- 6 months ago
Goa to kerala
Category
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TravelTranscript
00:00For the next six weeks, I'm going to be backpacking by myself through India.
00:08Just look at that view. Look where we are.
00:10Starting in Delhi, I'll have three weeks exploring the cities of the north,
00:14followed by another three weeks in the beaches and backwaters of the south.
00:20Look at this.
00:21The place is like just a giant playground with boulders and old ruins, temples.
00:26I love it.
00:27So we just went for a walk into the woods.
00:31The idea is he's like some spiritual guy.
00:33People give him donations, they bring him weed.
00:35He's just sitting around all day getting high.
00:37He's been doing it for 10 years.
00:40Once I get down to the south of India, I've got a rough route planned of like Goa, Hampi, Kerala backwaters,
00:46but how long I spend in each place, how I get from one place to another, I have no idea yet.
00:50I'm just going to figure it out once I get there.
00:52It's India, so no one's really told us what's going on.
00:54Okay, get in, everybody get in, please, please.
00:57This is something else.
00:58It's really spectacular.
01:00There's a bunch of coconuts falling out of the trees.
01:02Good job I've got these roofs.
01:04You're a real man now, you're a real man.
01:08Kind of looped around a bit, seeing if the wind was good,
01:10and then we just went right down the coast.
01:12It's awesome and loved it.
01:13My journey began with a couple of days in Delhi, before making a short flight over to Varanasi.
01:27This is just epic.
01:28Rowing on the Gadji River.
01:29Like a pro.
01:30Going around in a circle, though.
01:31I want to just give you a 360 view, that's all.
01:32I returned to Delhi for New Year's Eve, and then began travelling by train from city to city.
01:35So we did the cliché thing of doing the photo with the pinning at the top, and we absolutely nailed it.
01:38Just have a look at that.
01:39I want to just leave the boat and go to the boat.
01:41I want to take a look at that.
01:42I want to take the boat and go to the boat.
01:43I want to take the boat.
01:44Have a great day.
01:45Bye.
01:46My journey began with a couple of days in Delhi, before making a short flight over to Varanasi.
01:48This is just epic.
01:49Rowing on the Gadji River.
01:50Going around in a circle, though.
01:51I want to just give you a 360 view, that's all.
01:53I returned to Delhi for New Year's Eve, and then began travelling by train from city to city.
01:57So we did the cliché thing of doing the photo with the pinning at the top and we absolutely nailed it, just have a look at this, it's amazing.
02:05Killed it, fucking killed it.
02:07I've got six hours just chilling out on here, which is pretty sweet actually.
02:12First full day in Jaipur, so beautiful, so many colours.
02:17First impression is wow. This is beautiful.
02:21The breeze is perfect, it's quiet. Life is good.
02:27Wandering around the streets here kind of reminds me of the town Acrobar from Aladdin.
02:33Can you check it out, okay?
02:42This is our campsite for now, not too bad a spot at all I'd say.
02:48In Jaipur, I got to do a different style of tour around the fort before taking an overnight bus journey from hell to a diaper.
02:55Didn't even get one second of sleep.
02:59The diaper's beautiful, such a gorgeous town.
03:02So I'm looking forward to getting down south to Goa, changing up the pace.
03:06On my way down to Goa, I'd originally planned to spend a couple of nights in Mumbai, but I decided to skip it.
03:19Why? Well, first off, one day isn't enough time to explore that city.
03:23Plus, there aren't really any hostels so I would have been by myself.
03:26And finally, a few friends I had made were already down in Goa, so I was keen to meet up with them and save doing Mumbai properly for another trip.
03:34First impressions of Goa when you get off the plane is just everything's so green.
03:44This place is just so different to what I've experienced in the north.
03:47It's like being back in Thailand or something.
03:49There's lots of cafes, lots of bars, there's backpackers riding around with scooters, lots of shops selling fluorescent t-shirts and singlets and stuff.
03:56I've already bought three, and one of them even fits. That's a good start.
