Recent content by Blue Betta

There is a year-end carnival in Kochi which is worth seeing. There are swimming and cycling competitions during the festival. You also will want to see the fire displays and the floor drawings (which are both amazing). The festival goes on for ten days, at at the end (on the 31st) there is a...

I think it depends on what you are looking for. Goa caters more to Westerners, mostly because of its Portuguese heritage and because it is a popular vacation, honeymoon, and tourist spot. There is more of a nightlife in Goa (at least in the more tourist-oriented places), so if that is what you...

February, in my opinion, is kind of pushing it a bit. I was there in February to April, and the humidity was really bad. I would say September at the earliest, to December or January at the latest. That way you avoid the pre-monsoon weather, and most of the rainy season, and get the best...

Kheer is wonderful. I am also a fan of gulab jamun. I had a lot of sweets given as prasad when I lived at the ashram, but I never found out the names of most of them, although ladoos were often given. Adhirasam is good- they served it at the ashram on special days, and I always made sure to...

The official website, as of today, lists the weight allowance as 7 KG, and that includes laptop bags and any duty free shopping bags that you might have. There is also a size limitation of 55 x 35 x 25. This is pretty standard. There are probably people at the airport who can help you check...

I am a huge fan of mint chutney! It is a little hard to find around here, so I mostly make my own. I like it on samosas, pakoras, papadams, or sometimes with a bowl of rice when I'm in a hurry. This is my favorite recipe, and it only has four ingredients. You can add more or fewer chilies if...

As someone else mentioned, the dhobis are people who will wash your clothes. In India, I have found that there is a lot more human labor than you would find in the West. When I lived at the ashram, we washed our clothes in a bucket with some powder mixed in water. The local people did that...

I visited Varkala, and it is lovely. Near there is also the Amritapuri Ashram, where Amma, the hugging saint, has her main ashram. I lived there for two months, and it is a lovely place. There is no photography allowed, but it is a nice temple and Amma holds regular darshan days. It might be...

India is a big country, and there is a lot to see! I would recommend a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This is one of the holy spots of Sikhism, and the temple itself is beautiful. I would also suggest a visit to Varanasi to visit the Ganges and the temples along it. And of course you...

On a personal note, I liked the Cochin airport better than the one in Trivandrum. I stayed at a place about the same distance from both, so that wasn't a factor. I felt that the people at the Cochin airport were quite a bit friendlier and more helpful, and the airport seemed cleaner and easier...

The country code for the U.S. is 1. So it would be 1 - area code- phone number. The area code is the first three digits, usually written in parenthesis, such as (815) for example. The number is the last seven digits. I hope this helps!

It is truly lovely! When I went on the backwaters, we had a wooden canoe that was propelled by a local man with a pole. It was very relaxing, and while we may not have had the amenities of some of the nice boats that we would see from our room overlooking the river, it was very nice, and our...

I'm going to say yes. Also, you can do like many of the locals and use an umbrella or parasol to protect yourself. Many people cover their arms or their head with a drape of light cloth, especially in some of the more Muslim areas. You'll find that in many tropical equatorial regions in...

What should you look out for? EVERYTHING. Personally, I prayed more during my two hour taxi ride to the airport than I did in the two months that I lived at an ashram. Driving in India is not for the inexperienced. Cars, trucks, buses, rickshaws, and motorbikes, some overloaded, drive on both...

I would look into visiting some of the temples, both Hindu and Buddhist, there. I had a very short stay in Sri Lanka, and my driver took me on a tour of various temples in the area. The monks and priests were very nice, and the temples themselves were amazing. The beaches are also absolutely...