Goa to Bangalore to Trivandrum

After our quick layover in Bangalore (with a very surprisingly delicious late dinner at our hotel of lamb, paneer, and naan) we took a very early flight to Thiruvananthapuram, more frequently called Trivandrum for obvious reasons, the capital city of Kerala.  Trivandrum, apparently only about an hour and a half drive from the southernmost tip of India, is a bustling city, much more active than laid back Goa.  We got a room at a budget hotel for two nights right next to the train station to ensure we'd make it to our train on time (!).  We planned to be here for really only one full day, and we'll catch a train to Kochi tomorrow afternoon.  Highlights from our brief time here...

Lunch right after we got in day one-- pretty good vegetarian thali at a restaurant next door (even better at about $1 each)

A stop at the Indian Coffee House, possibly the coolest restaurant structure either of us have ever been in.  It's a large cylindrical building, with booths running along the steep floor winding upwards. It reminded Elliot of a castle tower. It kind of reminded me of a parking garage.  Too bad the food wasn't better..  

A quick look into the local market-- mostly snacks but it was fun to poke around in.

We heard good things about the Trivandrum zoo so we grabbed an auto and headed there for the afternoon

Beautiful pond at the zoo

Friends trying to stay cool in the afternoon heat

So many deer

Small cage in the shade, but all the animal cages opened to large, tree filled enclosures

Over all a fun stay in Trivandrum, but we're excited to keep moving through Kerala on to Kochi tomorrow! 

Goa 1

Ho ho ho

A belated Merry Christmas from Goa! We spent Christmas eve exploring Old Goa, which held some of the most famous and visible products of the days of Portuguese colonialism. Driving through the back roads of Goa was a lovely experience (despite our shared battle against motion-sickness) - Huge ancient trees overshadowing the worn and often crumbling old Portuguese architexture, streets full of lazily meandering cows and adorable and seemingly healthy stray dogs scampering among the widely mixed traffic - as many overtanned and underclothed older European tourists as there were locals, the ubiquitous Hero Honda bikes, more often than not cozily hosting two men (I can now confirm my sister's insistence that India is the original land of the "bro-mance"), the thumping Royal Enfields, the absurdly bold variety of four wheeled vehicles, and so on. We spent most of the afternoon slowly exploring the old churches -

Mid-afternoon snooze in front of the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Goa

Church of Saint Cajetan

Basilica of Bom Jesus

I think the little white speck up in the center is Baby Jesus himself -  happy birthday little guy!

Gave this poor guy one little scritch on his head and he followed me for a good 10 minutes

One thing I've learned this trip is that cows always win these confrontations

Then back to Candolim for a light dinner at one of the hundreds of beach-side restaurants. This one had candle-lit tables set up out near the surf, and a few very solid Goan curries-- fish vindaloo and chicken balchao.

Not a whole lot to add about Christmas its self. We really spent the whole day just lounging on the beach. Despite the inappropriately under-attired Euro-holidayers and the wealth of persistent gawking locals, the set up in Goa is pretty sweet. Perfect temperature water with moderate surf, clean white sand, plenty of beach beds and umbrellas that are attentively staffed by employees of the corresponding beach shack. A frosty, enormous Kingfisher beer, banana lassi, a few fried snacks and plenty of sun (and shade) - not the worst way to do Christmas.

THIS guy

Hard to miss home this time of year, but this isn't so bad - and yes, that is Harry Potter (the obvious choice from the thin crop of freebies at the hotel)

We ended the day back at a local restaurant that we had dropped by a number of times while in Goa (in a heavily trafficked tourist town with many restaurants catering a bit too much to the most common visitors' tastes, we find it's wise to find a good thing and stick with it). We had a reprise of their perfectly rich and creamy Chicken Shahi Korma, smartly peppered with chewy little pieces of dried date, and the Goan Sausage Chili Fry, which packed an enormous amount of deep chili flavor, and finally the level of spice we were hoping for. Then back to our one day splurge hotel (it was tough to find a wifi connection in Goa for us to video call our families) for the luxury of a soft mattress (by Indian standards) and two (two!) pillows each-- a Christmas gift to each other.

Today took a quick flight to Bangalore, with the night laid over in another splurge (by our standards) hotel before our 6am flight to Trivindrum, Kerala. What a treat to have a hotel with a gym, excellent water pressure, room service (my first time ever using it - dinner was fantastic), and again, two (two!) pillows each. 

Hyderabad to Goa

 Our first domestic flight in India is to the city of Goa.  Known for it's beautiful beaches, it is also a significant food destination in India.

 

Waiting at the airport

 

For the flight...delicious.

We landed in Goa and got in a cab to head to our guesthouse as the sun was setting. 