04:02So this is Vagator Beach, and it's not the best of beaches here, but the reason I'm staying at this one is because there's a great hostel called Jungle Hostel here,
04:09so I can get a good crowd going there, and then we can explore the other beaches of Goa.
04:13First up, we did a day trip to a rumbled beach, which is basically the main hippie beach of north Goa.
04:19You're looking at the crack pipes?
04:20Yeah, what are they doing?
04:22What is this?
04:23What is that?
04:24What are you doing?
04:25What the hell does it work?
04:26Yeah?
04:27Oh, nice.
04:28I want to try OPMT.
04:29Why?
04:30You said tea, yeah?
04:31So we just went for a walk into the woods.
04:45Can you tell me who the guy is?
04:50Yeah, he's just like a papa who was found in this place for like last 10 years.
04:56Okay.
04:57And he basically has a blog on the Lonely Planet.
05:01He has a blog?
05:02Yeah, not him, but there's a blog about him.
05:05Right, okay.
05:06The idea is he's like some spiritual guy in the woods and you can go see him for advice,
05:09but actually he's just sitting around all day getting high.
05:14People give him donations, they bring him weed, and he lives off that, lives in the jungle.
05:18He has a blog going, and it's like, yeah, there's nothing spiritual about it.
05:21He's just a stoner in the woods, so it's pretty funny to see.
05:24Like, I don't know his background, but he's been here for a while and people have been visiting him.
05:28Right.
05:29With like fruits, that, this, and stuff like that.
05:31So it's just like a...
05:32He lives here?
05:33Yeah, he lives here.
05:34It's just something that's just stunk.
05:36Right, cool.
05:37So apparently he just smokes weed and talks shit every day.
05:40He's got it made though.
05:41He's got like the right idea.
05:42He fools people into thinking of having a spiritual experience,
05:45so they just pay for him to get high in the woods,
05:47and he's been doing it for 10 fucking years.
05:49So, smart guy.
05:51So this is a rambled beach at sunset.
05:55I think over there there's going to be tons of hippies playing bongos and just enjoying life,
06:00so we're going to go check it out.
06:10Such a beautiful atmosphere.
06:11Just all these people from all around the world hanging out together,
06:14dancing way to drum music.
06:16It was really, really cool to see.
06:17Such a good vibe.
06:18So, yeah, I like it.
06:19I like the hippie beach.
06:20And there's three main people who go to North Goa.
06:25There's the hippies who have gone on their spiritual journey to get high.
06:29There's the party goers who are going to their side trance parties to get high.
06:33And there's the Russians.
06:34And because we've experienced a bit of everything,
06:35we went to a side trance, didn't do the drugs,
06:37but it was fun watching people go in the face stuff all night.
06:40We're chilling on the beach for the day.
06:50We've got some Justin Bieber on. Life's good.
06:52Circle of trust on the beach.
06:55Big night out last night.
06:56We pretend it was Mark's birthday in a restaurant and that was good.
07:02It's the best night ever.
07:04What a guy.
07:05Yeah.
07:06We and Joel lit a lantern together.
07:09I'm about to promise myself to Carl for the rest of my life.
07:12Bond.
07:13He picked a nice girl.
07:14He picked a nice girl.
07:16Woo!
07:17Woo!
07:18Yay!
07:20I love you, Joel.
07:21I love you too, man.
07:23How do you feel, Kyle?
07:24That's awesome.
07:25It's amazing watching this fly away.
07:27Thank you to Bianca for filming it.
07:29It's Bianca right here.
07:30Woo!
07:31And now we're just chilling on the beach in our circle of Bieber.
07:34And it's good.
07:35It's good.
07:36The circle of Bieber.
07:38Oh, it's a donut, man.
07:42That group of friends I had there was probably the best group we've had on this trip so far.
07:45Like, we all just really clicked and got on so well.
07:48It's a shame when we all went in our separate ways, but that's the way travelling goes.
