This blog is dedicated to all honeymooners, families, friends who would like to contribute to Indian tourism by embracing our nature’s paradise – Kerela.
I would first like to introduce you to the members whose name you would be often reading in the blog. I the author of this blog took my mum and a friend for a ride on this trip. Mr Attapan we called him Anthony was our driver for the entire trip and our organizers were Mir tours from Kerela(wish I can get some money for their advertisement here). There are few more critical members whom I would introduce as and when they would be required to appear.
Kerela, the mystic land of green and Satyuga was the destination most sought after a lot of diligence. A much desired holiday of the year was impacted strongly by various problems, starting from Mum's election duty to a large deal at my office, Terrorist attacks at Mumbai, followed by a threat of air attack on the deemed day of travel in the name of Babri Masjid anniversary. However, we did a SWOT analysis of the situation and decided to go ahead with the trip as planned.
Strengths – My weight in KGs,
Weakness – My friend’s in KGs,
Opportunities – to travel under high security and meet our Heroic NSG commandos
Threats – we would lose a lot of money if we didn’t go
Our Friends, family and colleagues shared the sense of threat with us and did wish us a best of luck and a great holiday while my boss was envious of my 9 days of leave at a stretch (another threat at recession time J).
6th December 08, 12 Noon, Delhi
Easycab group - can be reached at 42424242 - relieved us a bit of our tensions by sending us a Logan, a kind of luxury cab to take us to the airport. And we started towards the airport enjoying the spacious luxury ride along with a discussion on how many days we can survive on Idli & Dosa and the south Indian heat.
All kudos to Indian government (we voted for them on 29th) for the layers of security checks which took us around 2 hours before we reached the boarding gate. November being a marriage month there were many newly wed couples, some strange some smart enough to be oogled at. Me and my friend discussed the color of some husbands which were contrasting with their wives and weight of some wives which was contrasting with their husbands. But one couple x 2 retained our attention for a while as the hubbies have competed with their wives for the Mehendi which was extending to their elbows. Rajasthan was the place they had come from and were making as much noise as possible to get them noticed. A proper page three experience!!!
Around 7 PM, Cochin
I didn’t talk much about the flight but it was Jetlite which was delayed by three hours already and we didn’t even get a proper glass of water to drink until we ordered something from their menu which was actually costly and also tasted bad. You know what am hinting you!!! J
Mr Attapan aka Anthony was the man who we had come to pick us up at the airport and there he was standing with a paper showing my name as if waiting for a diplomat (its good to feel special when you spend so much). He was a very very “very” thin man with semi bald head and average height but his smile large enough for us to see after a tiring journey. He told us to move towards the car parking and we were expecting an Indica as per our package but were very happy to see a silver colored Logan again. The first word Anthony spoke to us was “Hindi ata hai”??
Though we reached Cochin late, but Anthony made sure that we didn’t miss much of the action on the MG road which is the most popular road in most of the cities in India. While in Delhi it is more known for beautiful gals emanating from college, but here we found grand shopping plaza’s and big hoardings with Gold plated models(gold is very popular there). I fortunately remembered a location called marine drive which was a sea side view in Cochin. It was not comparable to the marine drive of Mumbai, but one thing we found most touching was the charts which were put up by residents in remembrance of UnniKrishanan, the brave man who lost his life saving many of us in Mumbai. The hoardings wrote Apologies to the parents of UnniKrishnan for the behavior toward this young martyr, their only son.
With the heavy sigh we moved towards the car and Anthony took us to one of the famous restaurants in Cochin for our dinner. We took a south Indian thali and a plate of idli and were astonished to see a bill of just Rs. 162 which is very uncommon for a whole meal for three people in Delhi. Let me introduce to you the range of spices which were there in the food and please take some pudin hara if you don’t have a appetite for very spicy food. Ending the dinner with a south Indian pan which was served complimentary we were really willing to hit the bed after a tiring day. Thus we didn’t spare a talk with the hotel receptionist or a brief look around in admiration of the only 4 star hotel of our trip “Pearl Continental”. Please don’t think that it was a bad hotel, the room was really nice but just one factor which killed it was that it was next to the railway station and trains spared no sympathy toward very tired guests of the hotel. We zapped around the south Indian channels to find our favorite program “Kaante ki takkar” on Sony for some hearty laughs before closing eyes to the day.
