm of the security!

The manager was most helpful and kindly informed us that we were in the wrong place for backwater house boats (Really Lonely Planet!?!?) and that we would need to get a bus 10km away to Kumarakom where we would find boats. Unfortunately it was too late to travel that evening and we had already paid for the delightful Ambassador Hotel which coincidentally was only slightly less than this Hotel Arkadia which was much nicer and even had a pool.Of course Su & I then managed to find our way to the hotel bar for a few mojitos to lighten the situation. As soon as Lex leaves us we end up in totally the wrong place!! Come back Lexy!!

Surprisingly for a hotel bar in the middle of Southern India where we had still not seen another tourist, this bar would not have looked out of place as a London club and reminded me very much of good old 24!

 Is it 24, is it Jalouse? No, just the hotel bar!

You would have thought after Lonely Planet's recent run that we would have learnt our lesson, but no we went to a Thali restaurant on their recommendation. Drum roll please......the restaurant was closed!! Luckily there was an open restaurant upstairs.

Moral of the story - give Kottayam a miss and head straight to Kumarakom or Alleppey to get a backwater cruise tour! 

The next morning we headed bright & early (we couldn't leave Kottayam soon enough!) to Kumarakom by bus. All was not quite plain sailing from here - the bus dropped us off on a dusty road seemingly in the middle of nowhere!! No sign of any houseboats, rivers, tourists, or anything really! Luckily a tuk tuk driver happened to pass and coincidentally had a friend who had a houseboat. What a beautiful boat it was! Our luck was changing and we managed to bargain him down from £80-£60 for an overnight trip including all meals from Kumarakom and ending in Alleppey on this floating palace! 

The backwaters are a network of 5 large lakes, numerous canals and 38 rivers all interconnected in all more than 900km of waterway which extends almost half the length of the state of Kerala. Vembanad Kayal is the largest of theses lakes covering 200km squared, and this is where we were. 

The houseboats are local boats called Kettuvallams which were traditionally used as rice barges transporting the rice harvested alongside the backwaters. More recently, many have been converted into luxury floating cottages as above with upstairs and downstairs seating/dining areas and air conditioned luxury rooms. 

As soon as we set off, all the tensions of getting there and actually finding a boat immediately melted away and you could not help but feel completely tranquil. The lake was stunningly beautiful and so quiet we wiled the afternoon away just watching the scenery pass us by.

It was hard not to be utterly relaxed and completely contented to do nothing but watch the world go by. Such a welcome compared to the contrasting London life. We stopped on a riverbank and a feast was served for lunch!

After lunch we carried on cruising until sunset - there were so many birds to see that Susan has become quite the bird watcher (if you know Susan, you will be able to appreciate quite how funny this is!). She was almost squealing with delight every time an eagle passed overhead.

At sunset we took a walk into the paddy fields & watched the show in it's full glory surrounded by nature with not a car, building, or any wifi in the vicinity. It was wonderful! Unfortunately sunsets never look as good in pictures, the huge blazing orange ball of sun becomes this tiny orange thing - I must invest in a good camera I apologise!!

Susan has spotted a bird!

 Of course, I couldn't resist doing some yoga in such a beautiful setting!

Magical skies at dusk (above) & dawn (below)

After another huge feast for dinner and a quiet night, we woke up at 6am to see sunrise. The world was so still & serene, it is one of my resolutions to see sunrise more often (and not by still being awake!).

Unfortunately for us, the cruise was only one day and night and we had to say goodbye to complete serenity and our floating palace. 

If you are going to South India, this is an experience you cannot miss it was so, so peaceful, such a gentle pace of life which we often forget exists. Even though we were delighted with the boat and trip we had, I would recommend starting the cruise in Alleppey where there are many more boats to choose from.

We spent the day in Alleppey waiting for our overnight train up to Goa, it's a sweet town but not a huge amount to see!

Next stop Goa!

xx

Incredible India (Part 2 - Periyar National Park)

Having been gently broken into Indian life by Fort Kochi, we set off early the next day to Thekkady and Periyar National Park a 4hour drive into the hills.

There was an option to take a bus of course (a 6hour ride), but being three of us and still feeling flush at the start of the trip we decided to treat ourselves to a taxi which cost £30 total for the 4hour journey. In London you can just about get a taxi from Bayswatet to Brixton with that! 

The drive was breathtaking, partly for the beautiful climbing scenery of tea plantations and spice farms but equally because of the breakneck speed we were flying round corners and overtaking with! Sitting in the front was a real life roller coaster I had to keep closing my eyes as it was too much to watch! For a while we thought maybe the bus might have been a better idea until we saw it screeching round corners too. It was our introduction to Indian driving! 

The beautiful drive

After finally arriving in Thekkady alive (!) we found a "Wild hut" to stay at on the edge of the park with views over the park too for a bank breaking £7.50 a night for the three of us at Coffee Inn. It was a super basic wooden hut, and doesn't quite look like the pictures on the website, but it did the job! Apparently there were two huge cockroaches sharing the hut with us too but thank goodness I did not see them and wasn't told about them till a few weeks later!!