07:52After spending a few days taking it easy in North Goa,
07:55I took the three-hour shuttle down to Palolem Beach in the south.
08:02Just riding on Palolem Beach.
08:04I'm going to find my hut that I'm staying in at Ray's Soi now.
08:07I'm going to sweat my ass off.
08:08I've carried both by packs of water.
08:10Look at this.
08:11Look at that.
08:12It's perfection.
08:14You know, the beaches in the north are, yeah, they're all right.
08:16But this is just gorgeous.
08:18And the water is like a perfect temperature.
08:20The sunsets are amazing.
08:22So, you know, I was only going to do two or three nights here,
08:24but it might end up being quite a few more.
08:27Let me show you inside my hut.
08:29So, it's all to myself.
08:33Little fan, which doesn't keep it cool during the day.
08:36But there you go.
08:37All this space.
08:38You can unpack a bit.
08:39All my gear.
08:40Little bathroom in there.
08:42You don't need hot water here.
08:43So, yeah, it's all good.
08:44It's all good.
08:45And then I've got my own little balcony in this area.
08:48It's pretty sweet.
08:49We've been referring to Pan Alam Beach as Jason Bourne Beach
08:52because it's the beach at the start of Bourne Supremacy
08:54when him and his missus are hiding out here
08:56and he's gone running and all that stuff.
08:59So, I might go for a run tomorrow just because of that,
09:01even though I hate running.
09:02Before I went on my geek run,
09:04I went for a little explorer round with Raya.
09:07Raya the dog whisperer.
09:22Oh my God, smell it.
09:23It's incredible.
09:29Later on we went paddle boarding
09:30and it was my first ever time of trying it out.
09:33Alright, it's paddle boarding time.
09:34Let's give this a go.
09:35It was all going really well with maintaining my balance
09:38until right near the end when I was getting a bit too cocky.
09:41Hi Raya!
09:50I said it was going well.
09:53Alright, got these bikes for the day.
09:55I forgot how much I enjoy riding a moped.
09:57I did it for a few days in Thailand and a few days in Bali
10:00but that was three years ago.
10:02The GoPro is on.
10:03We are ready.
10:04Looked like a tip but it'll do.
10:05We used the mopeds to spend the day exploring the other beaches of South Goa.
10:18We've just arrived at Galgabag Beach, otherwise known as Turtle Beach.
10:21It's so much fun riding but in India the most important piece of kit on a bike is this button here.
10:37Given the excessive beeping we've had for the last four weeks, people constantly beeping at you,
10:41I kind of just want to go up to any random Indian and be like,
10:43You're right mate?
10:44Sorry, it's just annoying you.
10:45It's just annoying.
10:46It's really annoying.
10:47You really need a potato.
10:48It's doing it all the time.
10:49Yeah.
10:50Alright.
10:51The dosa in Tardy House in Agunda.
11:04Recommended by Lonely Planet?
11:05What's this one, recommended?
11:06Not recommended by anyone except us, but uh, check out these doses.
11:10Check out these doses. How is it guys? Good? Perfect. Perfect. Nice. Right, Angunda Beach,
11:17let's see what you've got. There's barely anyone here. The sand is absolutely boiling.
11:21I wear my flip-flops because if something touches your toes it's like...
11:36Right, it's night on Paladon Beach. Going to go get some barbecued
11:39fish straight out the ocean. It's gonna be gorgeous. Candle at dinner. Love it.
11:45This is $1,300 this one for you. I will give you for $300 use this one.
11:54Okay. It's honestly right? Okay, we're just gonna have a wonder about but we'll definitely see if we
11:59purchase. Basically you walk down and you just go around seeing who's got the best fish for the best
12:05price. Every bar's got the catch of the day so we're just trying to find the right one for us.
12:09For you, for you. Yeah, for you. Okay. So yeah, it's got all the fish laid out.
12:17Off you a good price, hike a little bit, then you eat. This one, this one,
12:24$600. This one, for you, $450. We've got our meals sorted. For you. For you. Let's eat.
