Blogs from Idukki, Kerala, India, Asia
March 8th 2009
Tree hut Taken on a trip to thommankuthu waterfalls, great place with an amazing background music of rushing water --------------- ... read more
December 25th 2008
From the boathouse, I took a public ferry through the backwater canals to Kottayam, the urban commercial hub of the backwaters, and then a bus up up up into the Western Ghats range to Kumily, the gateway to Periyar Tiger Reserve. The ferry was another opportunity to watch village life in the backwaters, which seems not unlike life in other rural villages, but the backwaters overlay the common washing-cooking-moving-about scenes with mystical quiet remote isolation, a different world. The bus ride up the mountains to Kumily goes through rubber tree plantations, then through shady coffee, tea, and spice plantations. Rubber (like coffee) is gathered on a micro-scale, where individual families with a few trees tap then dry the milk at home, smoke it in their kitchens to give it color, and then sell it directly to ... read more
October 7th 2006
The road to Munnar is lined with signboards on Neelakurinji and Nilgiri tahr. The Kerala forest department is on a double-edged drive to advertise and create awareness on the rare flower that blooms only once in 12 years. Official estimate expects 5 lakh visitors to this popular hill station this season. Forest and tourism department have joined the Idukki district administration to form task teams to manage the mega event. Munnar town is in festivity. The town survives on tea and tourism. Hotel managers, taxi drivers, roadside vendors…everyone is working overtime cashing in on the first Neelakurinji season after tourism became a buzzword in Kerala. The town is brimming with people. Rooms are almost full. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Neelakurinji aka Stobilanthus kunthianus is a gregarious shrub that grows at an altitude of ... read more