     

      Vrksasana (tree pose) overlooking Periyar National Park

The town is pretty much a one street town which lives off the tourist trade to the park. Periyar is famed for being home to 35-40  tigers, although we were not lucky enough to see one, and even locals we spoke to had never seen the elusive creature, it is still a beautiful place. 

The Park itself is 777sq km of land with 26 sq km man made lake in the middle created by the British in 1895. We got up early the next day to catch one of the first few boats and hopefully see some wildlife! 

Periyar's lake, pretty chilled! 

The boat ride round the lake is about an hour long, and although we did not see a huge amount, it was very beautiful and serene. If you do ever go there, there is a great walk back through the park to the gates which you shouldn't miss! 

We found a great little place called Frenchies for lunch run by such a warm, friendly couple called Reggie & Supah. Supah fed, watered and delighted us with her stories so much so that we decided to book a cooking class with her that evening.  This cooking class was one of the highlights of the trip for me - we bundled into a tuktuk with Supah and her son and set off to her little pink house! That's one of the things I love about India, all of the houses are painted bright colours - pink, orange, blue, yellow, green. Walking down the street is like walking through a rainbow and you can't not have a smile on your face.

The class was a very informal class in Supah's kitchen - we chatted and cooked and chatted and cooked. On the menu was Dahl fry, Okra masala, Aveel vegetable curry, Coconut chutney, chappati and an Indian sweet  named Kesady (I will do a separate post on these, don't worry!). Supah spoke to us about life and love and gave us a fascinating insight into Indian family life. 

                  

After learning to cook this feast with Supah, we were then allowed to eat it. This was without doubt one of the best meals I had in India! I could not reccommmend Supah's cooking experience enough! It was £5 each for the whole evening and dinner too. 

             

                Supah's super smile! 

We also had the chance to visit a working tea factory and spice factory nearby. The tea factory smelt amazing! We had a very jolly guide called Benny showing us round. Although Benny was clearly very knowledgeable and charming, unfortunately it was rather hard to understand him so we are still a little hazy on the whole tea making process!

        Tea plantation! 

Next up was the spice plantation where we saw pepper drying and being made, curry leaves, all spice, tea tree, cardamom, stevia leaves and many many more delicious spices! It was super interesting to see - especially the pepper drying and crushing process as so much work goes into it. I appreciate every sprinkle of pepper so much more now! 

                 

                                     This lemon at the spice farm was bigger than my head! 

Unfortunately we had to say our goodbye (for now - don't worry she will be back later!) to Lex here, as she sped off on Reggie's motorbike to the bus station.

The last thing we did in Thekkady was head to Elephant Junction on the recommendation of a good friend of mine who had just been. We chose to have an elephant ride, and to wash and shower the elephant. I am not always a fan of these types of places given the conditions the animals are sometimes kept in, but these elephants seemed well cared for. If you are tight on time/money I would skip the elephant ride and just do the wash and shower. Su & I thought we would just be helping to wash etc the elephants but unbeknownst to us we were going to be getting a very powerful shower ourselves!! Su went first and her face says more than any words could!

No words! 

The best power shower I've ever had!

Needless to say we both ended up soaked and with big smiles on our faces! If you do ever do this make sure to take a dry change of clothes!

Next stop....The Alleppey Backwaters

xx

Incredible India (Part 1 - Fort Kochi)

I'm sorry I have been a naughty blogger, but I have good reason for it, I promise!

After finally giving up my old job (you can read about that here), I went on a little 7 week adventure to India to travel and do a 200hr intensive yoga teacher training course (YTTC). The YTTC warrants a whole (very long!) post of it's own, but before that I did a bit of travelling around South India with one of my favourite travelling buddies Su, and my amazing cousin Lexy joined us for parts too.

Susan and I have been on 6 adventures together through Brazil, to Thailand, Dubai, Malta, Barcelona and Istanbul and when she decided to join me at last minute for adventure numero 7 I couldn't have been more delighted! We both needed a break from the chaos that comes from London life and this was perfect.

Meeting at Heathrow on a rainy, windy & freezing February evening we were like two giddy school girls delirious with excitement!

Of course, we had to have a glass (or 2) of bubbles to begin the latest adventure, and naturally to help us get some kip on the 9hour flight.

On arrival in Mumbai we transferred straight through and onto Kochi. For anyone travelling through Mumbai airport, I had been warned that it would be total chaos but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was so don't worry!

Kochi is in the southern state of Kerala - nicknamed "God's Own Country" and for good reason too, it is beautiful! We headed straight to Fort Kochi. 600 years ago Fort Kochi was established as the gateway to India, it was from here that the colonization of India actually began. The town nowadays is a sleepy melange of worldly influences: Portuguese churches, Anglo-Dutch houses, Colonial buildings and Chinese fishing nets. 

