My Trip to India | Exploring Kerala

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but hello from India. I've made it to the beautiful state of Kerala here in India, thanks to Kerala Tourism who's hosting me for this trip. It's my first time in India. I am so excited to be here and I'm through Kerala with a guide. Kerala is a popular vacation destination. It's really scenic. There's a lot of coastline, there's mountains, there's some wildlife. This morning I'm in the city of Cochin and we have a bit of a drive ahead of us today. It's going to be at least four hours. We're heading into the mountains to the town of Manar and it looks incredible. This morning has been exciting. It's been a bit of a rush. I poked my head outside of my tent at like 5.50 a.m. just to check what the weather was doing. It was about 20 minutes before sunrise and I didn't know if it was going to be rained out. And there was a cloud inversion in the mountains this morning. So I threw all my stuff in the bag, sprinted out my door to try and catch it for sunrise. It is so beautiful and pristine up in these mountains. It feels like I'm sitting up in a cloud. There's patches of fog among the hills and we're staying in these tents that are tucked into the mountainside. So it feels so immersive and it's so quiet. The next day we headed down the mountain which was one of the most scenic drives of the trip. Every five minutes I wanted to stop and take pictures and we made it to Thekkady to visit Periyar National Park for a boat safari trip. And if you like monkeys, this is the place for you. These guys are everywhere around the boat launch and they're not shy. You can sit just a few feet away from them and take pictures. A boat safari is such a great way to see wildlife because in the park, all animals eventually come down to the water to drink. So you have a chance to see everything here. And if you're lucky, you can even spot elephants and tigers in this park. I've made it to the Misty Mountain Experience in Piramidu, which is a beautiful property. And I'm staying in the cutest little cabin-like room with this beautiful balcony I can sit out on. And here I'm going to be learning more about the tea making process and then this afternoon I'm going out on a jeep ride to explore the property some more. So one of the experiences at the Misty Mountain Experience is a tea factory tour so you can see how it's all made. And one of the very basic things about tea that I didn't know before this tour is that both black and green tea come from the same plant. And it requires a specific temperature and humidity to thrive, which is what makes this region and property so special. But something else that makes the property incredible is it's perched on a mountainside with waterfalls running down it. Guests can go on a scenic jeep ride and the views are so beautiful. Today I've made it to Alapi and I'm doing one of the coolest things I've ever done traveling. I'm staying on a private houseboat tonight. So it's just me and my guide and a few crew members here to operate the boat and cook and keep everything running. And it is so cool and it has been so relaxing to sit here and drift through the backwaters and take in the scenery. So the next day was the Champions Boat League Snake Boat Races. This event is an annual series of on the backwaters of Kerala with teams of rowers racing these long skinny boats called snake boats because of the shape. And it's a big deal. People line the banks of the backwaters for it. One of the highlights of this day was that one of the families that live on the water invited me into their home for lunch and they were so kind. It's traditional to eat everything with your hands in India, even rice and sauce. So they were coaching me on how to do it and I think they found it kind of amusing to see me try it for the first time and it was just such a wonderful experience. I've made it to paradise. This property that I'm staying at is kind of like if a hotel and an Airbnb were mixed. I'm the only guest here so I have the entire property to myself but there's also staff here. It's like a private stay. It's called Vismaya and this outdoor shower situation I have is amazing. Outside of my room I have a little private courtyard with all of the bathroom things and there's this rain shower. I came out here at like 9 p.m last night. It was like still 80 degrees and I stood under this shower and it was perfection. If you've never stayed somewhere with a private outdoor shower like this you need to add it to your bucket list but it needs to be somewhere tropical. I've stayed at places in the desert with outdoor showers but it cools off so much at night that like in the early morning or late at night when you would typically take a shower it's kind of too cold to be pleasant but when it's tropical and it's still warm at night or in the morning it's amazing. And then this morning I got up at sunrise and swam in the pool and I'm just having the best time. Next we drove to a spot nearby for a village experience where I got to visit some local homes and learn a little about their way of life. They showed me how they produce goods like woven palm shades and I got to see how they fashion ropes which was really incredible. This took them less than a minute to make from a coconut husk and it's so strong. Wow that's incredible. I also got to see this really cool coconut tree climbing device and then we headed to the Murari Beach Resort on the ocean which is a really beautiful property. They also place a strong emphasis on sustainable tourism and they have this tea cart where a woman makes what's called meter chai because it's poured from a meter high and she was so good at this. The resort is especially known for Ayurvedic Medicine Center and of course the beach. The sunset over the Arabian Sea was incredible. Well this is it for my time in India. I'm back where I started in the city of Cochin. I didn't really know what to expect before coming here. Actually my guide and I were talking about this. He said a lot of the world, especially Americans, when they think of India they just think of the Taj Mahal and nothing else where in reality it's actually quite a large country with a lot of other things in it. So I didn't come here with a lot of expectations which is sometimes the best way to experience a new place and I loved the scenery. I loved the foggy mountainous hills and the tranquil backwaters. If you are planning a visit to Kerala and you're interested in doing a kind of like a road trip through the state like I did, my number one tip would be to book a guided tour. About an hour into the tour I realized there was no way I ever would have been able to navigate it by myself. So definitely if you're planning to come here and move around a lot I would totally do a tour. Thanks for coming along with me on this one. I hope you all are doing well and I will see you next time. Bye.