We decided to grab a bite to eat nearby because it was getting late, so we headed into the somewhat touristy strip in Candolim (the area of the city where we're staying).  Despite the nice atmosphere, the food was somewhat lack luster.

 Disappointing pork vindaloo-- the spice level was non-existent, probably due to the fact it was a tourist area

Chili fried shrimp, also kind of meh

 Guest house at night

We started today determined to find the real food of Goa, and after a walk around town, we found a small restaurant for lunch.  We had some delicious chicken 65, chappatis, chicken korma, and paratha that totally redeemed dinner.  We'll definitely have to head back there sometime this weekend.

 

The rest of the day was spent wandering around town, exploring all the little streets and finally settling down on some beach chairs for some banana milkshakes and sun

Time to find a spot for dinner-- I think we'll be heading back to the beach to try out one of the water side shacks.  We'll be in Goa through Christmas, and then we catch a flight on the 26th further south!

Hyderabad 2

After a week in Hyderabad we realized it had been a while since we wrote anything.. or really done anything.  We spent the week relaxing with the family, sleeping, reading, and eating lots of delicious home cooked food and it was wonderful.  It was great to catch up with family, but we're back on the road now.  Here are some pictures from the past week:

 Climbing the rocks in Jubilee Hills

 

 House in Jubilee Hills

We'll be back in Hyderabad on January 7th or so after some time in Goa, Bangalore, Trivandrum, and Cochin.

Singapore to Hyderabad

Our last day in Singapore brought us a few metro stops and a long walk to what I had been told would be some of the city's best Laksa. The brief history of this particular location included an original stall founded some 30 odd years ago, then some sort of acrimonious split of the owners which led to each founding an identically named stall immediately next to each other in the same spot. Each claims to be the original and I'm told there is continuous local debate as to which is the best (think Pat's and Geno's, for all you Philly natives). 

We chose the less conspicuous of the two stalls (once we figured out that they were actually two distinct locations, as the signs really did sport the exact same names side by side) and ordered two small bowls and two glasses of sweetened lime juice. After a few short minutes (when was the last time we waited in this part of the world?), two generous helpings (despite the fact we were told to order small bowls if we were only a 'little bit hungry') were laid in front of us. A rich yellow coconut broth, heaps of soft short cut (so you only need a spoon) spaghetti like noodles, prawns and for me, cockles. The soup was a bit more delicately flavored than I had expected, but the spice built slowly and it ended up being rather addicting, as evidenced by I quickly emptied bowls. We had wanted to try the neighboring stall, but even our small bowls proved to be too filling.

We headed back towards center city and decided to take a nice long stroll along the harbor area to take in the wealth of future-city architecture.

Something strange in the neighborhood

Apparently my siblings have been making fun of the 'stache (rightly so) back on the other side of the globe. Say goodbye to it!

Our original update:

Very quick update..
C: Made it to India without issue-- Singapore to Chennai, Chennai to Hyderabad-- and spent the last few days with my Nainamma (my grandmother) mostly eating and sleeping.  It was great.  We went out to sight see one day as well (some technical difficulties with the camera-- lots of pictures to come soon!)  Now we're in Jubilee Hills with more family, catching up and having a good time (also more pictures to come!)  It's so nice to be in India and spend time with the family, a nice break from hotels and hostels for a while, I think it will be a wonderful couple months.
E: So wonderful to finally be here. Not many big surprises, but it's gratifying to see for myself how energetic, colorful, chaotic, friendly, and in many ways baffling being in a big Indian city is after hearing so much from Cindhu and her family and from my sister's experiences in New Delhi and elsewhere. Excited to be meeting Cindhu's grandmothers finally and the handful of cousins and aunties and uncles I haven't yet met. The few days with Nainamma easily confirmed my hopes about the home cooking we'd be eating (and confirmed Cindhu's warnings about the volume of food we'd be encouraged to eat). It's a refreshing change to be in the generous and capable hands of family, not having to worry about navigating new towns or finding clean and comfortable hotels or the right place to eat. It's comforting to know we'll be in one place for longer stretches of time. The current itinerary is to stay with family around Hyderabad until the 26th or 27th, then take a few weeks to visit a couple places around the south - maybe Bangalore, Goa, Kerala - then back to Hyderabad to meet Cindhu's dad on the 8th, and my brother Will on the 9th who will spend several days with us before heading up to New Delhi to meet up with his study-abroad program. We'll head up to New Delhi ourselves on the 16th and explore Rajasthan and possibly beyond for a few weeks, then to Mumbai and on to Cairo on February 12. Hard to believe we have so much more to see.

A few pictures

We're staying now with Cindhu's Aunt and Uncle and her cousin's family who are in town. Very relaxing - more details coming soon!