A visit to Kerala, God's own country
Sep 26 2007 | Views 988 |
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Tags: A traveller's personal feelings about her trip to Kerala.
Tags: A traveller's personal feelings about her trip to Kerala.
I had been promised this trip for a very long time but somehow it never came to pass. He, my charming husband, was always busy. He was stuck to his office workas if with fevicol.All those weekends, pouring over the travelogues and browsing was sheer waste of time.
Finally , the gentleman in him wokeup and decided it was time to keepa long lost promise. So, last december weset off for God's own country.
It was an early morning flight from Bangalore to Cochin where a chauffeur and a car were waiting to pick us up. After a quick breakfast of piping hot idlis we were on our way to Munnar. I had grown up amidst tea gardens but it had been quite a while since i saw one and Munnar was a treat to my soul. On the way through quaint little towns we saw beautiful waterfalls and lush gardens.
At a particular view point while we stopped to capture the sunset in our camerasI had the coolest coconut water in my life.
We reached the resort, Cloud 9, around lunchtime.
It wasa beautiful resort, with little cottages that faced the lovely hills covered with tea gardens. Standing inthe patio of our cottage we could view a sparkling waterfall, the waters cascading down the mountain side, happily gurgling and splashing over the rocks.
The resort was full oftourists , mostly from New Zealand and Australia who were gearing up in the afternoon tocycle down the winding roads, complete with helmets and other accessories. I satisfied myself with a quiet walk through therows of tea bushes.
The driver took us to different view points in the evening to get more pictures of the setting sun.
Next morning, we went shopping at the sweet little market at Munnar town. Our visit would be incomplete without the home made chocolates! and tea and coffee powder. Then we went to the shooting pointfor amotor boat rideon the lake. on the way back we stopped to buy some farm fresh strawberries and carrots. As we had already seen tea factories earlier we decided todelete it from our itinerary.
Our nextdestination was Thekkady where we put up at Aranyna Nivas, in the heart of the forest next to the Periyar lake. The best thing here was the Ayurvedic oil massage. Oh! so rejuvenating! We thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride on the lake early in the morning. It was great to see the animals at the water hole but all we got to watch were a couple of deer and a bison. The elephants and tigers were probably still in bed!
At Thekkady, we visited a spice garden, learnt about the different plants andshopped for spices of all hues and purposes, not to forget the aromatic oils!
Finally it was time to leave Thekkady but the best was yet to come. We were now headed for Alleppey!
As we moved down the ghat roads it becamewarmer. we hadto stop at several places to siptender coconut water in an attempt to cool ourselves. It was too humid to stay awake andI dozed off for sometime. WhenI woke up we had reached the Alleppey jetty.The place was chocablock with houseboats known as "Ketuvallams". We had booked our boat with the Evergreen Tours and Travels.
Wow! what a cute little boat, with a bedroom, an attached toilet, a sundeck, and a kitchen at the back. We had the services of a captain, a cook and a steward ... atleast for 24 hours!
What fun! we were welcomed with fruits and coconutwater, followed by a sumptuous lunch, cooked in typical Kerala style.Later, we just sat on the sundeck and soaked in the sun andthe breeze.We cruised down lazily along the lovely lagoons watchingthe multitude of ducksgliding along and the birds swooping down to catch fish. It was the 31st of december. At around 5 pm the captain tied the boat at a spot near a village. While my husband and daughter played a game on the sundeck i got off the board and took a walk in the village.Our cook, Prasanth, accompanied me. There was a temple at the village andI went in to offer my prayersand seek God's blessings for the new year.
That night, as we lay down to sleep on theopen sundeck yet another dream was fulfilled, to sleep under the starry skies! Ourangelhad the bedroom to herself as wesnuggled against each other andslept with the soothing sound of the waters gently slapping against the boat.
The last lap of our Kerala tripincluded a visit to Kumarakom. The houseboat dropped us the next day at the resort called "Whispering Palms". We were hungry after a swim in the pool and binged on the great fare displayed in the dining hall. That evening we enjoyed a free boat ride, courtesy the resort and later enjoyed each others company over a cup of coffee. But earlier in the afternoonI simply whiled away my time in a hammock,dreaming of days gone by.
At Cochin we had enough time tovisit the jew town, and see the synagogue, vasco da Gama's bungalow, St Thomas's Cathedral, the Dutch palaceand the famous Chinese fishing nets. My daughter and I collected around 200 shells from the beach which are lying there in the drawer of her studytable now.
Whenever i see those shellsI can feel the cool, smooth sands of the Cochin beach. The memories of this trip would remain with us forever!
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