7th December 08, 8 AM
We started for a 3.5 hour scenic/picturesque drive to Munnar as per the description in the itinerary. But it was indeed a beautiful view starting initially with a lot of green palm trees and spreads of green carpet. Soon we started climbing the hills. The first destination we reached was Cheeyappara Falls which was similar to views generally we get when we travel to Northern hill stations, so we preferred to pass by the same. Next was Kallar Falls on the right where we again insisted to move ahead but Anthony was adamant on the next falls named Valara Falls. He stopped the car against our protests and showed us a way to move towards the water. We found the path and mum guided us through the path handholding as if we are going to school for the first time.
After modeling around the falls and training Anthony “the best of photography skills” using our camera we moved ahead to the next view point up on the hills - Karadippara View Point. The wind has become a bit cool but the sun tended to be stronger than the winds and kept the wind bearable. Bhutta, was the thing we really needed in the weather but two more instances struck us hard. One was the automation of Bhutta making process in which he used a motor to blow into the fire which was ignited using wood as compared to coal which is often see in Delhi. Second was red chill powder which has a big vote there and that was the Masala which was used to garnish the automated heated Bhutta. It was our second encounter with the spicy dishes since we entered Kerela. Though unknowingly we missed Pine Apple Garden and Rubber Plantations on the way somewhere but we opted not to visit Spice Plantations which we did a bit later though.
After checking into the hotel(Abad Copper Castle), we evaluated the massage rates in the hotel’s ayurvedic center and found them quite high. Kerela for those who are unaware, is famous for many ayurvedic centers but beware of false doctors is what we read while in Delhi. Sirodhara we had read was one of the famous massages performed only for head but it is very relaxing for the mind. Anthony had suggested us to get it done outside and we did found 10% difference in the price in the city, Munnar. He took us to Maurya Ayurvedic center which he suggested was a good option and in fact it was. We booked an appointment for 4 PM and reached Mahavira restaurant for our 3rd spicy encounter, but this time we were smart enough to request them to make it less spicy. You need to have a hours gap between your lunch and massage time so we finished the lunch at 2 PM and then Anthony took us to a flower Garden which had a exotic range of flowers for interest of any horticulturist. Am sure honeymooners would not be encouraged to visit it neither were we, but we had to kill an hour. We also clicked some snaps in woods on the way to Munnar and enacted some sequences of QSQT.
After the massage and a good amount on ayurvedic oils in our hair we visited a Historical Church which was on a small hill giving us a glimpse of old times. International Blossom(Hydel)
Park was on our way back to the hotel but we skipped it after the earlier Bagaban we had opted to see.
8th December 08, 6 AM Munnar
Me and my friend went for a stroll uphill around the hotel. View was fabulous and later we realized it was pothemedu view point which we had to come for sunset view. At the view point a gentlemen was doing “ALOM VILOM” in the early morning winds while we were tempted to run away with his sweater. But running down the hills is a bit dangerous to attempt early morning so dishearted we went downhill and clicked some snaps in tea estate claiming ourselves as THE TATAs.
After morning breakfast, we departed for a full day sight seeing tour and the first spot was Rajamalai (Eravikulam) National Park – famous for Nilgiri Tahr(Wild goat). Mum and the wild goat became friends as she was calling her “Rajamalaiiiiiiii” in rhythm and she came towards us to strike a pose. After a good glimpse of the goats and the hills around we came down at the bus station. While waiting for the bus which takes you back from this national park to parking lot, we were witness of some love madness. There was a couple - the gal wearing a red top and Capri in 10 degrees along with red footwear - clicking snaps in varied poses. One strange pose was where he held the gal high in his arms, strong man I must say. All around were laughing and gossiping, but they say love is blind….
Anaimudi Peak – South India's Highest Peak was supposed to be around this national park which we but we later realized the same so would recommend that ask your driver to take you there as well. We moved into the car and the next destination was Madupetty Dam and Lake where we boarded a speed boat for 15 minutes for Rs. 300, a special/explicit honeymooner’s rate. The driver of the boat attempts to make you enjoy the thrill by tilting the boat at angles where you can enjoy the lake water.
We moved ahead to a Photo Point, Elephant Arrival Spot, Cinema Shooting Point which were actually a picturesque view of the place but nothing much to stop and enjoy, but there you can take a elephant ride but at Rs. 300 for 15 mins, seems to be a pattern right?
