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I have made a new section on my blog called “Workaway” so I can keep a record and share our experiences with the projects that we collaborate with during our travels.

Our very first workaway experience was in Lucknow with a rural all girls school called “The Good Harvest School”. And what an amazing first workaway project it was!

What is Workaway?

For those of you who may not be familiar with workaway.info it is a website where people can connect either as workawayers or hosts.

The Host

People who are starting a project or need help running and/or renovating an existing one will put what they are looking for in their profile in terms of the people they would like to join forces with.

They will say what particular skills they would like brought to their projects and in return they will offer either free accommodation, food or payment. It all depends on what is on their profile so always read the whole profile so you know exactly what skills you may have that they need and if what they are offering in return suits you on your travels.

Sometimes the hosts seeking assistance can’t afford to cover the costs of these things and so request a small fee. But this will all be noted on their profile.

The Workawayer

If you don’t have a lot of money and/or are traveling on a budget or simply just want to meet new people and skill-share things you may be good at then setting up a profile should be on your list of things to do before you set off.

You write a short bio, explain a bit about yourself, what you’re about, your interests and skills that you have that people may be interested in collaborating with you on a project.

Don’t forget to write causes you are passionate about like eco-farming, humanitarianism or animal welfare…. You never know who may be looking.

Don’t worry if you feel you don’t have super technical skills to share… If you are handy, can cook, can mind children or simply like walking dogs … You can probably find someone looking for something like that.

Just make sure you are clear about what your capabilities are and always work hard at the projects you go to because you should always leave a good impression, after all these people are kindly offering you a home, a family environment and putting food on your plate. Never take that generosity for granted!

Our first experience on Workaway.

Working at The Good Harvest School was our first experience on Workaway. We were there for a total of a 8 days but it was split with a weekend where we spent two days exploring Lucknow city.

Getting in touch was quite easy, we had been messaging several different projects during our travels and so we had been chatting about times that worked for all of us. Once that was arranged we made our way to them and jumped straight in!

The Good Harvest School

The Good Harvest School is a rural all girls school on the outskirts of Lucknow in India. It is run by an Indian Protestant (Christian) family.

Anish and his wife Ashita worked in Delhi for 7-8 years before they came back to Lucknow and bought the land that is now the grounds of the school. It was at first in their interest to work with farmers but they soon realised that a lack of education was making it difficult for them to execute the ideas they had to farm on their land.

Ashita used to be a teacher and so she used to let children from the surrounding schools visit and she would play games and get to the know the children on a daily basis. It was then after a while they were building the toilet on the grounds that they had a brainwave to start an all girls school. This is what went down:

They had a mason, he had 5 daughters that weren’t at school. Ashita drove to his house and persuaded them to come to school. Arranged a pick up. The father was not best pleased about the idea as the girls wouldn’t be at home to carry out work on the farm and help out at home doing chores. Ashita asked him to send the younger girls and see how they felt about it. And the girls would come home so happy, telling stories about their day which eventually convinced the other sisters to join too.

Ashita invited a few more girls from around the area and would hold classes – completely for free btw! – teaching them basic conversational english. Word then got round and more and more girls would turn up. They started with 5 and after 4 years they now have 45 girls at the school! They don’t even charge fees. They only ask a small amount to go towards petrol for the school runs.

At the moment there are only five permanent staff working at The Good Harvest School:

Anish: He takes care of management, fundraising for the school (as they do not take any educational fees) and does the school run every day!

Ashita: She is in charge of academics at the school

Mineesha: This lovely young woman teaches and minds the children and also is in charge most days of cooking for everyone including the volunteers.

Two farmers: Unfortunately we never caught their names but there were two farmers that lived and worked on the school grounds tending to the crops that sustained 80% of the food that was eaten everyday!

Their vision is to run a school up to grade 5. They do not want a big building, and they want to centre the school in the farm, so they are a whole entity. – When Brad and I were there they had some architects from Delhi come to draw up some plans for what they soon hope to achieve for the school. –

They want to make sure the children feel nurtured, and their priority is for the girls to learn from example, doing things such as farming and from other activities that us volunteers may suggest due to our certain skills and hobbies. They want them to be able to read, write and to solve problems on their own and learn conversational English to help them in their futures as they get older and need these skills to survive.

They want a self sustainable school where the agriculture full supports them both financially and nutritionally.

So why just a girls school and not mixed?

When I asked them this question they told me that they were pondering it for a long time. India is a very male dominant country and therefore when it comes to less affluent families the money spent on education goes towards their sons so they can study for a well paid job. The girls usually drop out of school very early to work at home and get married off once they are of age.

