God's own country, Kerala

Munnar

Kerala montage

We finally made it to Kerala. Our flight out of Chennai was cancelled which meant an extra night there and luckily we managed to book onto a flight the following day instead. There was no sign of our driver to take us to the airport so we used the hotel banger instead. The driver got us there intact and it was only when we’d arrived at the airport that we realised that one of the back tyres was hanging off as we’d had a puncture.

We had a long wait in the airport, and with a 5 hour delay it meant a 1.30am arrival in Kerala. But there were plenty of people that had been in the airport since before the storm, so 2 or maybe even 3 days. They were in fairly high spirits though, which was crazy when you compare it to a similar situation in the UK. People would be going nuts. 

We arrived in Kerala which is fairly small for an international airport. No driver to pick us up again. This seemed to be becoming a ‘thing’ now…We took a local cab to our hotel and straight to bed. In the morning our driver appeared and told us that he had been at the airport and in fact he had seen us waiting, wandering around and wondering where he was – he even watched us get into another cab, but he didn’t have a name sign for us and he didn’t think to approach us. 

Munnar tea plantations

Anyway, we were there, and it was beautiful.  Munnar is so lush and green, and our hotel was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by waterfalls. We stopped off at a nature park where they grow all sorts of herbs and spices, for teas, food, medicines, fruit. It was actually pretty interesting and I managed to name quite a few of the spices much to the guide’s surprise.

We had a walk before dinner to get the lay of the land, but we were miles out of town (shocker). It was such a gorgeous spot, we didn’t really care. Instead I managed to reinstall MS Office (exciting I know) and we relaxed. 

Lake in Munnar

We went into Munnar proper the next day. We visited the Rose Garden which was full of local plants – not really our sort of thing but pleasant enough and then went to the nearby national park, Eravikulum, which was beautiful. We took a white knuckle ride on a bus to about 1.5km from the top where we spotted several endangered deer called Tahr. Later on we asked our driver to take us to a bottle shop to get some beer – which is rarer than the deer here. (There’s a song in there somewhere).

Thekaddy 

Deeper into Kerala we went and to a small village near Thekaddy called Kumily. The hotel was a nice chalet type with beautiful gardens. We walked round the village and found a bar near our hotel for a couple of drinks and dinner. 

Restaurant toilet somewhere en route to Kumily

The following day we were up at 5am for a boat ride. There is a national park in Kumily called Periyar, which is where we were going for a boat ride. After queuing for an hour as everyone there felt the need to push in (we were advised by someone pushing in to push back) we were on the boat. All of the boats were quite large – ours was a double decker and we were on the upper deck. Despite the railings, the size of the boats and the fact that there was no wind or current, we were all told to wear full size life jackets. Health and safety was seemingly vital on boats, but not so much in cars. We’ve been told it was because a lot of Indians can’t swim, but I can’t vouch for that as I didn’t see anyone fall in. A lot of Indians can’t drive either but that doesn’t seem to stop them.

We saw plenty of birds including storks and kingfishers (we knew what they were from the beer bottles), we saw wild boar, bison and a herd of elephant which really made our day. After that we didn’t do much apart from stroll around the village. It was nice to relax for a couple of days.

Alleppey 

We arrived in Alleppey for a night on a houseboat. With no idea what to expect, I did a search online to find out more. It didn’t look good…boring, dirty, smelly…we were a bit worried about sharing the boat to be honest. In fairness, not all reviews were bad, but of course the negative ones always stand out don’t they? So with some trepidation, we arrived. And wow, it was amazing. 

Houseboat

The houseboat was huge and we had it all to ourselves, along with 3 crew members who were cooking, driving (is that what you do with a boat?) and generally looking after us. We were greeted with a coconut each to drink and we had the day and the night to relax and be looked after. Fabulous.

Feast on our houseboat

We went out on a small canoe to go down the backwaters where we saw locals living along the water going about their day to day life. We stopped for an ice-cream and once we returned to the houseboat, the driver took the ice-cream pots from us and promptly chucked them in a bush! The attitude to litter here is awful, and it is almost like people can’t see the problem. Unfortunately it is so big it probably feels insurmountable which is a real shame. 

Canoe ride

Later on we took a tuk-tuk to see the sunset on the local beach. It was a bit of a rip-off as the price was extortionate and we missed the sunset, but we got to see the town and the kids out on the beach flying kites and expertly playing frisbee. 

The boat experience was fantastic and I would really recommend it to anyone visiting Kerala. This was all part of our package but I would say it was about £120 for the pair of us including food. The food was really good and there was plenty of it. Unfortunately Baby D was sick – completely unrelated to the food, and spent the night either shivering in bed or in the loo. I was boiling alive because I couldn’t turn the air conditioning on, as Baby D was cold and poorly, so neither of us slept that night.

Kochi

After Alleppey we went back to Kochi for the night but to a different hotel from the one we’d stayed in when we arrived in Kerala. This hotel had a snotty receptionist who kept us waiting for no apparent reason for about 45 minutes. Not good when you’re sick or tired, or both. 

Eventually we grabbed the key and our bags and left her tutting at us, to go to our room, which was filthy. We took one look at it and asked to be moved. The next room was just as bad and the third room was not much better but we asked for clean bedding and we stayed put. We didn’t see the huge cockroach until the next morning! As we had booked another night in case our night train to Goa was delayed, we were moved again. Thankfully the train wasn’t delayed because the new room (an upgrade don’tcha know) was full of newly hatched mosquitoes in the bathroom. This is making me itch as I type…I would rather be with the cockroach. 

Chinese fishing nets

Perfume and incense shop in Fort Kochi

Before we left Kochi, we went exploring on foot and ended up taking a ferry to Fort Kochi. We saw the old Chinese fishing nets which have been in use for hundreds of years, when the Chinese used to fish there funnily enough. They are still used but only 11 were in operation. We had a go, and caught 3 tiny fish and loads of rubbish. Everything is operated manually and they use heavy weights to counter the nets in the water. We walked around the town which is quite touristy in an unobtrusive way, and wandered down to Jew Town to see the synagogue, which was closed!

Next up, Goa for Christmas and New Year.

#kerala #munnar #thekaddy #alleppey #kochi #eravikulum #periyar