Across Southern India on a Kick Scooter

After walking across Northern Oman, I flew to Kochi in Kerala, India, with a mission to explore new ways to travel the world. I headed to the nearest Decathlon store at browsed the shelves for a vehicle or device that could take me across Southern India. I considered a skateboard, but ultimately ended up buying a kick scooter for adults. The friendly staff quickly assembled it, walked me through the features, and then I set off. Destination: The Mountains & Tea Plantations in Central Southern India.

Kerala, the state I was in, is known to be the most developed state in all of India, while also being less densely populated than most, so getting out of the city was actually quite manageable, as the roads were decent for the most part. Just the heat and humidity was quite a burden on me.

Soon I reached the foothills of the mountains, where I faced a major challenge: Turns out you can’t really ride on a kick scooter uphill (especially with 15kg backpack) for a prolonged time, so I hitched a ride for the main climb towards Munnar, which is situated 1500m above sea level. Up here the temperature was much more comfortable than in the lowlands, the roads were less busy, and the landscape was beautiful, full of lush tea plantations. People were kind too, albeit sometimes confused by the sight of a foreigner on a kick scooter.

After exploring this region for a few days, I begin my descent down the mountains, and cross into the state of Tamil Nadu. On the way I stumble upon Tamil celebrations, countless of monkeys, and fortunately no angry elephants or wild tigers, which still roam these areas. Tamil Nadu felt quite different to Kerala, roads were busier and the temperatures & humidity also increased quite a bit. Therefore I decided to give away my scooter to a family once I reached the city of Madurai, from where I would then fly to Sri Lanka. This trip was exhausting but quite fun, Southern India is a lot more comfortable to travel to compared to the northern states in the country. I can see myself returning one day, albeit likely without a scooter.