It can be very stressful at home for children, especially for the girls. When they come from an impoverished background all of the stressed and burdens are also lumbered upon the children. They must grow up very fast to help at home, doing chores, looking after their siblings and their elders. It can be quite tough and not on physically but emotionally draining.

Ashita and Anish started the school to not only educate but to also be a place for young girls to feel safe and have a shelter to relax in. Somewhere where they can got for a few hours a day and take their mind off the struggles they face at home and to learn and gain a sense of achievement for themselves.

And what about the agricultural side of the school?

“Usually when people think of hard labour they usually associate it with poverty.” Said Anish when I asked him that question.

Both Anish and Ashita answered by saying that they wanted to teach the kids that agriculture is actually profitable and to see it from a different point of view. They also believe that it will teach the kids to be more responsible and that they can be self sufficient.

At the school they educate them with different ways of food processing and because it is seasonal they tech them about when and hot to plant certain fruits and vegetables. – For example, when we were there we helped out in the process of farming mushrooms! – 

The Volunteers

  Because The Good Harvest School does not take tuition fees they are only able to employ who they currently have to work on the farm and at the school. So being on Workaway.info has given them the opportunity to seek assistance from willing and skilled people who can offer what they can in exchange for a place to sleep and food to eat.

How do they benefit from having volunteers:

The girls get exposure to and confidence in meeting new people

They are able to better understand the outside world by meeting people from different culture.

English! Conversational English is a huge advantage and an important tool for them in later life.

What skills and assistance do they seek?

Manual labour

You don’t have to be a qualified teach to help. Any form of activities that can help them improve their social skills and learn english at the same time is such a huge help.

Cooking

Drivers for the school runs every morning and afternoon

Gardening

WORKAWAY: The Good Harvest School – Lucknow, India I have made a new section on my blog called "Workaway" so I can keep a record and share our experiences with the projects that we collaborate with during our travels.

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TERRIBLE TRAIN JOURNEY! | Lucknow to Khajuraho - India.

TERRIBLE TRAIN JOURNEY! | Lucknow to Khajuraho – India.

TRAVEL STORY: What A Terrible Train Journey!

After an incredible week in Lucknow volunteering at The Good Harvest School we set off in the afternoon of our last day with them to catch a train to Khajuraho, our final stop before heading back to Delhi to fly back to the UK. This really was a hellish journey for me and I felt it deserved to be featured as a travel story on my blog. It was so…

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Varanasi: Ending the Death And Rebirth Cycle

Varanasi: Ending the Death And Rebirth Cycle

Over 5000 years old. The holiest city in all of India. Varanasi is the spiritual capital of this country. Hindu pilgrims flock from all over to come here to drink, bathe and above all to die and be cremated here, by the Ganga river. We have been settled here a few days now and the shock of this city has finally dwindled. Varanasi is not for the faint hearted. If you are a first time traveller to…

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This week we completed a 3 day yoga retreat in Rishikesh.

Due to our illness earlier in the trip, our stay was cut short. We lost two whole days of exploration. I feel there was much more to see in this humble riverside city…

Located in the state of Uttarakhand not far from the Himalaya mountains, it sits peacefully on the hills as the river Ganges winds through it. Two halves of the city divided by the holy water and connected by a rather questionable narrow bridge, where people, bikes, dogs and cows cross suspended by steel wire. – If you have motion sickness like me, the first time on the bridge is gonna be a challenge! –

Many people told us about doing yoga here. They told us people come here for that reason. That we must try it, or if we were going there to practice? Apparently Rishikesh is the yoga capital. Now I don’t know if this is true (do comment below if you know) but we thought being that it was mentioned so often we would get stuck in.

After we found our room; decent size, big double, ensuite with a large balcony over looking the Ganges for R500 – bargain! – we took some time to explore and find a stall to negotiate on rafting. We managed to find a place that was offering a 2h rafting experience for R500. We thought that was a pretty decent deal so we said we would come back the next day.

Rafting Down The River Ganges

This stall looked unofficial. It was small, two young lads sat there on their phones but eager to get us to join. The time now reduced to 1.5hr which made me dubious about how long it really was. As we spoke, two Israeli girls approached, confidently said they wanted to raft and haggled them down to R400, we jumped on their negotiation and introduced ourselves as their raft mates.