Echo Point we assumed to be a high peak where you would throw your lungs out thinking that the voice would echo. But it was a low lying lake an extension of the Madupetty Dam water. We chose to do some shopping rather than boating and while enjoying pineapple - with a dash of unavoidable chilli masala ;-( - we heard a strong man’s voice shouting “ Manjoooooooo”. We shared a laugh and the voice was heard again “Manjooooo” and this time we went ahead and saw the couple and their honeymoonic acts. Another couple with them were clicking their snaps where the guy was holding his (strong bodied) wife in his arms like the song..Jiski biwi choti..god mein utha lo …..J… Would recommend you do some rounds to the gym before you actually get married as it would be tested sooner or later J.
Next spot Gundala Lake and Headworks DAM were next to each other but weather had worsened and it started raining so we started back towards hotel. Tata Tea Museum was closed on Monday and evening Spice/Tea trailing at Munnar was nothing but a walk for which we went in the morning. But the weather was not with us so we preferred to come back enjoy the view from our hotels which was mostly covered by clouds by now giving us a heaven like feeling. My friend preferred to go for Sirodhara while I enjoyed the view from my hotel’s balcony. It is worth a view if you are in hills and more relaxing than sirodhara in which 1.5 litre oil is poured on your head(very hard to wash off). We did go to Munnar city every night to torture ourselves with spicy food but today we tried LAZZA(brand) ice cream to relieve our north Indian sensitive stomachs.
9th December 08, 8 AM
We started our onwards journey towards alleppey early because it was a 5 hours drive but we planned to visit the spice garden which we had missed earlier. Same road takes you back to Cochin and then towards alleppey through Cochin bypass. Spice garden was a place to be, as he showed us how spices like – cardamom, black pepper, clove, ginger, turmeric grow along with some fruits such as pineapple etc. Guide showed us a plant which is called all spices which can be used as a leaf in your curries and you don’t need to add any other spices not even salt. Strange but true!!!
The Drive to alleppey was very very long but we covered the journey learning some malyali from Anthony especially the words which represent money like Rs. 100 which is called “Noora”. Alleppey is known as a charming village on the Vembanadu Lake and it is known for its azure backwaters, swaying palms, and floating houseboats. On arrival we checked into Kettuvallam the ethnic name for a famous Kerala Houseboat and started on with our journey towards the lake. We took a video of the house boat which was a one bed boat launched on 29th November and ours was the second trip after three Malaysian gals. Unni our houseboat pilot was very friendly and knew hindi. He allowed us to drive the houseboat and feel special. Though we couldn’t do justice to the profession but it was still good driving than on Delhi roads.
Lunch was supposed to be served at Houseboat by our cook onboard and we were already very hungry but so were our eyes to see the view. Cruise was supposed to take us through the unique web of lakes, lagoons, canals and river but the first spot was to visit the Snake Boat where the house boat was stationed for lunch. At lunch we were served Kerela kadi, beans, dal, roti, rice, papad and we had fortunately told our cook with us on board to use sunflower oil rather than coconut oil which we had heard is a bit weird to taste(spices still persisted). Just after lunch as we were about to disembark to see Historical Church, Paddy Field, Kuttanadan Region the only region cultivate rice below sea level there was rain all over us. It continued for two hours while we cursed and enjoyed the rain, but we lost time enough to enjoy the backwaters ride. After two hours our houseboat moved towards the houseboat junction where it was stationed for the night. But our enthusiasm was not affected by the rain and we took a ride in a small canoe in the lake around us. Unni negotiated with the canoe driver on the price, who shouted “Noor”, but Unni told us Rs. 150 keeping his cut. But we knew the word “Noora” and were smart enough to decide on Rs. 100 only. Unni made a face and we realized knowing the local language does help. Sun was almost setting but the rain poured again and the canoe pilot saved us by sparing some umbrellas and while getting down we wished him “Namni”(means shukriya). The spectacular sunset was almost missed by the time we came back to the house boat and it was all dark now. We were served evening snacks that is kela pakoda(they are sweet and not spicy) and coffee. All CDs on the houseboat were of malyali movies and we just had one option to watch Mustafa with our co-spectators, “Mosquitoes”. Cook our host on board, gave us an option to choose between oil and coil to avoid the mosquitoes and we chose to use Mortein coil to avoid the tiny beasts.