12:39We've all got glow sticked up. We're gonna have a rave whilst we're having our meal.
12:51Banging tunes quietly in the background.
12:55Wow.
12:55Wow.
12:55Wow.
12:55Wow.
12:56Wow.
12:56Wow.
12:57Wow.
13:09Palamari crab. That looks amazing.
13:16How was it Rae?
13:17I had my fork out like this and I'm like no.
13:23So if this was a travel show and we're trying out food, this is how a travel show would be like
13:28just gonna try out some calamari we just bought on the beach.
13:31Oh, it's so good, it's so, so good.
13:48All right, all done with Goa after about 10 amazing days here. I had an incredible time,
13:53but it's time to go to the next stop and the next stop is a place called Hampi and everyone I've met
13:58has been absolutely rave about this place to say it's their favorite place in India. It's just magical.
14:03Only problem is in order to get there, it's an overnight bus journey.
14:07Hopefully it'll be worth it, but yeah, just gotta get through this first, so wish us luck.
14:12After my nightmare bus journey to a diaper, I was fearing the worst,
14:16but it actually turned out all right and we arrived in Hampi early.
14:20The only problem was my guest house was on the other side of the river
14:23and the boats didn't start for another hour.
14:25This is where I've got to wait for an hour to get across the river, but most of the pressure of this
14:29place looks stunning. It looks so cool.
14:48All right, checked in, freshened up. Let's see what Hampi's got to offer.
14:51Hampi was the imperial capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century.
15:14However, the original settlements here date back to the 1st century AD.
15:19During its prime, it was one of the richest and largest cities in the world,
15:22with about half a million inhabitants. But nowadays, there's less than 3,000 people here.
15:28The ruins are spread out over an area of 26 square kilometres,
15:32and I'm going to spend the next few days exploring them with Alice and Will, who I met in Goa.
15:37New day in Hampi. Going to explore around the north side and get some scooters to do it,
15:48and these look pretty badass compared to the normal automatic ones. It's probably a piece of
15:53shit, but it looks better, which is what matters. So you're going to check out a couple of lakes,
15:56go for a swim, cool off, and then there's a monkey table that will get hit up on the way back,
16:00so it should be a good day.
16:11We were told by a local that it was fishnests to stop the crocs anyway,
16:29and after a quick dip, we set off to find the monkey temple.
16:37All right, time for a bit of exercise. We're going up to the monkey temple.
16:42It appears we have two different species of monkey at the monkey temple.
16:45What are the species called here, I ask?
16:48No idea.
16:49Pretty impressive, eh? It's another awesome view. Definitely worth the walk up. Wasn't too bad, actually.
17:14The place just keeps going as far as the eye can see, just endless rice fields, palm trees,
17:19hills filled with these red boulders, and just temples sprinkled around.
17:33After a great day of exploring around, we head back to town for sunset.
17:38Walk it up for sunset. Oh, bloody hard work this. I think it's going to be worth it.
17:44It's going to be worth it. Holy shit.
17:54That is one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen.
17:58That's incredible. It's a mixture of the green and the red. Unreal.
18:10I've had a lot of good sunsets on this trip, but this one definitely wins.
18:25But tomorrow, we originally talked about getting a tuk-tuk and go to a bunch of different temples,
18:31but I'd rather get a bike, ride around here and go scrambling around these rocks here.
18:36Get to that tiny little temple, have a look around. A little adventure should be way more fun.
18:41So that's tomorrow. But today, I'm just going to enjoy this.
18:51Just up to get my usual morning Diet Coke. There's this little monkey that's fallen off the roof,
18:55but they've taken him to the doctors. He should be all right.
18:58It's not going to be all right.
18:58He's just resting because he's having an injection, but he's adorable.
19:02Now he start to move his hands and all those things.
19:04See? It's going to be all right though, which is what matters.
19:12I feel like I need a photo.
19:18At least I've got a photo of you on the bike.
19:21None of these monuments and temples.
