South India in monsoon season

In July 2014 I set out to explore the south of India and travelled around its two southern states Karnataka and Kerala. To get a general image of how the capital of Karnataka and the heart of Indian IT looks like these days, read on.

Bangalore

Bangalore has been rapidly growing in the recent years, and by now it has expanded to its surrounding villages, so that price of land there is soaring. From the place where we stayed, it was a 30-minute drive to the city center.

The trip brought me the s a multiude of palm tree types. For some reason, this has never crossed my mind before - complete ignorance of the subject on display...

Shivaganga

While Bangalore lies in the middle of the Deccan plateau, you can still enjoy a one-hour climb onto the Shivaganga, the mountain near Bangalore. On the way to Shivaganga though, we drove by a banyan tree of a mesmerizing size, which resulted in a vast series of photos... Have never seen such in Karelia.

Back to our way to the top of Shivaganga now. The ascent is very picturesque, you can meet locals, try goar milk on the way, attempt and fail to protect your food from very ambitious monkeys, and finally last, but not least, grasp the beauty of the Deccan plateau from above.

Trip to the Malabar Coast: Kerala

Having explored a little bit of the Bangalore surroundings, we set off for a trip around the neighbouring state - Kerala. Kerala is the only state in India where communists prevail in the government (before I learned this fact, I was very surprised to see old Soviet flags all around, as well as replicas of Spasskaya Tower, Kremlin and the Bear of the 1980 Moscow Olympics). We travelled from the heart of the Indian subcontinent to the Malabar coast, and on our way we crossed the Western Ghats mountain chain in order to reach the Indian Ocean. The mountains in Kerala are all covered with tea and coffee plantations. On the tops of many mountains there are small towns full of Indian specialties and exotics, and typically there's only one narrow and steep serpentine road that leads to the top of the mountain. I must admit that Indian drivers had absolutely terrific driving skills.

Once we passed the mountains, we descended to the magic of the Malabar Coast. This is the coast were Vasco da Gama disembarked to explore India, and the spirit of international trade is still unequivocally strong here. In the coastal town of Kochi, many sailors fish and later sell seafood to the restaurants all over India (and further).

The Malabar Coast is famous for its magnificent backwaters (lagoons). Indeed, the views of colourful Indian housing and life going on on your left and right while you sail on a boat across one of the lagoons totally captivate travellers. It looks like there are no crocodiles, which makes this place even more alluring (although I might be mistaken. It is best to check before swinging your legs into the water).

Travelling in India during the monsoon season is really appealing because the temperature is around +20C; the only thing that may be uncomfortable is high humidity. It's good to understand that there are most often no air conditioners in average hotels. Another slightly uncomfortable thing is a lot of rain, but it's not like you are drowning in water floods - quite bearable and even rather refreshing.