Blogs from Kumily, Kerala, India, Asia - page 2

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Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily May 9th 2010

i'm not saying Kumily is my favourite place in india, i don't have a fave, it's impossible, but recently, we have had a lots of "the is the best ____ in india!!!" moments. first the tea that i assisted in making in allepey, was declared by monica and others as the best in india! i can't take credit, it was Sumesh who made it, i just put in the tea powder, according to his instructions... here in Kumily, there is a "french bakery" run by local people, no-one french in sight, but they do have the BEST bread in india! home made brown bread, in fact possibly the best bread i have ever had! it's very hard to get good bread in india (not counting indian bread type products such as naan, porotha etc obviously), but ... read more

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily March 3rd 2010

Kumily, Kumily, Kumily Traveling by rickety local bus, we headed into another valley, still mostly covered by sculptured tea plantations, but now with many pockets of natural vegetation:massive bamboos, mimosa trees, jakarandas, with coffee, pepper and cardamon growing in the shade. We stayed in a bamboo cottage overlooking the stunning Periyar Nature Reserve... perfect setting for sunrise and sunset. No tigers unfortunately, but deer, wild pigs, lizards, and plenty of birds to entertain us...felt a bit like David Attenborough in his hide!! We treated ourselves to a tour of a Tea Factory established 150yrs ago by non other than the Brits. Due to a complete lack of Health and Safety precautions we were able to wander around the factory, and see up close the various processes of withering, crushing, fermenting and roasting that turns little green ... read more
View from our Hide
Periar Game reserve from our room
Our hide

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily February 23rd 2010

Kumily is a small town, existing mostly because of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, home to about 1,000 wild elephants and about 40 tigers. The climate is very pleasant and it is surrounded by jungle and tea and spice plantations. The following are notes from my diary when I was despairing of ever finding a fast computer and was reduced to scribbling in my notebook: Have been out on the balconey from 6 -- can't see much -- lots of bird song. At 6.30 thick mist rolls in obscuring everything. 10 minutes later it rolls out. At about 7 the sun starts to light the tops of the trees and the clouds recede. Many birds. I like it here. I want to stay 3 or 4 days. More birds -- different shapes and sizes -- can't really see ... read more
view from balconey
view
kids

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily February 1st 2010

Hi everyone! Its been a while since my last blog, but I have been quite busy. Last week we were finishing of the February addition of the magazine, so a lot of proof reading and editing had to be done. Hopefully it comes out okay. We decided we would go to Kumily for the weekend. Kumily is a small town right next door to the Periyar Wildlife Park, and a good base for exploring the area. We didn't have to go to work on Friday, so we decided we would take a 5 AM bus to do the four hour trip so we could have a full day there, however, finding the right bus isn't always easy here! We spent almost an hour at the bus station asking "When is the direct bus to Kumily?", to ... read more

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily February 1st 2010

Ce week-end nous avons prévu d'aller découvrir la jungle du Kerala, réputée pour une flore luxuriante et une faune abondante. Ce week-end commença de manière assez matinal, levé à 5h pour aller prendre la bus. Alors que nous nous dirigions vers la station, la ville, encore sombre, s'éveillait peu à peu autour de nous. Arrivés à la station, bien en avance, aucune indication sur les bus, du moins pas en anglais. Ce fut donc après s'être adressé à un grand nombre d'indiens qui à chaque fois nous disait la même chose : " It is the next one", que nous avons trouvé notre bus. En attendant le prochain qui fut en fait le 5 ème ou le 6 ème (la patience se cultive facilement en Inde) nous sommes allés prendre un thé Masala et quelques bananes. ... read more
Our Bus
Kumily's street
Fruit Shop

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily January 27th 2010

There is nothing like a dirty bathroom to make you appreciate a clean one. In fact, for the last few days my mood seems to be directly linked with the cleanliness of my hotel room! Today I am the happiest I have ever been since I left Goa! I am in heaven, don't even feel like leaving my room anymore... But first thing first... My last evening in Alleppey was very pleasant. The guest house where I stayed was so cute, it looked like a houseboat, and there was a big sitting area where a whole bunch of travellers ended up drinking beers and chatting. I met people from Italy, England, Iceland, and even Canada! I spoke my real Quebec French with a girl from Montreal, it was great! We exchanged travel stories and the Italian ... read more

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily January 8th 2010

So on 6th of Jan I checked out of the ashram, with some happy memories, great friends and a good toned healthy body in tow. I thought I would just head down to meet my girlfriends in Varkala for a few days before we all went our separate ways. We had such a laugh together on the beach at sunset. The following morning though - Gail - one of the girls and I headed north for our mission to the spice fields and a large wildlife park in the Western Ghats. Its a chance to escape the heat and see some mountains for a few weeks. The lonely planet route certainly seems to be down the west coast and its all a bit tiring talking to people on the same well worn path every day..... think ... read more
me and the yoga babes

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily January 5th 2010

Geo: 9.60651, 77.164 Kumily Today we passed more plantations, stunning scenery and reached Kumily, which is serene and they call it " God's own country". The landscape on here is amazing with hills, lush green trees and beautiful waterfalls, we were taken to Spice Plantation and given a guided tour of all the plants. We saw Cardamom, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, pepper, vanilla, ginger and turmeric plants. We also saw some pineapples and lemongrass. I really loved seeing all the lovely spice plants and the warm fresh aroma in the beautiful surroundings. I am very potty about all the plants and it was great joy for me to see all these rare plants, I bought a packet of spice which had small quantity of all the spices and Jasmine soap bars with lovely aroma, the Jasmine Soap ... read more
Munnar
Munnar
Munnar

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily December 26th 2009

Christmas Day was a travelling day and we left Madurai at 9 am. Not much time to open presents which was OK because Santa didn’t call anyway. Perhaps he was running late, or in a hurry! On Thursday evening we had our special inclusive hotel buffet along with some local entertainers. They were a motley looking bunch probably rejected by the local circus. There was very loud music from a bugle and a drum, a few balancing tricks, some half hearted dancing, then the highlight - leaping through a fiery hoop. Oh well, they tried. Perhaps with a bit more rehearsal Simon Cowell might take them onboard. Following that excitement we drove back to the temple to see the ceremony where Shiva is put to bed for the night. His “remains” are carried through the temple ... read more
National Park
Elephant time!

Asia » India » Kerala » Kumily August 31st 2009

India so far has been a very new and exciting experience for us. It is so different from the rest of Asia. All the women here wear saris and most men wear a traditional type of wrap instead of pants. So you can image how we must stick out like sore thumbs here. The colours of the saris are such as nice contrast to the dirty shops and streets. Our first stop was Trichy were we flew in. There we stayed in a hotel that was right out of the 30s and smelled and looked liked it had not been used since then. This was the best place we could find after looking for some time. There were some amazing temples in the city and we tried for the first time to eat curry and ... read more
View from rock temple
temple
Beach in Kerela




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