Exploring Kerala On Shoe-String Budget

From rustic bus rides to sumptuous fish curries to mesmerising backwaters—traveling across Kerala as a solo woman backpacker is an unparalled experience, says Shipra Singh

- Shipra Singh

They say Kerala is God’s own country. I wasn’t too sure what that meant when I embarked on my solo trip across Kerala from Bengaluru. With a tight budget and loose itinerary, I was brimming with excitement about the coming six days.

Bus ride from Ernakulam (Cochin) bus stand to Fort Kochi was my first brush with Kerala and its culture. Arriving at Fort Kochi, I dumped my rucksack in the hostel I had booked and set out for city tour on my ride; a bicycle. The port city is a perfect amalgam of the old and the new. It offers historical sites like Indo-Portuguese museum, Synagogue in Jew Town, Mattancherry Palace, Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, St. Francis Church, etc. and has a vibrant art and café scene. The day went by exploring the tourist attractions and concluded watching sunset on the beach while exchanging stories with a fellow Canadian backpacker I had befriended in my hostel.

Day two started with a ferry ride from Fort Kochi to Ernakulam bus stand at six in the morning watching sunrise against humongous ships docked at ports. Hesitantly enough, I took a rustic, non-AC KSRTC bus for Munnar as it was going to be my first one such long journey. However, now I can claim without exaggerating that the bus rides were the highlight of my entire trip. Shared with locals, each ride through lush green mountains and little towns was breathtakingly beautiful. One peculiar detail about Kerala government buses which amused me was absence of glass windows, and even iron bars for that matter, to which nobody had a clear explanation. Either you get an all-clear unhindered view or an opaque shutter on your face.