Sum up the South

Hard to believe but my time in the South of India is up! From here on out I will be traveling the land of Forts and desert! I look forward to seeing the differences between the North and the South but at the same time I am sad to leave the comfort of the south! I know, shocking! I said comfort when referring to India! As much as India has been a struggle at times, I keep pushing through and am constantly rewarded with the unique beauty that is India! My last couple days in Kerela have been so amazing. I spent a couple nights up in the hills of Munnar where I FINALLY got a break from the heat! It was so nice to get all cozy under blankets and drink tea while I'm NOT sweating buckets! :) Mind you when I say it was cold it was actually only 15-25 degrees Celsius, but when you're coming from 40 degree weather (not including humidity) it FEELS like it could snow! The scenery in the hills was unlike any other I'd seen so far and was absolutely breathtaking! Tea plantations amongst jungle!! On my second night I met up with 2 Swiss girls that I had met previously in Hampi and we stayed in the jungle, about 20 km away from the city! It was incredible! We were even lucky enough to have a thunderstorm at night! I love thunder storms! And probably the best part about that night were the millions of fire flies in the garden!!! I've never seen fire flies before so when I saw them I felt like a little girl running after fairies!:) Such fascinating insects! Their bums GLOW! Haha
Returning to Fort Cochin for my last night in Kerela was also nice. Its always nice to return to a place you've already explored and mastered! You don't have the stress of finding things!:) So it was a stress free, quiet (as quiet as India can be) last couple days! A good (much needed) break before I now tackle the hectic buzz of the North! I've been told numerous times that the south is conservative and quiet when compared to the North! - Quiet? I don't know what they mean by that because I thought it was quite loud (with the exception of my ONE night in the jungle)...but we'll find out soon enough!

I'm cheating a bit and "Flashpacking" my way to the North in style! (Flying). Taking a train would take 3 days and while it would be a lot cheaper I think I would go insane! So from Cochin my next stop is Amritsar! Home of the Golden Temple! :)