I didn’t bring my phone and unfortunately my GoPro is currently dead so I didn’t get any footage of how incredibly breathtaking it was to raft down the river but I 100% recommend it. We drove about 12km up the mountains to a set off station. Had a quick lesson by our instructor, a cheeky 22 year old man with 5 years rafting experience. We were given certain instructions for rowing and an emergency procedure in case we capsized. He taught us how to sit so we wouldn’t fall out – basically jam your feet into the side of the raft or under the inflatables in any way that makes you feel secure. So for me as far deep as I could get them with an extremely unnatural kink in my ankle, forcing a rather severe cramp. Not going anywhere. Safe. – And we set off!

We went through five rapids, each exhilarating and fucking terrifying. I drank about a gallon of river water. And we also got to swim in it while the waters were calm in between rapids. We stopped for a break to eat Maggi noodles and finished our ride back where we started.

It was heaps of fun. Definitely try it.

Later that day we went on the hunt for a yoga retreat to try a 3 day experience of intensive yoga. We checked out a few places but decided on one in the centre of town called Swami Yoga Centre. We were looking for an immersive experience where we could hide away in an ashram and focus solely on yoga, meditation and inner work if there was any that came up but we found them all either full, too expensive or far too noisy.

Swami Yoga Centre

This yoga centre offered a decent timetable, teacher training courses and drop-in classes. They offered prices including yoga philosophy, food and a room. We decided that we wouldn’t do the philosophy class, wanted to stay in the room we were already in as it was bigger and cheaper and we decided it would be more exciting to eat out so we could explore.

In total it was R3000 per person for 3 days. Here was the programme:

6:30 – Pranayama

7:30 – Beginner Yoga

8:45 – Ashtanga Yoga

17:00 – Hatha Yoga

18:45 – Meditation

We paid our deposit and went back for an early night.

I found myself feeling very fatigued and achey. My stomach bug was still lingering insidiously in my system. – Now, I just have to make a statement here. Nothing gets between me and food, okay. Not even a ghastly gastrointestinal bacteria that makes me shit every hour. Nothing. – And so I merrily ate my way through Rishikesh, eating thali, salads, soups, rice platters… I didn’t want to take antibiotics, I thought I wouldn’t need them but i found myself feeling weaker and weaker…

DAY 1

We awoke at 5:15, got ready and headed over to the yoga centre for our morning class of “Pranayama”.

Pranayama is a breathing exercise practice. In Sanskrit “Prana” means life force and “ayama” is to extend. These exercises are meant to clear any physical and emotional blockages in our body to free the breath and allow the flow of prana – life energy.

After our breathing class we chose to do the Beginner Yoga class, being that we hadn’t done yoga since our last visit to India earlier in the year. My body was weak, it was extremely difficult to hold poses and stretching was hellish. But I was proud of myself for persevering. I slept until our next lesson and Brad went out to get me antibiotics, I gave in.

Hatha Yoga was challenging but it was good to stretch out the aches I had been feeling all day. So in a way, despite the pain I felt it was doing me some good.

Meditation was our next and final class of the day. It was an interesting experience, it was hard to get your focus away from the noise from outside and I found myself indulging in my thoughts too much to let go. Brad fell asleep – hahahaha! – obviously. Though, I was also very close to falling asleep myself, it was relaxing to say the least. We learned about awareness, bringing your focus inward and making every movement, every breath something we could be present with.

DAY 2

Feeling a little better I felt ready to challenge myself both physically and mentally.

Pranayama – I was finding these exercises in the morning quite revitalising, it was waking up the body ready for our yoga practice. Some of the exercises were kinda weird. Like, inhaling deeply then bending forward exhaling everything. Once everything was out of your lungs to suck in your throat, stomach and your perineal – or that muscle that twitches in your butt when you cringe… – Moving on. I found that exercise difficult. It made me cough and it was very hard to keep your breath held for longer than a few seconds.

Beginner Yoga – These beginner classes we revery basic. More like a stretching class. – Which I was totally grateful for as I felt I needed to warm myself into yoga again. – It was a bit more challenging than the first day and my body was definitely feeling more flexible. Brad is far more nimble than I am and so for him these classes weren’t challenging enough for him. But he did enjoy the stretch.

Hatha Yoga – Classic yoga, we do our sun and moon salutations, lying down poses both front and back. Sitting poses and standing pose (balance). I absolutely revelled in this class. My flexibility was on point, I was enjoying the deep stretches and I felt my mind become clear and relaxed.