Dinner was served at around 9 but it was not candle light dinner. We wound up the movie after dinner and ran towards the AC room to take a nap after a long day. We were told the bed would be decorated so would recommend honeymooners to avail this deal in the package which we couldn’t :-).
10th December 08, 5.30 AM Alleppey
Alarm went loud and we could see no light outside the window, but we still moved out of the room to view the sun rise, as we had already missed the sunset. It was a great view with sun rays shining slowly to give a reddish look to the sky. Fishermen soon started to cross our houseboat for their work and some waved hand at us, “beautiful gals with eyes half open”. We clicked some snaps and continued to enjoy the rising sun with a morning coffee sip. At around 8 AM Unni came back and kettuvalam disembarked to reach the junction where we started from. On the way we clicked snaps, videos had our breakfast and reached the junction where Anothny was waiting for us. We bid farewell to the back waters in kerela to move towards kovalam.
10th December 08 4.30 PM, Kovalam
Kovalam is a internationally renowned beach(one of the top 10 beaches of World) and it has been favorite haunt of tourists since 1930's. A beach paradise with boundless blue of the Arabian Sea and is a sheltered natural bay and truly it was one. We were already very hungry when we reached our hotel and we moved out to check for a hotel. Sher-e-Punjab restaurant was what we wanted the most. North Indian food, after 5 days was a bliss and we ate more than our appetite along with a good chit chat with owner Ashok using proper Hindi. We came back to the hotel and moved towards the private beach in front of Palm shore where some foreigners were enjoying the sea. We joined them, clicked a lot of snaps and attempt to build a house in the name of Kerela development authority. Fun never ends when you are enjoying and so we continued to play around and there came the clouds again :-(. It didn’t rain fortunately but a clear sunset view was what we longed for. By the time sun was about to set, the clouds cleared a bit and we could see some good view of the setting sun. Dinner at Sher-e-Punjab followed by a stroll at the actual kovalam beach was a perfect way to end a hectic day.
11th December 08, 6.00 AM
Yet again we got up earlier than Mr. Sun and walked towards the beach to click some good snaps and enjoy the early morning stroll on sand. It was as beautiful as the evening and the light house became the best backdrop for our snaps.
At around 9.30 we started towards Kanyakumari, you must appreciate our appetite to see more and more. It was a 3 hour journey and we reached end of India, a spot of Kanyakumari to board a steamer to visit Vivekananda rock. After that we spent some time at Triveni Sangam (three oceans meet) trying to make out the three colors of the water. We could recognize only two but couldn’t wait till sunset as we had to visit wooden palace at our way back. When we reached the palace it was closed and we could just take a few picture at the gates. Am not elaborating much as these were only two places we could visit and it was very hot there. But the experience to touch the last end of India was too encouraging for us to still enjoy the place and the heat.
Next day, 12th December we clicked some snaps around the sea shore and boarded our flight from Trivandrum airport to travel back to Delhi via Chennai. India was playing against England and there was more security than usual at the airport. We are VIPs you would agree!! We had some snacks before boarding Jet-airways as it was no frills, but they served us food on a 1.5 hour flight which we never anticipated so we enjoyed the homely treatment. But Spice Jet(Chennai to Delhi) again mistreated us by providing us water only when we ordered something from their menu. These no frill flights are not worth a travel but price does matter!!!
After 16 days, 29th December 08
Having joined office and covering up a hectic schedule, I didn’t get any time to write this blog. But today, My boss commented on my Kerela snaps, “How can someone come back from such a place and work” and I could do nothing but smile. So, I decided I would walk down the memory lane and visit my beautiful holidays again.
Thanks a lot for reading through such a long blog, but am sure I have convinced you enough to attempt this visit to Kerela which I call - A Nature’s paradise. But do remember the best time to visit Kerela is in the winter months of Nov to Jan and the season starts on 15th December after which the hotel and travel rates would be high, so best before date according to me is 14th Dec. Also, Please remember to take the following along:
One Pullover for Munnar, Pudin hara for your stomach, mosquito repellent and some good CDs and DVDs for the houseboat and sunscreen lotion for Kovalam and an umbrella as it can rain without season.
