2.guady Jesus statue--'Welcome to JesusLand!'
3.The Cover of our Vampire Movie in the old creepy church
4.Where Vasco DeGama Landed
5.Our beds on the bus
5.Our beds on the bus
So this past weekend we went to Kerala; known throughout India as ‘God’s Forgotten Country’ for good reason—it was breathtakingly beautiful. Some quick facts about Kerala: it has a communist government; it has the highest literacy rate in India, the lowest rates of poverty and female insenticide(killing of baby girls).
We left Friday night at about 10:00 on a sleeper bus, which was, in and of itself quite an experience. We boarded and found our beds in which I slept on the bottom and Andrew on the top. Each bed had a curtain to close and was fairly big for being on a bus. I didn’t sleep much on the way to Kerala because I was trying to soak up the experience of laying in a bed on a bus. Something I used to joke about with friends in middle school—“what if the school bus had beds in which we all took naps on the way home?” Around 2am I grew pretty sleepy and nodded off until around 4am when we started traveling through a mountain passage that threw me every which way as the bus turned and weaved around the mountain. It was like lying on a trampoline in which a bunch of kids are jumping on. Andrew complained that he felt as though he had been playing football without pads after the ride. We arrived to Kerala around 7am and checked into the hotel to clean up and then head out for some sightseeing.
Our first day in Kerala was filled with a touristy itinerary—we saw the beach where Vasco DeGama landed in India for the first time (which was ironically barely monumented for such an important historical event.) We then headed to a ship building yard, but could not see the ship building because it was across the river which would have taken too much time to cross. So we then headed for a tasty Kerala lunch of seafood. After lunch we headed to a muslim neighborhood which was extremely interesting. Andrew was allowed to go into the mosques but I, being a girl, was not. So I stood outside while Andrew went inside. It still boggles my mind to think that just because of gender, many are denied the privilege of entering certain places. Kind of demeaning if you think about it! We walked through the Muslim neighborhood and apart from the many stares it was a pretty pleasant walk. All of Kerala is GORGEOUS and completely green. After our walk we went to a small diner and tried an assortment of Kerala snacks none of which I can tell you what it was exactly. May I just say that I am much more open-minded when it comes to food after this trip to India. All the snacks looked quite unappetizing, but I bravely dug in, and found that some of them were actually kind of tasty. After snack time we headed to an abandoned church which was built shortly after DeGama’s landing. It was completely gutted out and Andrew and I joked that it would have been the perfect setting for a creepy vampire movie. We then spent the rest of the visit to the church discussing the plot in which our kind and quite driver dies first, then I get bitten and turn into a vampire, terrorizing Andrew and our tour guide Basheer, for the remainder of the movie.We then proceded to a small aquarium which was not very impressive and barely worth mentioning. After the aqarium we headed to a remote part of Kerala to see a rare form of martial arts—claimed to be the first form of martial arts anywhere in the world. We entered a hut about 3 ft underground and watched a demonstration of students from ages 6-24 fight one another with different weapons. After the demonstration we headed back the hotel where I took a shower and fell asleep straightaway exhausted from little sleep the previous night and the events of the day.
The next day we drove up into the mountains to do a lot of exploration and sightseeing in the cool mountain air. The view was incredible! My camera battery was almost dead and it was one of those moments when a song does a better job than anything I could compose to relay how I felt.
--John Mayer ‘3x5’—
I’m writing you to catch you up on places I’ve been
And you have this letter probably got excited but there’s nothing else inside it
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliché
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky are next to mountains anyway
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world though both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way
But let me say you should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life…
No more 3x5’s…
Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame…
That was exactly how I felt as I looked out over the jungle-covered mountains as the sun rose, painting the skies an array of pinks, purples, blues, and oranges. I felt completely at a loss for words, and glad that my camera wasn’t working because no picture would do it justice.
Among the various things we did, we saw a lake cradled in the middle of the mountains, a waterfall, some caves/caverns, and a giant Jesus statue (that resembled a gaudy amusement park.) We had more amazing Kerala food, and Basheer (our awesome tour guide) took us to his in-laws house where we were given a tasty home-cooked Kerala dinner of chicken curry and rice chapatti. Shortly after dinner we drove to the bus station to take another night bus. This time no single beds were available and I was put in a double bed with another random girl. She was nice enough, but we didn’t talk much because I took Dramamine for the ride home and was passed out shortly after the bus took off.