After the class our teacher Mohan would give us some words of wisdom. He made us td an exercise that was kind of awkward but at the same time beautiful. We needed to find a partner (at first Brad and I went together but we got separated because we already had a connection so it defeated the point.) We sat opposite this person and were told just to look into each other’s eyes. – CRINGE! – But it really did work. It totally broke down those walls you have on first meeting people and it made you see another being in front of you. We are all the same after all right? What is it about the world today where we aren’t able to allow kindness into our hearts and look people in the eyes when we speak. Why are we all so afraid to show vulnerability? Everyone is battling something, the support of a stranger, a simple smile… could change everything. At least for that moment. I found myself really smiling and feeling quite emotional after.

Meditation – This meditation class was a bit more intimate. We did first 30 minutes of deep meditation or in other words trying to block out the sound, not running away with the fairies or falling asleep… – I thought about some weird shit, stuff that you don’t usually think about… I imagine it’s cos you are lying with your eyes closed in “silence” for 30 minutes. That it gives your brain a chance to get creative… – We did some more eye gazing and hand holding and swaying *insert laughing emoji* then left to have chai and veg momos with the teacher and our new friends.

DAY 3

We were so beat by day three, I dunno how some people can do weeks to months at ashrams but I guess it gets easier or you push yourself less with more time? Not sure.

Pranayama – We didn’t get up for this class. I had a terrible nights sleep because of my stomach flu so I slept some more before our next class.

Ashtanga Yoga – Ashtanga yoga (explain what it is) Brad LOVED this class. It was a more intermediate class and the poses were held for longer and much more challenging. It definitely challenged me. I think I will stick to Hatha for now! Brad left feeling like he had cleared tensions that he had been holding onto for a while.

At 3:30 we did a beginner yoga class with a trainee yoga instructor from Ireland that we met the day before.

Then we skipped meditation to rest and restore.

Overall I really felt a huge benefit from doing yoga as often as three times a day in three days. I want very much to keep it up and to incorporate it into my daily life. It teaches you discipline, to be more present and in the moment. To nourish your body in more ways than just food. To take time out in the day to allow healing and rest & relaxation.

If I have taken anything away with me from those three days it’s to definitely respect my body more and treat it with more care. To nourish myself in every way and to take more time for inner healing and to spend the rest of my life becoming every day more self aware. To treat those around you with the same love and respect that you know yourself also deserves. Because at the end of it all, we are all the same.

I am now currently on a train from Delhi to Varanasi. The holy and very sacred ancient city where many Hindu pilgrims come to bathe in Mother Ganga and were others choose to die and be cremated to ascend finally to the source. More of this in the next post. First we must explore.

Phir Melenge, Until the next post xxx

3 Day Yoga Retreat In Rishikesh This week we completed a 3 day yoga retreat in Rishikesh. Due to our illness earlier in the trip, our stay was cut short.

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  It’s our 5th day back in India…

We arrived in New Delhi at 4am on Wednesday Oct 3rd. Exhausted but glad to be back we wandered the sleepy streets to find somewhere to stay, which funnily enough ended up being where we stayed before we left on our previous visit. – Cheap and grotty, just how Brad likes it haha. –

After getting a good 8 hours sleep we woke up at 12pm and got some bits done then spent the first day chilling and re adjusting. The next day we decided to grab the New Delhi metro to explore a bit further out to a place called Lodi Colony.

Lodi Colony is known for a small stretch of roads between blocks about a 15 minute walk from one market street to the next, where some of the buildings in between have been made into designated canvases for wall art.

Having done it ourselves and explored the area I would highly recommend taking the time to venture out on a half day trip to do it. Especially if you are a fan of grafitti/wall art. There’s some instagram worthy shots to find for sure. – I’m pretty sure we didn’t find all of them either –

You can easily get the metro and walk, or you can take other modes of transport like the tuctucs. But the metro was fast and cheap!

Take some time to explore these streets, see what you find. If you venture out a little more there is a small shanti village we happened to stumble across called Jor Bagh Road (or near it at least) I posted a couple of videos of it on Instagram. Take a look!

Here are some of the awesome pieces we found on our hunt:

After that day we met with our old pal Rajendra Rawat! – You may remember him from a previous post I wrote way back when from my very first experience in India, you can read it here. – He brought his youngest son along with him and we ate dinner and reminisced on old times and planned a possible trip from Rishikesh to his home town this time around.

We had a bus to catch Friday night from Delhi to Rishikesh so we thought we could meet there after a few days of exploring then head to him home town and back to Delhi together.

We enjoyed our dinner, we laughed and bonded over several Indian dishes, chapatis and tap water. – I thought it was incredibly sweet that they chose to have vegetarian meals for their supper for us, when they could have had meat. Very thoughtful indeed. – We later said our goodbyes and planned to chat about possibly seeing each other in Rishikesh.