Wish you a happy journey and a wonderful life!!!
I would first like to introduce you to the members whose name you would be often reading in the blog. I the author of this blog took my mum and a friend for a ride on this trip. Mr Attapan we called him Anthony was our driver for the entire trip and our organizers were Mir tours from Kerela(wish I can get some money for their advertisement here). There are few more critical members whom I would introduce as and when they would be required to appear.
Kerela, the mystic land of green and Satyuga was the destination most sought after a lot of diligence. A much desired holiday of the year was impacted strongly by various problems, starting from Mum's election duty to a large deal at my office, Terrorist attacks at Mumbai, followed by a threat of air attack on the deemed day of travel in the name of Babri Masjid anniversary. However, we did a SWOT analysis of the situation and decided to go ahead with the trip as planned.
Strengths – My weight in KGs,
Weakness – My friend’s in KGs,
Opportunities – to travel under high security and meet our Heroic NSG commandos
Threats – we would lose a lot of money if we didn’t go
Our Friends, family and colleagues shared the sense of threat with us and did wish us a best of luck and a great holiday while my boss was envious of my 9 days of leave at a stretch (another threat at recession time J).
6th December 08, 12 Noon, Delhi
Easycab group - can be reached at 42424242 - relieved us a bit of our tensions by sending us a Logan, a kind of luxury cab to take us to the airport. And we started towards the airport enjoying the spacious luxury ride along with a discussion on how many days we can survive on Idli & Dosa and the south Indian heat.
All kudos to Indian government (we voted for them on 29th) for the layers of security checks which took us around 2 hours before we reached the boarding gate. November being a marriage month there were many newly wed couples, some strange some smart enough to be oogled at. Me and my friend discussed the color of some husbands which were contrasting with their wives and weight of some wives which was contrasting with their husbands. But one couple x 2 retained our attention for a while as the hubbies have competed with their wives for the Mehendi which was extending to their elbows. Rajasthan was the place they had come from and were making as much noise as possible to get them noticed. A proper page three experience!!!
Around 7 PM, Cochin
I didn’t talk much about the flight but it was Jetlite which was delayed by three hours already and we didn’t even get a proper glass of water to drink until we ordered something from their menu which was actually costly and also tasted bad. You know what am hinting you!!! J
Mr Attapan aka Anthony was the man who we had come to pick us up at the airport and there he was standing with a paper showing my name as if waiting for a diplomat (its good to feel special when you spend so much). He was a very very “very” thin man with semi bald head and average height but his smile large enough for us to see after a tiring journey. He told us to move towards the car parking and we were expecting an Indica as per our package but were very happy to see a silver colored Logan again. The first word Anthony spoke to us was “Hindi ata hai”??
Though we reached Cochin late, but Anthony made sure that we didn’t miss much of the action on the MG road which is the most popular road in most of the cities in India. While in Delhi it is more known for beautiful gals emanating from college, but here we found grand shopping plaza’s and big hoardings with Gold plated models(gold is very popular there). I fortunately remembered a location called marine drive which was a sea side view in Cochin. It was not comparable to the marine drive of Mumbai, but one thing we found most touching was the charts which were put up by residents in remembrance of UnniKrishanan, the brave man who lost his life saving many of us in Mumbai. The hoardings wrote Apologies to the parents of UnniKrishnan for the behavior toward this young martyr, their only son.
With the heavy sigh we moved towards the car and Anthony took us to one of the famous restaurants in Cochin for our dinner. We took a south Indian thali and a plate of idli and were astonished to see a bill of just Rs. 162 which is very uncommon for a whole meal for three people in Delhi. Let me introduce to you the range of spices which were there in the food and please take some pudin hara if you don’t have a appetite for very spicy food. Ending the dinner with a south Indian pan which was served complimentary we were really willing to hit the bed after a tiring day. Thus we didn’t spare a talk with the hotel receptionist or a brief look around in admiration of the only 4 star hotel of our trip “Pearl Continental”. Please don’t think that it was a bad hotel, the room was really nice but just one factor which killed it was that it was next to the railway station and trains spared no sympathy toward very tired guests of the hotel. We zapped around the south Indian channels to find our favorite program “Kaante ki takkar” on Sony for some hearty laughs before closing eyes to the day.
