OUR TRIP TO KERALA - FINALE

BACK TO KOCHI

We left kumarakom on our way back to Kochi, thus completing a full circle. We reached the outskirts of Kochi after a drive of about two hours. We stopped at "Fort Kochi" which is an area of water-bound regions located towards the south-west of mainland Kochi. It is famous for its Jewish quarter, the Dutch Palace and the "Chinese fishing nets" - the last introduced (Wikipedia)by the Chinese explorer Zheng He . 

A TYPICAL CHINESE FISHING NET

According to Wikipedia, the Chinese fishing nets are fixed land installations for an unusual form of fishing — shore operated lift nets. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. Each structure is at least 10 m high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. The system is sufficiently balanced that the weight of a man walking along the main beam is sufficient to cause the net to descend into the sea. The net is left for a short time, possibly just a few minutes, before it is raised by pulling on ropes.

Among all the common wealth countries of the world, the Jewish Synagogue, Kochi is the oldest existing synagogue. The prosperous Jewish trading community built it in 1568 AD.

The Jewish Synagogue, Kochi

In the mid 18th century, the clock tower was attached to the main building of the synagogue. The interior of the Jewish Synagogue at Kochi is adorned with Belgian chandeliers and grand lightings. 

After a quick lunch, we visited the "Kerala Folklore Theater and Museum", which contains unique works of art and ancient artifacts of Kerala, all apparently collected by one man. This museum turned out to be a veritable treasure trove and is strongly recommended for a visit.

Close Up - Kerala Masks

General View of the Mask Display

Ornate Wooden Ceiling & Chandeliers

Tanjore Style Paintings

Painting of Kathakali Dancers

The visit to the museum brought us to the end of our trip. It only remained to drive to the airport for our return flight. It was a very pleasant drive with coconut palms and greenery all around us.

After and hour or so, we arrived at the Kochi Airport and said Goodbye to our chauffer who had been our constant companion for about a week and had shown us so many beautiful things.

Cochin Airport (Image: www.cochinairport.org)

We checked in at the airport and boarded our flight after some time. We felt sad at going but silently made up our minds to return to "God's Own Country" someday.

OUR TRIP TO KERALA - PART THREE

ON TO KUMARAKOM !


We left Periyar at 9 am on the next leg of our trip, which would take us to Kumarakom. It would take about 3 hours and the drive was once again to be downhill. Kumarakom is an internationally famous tourist destination for its backwaters fringed with coconut palms.

The Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast of Kerala. They consist of a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets, a labyrinthine system of over 500 km of waterways. There are many resorts around the backwaters and one can also stay in houseboats, which can be as luxurious as one wants.

Map of Kerala Backwaters
(Wikipedia)

We had planned to stay at a houseboat which would take us for trips all over the Vembanad lake, which is one of the largest lakes on the backwaters, covering more than 200 square kilometres. We passed through the bustling town of Kottayam and soon found ourselves at the landing stage where our houseboat was anchored.

Over the next 24 hours, we stayed in the houseboat and went on an extended tour of the lovely backwaters, including the Vembanad lake.

Our Houseboat "Shivam"

Living Room

Setting Out on the Cruise

Lovely Patterns of Nature

A Large Houseboat on the Vambanad Lake

Serenity

A Tourist Resort on the Backwaters

Moored Houseboat - Early Morning Scene

A Cruising Houseboat

God's Own Country

After cruising the backwaters the whole day, we returned to the anchorage in the evening. After spending a comfortable night in the houseboat, we went out again for an early morning cruise and returned at about 9 am. 

It was time to go, We thanked the staff of the houseboat and got into the car for the final leg of our trip.

To be continued ..... 

OUR TRIP TO KERALA – PART TWO

MORE ON MUNNAR

Apart from tea gardens, we found many beautiful flowers and ornamental plants in Munnar.

BREATHTAKING FLORA OF MUNNAR

THE TEA MUSEUM - MUNNAR

At the “Tea Museum” run by Tata Tea showed we learnt the tea manufacturing process demonstrated with a running pilot plant. We bought some processed tea of different types from the counter at the museum.

Later we stopped by a local dam with a huge lake behind it. Poor light prevented us from taking pictures here. By afternoon It started raining, not a torrential downpour but rather a thin, cold drizzle. The temperature dropped suddenly and we wanted to return to the shelter of our hotel which was located high on a mountaintop. We drove up a winding road and suddenly found fog creeping up from the valley floor.

FOG OVER THE TEA GARDENS

MIST COVERING THE HOTEL IN THE AFTERNOON

The next morning, we found that the fog disappeared as soon as the sun came up and the fantastic valleys with hundreds of green trees and mountain ranges stretching away to the horizon could be seen from the hotel window. Photography cannot do justice to nature’s infinite variety. Moreover, it was shot through a thick glass pane. Still, I think it gives some idea of the natural beauty of Munnar.

THE ROLLING HILLS OF MUNNAR

It was now time to say “Goodbye” to Munnar. Regretfully, we got in for the next leg of our trip, which would take us to the heart of the spice country.