We gave this to Rajendra on our first visit 5 years ago!

If you are close to Brad, you will know as well as I do – oh trust me do I know… – that he has a little trouble adjusting to new time zones, new places, his immune system is pretty bad… It stinks! – He jokingly calls it “Reclimatisation fever”, which we later found out that the symptoms he gets is actually a thing! – If I could tell you about all of the different times he has got ill…. I could write a whole post dedicated to it, probably more! It first started out as a joke that he would always need to visit a hospital when on holiday. Then as the years we spent together progressed it then became an actual thing! When we were in Thailand for our honeymoon I had to get a doctor to come visit us because his fever was so high he was delirious and even after that visit I had to take him to mainland to an actual hospital for proper treatment. It was a very scary time and I think a story for another post…

But before I get too off topic, the very same night we saw Rajendra, our first few days back in India, Brad was struck again! We got ourselves to our room and prepped for a clammy, feverish night. His belly started to grumble and cramp and he told me he felt nauseous. We questioned what we did in the previous night and day that could be causing the upset.

“There wasn’t a lot of difference in food we were eating, apart from quantity. Could it have been the Nepali mungo curry from that restaurant around the corner?”

“Was it the delicious Pani Poori stall on the main street? No. It can’t be those, it was too clean and they were wearing gloves handling the food.”

“At dinner Rajendra told you not to drink the water from the jug the man was offering you!” – “It was bottled water, it won’t be that”

Then it suddenly dawned on me…. We had been brushing our teeth with the water from the taps. I remember vividly rinsing my mouth out and thinking how foul it tasted. Then having a flash back of the Inn keeper telling me that the plumbing was not working either…. We had been brushing our teeth, rinsing our mouths and toothbrushes with dirty stagnant water! GROSS.

It wasn’t long after that conversation my belly then started to bloat and cramp too. And before we knew it we were both hit with a mild, but still pretty hideous case of Delhi Belly! We slept for two whole days only leaving once for food at 1am on the 6th of October. It totally knocked us for six and Brad is still recovering. I managed to get away with it a bit sooner than him.

This resulted in us missing our bus to Rishikesh and spending another day in New Delhi to rest and repair.

It is now the evening of the 7th of Oct and we are finally heading out to Rishikesh tomorrow with Rajendra. We are excited!

Updates to come once we hit our new destinations.

Phir melenge, until the next post. x

Exploring The Lodi Colony – Street Art – New Delhi, India It's our 5th day back in India... We arrived in New Delhi at 4am on Wednesday Oct 3rd.

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Third Time's A Charm...

Third Time’s A Charm…

Four months on the grind since we returned from our previous travels. The big smoke had us again, working 6 day weeks, sometimes a 13 hour a day… Hustlin’ hard, but all in good spirits – sometimes – because we knew our next trip would be imminent.

London life. A paradox of sorts. A city that never sleeps, yet I felt more sleep deprived than ever. A busy, bustling metropolis, but a place where…

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SRI LANKA VLOG | ROAD TRIPPIN’ | EP. 3

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7 VEGAN Sri Lankan Recipes We LOVE | VIDEO | VLOG

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7 VEGAN Traditional Sri Lankan Recipes We Love!

7 VEGAN Traditional Sri Lankan Recipes We Love!

Very excited to be doing my first recipe based post!

While we were on the West Coast of Sri Lanka, we visited a small beach resort town called Unawatuna near Galle. It was probably one of my favourite beach areas on that side of the country. It had just reached the end of of the season on the West coast so we didn’t experience any of the beaches in “full power” – Like the Indians would say… – 

W…

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A Night Bus To Chennai, See You Soon India…

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I Tried Ayurvedic Medicine In Kerala... | India

I Tried Ayurvedic Medicine In Kerala… | India

That’s right, I saw and Ayurvedic Doctor while I was in Varkala, Kerala recently! Why did you go try Ayurvedic Medicine Gen? How lovely that you ask…LET. ME. TELL. YOU! – Well, I think most of you will already know if you are close to me or follow me on Instagram that I have been suffering from regular migraines every month for the last 2 years. Anything can bring on an attack and after over a…

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Backwater Adventures In Alleppey, Kerala – India Two weeks ago Brad and I spent a few days in Alleppey. We explored the backwaters for a day. Here's what we got up to!

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Road Trippin’ | Episode 2 | Munnar | Kochi | Kerala | India

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Road Trippin’ | Episode 1 | Goa – Karnataka

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Munnar on a motorbike you say…

Since being in India, Brad and I have turned into quite the roadsters. Motorcycle – or a moped – is our preferred mode of transport here…

It was actually in Portugal on a family holiday where we realised that having a bike gave us even more freedom to explore. (You can read that post here).