Overall it was a nice trip, extremely relaxing, and good to get some fresh air! Thankfully Andrew and I get along really well and enjoy each other’s company. We hiked, caved, and did a little relaxing, but mostly spent the trip trying to soak in all the beauty.
We left Friday night at about 10:00 on a sleeper bus, which was, in and of itself quite an experience. We boarded and found our beds in which I slept on the bottom and Andrew on the top. Each bed had a curtain to close and was fairly big for being on a bus. I didn’t sleep much on the way to Kerala because I was trying to soak up the experience of laying in a bed on a bus. Something I used to joke about with friends in middle school—“what if the school bus had beds in which we all took naps on the way home?” Around 2am I grew pretty sleepy and nodded off until around 4am when we started traveling through a mountain passage that threw me every which way as the bus turned and weaved around the mountain. It was like lying on a trampoline in which a bunch of kids are jumping on. Andrew complained that he felt as though he had been playing football without pads after the ride. We arrived to Kerala around 7am and checked into the hotel to clean up and then head out for some sightseeing.
Our first day in Kerala was filled with a touristy itinerary—we saw the beach where Vasco DeGama landed in India for the first time (which was ironically barely monumented for such an important historical event.) We then headed to a ship building yard, but could not see the ship building because it was across the river which would have taken too much time to cross. So we then headed for a tasty Kerala lunch of seafood. After lunch we headed to a muslim neighborhood which was extremely interesting. Andrew was allowed to go into the mosques but I, being a girl, was not. So I stood outside while Andrew went inside. It still boggles my mind to think that just because of gender, many are denied the privilege of entering certain places. Kind of demeaning if you think about it! We walked through the Muslim neighborhood and apart from the many stares it was a pretty pleasant walk. All of Kerala is GORGEOUS and completely green. After our walk we went to a small diner and tried an assortment of Kerala snacks none of which I can tell you what it was exactly. May I just say that I am much more open-minded when it comes to food after this trip to India. All the snacks looked quite unappetizing, but I bravely dug in, and found that some of them were actually kind of tasty. After snack time we headed to an abandoned church which was built shortly after DeGama’s landing. It was completely gutted out and Andrew and I joked that it would have been the perfect setting for a creepy vampire movie. We then spent the rest of the visit to the church discussing the plot in which our kind and quite driver dies first, then I get bitten and turn into a vampire, terrorizing Andrew and our tour guide Basheer, for the remainder of the movie.We then proceded to a small aquarium which was not very impressive and barely worth mentioning. After the aqarium we headed to a remote part of Kerala to see a rare form of martial arts—claimed to be the first form of martial arts anywhere in the world. We entered a hut about 3 ft underground and watched a demonstration of students from ages 6-24 fight one another with different weapons. After the demonstration we headed back the hotel where I took a shower and fell asleep straightaway exhausted from little sleep the previous night and the events of the day.
The next day we drove up into the mountains to do a lot of exploration and sightseeing in the cool mountain air. The view was incredible! My camera battery was almost dead and it was one of those moments when a song does a better job than anything I could compose to relay how I felt.
--John Mayer ‘3x5’—
I’m writing you to catch you up on places I’ve been
And you have this letter probably got excited but there’s nothing else inside it
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliché
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky are next to mountains anyway
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world though both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way
But let me say you should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life…
No more 3x5’s…
Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame…
That was exactly how I felt as I looked out over the jungle-covered mountains as the sun rose, painting the skies an array of pinks, purples, blues, and oranges. I felt completely at a loss for words, and glad that my camera wasn’t working because no picture would do it justice.
Among the various things we did, we saw a lake cradled in the middle of the mountains, a waterfall, some caves/caverns, and a giant Jesus statue (that resembled a gaudy amusement park.) We had more amazing Kerala food, and Basheer (our awesome tour guide) took us to his in-laws house where we were given a tasty home-cooked Kerala dinner of chicken curry and rice chapatti. Shortly after dinner we drove to the bus station to take another night bus. This time no single beds were available and I was put in a double bed with another random girl. She was nice enough, but we didn’t talk much because I took Dramamine for the ride home and was passed out shortly after the bus took off.
Overall it was a nice trip, extremely relaxing, and good to get some fresh air! Thankfully Andrew and I get along really well and enjoy each other’s company. We hiked, caved, and did a little relaxing, but mostly spent the trip trying to soak in all the beauty.
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