The one in which you will hate us if you are reading this from work or from a cold locale…
To say we were in India for 31 days almost feels like we were cheating, because 13 of those days were on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Set in the Bay of Bengal between India and Thailand, the islands are technically part of India, but their remoteness makes them something unique. The islands are actually geographically closer to Burma/Mynamar and Thailand than they are to India, but as of now, they can only be reached from India’s mainland. Because of their relative inaccessibility, development on the islands has been slow. Most of the tourists on the Andamans are upper-class Indians. Foreign tourists and most local tourists are not allowed to enter the Nicobar Islands, where ethnic tribes have been living their lives undisturbed for hundreds of years. Luckily for us, tourists are allowed , with a permit, onto the Andaman Islands. Other than a brief stint in Port Blair, the port of entry, we stayed at the Emerald Gecko on Havelock Island in a hut that was $15 a night. Beach No. 5, above, was a few feet from our doorstep. The Andamans are best seen, not described, so here’s some photos to either get you throwing darts at our pictures or, better yet, encouraging you to put New Year’s travel resolutions into action:
Port Blair:
To reach the islands, all visitors must fly onto the main island at Port Blair. Contrary to what Lonely Planet may try to tell you, Port Blair is a get in and get out type of place. It's not what you've came all this way to see, but you at least have to spend the night on your way out of the Andamans. We spent most of our time on Port Blair making use of the glacially slow internet, but we wandered around a bit. We came across these kids playing cricket in an empty lot, who paused their game to eagerly jump in front of the camera.
While the food on Havelock Island (and particularly at the Emerald Gecko) was some of the best we've had on our trip, the food in Port Blair leaves a lot to be desired. I ordered naan, an Indian bread, and it was served to me like this: wrapped in a dish towel that looked like it was used to clean up the kitchen for the post month. To add insult to injury, the waiter kept urging me to eat it, and even went as far as to unwrap it and touch the naan, saying, "why don't you eat the naan? It is hot, see? You must eat it when it is hot." I developed a sudden bread allergy...
Beach No. 5, Havelock Island
...but luckily, our time was short in Port Blair and long on Havelock Island.
Upon our arrival on Havelock, we promptly took naps in these hammocks, listening to the waves. Sean thus achieved a goal he first had formulated when sitting in his cube. We could often be found here during our 10 days on the island. We nicknamed another couple the Hammock Hogs because they were often occupying the hammocks when we wanted to use them, but given the amount of time we spent there, I think the nickname was more appropriate for us.
Other past times included walking on Beach No. 5...
...or watching locals go fishing...
...or hanging out with Dollar and his friends.
this is Dollar, the resident dog. He often followed us around, and took naps under our hammocks.
The flip side to the lushness of paradise is that it must rain. We accidentally went to the Andamans during monsoon season, which meant we were subjected to two days of torrential downpours. The rains flooded the grounds of Emerald Gecko. This was the view from our hut during the rains.
But, the next day, the sun came back out. This is Beach No. 5 at sunrise.
The Infamous Beach No. 7
If you spend any amount of time on Havelock, you will soon hear about the lure of Beach No. 7, located way on the other side of the island. All of Havelock's beaches have white sand and waters that are different shades of blue and green, but none of the beaches have sand as soft as or waters that are as clear and easy to swim in as Beach No. 7.
Beach No. 7, view from the water.
Around the rest of Havelock Island
When we weren't napping in hammocks or lounging on beaches, you might find us scooting around the island on the scooter we rented for $4 a day.
The definition of lush.
Sean at Anju Coco, a shacklike restaurant we frequented when we weren't scarfing down the delicious food at Emerald Gecko. Despite eating banana pancakes for 10 days straight, I never got a photo.
One of our favorite days on the island was when we took the scooter past Beach No. 5 away from Village No. 1. There is a small, but developing tourist strip from Beach No. 3 to Beach No. 5, but beyond, there was not a tourist in sight. (Yes, everything is known by numbers, not names).
It is not hard to find fantastic deserted beaches around the island, especially if you head past Beach No. 5 away from the boat jetty in Village No. 1.
SO glad you guys got to do this. It looks absolutely FABULOUS!
No worries. There is only 2-3 months more of winter for us in Pgh. This probably means clearing the driveway and sidewalk couple of dozen times at least.
Beautiful! But – what is up with the napkin naan? Gross!
This sounds so nice…but just took a walk in the snow and it was quite lovely. Still wish I was there though.