So with this opportunity to explore outside of our current whereabouts, we have been able to go and see places we would either need to pay more for, be limited on time at or just not get the chance to see – because you just wouldn’t “go have a peek over there” if you are being driven somewhere by someone else. –

We have had several road trips the last three months here in India. Our latest trip was to Munnar. Munnar is a town in the mountains located in the Idukki district of Kerala. It is about a 4.5hr drive from Kochi and really worth a visit even if you decide not to get a bike there. There are plenty of package deals and buses etc, to get there.

Things you need before you get a bike:

There are a few things you should know and have before you attempt to get a bike in India.

FOCUS: First and foremost, you need to have your wits about you. India is an extremely chaotic country to drive in and if you are a nervous driver or have delayed reaction time then perhaps getting motorbike is not for you.

DRIVING LICENSE: Now, most places in India will probably only ask you for your regular valid home driving license. But please be aware that you should also carry with you an international driving permit, a document that, along with your driving license, allows you to legally drive a motor vehicle while abroad. The reason why I am mentioning this is that sometimes if you are not carrying one it can be used against you by the police if you get pulled over and they want a bribe from a foreigner. So do keep that in mind and maybe think about getting one for your travels. (You can apply for one easily here)

PASSPORT/ID: Once you have chosen your bike and have negotiated a good price – if you are trying to travel on a budget or just hoping to save some money, know that you can negotiate on a price per day, don’t just agree with the price they give you. You can definitely screw them down. – They will probably ask you for some sort of deposit. Sometimes it will be a cash deposit but other times it will probably just be a form of ID that they will return to you when the bike is returned.

And that is literally it, with these three things you can get a motorbike just like that.

** Please make sure you hire a bike from a reputable shop, make sure you can trust that they are giving you a decent vehicle and at a fair price.  – Some places may even look after your bags until you return if you are going for a few days like we did. –

If you are looking for a good place then head over to Ocean’s Pride Tours on Rose Street, Fort Kochi.

They gave us Royal Enfield Himalayan bike that was in excellent condition at a very reasonable price and they also looked after our stuff.

3 Day Itinerary For Munnar

We spent three days in Munnar, and for me, that felt like the perfect amount of time to spend there but of course, it’s entirely up to you and what you want to do there.

The 3 day itinerary that I am going to share with you is just locations that you can reach on your bike around Munnar and the Idukki District which are completely free to visit. No tours or treks, just landscapes, nature and a whole lot of adventure! –

– If you are taking a bike, you can also reach these places by car, taxi or tuctuc. Whatever you decide 🙂 –

Day 1

Day 1 includes the drive from Kochi, it took us about 5 hours on the way there more or less with a few pits stops for tea and snacks.

Attukal Waterfall: Halfway up the mountain en route to Munnar there is an amazing waterfall on the right-hand side of the road. You can’t miss it. At this time of year (March), the water isn’t very abundant but it is still quite a spectacle regardless! I can only imagine what it would look like during or just after the monsoon season. 

Munnar Centre: Once you finally reach Munnar and find a place to stay, – I would recommend staying somewhere outside of the center, it will be cheaper and more peaceful, we stayed at Maharaja Country Resort Hotel – then you can explore the center. It is noisy, smoggy and crowded. But what city in India isn’t? There are lot’s of shopping areas here, there is a lot of homemade chocolate you can buy. – I went to the first place and tried to negotiate on a cheaper price but he didn’t budge. Later I found a place that sold more chocolate for less than what I paid! So make sure you look around first before you commit to buying from anyone. –

We spent the later part of our day exploring our surroundings and planning what we wanted to do for the next two days driving West until it was nearly sunset and heading home for dinner.

Day 2

One of the staff at our guesthouse recommended a route for us to take on day 2 which I am going to share with you all. It was full of so many incredibly beautiful views and it was just an all-round amazing ride which took us all day.

Tea Plantations: As you begin your journey you are welcomed by the mass of tea bushes that will be the main view of the day but trust me, it does not get old! It is just so amazing to look at and you wind through the hills through villages and settlements that you can stop in for tea or just admire whie you drive through them. These tea plantations are over 150 years old, they are just truly incredible to look at.