 Our first Indian sunset over the Chinese Fishing Nets

We were hoping to wash the sunset down with a nice cold beer, but after fruitless effort to find one, a local kindly told us that the 1st of every month is a dry-day where no alcohol is available anywhere. Ah!

Luckily Lexy then appeared from the distance on the back of a motorbike, with a huge grin on her face. Lexy is one of the most amazing people you could meet! She has been on a journey herself travelling solo through Nepal, Sri Lanka and now India, a very seasoned traveler who steered us fresh faced city girls in the right direction!

We even found our way to a temple festival in a village outside Fort Kochi. We had been told there would be fire and elephants there, and although these were no where to be seen, it was still a lovely occasion and it was beautiful to see all the ladies dressed up in their colourful saris! There was a beautiful young girl who had jasmine flowers decorating her hair, she was very shy but let me take a photo! 

Although Fort Kochi was a visually beautiful little place, there was not a huge amount to do here and we found our 2 nights & 1 day was plenty. We visited the Kochi Flower Show, however this was less Chelsea Flower Show, more walking round a Homebase store! Although they did have this very cool bean man! 

Fort Kochi is a lovely little place to stroll around and watch dolphins playing in the mouth of the river, it was a perfect transition from London chaos into South Indian life. There is some delicious food too - if you happen to find yourself in Fort Kochi don't miss Fusion Bay for some great Keralan specialities, and Kashi Cafe & Art Gallery for breakfasts and amazing cakes!

Next stop Periyar National Park.....

xx

Yoga Flash Mob!

London Yoga Flash Mob!

Last Friday, with the elusive London sunshine gracing us with it's rays, I participated in a Yoga Flash Mob on Piccadilly Circus organised by the lifestyle brand Lululemon Uk.

The call to practice was sent out via a cheeky little Instagram post from their account @lululemonuk:

  Yogis from all corners of London united in what was to be an unexpectedly serene class. Being in the middle of London on Piccadilly Circus, with thousands of people passing by and traffic beeping I was expecting a fun class, but did not expect to truly be able to concentrate on my yoga. I was amazed by how easily I zoned out and managed to forget the staring, photo taking tourists and really get into the flow. Practice was over before I knew it! 

Although there was one dog who was clearly very confused by the yoga, and had a little barking episode which slightly disturbed the flow! 

Aside from this little canine, the class was amazingly serene and we even managed to practice shavasana on Piccadilly Circus, although sadly I have no photos of this. I left happy with a big smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Good work Lululemon! They are organising regular yoga flashmobs so keep your eyes and ears peeled and you may hear about the next one. Let's do this London!

xxx

Our Daily Bread....

Poor little bread really has had a hard time recently at the hand of the carb nazis, totally undeserved too. Widespread belief, thanks to diets such as the Atkins diet, is that carbs will make you fat, and must be avoided at all costs if you are ever to look like Gisele. However, the truth of the matter is that carbs actually have just 4 calories per gram, whereas fat has a whooping 9 calories per gram. It is not eating carbs which will lead to weight gain, it is over consumption in general which makes you gain weight. 

Diets like the Atkins work by seriously restricting calorie intake so that the body has to look elsewhere for energy and starts to burn body fat. This is a process called Ketosis, which incidentally also has a side effect of bad breath! Atkins and other similar diets are completely unbalanced, and are actually very unhealthy in the long run as they promote a high intake of saturated fats (the baddies) which can lead to a higher risk of heart disease.  

There is no need to go to such extreme lengths as completely removing whole food groups from your diet in order to stay in shape and healthy - especially bread which actually has many nutritional benefits! Bread is actually a great source of protein - it contains 12g of protein per 100g - this is a fair amount considering an egg has 13g of protein. It also contains iron, fibre, magnesium, calcium and zinc - all nutrients which can be lacking in modern diets. It is also a great source of B vitamins which support your brain, nervous system, energy levels, moods and keeps skin and hair glowing. 

If consumed in moderation (like all good things!) bread really can contribute to a healthy, balanced diet. It has been eaten for centuries, and forms a large part of the healthy Mediterranean diet so many of us strive for. When choosing breads, it is always important to choose a wholegrain bread with seeds (white bread is nutritionally rather empty after the bleaching process it undergoes to become white). Wholegrain breads with seeds are also low GI which means their energy is released slowly, leaving you satisfied for longer. As with all products, labeling can be very deceiving so make sure to choose a bread labeled as 100% wholewheat or wholegrain, and check the ingredients carefully as even breads which claim to be wholegrain can contain enriched bleached flour.  

Being healthy and staying in shape is not about going on extreme fad diets which cannot be sustained and ultimately only lead to temporary weight loss, it is about making small positive lifestyle changes such as switching from white bread to wholewheat bread, exercising regularly, and eating in moderation. 

See, you can have your bread and eat it!

xx