19:23I don't know what she's talking about. I haven't got anything on my head.
19:27All right, got our bike sorted for the day.
19:30We're going on a mission to get to that little temple thing,
19:32conquer it for ourselves.
19:34Got our ET baskets and our bikes, so we're good to go.
19:39See our target. Up there.
19:46It's not easy doing this.
19:53Got you.
19:54All right, we've parked the bikes at the temple car park
19:57and managed to scratch myself in a nice thorny bush on a ride out.
20:01But now we're going to conquer this little hill and get to that little temple.
20:18What have we got here?
20:27Something like a tomb.
20:37Cool.
20:39Right, we're right by. I'm just going to figure out a way to get up there.
20:43Well, let's go for a look. I don't know if this is going to be possible.
20:45I'm sure if you're a rock climber watching this, you'll probably think,
20:47hey, it's a piece of piss, but I'm not a rock climber.
20:51It's not even if you can get up here.
20:55How would you get up there?
21:00Maybe through here.
21:03It's a dead end.
21:06Let's go have a look at this route.
21:08Shit.
21:09Don't think it's going to happen.
21:11Can't see a way up.
21:12It's annoying because it looks so easy from here.
21:15It looks like you need to get up there, but once you get close.
21:17How the fuck they got up there in the first place all the years ago, I don't know.
21:23Bollocks.
21:24Let's try a different one.
21:39That's so cool.
21:41Places like it are just a giant playground of boulders and old ruins, temples.
21:47Just keep wandering around, exploring around, trying to get up some, planning to get up others.
21:55I love it.
22:07Oh wow.
22:10That is awesome.
22:11Don't expect to find this in here.
22:16Whoa.
22:19It's like a giant dead centipede.
22:22Give me a sense of scale.
22:23Okay.
22:30I'll just get across there, which is quite simple.
22:33It's cool.
22:36Yes.
22:38Made it.
22:41Failed to get up that one.
22:43Managed to get up here.
22:45I will take the consolation price.
22:47Just riding along and spotted this.
22:53I haven't got a clue what this is.
22:55Okay.
22:56This guy knows.
22:56You make a wish.
22:58Yes.
22:58Wish, wish.
22:59Cool.
23:00Ah, okay.
23:02So you get a little bag, fill it with stones and make a wish.
23:05He's a wish.
23:06He's a wishes as well.
23:07Yes.
23:08My wish is sun.
23:10My wish is...
23:23Beautiful.
23:27Had absolutely incredible time in Hampi.
23:29I mean, the place is so beautiful.
23:32I only spent three days there, but you can spend at least three weeks exploring all the different
23:35temples and fields and wrecking hills and everything.
23:39Such a gorgeous place and definitely the most beautiful place in India that I've been to.
23:43Like, some of the other beautiful places in India, you have to kind of use filters or go,
23:47yeah, that bit's beautiful, but ignore that shit over there, all that big file of crap.
23:51There's pigs and cows and stuff.
23:53But Hampi, just the entire thing, as far as I can see, was just stunning.
24:01It was time to head to my next stop, the small town of Alapuza,
24:04all the way down in Kerala.
24:06It was a five-stage journey to get there.
24:09The first was a tuk-tuk, then an overnight bus to Bangalore,
24:12then a taxi out to the airport, then a flight down to Kochi,
24:15and finally, a two-hour airport transfer to our hostel.
24:18It actually went pretty smoothly here, and we're now here in Alapuza,
24:21and I'm not going to lie, the place is kind of a shithole.
24:24Like, the town's not very nice.
24:26It may seem nice with palm trees and stuff, but it's a pretty crappy beach.
24:29But what we're here to do is the Kerala backwaters,
24:32and that's supposed to be one of the highlights of all of India.
24:36Through our hostel, we booked a day canoe trip to take us around the backwaters.
24:41I think that's our guide. We're not sure.
24:43I think we get a ferry to a canoe, then we go around for the day.
24:45But it's like it's India, so no one's really told us what's going on.