Manakulam: The drive through the plantations is quite long maybe an hour and a half or so. Eventually, you will reach a dirt road which will take you through some younger plantations, maybe 20 years or so. You will know you have reached them when the bushes are cut into rows rather than the abstract way they were cut before. Between the plantations, there are some villages. We stopped in Manakulam for lunch. Make sure you get there before 2pm, they stop serving the infamous banana leaf thalis at that time. It’s cheap, and all you can eat. Winning.

Perumbankuthu Waterfalls: After lunch, keep heading down the route towards Anakkulam which I will tell you about next. Before you get there, you will reach the most incredible waterfall that is something not to be missed. Brad and I spent some time there, we had it all to ourselves. It had a pool at the top of the immense waterfall where we swam, it then cascaded over the edge onto the most incredible view of the jungle.

Perfect spot for photos and to gaze out and appreciate the fact you are alive and looking at this…

Anakkulam: If you come back on yourself after the waterfall then go left down the mountain instead of back up towards Manakulam you will reach Anakkulam, a small village resting on a grassy plane with running water that is occasionally visited by wild elephants. -If you go there in the evening you might even catch a glimpse! –

A Different Route Home: When it’s time to go home, instead of heading back up the hill towards the 20-year-old tea plantations take the right exit for another route home. It runs parallel to a waterfall and the river at the bottom of it. You will then drive through a small village where you can stop for tea and a snack if you want then the rest of the ride takes you right back to the beginning!

This will be a really fun day, explore, take your time and enjoy! 

Day 3

On our final day, we drove North to further explore where we initially went on our first day which I mentioned earier. Below I am going to share with you the locations we found, all completely free for you to enjoy but there are options of paid attractions if you so wish. You will be blessed with incredible mountain views draped with fog and sprinkled with tea bushes for most of your journey, there are some tea factories you can visit if you want a tour and also a chocolate factory too. (these of course are  attractions you must pay for)

If there is one request I may make, please for the love of all innocent creatures, DO NOT visit the elephant park. I do not and will not EVER advocate or support the capture and exploitation of wild animals for our entertinment. It is cruel and wrong. Please, if you are an animal lover and care about their safety just  stay away from anything of this nature. – When we were in Thailand a few years ago, we went to what we thought was an elephant sanctuary (it could well be…) but we were not comfortable there and we left that day instead of the three days that we planned because they were forced to do tricks and be in certain areas at certain times to fit the schedule of the sanctuary rota that was made for us. It just seemed all very forced and not very “sanctuary” like at all. –

If you are going to do a santuary visit, please do your dudiligence before going. Make sure they are legit and that the animals are in fact rescued and properly cared for and not just there for our entertinment.

Anyway… Below is the route that we took on our last day. It’s pretty much the same road there and back. Take your time, you will really feel close to nature on this ride and you even get to the bordering line of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Munnar Colony: When we drove North on our frist day we noticed a colourful hillside village whcih we decided to explore on our last day. It turned out to be the village of Munnar, – so the noisy, smoggy centre wasn’t actually Munnar itself just the touristic hub of the area. 

Mattupatti Dam: There are a few things to do here, shooting games after the dam, stops for tea/coffee, shops for chocolate and souvenirs. After the dam there is a huge mass of water. You can go boating, picnicking and even go for a walk in the reserve forests in the surrounding areas. It’s absolutely stunning and some of the views even reminded me of the English countryside.

Echo Point: Still part of the lake and just after the dam you will find a spot called Echo Point. You can pay to see the attraction, which we didn’t do ourselves but there are other areas where you can still experiment with your best screams for a good drawn out echo! 

Pampadumchola National Park: After the lake, just keep driving on the same road for about an hour. You will drive through even more tea plantations, more mountain views and, forest. There are some sad sights of deforestation but I guess they are removing the trees to plant more tea bushes. Eventually, you will hit some epic views where the tips of mountains are peeking out from beneath the blanket of fog. You will reach a national park at the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. You can pay to go into a tower for picture taking and gazing. We just had a tea, watched the monkeys and went for a walk.

The way home is the exact same route, so if there are any places you missed you can revisit them on the way back!

I hope you guys enjoyed the post and for some of you it provides you with a nice plan for a ride and a few days out in Munnar. Let me know what you got up to in the comments below!

Until The next post x

Traveling Around Munnar On A Motorbike – India Munnar on a motorbike you say... Since being in India, Brad and I have turned into quite the roadsters.

[wanderlustayne-blog]

It’s finally time to move on…After more or less 5 weeks of what I have considered an extended holiday, we have finally booked our tickets and are about to embark on the next leg of our trip…

 Kerala.