THEKKADY, HERE WE COME !

The drive to Thekkady was all through hilly terrain. The roads were quite steep though most of the time, we were going downhill at a fast pace and holding our breath as we negotiated yet another hairpin bend.. After about 3 hours, we reached the town of Thekkady where a lot of the spices, for which Kerala has been famous for centuries, are grown. There are numerous farms which grow spices and sell them to tourists. We went round one of them and bought some pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and some essential oils extracted from different plants and trees like Eucalyptus.

Near Thekkady lies the famous Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Set high in the ranges of the Western Ghats is the Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve with a picturesque lake at its heart. Formed with the building of a dam in 1895, this reservoir meanders around the contours of the wooded hills, providing a permanent source of water for the local wildlife. Though it’s a tiger Reserve, tourists come here to view elephants, wild buffalo, wild boar, Sambar deer and very rarely, a tiger. We were told that the tiger population has come down to about 40 today.

Our hotel was fortunately located right inside the forest area very close to the wildlife sanctuary. In fact we saw a sambar deer near our hotel. There are excellent double decker launches for tourists onerom which one can comfortably observe wildlife as one cruises on the tranquil waters of the reservoir. This is, of course, subject to the weather. If it rains, it is impossible to see any animals.

THE LANDING STAGE FOR THE LAUNCHES AT PERIYAR

WILD ELEPHANTS

HERD OF WILD BUFFALOS

To be continued …..

OUR TRIP TO KERALA - PART ONE

PREAMBLE TO THIS POST
I have not contributed to this blog for some years now. This was not intentional. Life at the workplace had been, as they say these days, challenging when I was close to retirement. I retired in 2008 and relocated to my home town, about 1,500 km away. Putting down roots in a new place always comes with its own set of problems and it took us time to find our feet. Immediately after that, we had to shift again, this time in the same area where we lived but to a new house. Relocation we found was relocation, whether it was 1,500 km away or in the same town. We had to go through the process once again. At the end of it all, my wife and I were tired but contented at having settled down at last. One more factor was that, in the last 6 years, we were blessed with two lovely granddaughters. These were welcome events but needed a lot of travelling and consequent dislocation since our son and his wife live abroad.
Now at last I have started picking up the threads of my life on the net and that brought me to “My Page”, which is, of course, one of my blogs. I hope to be fairly regular this time and publish more posts with some degree of regularity. My readers, please bear with me.
OUR TRIP TO KERALA:
I am devoting this post to a short account of our trip to Kerala, a state in Southern India, popularly known as “God’s Own Country” on account of its scenic beauty. Our trip was fairly short and was devoted to visiting areas of interest in and around Cochin, or Kochi as it is called today.
My wife and I flew down by a morning flight to Kochi. We could see a coastline fringed with coconut palms from the air. The airport building at Kochi was beautiful – it was constructed in a traditional Kerala design- with lovely red sloping roofs covered with faux tiles. It was not a monolithic building but split into small sections, each with its own share of red roofs. All in all, it was a welcoming sight offering a traditional welcome to the visitor.
A map of Kerala state is given below. The map shows the different districts of the state. Kerala is divided into 14 districts. Kochi lies in the Ernakulam district. Our trip took us to various places in the adjoining districts of Idukki and Kottayam.
We stayed overnight at Kochi and started by road the next morning. Our destination was the hill town of Munnar, known for its cool weather and picturesque tea gardens. On the way we saw the famous Hill Palace which was built by the Rajas of Cochin in 1865. Today it houses a museum with many fine relics including precious stones and jewellery. Unfortunately, photography inside the palace is prohibited. I can only give a picture of the palace taken from the outside. The gardens surrounding the palace have rare medicinal plants.

We started going uphill shortly after the Hill Palace and shortly passed some lovely waterfalls, one of which is shown here.

We passed through winding roads with many hairpin bends, all the time steadily going up till at last we came to a very green area with tea gardens on all sides. The bluish hills stretched away to the horizon. It was a lovely sight.
We had finally arrived at Munnar.
Munnar town is in the Kannan Devan Hills ( KDH ) Village and is in the Idukki district of Kerala. The region in and around Munnar varies in height from 1,450 meters (4,760 ft) to 2,695 meters (8,842 ft) above mean sea level. Munnar enjoys a salubrious climate with the temperature ranging from 5-25 °C in winter and 15-25 °C in summer.
Munnar is essentially a tea town. Tea cultivation was introduced to Munnar in the colonial times back in the 19^th century and tea gardens now cover almost every hillside. The green tea bushes are a lovely sight. Towards the afternoon, fog starts to creep up from the valleys and covers the hilltops too in a very short time. It is a sight to see. I share a few pictures of the tea gardens of Munnar with you.

The tea leaves are plucked mostly by women and they can be seen working here. The tree plant is not a bush although it appears like that in the photos. The plants are deliberately pruned to get a good crop of leaves. Each tea plant has an economic life of about 40 years.

The next picture shows the afternoon fog creeping up the valley. Fog can be seen in the morning too (next picture) but usually goes away as the sun comes up.
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To be continued .....