7th December 08, 8 AM
We started for a 3.5 hour scenic/picturesque drive to Munnar as per the description in the itinerary. But it was indeed a beautiful view starting initially with a lot of green palm trees and spreads of green carpet. Soon we started climbing the hills. The first destination we reached was Cheeyappara Falls which was similar to views generally we get when we travel to Northern hill stations, so we preferred to pass by the same. Next was Kallar Falls on the right where we again insisted to move ahead but Anthony was adamant on the next falls named Valara Falls. He stopped the car against our protests and showed us a way to move towards the water. We found the path and mum guided us through the path handholding as if we are going to school for the first time.
After modeling around the falls and training Anthony “the best of photography skills” using our camera we moved ahead to the next view point up on the hills - Karadippara View Point. The wind has become a bit cool but the sun tended to be stronger than the winds and kept the wind bearable. Bhutta, was the thing we really needed in the weather but two more instances struck us hard. One was the automation of Bhutta making process in which he used a motor to blow into the fire which was ignited using wood as compared to coal which is often see in Delhi. Second was red chill powder which has a big vote there and that was the Masala which was used to garnish the automated heated Bhutta. It was our second encounter with the spicy dishes since we entered Kerela. Though unknowingly we missed Pine Apple Garden and Rubber Plantations on the way somewhere but we opted not to visit Spice Plantations which we did a bit later though.
After checking into the hotel(Abad Copper Castle), we evaluated the massage rates in the hotel’s ayurvedic center and found them quite high. Kerela for those who are unaware, is famous for many ayurvedic centers but beware of false doctors is what we read while in Delhi. Sirodhara we had read was one of the famous massages performed only for head but it is very relaxing for the mind. Anthony had suggested us to get it done outside and we did found 10% difference in the price in the city, Munnar. He took us to Maurya Ayurvedic center which he suggested was a good option and in fact it was. We booked an appointment for 4 PM and reached Mahavira restaurant for our 3rd spicy encounter, but this time we were smart enough to request them to make it less spicy. You need to have a hours gap between your lunch and massage time so we finished the lunch at 2 PM and then Anthony took us to a flower Garden which had a exotic range of flowers for interest of any horticulturist. Am sure honeymooners would not be encouraged to visit it neither were we, but we had to kill an hour. We also clicked some snaps in woods on the way to Munnar and enacted some sequences of QSQT.
After the massage and a good amount on ayurvedic oils in our hair we visited a Historical Church which was on a small hill giving us a glimpse of old times. International Blossom(Hydel)
Park was on our way back to the hotel but we skipped it after the earlier Bagaban we had opted to see.
8th December 08, 6 AM Munnar
Me and my friend went for a stroll uphill around the hotel. View was fabulous and later we realized it was pothemedu view point which we had to come for sunset view. At the view point a gentlemen was doing “ALOM VILOM” in the early morning winds while we were tempted to run away with his sweater. But running down the hills is a bit dangerous to attempt early morning so dishearted we went downhill and clicked some snaps in tea estate claiming ourselves as THE TATAs.
After morning breakfast, we departed for a full day sight seeing tour and the first spot was Rajamalai (Eravikulam) National Park – famous for Nilgiri Tahr(Wild goat). Mum and the wild goat became friends as she was calling her “Rajamalaiiiiiiii” in rhythm and she came towards us to strike a pose. After a good glimpse of the goats and the hills around we came down at the bus station. While waiting for the bus which takes you back from this national park to parking lot, we were witness of some love madness. There was a couple - the gal wearing a red top and Capri in 10 degrees along with red footwear - clicking snaps in varied poses. One strange pose was where he held the gal high in his arms, strong man I must say. All around were laughing and gossiping, but they say love is blind….
Anaimudi Peak – South India's Highest Peak was supposed to be around this national park which we but we later realized the same so would recommend that ask your driver to take you there as well. We moved into the car and the next destination was Madupetty Dam and Lake where we boarded a speed boat for 15 minutes for Rs. 300, a special/explicit honeymooner’s rate. The driver of the boat attempts to make you enjoy the thrill by tilting the boat at angles where you can enjoy the lake water.
We moved ahead to a Photo Point, Elephant Arrival Spot, Cinema Shooting Point which were actually a picturesque view of the place but nothing much to stop and enjoy, but there you can take a elephant ride but at Rs. 300 for 15 mins, seems to be a pattern right?
