Hello South India!

The heat upon arrival in Mangalore, South India, was nauseating. I met a nice family from Toronto on the plane who were home visiting family for Christmas.

Dense coconut palm tree groves and red tile roofs were the two things that struck me at first about the South. The men wore sarongs (mostly white ones) folded up to look like mini skirts.

I took the train to Kannur from Mangalore. The 4 hour ride only cost me the equivalent of $0.75. At the train station, I started noticing women with string of white jasmine flowing down the back of their long dark hair - gorgeous! This was something I would see often during my entire time in South India.

I met a really nice family on the train and took photos of the little girl who was wearing a beautiful burgandy dress. Everyone was so nice to help me lift my bag and make sure I got off at the right stop. The kind people helped me to forget about the cockroaches crawling around on the wooden seats and the beggars who would come on to the train at many of the stops.