24:48Okay, get in. Everybody get in. Peace, peace.
24:59It's kind of like a magical mystery to it, because we don't really know where we're going,
25:03what's going on, what we're doing. We're just following this guy.
25:07Hopefully, we'll get to the canoe.
25:11Baby mangoes in the tree there.
25:13Thank you very much.
25:20I think this is where we're going to get breakfast.
25:23Hello. Hello. How are you?
25:25Fine. How are you?
25:29What's your name?
25:30Bria. Nice to meet you.
25:33Is this your house?
25:35Very nice.
25:43No idea what this is. No idea. Any ideas what this is?
25:45This looks very like that African salsa stuff we were talking about, but it's not.
25:50We got this before.
25:51Give it a try.
25:52Is it just squid's fries?
25:54Make it count on you, please.
25:58See what we've left at the end.
26:00Time for the main event.
26:02Own private canoe, take us around the Kerala backwaters.
26:05It'll be a pretty chill day, I think.
26:07As long as no one falls in.
26:10Balance.
26:13All right, nice and comfy.
26:16This is our driver for the day.
26:19I need a cocktail.
26:22Excuse me, have you got any cocktails?
26:23I can almost just sit here and have a nap, but that kind of defeats the point of it really.
26:34He makes it this time.
26:35Are you still?
26:40The Kerala backwaters are a network of canals, rivers, lakes and inlets that lie parallel to
26:45the Malabar coast.
26:47Reprising of 900 kilometres worth of waterways, it's a major and unique tourist attraction for the
26:53state of Kerala.
26:54Well, we've been cruising down the river.
26:57Very, very relaxing morning, just down the big white river.
26:59But now we're going down the small canals.
27:02And this is something else.
27:03It's pretty spectacular.
27:06But there's a bunch of coconuts falling out of the tree.
27:07I don't know if that's on purpose or not.
27:09It's a good job I've got these roofs.
27:12Here we go.
27:12He's got a fish.
27:36Hello.
27:37Well going down the main river is pretty awesome, but just going down this canal is something else.
27:42Just seeing people living their lives.
27:44It's so beautiful.
27:54He's getting involved.
27:57Make him do the work.
28:02You all right?
28:04Oh, this is cool.
28:06Oh, look at that.
28:12It's our lunch time.
28:21Guys are giving a lot more food than the girls.
28:24The patriarchal society.
28:27You only got three.
28:29The men got four.
28:32We're growing boys.
28:33We just had a delicious meal at the family's house again.
28:36Really, really nice food laid out on a big banana leaf.
28:39Yeah, I think that's pretty much it for the day.
28:40It was just a very simple, easy, chilled out day.
28:43Just relaxing on the canoe and just watching the world go by.
28:47Watching people live out their lives.
28:49And just, it was so beautiful.
28:51It was just gorgeous.
28:52And Carol is famous for the houseboats going down the river.
28:55But houseboats cost way more money than going on a canoe.
28:59Plus, the best bit for me was going down the little canals.
29:02And you won't get to do that on a houseboat.
29:03So, for me, I definitely recommend doing the canoes and the Carol backwaters.
29:07Because it's just a brilliant, brilliant day out.
29:09And it's such a gorgeous way just to chill out for the day.
29:12And see everything going past you.
29:13So, yeah.
29:14Top day out.
29:16Walking back through the rice field.
29:18It's pretty awesome.
29:19Don't trip.
29:25Basically, we're standing by the rice fields.
29:26And none of us have any clue how rice is made.
29:30Alice doesn't know.
29:30Laura doesn't know.
29:32Peter definitely doesn't know.
29:34Nope.
29:34I ain't got a fucking clue.
29:36I wish that's this French guy.
29:37No.
29:39Fair enough.
29:39Nobody knows.
29:40No one knows.
29:41Peter's Googled the answer.
29:44So, the answer is rice is the seed of the grass.
29:48Rice is the seed of the grass species.
29:51Something something brackets Asian rice.