Echo Point we assumed to be a high peak where you would throw your lungs out thinking that the voice would echo. But it was a low lying lake an extension of the Madupetty Dam water. We chose to do some shopping rather than boating and while enjoying pineapple - with a dash of unavoidable chilli masala ;-( - we heard a strong man’s voice shouting “ Manjoooooooo”. We shared a laugh and the voice was heard again “Manjooooo” and this time we went ahead and saw the couple and their honeymoonic acts. Another couple with them were clicking their snaps where the guy was holding his (strong bodied) wife in his arms like the song..Jiski biwi choti..god mein utha lo …..J… Would recommend you do some rounds to the gym before you actually get married as it would be tested sooner or later J.
Next spot Gundala Lake and Headworks DAM were next to each other but weather had worsened and it started raining so we started back towards hotel. Tata Tea Museum was closed on Monday and evening Spice/Tea trailing at Munnar was nothing but a walk for which we went in the morning. But the weather was not with us so we preferred to come back enjoy the view from our hotels which was mostly covered by clouds by now giving us a heaven like feeling. My friend preferred to go for Sirodhara while I enjoyed the view from my hotel’s balcony. It is worth a view if you are in hills and more relaxing than sirodhara in which 1.5 litre oil is poured on your head(very hard to wash off). We did go to Munnar city every night to torture ourselves with spicy food but today we tried LAZZA(brand) ice cream to relieve our north Indian sensitive stomachs.
9th December 08, 8 AM
We started our onwards journey towards alleppey early because it was a 5 hours drive but we planned to visit the spice garden which we had missed earlier. Same road takes you back to Cochin and then towards alleppey through Cochin bypass. Spice garden was a place to be, as he showed us how spices like – cardamom, black pepper, clove, ginger, turmeric grow along with some fruits such as pineapple etc. Guide showed us a plant which is called all spices which can be used as a leaf in your curries and you don’t need to add any other spices not even salt. Strange but true!!!
The Drive to alleppey was very very long but we covered the journey learning some malyali from Anthony especially the words which represent money like Rs. 100 which is called “Noora”. Alleppey is known as a charming village on the Vembanadu Lake and it is known for its azure backwaters, swaying palms, and floating houseboats. On arrival we checked into Kettuvallam the ethnic name for a famous Kerala Houseboat and started on with our journey towards the lake. We took a video of the house boat which was a one bed boat launched on 29th November and ours was the second trip after three Malaysian gals. Unni our houseboat pilot was very friendly and knew hindi. He allowed us to drive the houseboat and feel special. Though we couldn’t do justice to the profession but it was still good driving than on Delhi roads.
Lunch was supposed to be served at Houseboat by our cook onboard and we were already very hungry but so were our eyes to see the view. Cruise was supposed to take us through the unique web of lakes, lagoons, canals and river but the first spot was to visit the Snake Boat where the house boat was stationed for lunch. At lunch we were served Kerela kadi, beans, dal, roti, rice, papad and we had fortunately told our cook with us on board to use sunflower oil rather than coconut oil which we had heard is a bit weird to taste(spices still persisted). Just after lunch as we were about to disembark to see Historical Church, Paddy Field, Kuttanadan Region the only region cultivate rice below sea level there was rain all over us. It continued for two hours while we cursed and enjoyed the rain, but we lost time enough to enjoy the backwaters ride. After two hours our houseboat moved towards the houseboat junction where it was stationed for the night. But our enthusiasm was not affected by the rain and we took a ride in a small canoe in the lake around us. Unni negotiated with the canoe driver on the price, who shouted “Noor”, but Unni told us Rs. 150 keeping his cut. But we knew the word “Noora” and were smart enough to decide on Rs. 100 only. Unni made a face and we realized knowing the local language does help. Sun was almost setting but the rain poured again and the canoe pilot saved us by sparing some umbrellas and while getting down we wished him “Namni”(means shukriya). The spectacular sunset was almost missed by the time we came back to the house boat and it was all dark now. We were served evening snacks that is kela pakoda(they are sweet and not spicy) and coffee. All CDs on the houseboat were of malyali movies and we just had one option to watch Mustafa with our co-spectators, “Mosquitoes”. Cook our host on board, gave us an option to choose between oil and coil to avoid the mosquitoes and we chose to use Mortein coil to avoid the tiny beasts.
