Now or Never

Up until a few months before we started our trip India wasn’t on the itinerary. Instead, we had our sights set on its island neighbor to the south, Sri Lanka. However with the political and economic upheaval in that country earlier this year, we thought it would be best to pivot.

Our goal for Sri Lanka was to just soak in the culture and hang at the beach before heading to Southeast Asia, so we decided to try and replicate that in the small coastal Indian state of Goa. The plan soon became a nine day stay in Goa sandwiched between a three night stay in the mega city of Mumbai to the north, and also a three night stay in the city of Kochi in the far south of the country.

The flight from Dubai to Mumbai is only about three hours across the Arabian Sea. Our hotel was in the southern tip of Mumbai near the famous “Gateway to India.” Since the hotel is about an hour from the airport, we proactively arranged a taxi pick up because public transit in Mumbai is not great, especially if you’re a foreigner.

With a metro area of well over 20 million people it’s hard to appreciate just how big Mumbai is until you’re there – organized chaos is the best way to describe it. First, to make sure we don’t sugarcoat anything, Mumbai is definitely overcrowded, has bad traffic (no real traffic laws) with incessant honking, and at least when we were there, has a persistent orange pollution haze in the sky. Mumbai is also known for having some of the largest slums in Asia right in the middle of town which contrasts with newly built upscale skyscrapers. It has the highest concentration of millionaires and billionaires in India as well as some of the most glaring poverty – the income inequity is very in your face. As a white foreigner you also get a lot of locals staring when you wander around the streets, which we do A LOT. Locals or Indian tourists visiting Mumbai will also often take pictures of you (what a great way to commemorate their vacation!) or even ask to take a picture with you. After a few days we learned to embrace it or in the case of the staring, just tune it out.

Regardless there is a lot of energy in Mumbai and we really did enjoy our time there – Indian hospitality is the real deal and people were proud to show off the best of their city. During one of the days we tracked down Mumbai’s version of a hop on hop off bus. However we quickly found no one else was hopping on, let alone off, so the two of us ended up with a completely private tour of the city for a whopping $4 total. When we tried to tip at the end the guide even refused and said “visitors are a gift from god.” That stuck with us.

A number of blogs we read recommended a guided slum tour so one of the days we explored Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia with upwards of a million residents. The tour was not about westerners ogling at poverty but rather exploring all the entrepreneurial businesses that exist within Dharavi. This included recycling, appliance refurbishing, leather manufacturing, pottery, fabrics/embroidery, and a lot more. Apparently the Dharavi economy brings in over a billion dollars a year! We even bought some pretty high quality leather wallets whole sale for cheap on site.

After our three nights in Mumbai we caught an early morning 9 hour train south down to Goa. The train itself was actually quite nice – reclining seats and served two decent enough Indian meals.

Goa is a former Portuguese territory that India annexed back in 1961. It is fairly rural and mostly covered in jungle but has some seriously beautiful beaches bordered by thick groves of palm trees. We decided to stay in South Goa, known for being less party-centric and more laid back compared to the north. The first four nights we stayed in a place called Agonda Beach in one of the beachfront mini-resort hotels which are all very inexpensive by American standards. Following our time in Agonda Beach we took a taxi 20 minutes down the coast to an area called Palolem Beach for the next five nights and landed a little oasis of a guest house right near the beach. Between the two, Agonda is far quieter and less populated while Palolem has much more going on from hotels to restaurants to shops. Both also have big sandy beaches, bathtub temperature sea water, and are full of cows wandering around. We did absolutely nothing for nine days beyond eat, beach walks, yoga/run, swim, read, eat, sleep and repeat. It was glorious.

The journey from Goa to Kochi meant another (12 hour) train ride to the near southern tip of India. Compared to our trip down from Mumbai, this one was more of an experience. The train starts in New Dehli in the north and terminates at the actual southern tip of the country – 43 hours total! Our coach was a convertible sleeper car and quite a bit more cramped than our first train ride but we were able to switch back and forth between the seat benches and “beds” to stretch out from time to time. Being able to catch up on some audio books with a couple included meals peppered in made it tolerable enough :). We were definitely the only foreigners onboard but everyone was very friendly and we’re grateful for the experience.

Kochi itself is a midsize city on the coast built along marshy waterways. This meant the mosquitos were pretty brutal, especially at dawn and dusk, but regardless there was plenty to see and do. Kochi has a lot of European influence from its Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonization and as a result, is a religious melting pot of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. We spent our three nights in a homestay ($14/night for the win) with a very nice local Christian family in the Fort Kochi neighborhood where a lot of the main tourist sites are located. The hosts made us breakfast each morning and even did our laundry for a small fee which was very overdue.

We explored the city by tuktuk, rode the local ferries to other parts of town, watched a Kathakali show (classic, and wild, Indian performing art from the area) and caught a movie at a local theater – two thumbs up for Black Panther 2. While at the movie we even ran into another couple from Colorado who just started a year long Asia trip of their own.

From Kochi we headed to Bangkok, Thailand on a Thanksgiving redeye to start our seven weeks in Southeast Asia and ten days traveling with Abby’s brother, Charlie. We’re both pumped to be back in this part of the world after more than six years!