29:54So, yeah.
29:55They're basically picking the grass and the rice is the seed.
29:57There we go.
29:58Thank you, Google.
29:59Thank you, Wikipedia.
30:00I'm just about to get the bus to Barkala.
30:04Got to wait for half an hour at the station here.
30:06But, of course, they got this blasting out.
30:09Because, you know, why the fuck not?
30:11So, it's an optimal journey in India.
30:13I'm going to put up with this for half an hour.
30:14Why is it so loud?
30:15Why?
30:16Why?
30:17The bus station.
30:17Just turn it down on another.
30:19Anyway, it's only two hours before you ever get there.
30:21We were heading to the final stop of my trip.
30:25A little beach town near the southern tip of India called Barkala.
30:29It's a place I wasn't planning on going to because I hadn't even heard of it until
30:35a couple of weeks ago.
30:36But apparently, it's a fun backpacker spot where after the chaos of traveling through
30:40India for six weeks, I can just relax and have a little holiday at the end of my holiday.
30:46Just having a beer at God's Own Country and they've caught just a small fish.
30:49This is about 40 kilo for the swordfish from the Arabian Sea.
30:54This is lovely.
30:55Skewed for the bigger longer.
30:57It's good for grilled.
30:58This is my brother.
31:00Big brother.
31:01He's coming from Saudi Arabia working.
31:04He's a property of the country of the kitchens.
31:06Wow.
31:07He's big, skewed, a lot of fishes.
31:09Did you catch this?
31:10No, no, no.
31:11I bought it from the market.
31:12Oh, you bought it from the market.
31:13Okay.
31:14Let's pretend you caught it.
31:15It sounds more impressive.
31:18I'm about to get a crowd together in the hostel.
31:20We're going to get a little party going here.
31:21But in order to get beer in India, especially in Kerala,
31:25like unless you get it from a restaurant, you have to go to these wine shops.
31:28And these wine shops are fucking crazy.
31:30This is a wine shop.
31:31So you've got to queue up and go through that cage in there.
31:34It's like some secret hidden down a dark alleyway cage with a massive queue.
31:38And then there's like these metal sheets in front of it to hide the cage.
31:42So you have to sort of queue around.
31:44Everyone pushes through.
31:44It's all crazy.
31:45And then you go through this tiny, narrow thing and up to like this window in the cage.
31:50And you give the guy the money and then he adds you beer.
31:54It's a lot of work just to get drunk in India.
31:56That evening, we recruited a group to spend the next day at an old water park.
32:05Smile.
32:11This is Sam's first ever slide at a water park.
32:1522 years old.
32:16First water park ever.
32:17Ah, the joy in his face.
32:24Sam, how was your first ever water slide?
32:27You're a real man now, you're a real man.
32:38What are the slides complete?
32:39We went into the wave pool where men and women were separated.
33:02Swing pool.
33:03The boys are separated from the girls.
33:05I've never seen anyone be so excited about being in water.
33:14It was the last couple of days of my trip and I wanted to finish with something fun.
33:18So I signed up for a bit of paragliding.
33:20The pilot, whatever you call him, needs to test whether it's safe or not first because of the wind.
33:25It seems to be working.
33:31All right, we are on for paragliding.
33:34It's the day of the trip.
33:36Figuring what better thing to do than jump off a cliff.
33:38So let's go.
33:39When we arrive at this, you can run, run, run.
33:51I don't know.
33:52OK.
33:55Whoa.
33:56Ha, ha, ha.
33:58Woo hoo.
34:02Woo hoo.
34:09You're just standing at the start, then suddenly there's a lift off, then once it says so you just sit back and get comfy.
34:17Hello!
34:21We kind of looped around a bit, seeing if the wind was good, and then we just went right down the coast.
34:32You're just soaring above the trees, like the palm trees coming right past you, you can nearly pick a coconut off.
34:37And now you've got the birds flying by you, and everyone's waving at you, it's fucking awesome, I love it.