Dinner was served at around 9 but it was not candle light dinner. We wound up the movie after dinner and ran towards the AC room to take a nap after a long day. We were told the bed would be decorated so would recommend honeymooners to avail this deal in the package which we couldn’t :-).
10th December 08, 5.30 AM Alleppey
Alarm went loud and we could see no light outside the window, but we still moved out of the room to view the sun rise, as we had already missed the sunset. It was a great view with sun rays shining slowly to give a reddish look to the sky. Fishermen soon started to cross our houseboat for their work and some waved hand at us, “beautiful gals with eyes half open”. We clicked some snaps and continued to enjoy the rising sun with a morning coffee sip. At around 8 AM Unni came back and kettuvalam disembarked to reach the junction where we started from. On the way we clicked snaps, videos had our breakfast and reached the junction where Anothny was waiting for us. We bid farewell to the back waters in kerela to move towards kovalam.
10th December 08 4.30 PM, Kovalam
Kovalam is a internationally renowned beach(one of the top 10 beaches of World) and it has been favorite haunt of tourists since 1930's. A beach paradise with boundless blue of the Arabian Sea and is a sheltered natural bay and truly it was one. We were already very hungry when we reached our hotel and we moved out to check for a hotel. Sher-e-Punjab restaurant was what we wanted the most. North Indian food, after 5 days was a bliss and we ate more than our appetite along with a good chit chat with owner Ashok using proper Hindi. We came back to the hotel and moved towards the private beach in front of Palm shore where some foreigners were enjoying the sea. We joined them, clicked a lot of snaps and attempt to build a house in the name of Kerela development authority. Fun never ends when you are enjoying and so we continued to play around and there came the clouds again :-(. It didn’t rain fortunately but a clear sunset view was what we longed for. By the time sun was about to set, the clouds cleared a bit and we could see some good view of the setting sun. Dinner at Sher-e-Punjab followed by a stroll at the actual kovalam beach was a perfect way to end a hectic day.
11th December 08, 6.00 AM
Yet again we got up earlier than Mr. Sun and walked towards the beach to click some good snaps and enjoy the early morning stroll on sand. It was as beautiful as the evening and the light house became the best backdrop for our snaps.
At around 9.30 we started towards Kanyakumari, you must appreciate our appetite to see more and more. It was a 3 hour journey and we reached end of India, a spot of Kanyakumari to board a steamer to visit Vivekananda rock. After that we spent some time at Triveni Sangam (three oceans meet) trying to make out the three colors of the water. We could recognize only two but couldn’t wait till sunset as we had to visit wooden palace at our way back. When we reached the palace it was closed and we could just take a few picture at the gates. Am not elaborating much as these were only two places we could visit and it was very hot there. But the experience to touch the last end of India was too encouraging for us to still enjoy the place and the heat.
Next day, 12th December we clicked some snaps around the sea shore and boarded our flight from Trivandrum airport to travel back to Delhi via Chennai. India was playing against England and there was more security than usual at the airport. We are VIPs you would agree!! We had some snacks before boarding Jet-airways as it was no frills, but they served us food on a 1.5 hour flight which we never anticipated so we enjoyed the homely treatment. But Spice Jet(Chennai to Delhi) again mistreated us by providing us water only when we ordered something from their menu. These no frill flights are not worth a travel but price does matter!!!
After 16 days, 29th December 08
Having joined office and covering up a hectic schedule, I didn’t get any time to write this blog. But today, My boss commented on my Kerela snaps, “How can someone come back from such a place and work” and I could do nothing but smile. So, I decided I would walk down the memory lane and visit my beautiful holidays again.
Thanks a lot for reading through such a long blog, but am sure I have convinced you enough to attempt this visit to Kerela which I call - A Nature’s paradise. But do remember the best time to visit Kerela is in the winter months of Nov to Jan and the season starts on 15th December after which the hotel and travel rates would be high, so best before date according to me is 14th Dec. Also, Please remember to take the following along:
One Pullover for Munnar, Pudin hara for your stomach, mosquito repellent and some good CDs and DVDs for the houseboat and sunscreen lotion for Kovalam and an umbrella as it can rain without season.
Wish you a happy journey and a wonderful life!!!
