It’s hard to believe it was only 2 days ago that I was sitting at office in Malad, Bombay, not knowing what was in store for me soon. And then we, (as in Samir and I) were told that in two days we would have to pack for 20 days of South-seeing! There was like a surge of mixed feelings, like wondering how exactly I would pack 20 days into one bag and how I was going to finish my six pending articles with all the excitement!
This wasn’t just a “moment-I’d-been-waiting-for” cliched scene, it was THE moment I had anticipated since I decided to come back to Bombay from Melbourne (thus leaving all my travel dreams behind I’d assumed). Actually, it’s difficult to explain what this trip really spells out for me. Sometimes clichés work best and this is one of those times ‘fo shizz’!
Much packing and not many hours later, I was getting mentally prepared. I was nervous, not quite sure why. But then again, Thoughts were speeding past my head in speeds I didn’t know existed.
Somewhere amidst all of that, I ended up in Mangalore today.
However, a traveler is about the journey as well as the destination, in my opinion. This story would be complete without a full blown account of the 19 hour bus ride! So here goes.
Day 0: Of backpacking and phone stealing backsides
Thursday the 14th saw me waiting at Andheri, with my parents in tow, waiting to see their “baby” off: / something I was warned I’d been picked on for at work! Only half an hour late, our bus showed up and suddenly the entire journey mapped out like a virtual projection in my head!
I had planned on making that bus ride my last night of luxury in terms of sleep, but life had other plans for me! Super loud movies deserved my attention! If you know me well enough, you will know that bus rides turn me into and emotional ball of Tian’ness. It was probably a good thing that Samir and I had separate seats (for his sake). Because, for some odd reason I felt streams of saline pouring out of my eyes! ‘IKNOWRIGHT’? WRONG. I’ve never been able to puzzle that one out. Inevitable, though it is.
After I was over being a weirdo (as if!), there was a two hour “I lost my phone” scare at around 1 30 am! After countless silent prayers, trying to sleep and eyeing potential phone stealers suspiciously (also checking out hottie in the aisle in front), aunty next to me turned in her sleep to reveal a blinking red light of the phone I’d “lost” peeping from under her bottom. Yes, Yes. I had to.
It was 3:30 am when that fiasco ended, so much for getting the longest sleep ever. I promise the morning had more stories that the bus ride. So, here we go
Day 1: Of food and families…and more food.
Touchdown Mangalore. Land of my forefathers, land I had never been to because I never thought I was missing out. Boy was I proved wrong!
After getting slightly duped by our rikshaw guy, we were greeted by our host, Winnie Lobo. Walking into the little Manglorean lanes was quite refreshing after being cooped up for 19 hours.
And then it all began. The Manglorean way of life, that is. That means lots of talking and LOTS of food.
We started off with a breakfast one scrumptious sannas (fermented rice cakes) with coconut chutney and tea to get us all prepped up for our long day!
Then we chalked out our host meeting plan for the day, and got set to conquer the task at hand. But not without some lunch, our host insisted. J
We, then set out to meet some pretty kickass families. Our leads in Mangalore were slimmer than the ones we have in the other places along the way so while we were at it, we made sure we soaked in the culture as much as we could.
Here’s a picture of Samir being local!
Many hospitable families with gorgeous houses(that you will soon see on the saffronstays website) later, we ended the day with some new-found friends and some delish kerela parothas and chicken curry! mmmhmm.
Best parts of the trip so far:
Every place has a dog.
Our hosts were AWESOME! So was the entire neighborhood that refused to let us leave Mangalore without a ‘small’ bite at their place.
Our last listing was such a nice experience.
Thanks to everyone we met, we stumbled upon a bonus location as well!
Stay tuned to see where we head off to tomorrow 😉
Good Night world.
About the author: Tianna Coelho is a Bombay born, multi-continent bred, Melbourne-shaped writer with a default wanderlust addiction and an affinity for fashion,passion,chocolate and cuddles! You can read about her quirky discoveries and misfortunes on www.quirkazoid.wordpress.