34:48It was so much fun, it was just like, you get up there and you feel so free and it's so relaxing.
34:54Cool! Awesome! That was so much fun, that was amazing. Thank you so much, buddy.
35:12It was so, so good, such a good thing to do at the end of the trip. So yeah, loved it!
35:18The next day, I got the train up to Fort Kochi, where I'll be flying home from the following morning.
35:23It's the last night of my trip, so we're here in Fort Kochi, watching the sunset, surrounded by Chinese fishing nets and a shitload of crows.
35:32But yeah, it's been an awesome trip. I'll talk more about it when I get back to my flat, and I'll be all pale and white again.
35:39But for now, it's been a joyous sunset.
35:42Have you had a good time, Alice?
35:43Have you had a good time?
35:44Alice loves being on camera, so we're just going to do a 10 minute interview.
35:51Right, I'm back home now. I've been home a few weeks, my tan's gone, I've had a haircut, I've had a decent wash.
35:57And I remember a few days after I got back, I met up with Nick and Amy, who run the What The Foe Travel Podcast.
36:03And they've been to India and they loved it, but they've had some friends who went there and hated it.
36:08So they wanted to know, where did I stand? Did I love it or did I hate it?
36:11And the answer is, I loved India, but I can get why some people don't like it.
36:15Because it is such a crazy and intense place.
36:18And it just depends how you react to that.
36:20Because even within the space of the day, I could go back and forth between loving it and hating it.
36:24And, you know, you have some days where you're like, right, it's crazy, it's busy.
36:27Everyone's coming up trying to sell you stuff and hassle you and there's so much going on.
36:31But hey, it's an adventure, bring it on.
36:33And other days, you can walk to town and just be like, fuck this, I'm going back to the hostel, it's just too much.
36:38Yeah, it just depends what mood you're in.
36:41I mean, every country in the world has its good and bad aspects, but like with everything in India, it's just to the extreme.
36:47Because you can literally be looking at the same view and if you're in the right mood, you can be going,
36:51oh, look at how beautiful that temple is and all the colours are everywhere and all the smells of all those spices
36:57and all these people aren't necessarily friendly and approachable.
37:00And then if you're in a bad mood, you can be looking at that exact same view but going, oh, look at all this shit everywhere and there's so much pollution and there's people starving on the street and everyone keeps harassing you and the whole place stinks of piss.
37:12And it's the exact same place you were before that you loved, it just depends which bit you decide to focus on.
37:17And some people try and brush off all the negative stuff and just say, oh, isn't it all just part of the adventure?
37:22And the answer is yes, but an adventure is made up of good and bad experiences.
37:26That's what makes an adventure.
37:28And you're not really doing adventure justice by trying to rose tint everything as if being somewhere foreign automatically makes everything good and you just spend the whole time skipping around going, oh, isn't this magical?
37:38No, it's not what it's like.
37:39The real question is, do you let the negative aspects of the country spoil your overall trip?
37:44And for me, with India, despite its best efforts sometimes, I still loved it.
37:49And would I go back? Definitely.
37:51And that's what matters.
37:58Next time when I go back, one of the things I was looking at doing is the rickshaw run.
38:05I've had a few friends who've done this where you get a rickshaw and you have to just drive it across the country.
38:09And not only does it look like a lot of fun, it looks like a great way to see the other side of India.
38:14Get off the beaten track, away from the main tourist sites and see what else the country has to offer.
38:19Now, I don't know when this trip will be. I've got plenty of other trips coming up first.
38:22So my next trip is in May. I'm going back to Nepal to complete our quest for Everest and do the base cabin.
38:27That's one of the reasons I didn't go to the Himalayas and India on this trip, because I'm going to be there in a couple months' time anyway.
38:33And after that, I'm going to Africa in the summer and I've got plenty more ideas for trips in the future.
38:37So, for India, I loved it. And even though I don't know when, I'll definitely be back.
38:42And then I'll definitely be back.
38:43.
39:12You
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