After Tammi returned from her travels in South India, Matt decided he wanted a taste of the Indian adventure too! So off we went to Amritsar to see the famous Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is the most famous religious spot for Sihks. After a long 8 hour bus ride we arrived there in the evening, just in time to see the Temple at the most beautiful time. Oh how gold shines!

The next day we went to the Pakistan/India border to witness the flag lowering performance. India's stands were packed with cheering countrymen cheering Hindustan!!!!! Pakistan with slightly less people but more gusto in my opinion cheered just as load! We felt like we were at a football game.

Dreaming of coconuts and warm breezes

My trip began in Arambol, Goa. Goa is a small state on the west coast of India. The Portuguese once controlled this area and you can see the influence of them all over Goa. Catholic churches instead of temples line the streets and people have last names that sound Spanish instead of Indian. The Arabian Sea is warm and the sand is white. The beaches are filled with hippies of all ages here for the weather, ocean, or parties that happen with some frequency here.

The beginning of my trip was not as fun. I spent the first few days recovering from some bad food. I made it by in one piece and managed to complete a one week Iyengar yoga course. By the end of the week I had enough of the scene and we made our way to Kerala for more yoga at a renowned Ashram called Sivananda Ashram. For one week I made lots of good friends, did yoga twice a day, and chanted Jaya Ganesha until the cows came home.

We had enough of that experience and with some new friends in tow made our way to Allepey for a backwater adventure on a houseboat. Lonely Planet describes this as a "must do before you die experience". It is also one of the most expensive things you can do in India. For 7000 Rupees a night or $140, you and some of your closest friends can slowly wane your way on a large houseboat through some of the most beautiful areas of India. We saw some village life as well as some wildlife on these quiet waters. Kerala is also known as the Venice of India for this reason.

India was starting to get a little warm for us so we decided to take a little rest from the heat and headed to a nearby hill station called Ooty. We took a toy train up the mountain which was painfully slow, but the views that we saw going up the mountains made it worth it. Ooty is filled with Tea plantations and they are known for their famous Nilgiri Hill tea as well as their chocolates. Both of which we frequently imbibed in. We said goodbye to our new friends Meera and Abi in Ooty and the four remaining travelers myself, Megan, Ali, and Jim made our way to Mysore to try out some Ashtanga yoga with Ajay Kumar.

Mysore is the birthplace of Ashtanga yoga. You may be wondering what Ashtanga is. It’s a sequence of poses done in a warm room. The classes we participated in were not lead by a teacher. Instead we became experienced Mysore practitioners. We had to memorize the poses and the teachers adjusted us through most of the poses. We were able to deepen into the poses much more quickly this way. I was in poses that I've never been in before!

Two weeks of Ashtanga was not enough for me, but my time in the south was coming to an end. I needed to make my way back north. We made our way to Chennai, where I was to fly out to Delhi and Megan could pick up her passport that she lost on the way down to the south. We had time for one more day trip to Mallipuranam just south of Chennai. This World-Heritage town is renowned for his ancient Hindu rock sculptures carved right into the massive boulders strewn about this town.

After 1 ½ months of travel and yoga I was ready to go home to Dharamsala escape the heat of the south and reconnect with Matt. Now that I am back I miss a few things from the South: Fresh coconut juice, dai puri, Ashtanga yoga, sugar cane juice with masala, thali, beaches, ok I miss a lot, but I'm happy to be home. I can't wait till next winter when I will return to the south to enjoy these things once again.