It has been a dream to be able to base ourselves somewhere, hire a bike, have a regular exercise regime and to have the freedom to go anywhere and do anything. We did so much while in South Goa:

Friends

We made a new friend, Lena. A young woman from Norway with a free spirit and a big, wild heart. – Norway, we will see the northern lights you have to offer! –

We bumped into a friend from a past life! Lily. Lily and I used to live on each end of a hill on a gold course campus in Spain. We were literally inseparable for the years that we spent together. Then life of course sent our paths in other directions and we lost touch for many years. Two years ago, thanks to the wonders of social media we reconnected and it so happened that Lily was on her way home following those two years in Australia and wanted to do a spot of traveling before she returned. And so, we met up in India for a very short but well needed three-day reunion.

A bestie visited all the way from the UK. Kirsty had never been to India but braved the flight over and joined us for ten days in Palolem. We showed her as many beaches that we could, took her for a hike and even crossed the boarder into the state of Karnataka for a day. It was so nice to have a bit of home with us for a while and it was the perfect way to end our stint in Goa. – She even managed to survive the many ant invasions in our porch/kitchen! Well done Kirst hahaha! –

Adventure

We did a fair bit of exploration after basing ourselves in Palolem. We visited so many beaches, and even discovered ones that were completely untouched by tourism, trekked through the jungle to discover some waterfalls and did many a road trip. Here are some of my recommendations:

Beaches

I’ll dish out some short but useful tips for each beach and you can decide if you want to visit or not. – But all of them truly are worth a day there! –

Palolem: Lively and colourful. It has grown exponentially since our last visit. It’s known as a party beach and has really cute californian style beach huts all along the beach front.

Agonda: A bit more up market and family friendly. Huge stretch of beach. We didn’t spend a lot of time in Agonda, but there is a friggin’ amazing sunset view point on a plateau on the south end of the beach. a must see!

Patnem: We spent most of our beach days here. Smaller than Palolemand Agonda. Lots of beach front yoga spots.

Cola: Another must see. If you are taking a scooter be careful on the way down its steep and rocky but really fun. There’s a fresh water estuary you can either swim up stream or take a kayak but it’s only a short distance, maybe 10 minutes so your choice. If you go on to the south side of the beach and cross over some rocks when the tide is low then you can have a nice secluded area of beach all  to yourselves.

Polem: The most southern beach before crossing the boarder into Karnataka. Small but picturesque.

Xandrem:Absolutely untouched by tourism, this beach was hard to find so if you are looking for an adventure day then take some time to find this one. It was literally like walking into the movie “The Beach”. Highly recommended!

Cabo De Rama: The beach is further North past Agonda and a bit of a drive but again one I would certainly recommend. A small slice of paradise and very quiet.

Waterfalls

We went on a hike for Brad’s birthday and were hoping to see a few waterfalls but we got lost, took a wrong turn and walked for miles with no luck until the end haha but I will recommend some below:

Mainipi: This was the one we originally wanted to find but took a wrong turn and didn’t realise until we were riding home that we went to the old hiking route. Definitely check it out it looks pretty awesome and you can also swim there!

Savari: This was the waterfall we ended up seeing and it was stunning with a small pool to dunk in at the bottom. It was refreshing to say the least!

Dudsaghar: We didn’t actually visit this waterfall but we heard a lot about it so I thought I would recommed it for those who may be interested. It’s further north than the two above near Colva, heading towards Arambol in the North of Goa.

There are literally tons of waterfalls you can go check out but if I could give you any advice it would be to go when the waters are abundant, so after the monsoon season would be best! But google search some more to go to, they are literally jaw-dropping! Netravali looks absolutely insane, the water actually drops off a cliff onto a bunch of rocks which then descends and become the waterfall that people visit. Crazy!

There is so much to do, anywhere you go. All you have to do is explore!

Tomorrow we are taking our first long-haul train. 13.5 hours all the way to Kerala. So. Excited! bye Good-Goa. You have been truly incredible. And a wonderful home away from home. But now it’ time to move on.

Until the next post x

Goodbye Goa – Week 11 Update – India It's finally time to move on...After more or less 5 weeks of what I have considered an extended holiday, we have finally booked our tickets and are about to embark on the next leg of our trip...

[wanderlustayne-blog]

Goa Life - Week 10 Update - India

Goa Life – Week 10 Update – India

We have made a base in South Goa. I can’t believe we are in our 10th week in India! It feels like an age, yet our journey has only just begun. We have only explored Goa, and life here is pretty spectacular. As you know company and friendships are transient when you travel, people come and go as fast as you blink but I feel because of this it has taught me to appreciate the presence of others a…