Backpacking & Other Travel Destinations In India

We flew into Kerala, to start our journey from the South of India all the way to the North. As we stepped off the plane, we were hit by the heat and humidity and didn't stop sweating from here until we reached the Himalayas. The roads were chaotic and loud with the persistent honking. Our homestay was peaceful and quiet, with a lovely rooftop terrace where we ate breakfast every morning. Our days in Cochin were spent wandering around, looking at the markets and eating delicious curries. We also went on a boat trip to see the more rural areas around Cochin. From here, we took a bus to Periyar National Park. We stayed in Green View Homestay with a great terrace, surrounded by the jungle. On one day we went to Elephant Junction. We thought that is was an Elephant reserve, however, were disappointed when we were there. The elephants had chains around them, and they use them to move logs. Your money pays for you to go on a 30 minute ride during which the elephant gets hit with a stick and then to feed the elephant some fruits. I would not recommend this place as it is not an elephant sanctuary. We had an amazing meal at Grandma's cafe which has a great atmosphere, I would definitely recommend this.

As it was monsoon season, the beaches of Goa were like ghost towns. There were no other people staying at the hotel, no one else eating in the restaurants! This meant we had the place to ourselves but the weather was grey and drizzly so we didn't stay long before moving on. 

We took a night bus from Goa to Hampi and arrived at sunrise. There were plenty of people waiting to offer tuk tuks and guides. We asked one of them to take us somewhere to see the sunrise. He drove us to an old temple which we climbed to the top of to watch. It was incredible. From here he took us inside the working part of the temple where we met a monk. In town we had breakfast at the Mango Tree Restaurant (delicious oatmeal and lassis!) Then crossed the river by ferry a.k.a. a large woven basket that floated us across the river. We stayed in a simple bamboo hut, owned by a very friendly family. They had mopeds to rent so we took one out to the reservoir on a beautiful drive. We had lunch at the White Elephant restaurant, which had delicious currys and huge portions. The following day we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around to see all the old ruins and temples. The architecture was insane and so much to see we could have spent days here!. On our last day in Hampi we climbed up to sunset point, which was just behind where we were staying. The landscape with all the boulders was like nothing we had seen before. 

We arrived in Dehradun to find that it was India's Independence Day. There were parades, festivals and events going on all day. We stayed one night in the city to get a bus up into the mountains the following day. It took us to Barkot where we stayed in a homestay just on the main road. Our goal was to get up into the mountains so we didn't spend much time here. We got up early to catch the next bus to take us further up the mountains. Unfortunately, we didn't make it very far due to a landslide. At this point we got off the bus and decided to hike the rest of the way to Yamunotri. It took us all day, and we were exhausted by the end, but the scenery was out of this world - waterfalls, the Yamuna river, lush green mountain farms. The following morning we were rewarded by a swim in the hot springs and breakfast with the monks living in the temple. There weren't many places to stay up here, so we decided to camp the night upon a grassy meadow. From our camp we could see the snowy peak of  mountain by day and the clear night sky with billions of stars by night. The following day involved us making our way back down the mountain by all forms of transport due to the landslides - hiking, bus, tractor, in the back of a logging truck and finally a taxi to take us into Dehradun.....quite the journey! Onto our final destination by train - Delhi.