South India-Get ready for us! By Ben

Only one week left until we finally start our 6.5 day backpack adventure to discover South India! Our preparations started a long time ago with finding the right route and best attractions of the South. Our airplane flight is booked, trains are reserved and local bus transportation unsure, but we got a lot of insider information and getting used to the Indian way of making things work around us. Therefore we will play it by ear and see where we will end up!

Jodi has official started to pack her food and I am double checking the route,
Backpacks are ready and hiking boots excited to hit the dirt! Here is our final planned way, where we think we can see the best of the South in just a couple of days.

Friday Afternoon: Flight from New Delhi to the East Coast city Chennai (B).
Here we will have about 18 hours to see all the beautiful temple, beaches and fight the Mosquito’s. In the evening we will hit the Indian standard Sleeper Train for an overnight travel to Madurai.

Saturday Morning: Totally relaxed Train arrival in Madurai ©, not much time to find out where the local busses leave to Kumily (D), arranging tickets and the bus will bring us in the real heart of the trip of south India. The way will bring us to the most beautiful wildlife national park in the country. Check-in at Chrissies Homestead, where we will spend the next two nights.

Sunday: Sunday is Safari Day, Elephants, Tigers and of course the rest of the whole jungle- book. We hopefully get the chance to ride some of the grey friends and see the real wildlife. This will definitely be a big moment for us in our Indian memories. Watching all the animals during their morning wash down in the lake and taking memorable pictures.

Monday: Check-out in the morning from a little familiar hostel and try to find our way to Alleepey (E) on the West Cost, just to make sure that we will have enough stories to tell about our trip, we take the bus again for about 4 hours by 100°F/38°C.
After we hopefully arrived in Alleepey on time we will board our own Houseboat with private crew. The boat will drive us to the outstanding Palm forest and for the next 24 hours we will have a nice deluxe bedroom, food on board and only the best view!

Tuesday: The Houseboat is back in Alleepey (E) and we will hit the train to Kochi (F).
In less than 2 hours we will be in the old Portuguese town with the famous Chinese fisher nets. We will have a nice small place to stay close to the water and enjoy the local cuisine!
Time to walk on the beach during the sunset.

Wednesday: Time to head back to New Delhi via airplane. I am sure we will have a great time and many stories about our trip, the above is just our plan sometimes it doesn’t mean much in India if you planed something, we have to be flexible and stay in the flow of all the people.

Of course we will tell the real story after our outstanding trip in the country with the most people on earth!

Have fun and Kallema Lengue (see you tomorrow in Hindi)
Ben

Keltgen Seed Company Knife

The Keltgen Seed Company gave away coffee mugs, caps, knives, and everything else farm related when I was a kid. We usually put these freebies in the camping box or sent them out to the field with the men. There was a man named Myron Keltgen who sold the seed to my dad to plant in the field. I don't believe the Keltgen Seed Company is around anymore, but it's presence is felt in India. When I was packing my bags to move to India I tried to think of practical things that would come in handy and be very useful. One of the things that I thought of was a sharp paring knife as everyone needs one. So I packed my trusty Keltgen Seed Company knife that is probably 20 years old. Well, it was a brilliant idea to pack it because knives in India that are sharp are few and far between. A 95% vegetarian area doesn't need sharp knives to cut meat. Friends who have bought knives here have been very disappointed, so I feel as though I made the right decision. The Keltgen Seed Company knife does it all for us, cutting watermelon, bread, meat, veggies, and opening packages. When it starts to dull I use the side of my granite counter top and sharpen it up. Next year when we pack up to leave the knife blade will probably be worn off, but the Keltgen Seed Company symbol on the side will not. It makes me think of the saying "Legends Never Die."

Unusual Palm Sunday

A very unusual Palm Sunday in India for Jodi. Made it to church, but saw no palms in a country that has palm trees. I was a little disappointed to say the least. We get palms in South Dakota. Ate lunch at McDonalds (Chicken nuggets & fries) by myself, and then worked out at the gym while watching a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. He's a favorite of mine! All in all a very different Palm Sunday.