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Published: January 21st 2010
Fort Cochin Sunset
View from the net where I proposed to Suze... Yep, after ten years of dilly-dallying, I finally popped the question. I won't go into the intricacies, but it happened at sunset on one of the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets on the harbour at Fort Cochin. The celebrations began with chai, and ended with some surprisingly drinkable Indian wine, grown in Karanataka and called Grover. And yes, we're both incredibly happy...
Anyway, this is a travel blog, so I will return to matters travel-related. Two weeks ago, we left the temple city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and climbed the winding highway up the Western Ghats, the mountain range running through the centre of India, to the hill town of Kumilly in Kerala.
Now, Kerala is quite a peculiar place, even by Indian standards. A relatively tiny sliver in the southwest corner of the country, it has "only" 31 million people (compared to mega-state Uttar Pradesh's 170 million or so). It has the highest life expectancy of the country (ten years above the national average); it has the highest literacy rate (it hit 100%!(NOVERB)
Nilgiri Tahr
A wild mountain goat at Eravikulam NP, Munnar back in the 1990s according to the state government; other sources put it at 90% - but it is still very high); it also has the highest suicide and alcohol consumption rates. On top of all that, it was the first place in the world to elect a Communist government in a democratic election, back in the 50s. The Commies are in charge again today, and it is rather bizarre to think that this noticeably richer, more educated Indian state, is largely the product of enlightened socialist policies. Everywhere you go, the place feels a step above the rest of the nation - less hassle, more friendly encounters, better developed tourist infrastructure, better roads...but of course, the higher prices to go with it.
Kumilly is famous for its spices and the nearby Periyar Tiger Sanctuary, so the place is quite a mecca for tourists, foreign and Indian alike, and so it has mushroomed in size since last I was there, in 1998. Even the hotel I stayed at back then has doubled in area, and every spare patch of ground between the town and the tiger sanctuary has been filled with restaurants, homestays, and Kashmiri handicraft shops, all designed
Tea Fields
Tea fields in Munnar to lighten the load of rupees being carted around by the many visitors. The main drawcard should be the sanctuary, but if you are after an Indian wildlife experience, it probably isn't the best place to go. Despite its name, it has only 45 tigers, and the area of the park open to tourists is only home to one or two of those, so your chances of actually seeing a tiger are remote. Which I suppose makes it a pretty good sanctuary, then.
Until recently, the best way to spot the larger wildlife (especially elephants) was to take a cruise on Periyar Lake; however, three months ago tragedy struck, when a boatload of Indian tourists capsized. 45 people drowned, due to the fact that a) the boat had been double-loaded to maximise profits, and b) most Indians can't swim. I can't imagine the effect of these terrible drownings on the local community, but when we visited, everything seemed back to normal, except for the fact that the lake was out of bounds. (Boat trips resumed last week, according to the newspapers, and now everyone has to wear life jackets).
So we opted for a day trek and a
Carom and Kingfisher
Perfect Indian sunset: carom and beer night trek in the park. The day one was fairly uneventful, and apart from a few monkeys the only wildlife we saw were the legions of leeches charging up our shoes. We did, however, see two sets of tiger footprints, and even a tree that had been scratched by a tiger's claws, which was a pretty awesome reminder of the beasts who we were sharing the forest with. The night trek was great fun, and even though we only saw a few sambar (large deer) and boar, the fact that we were stumbling blindly through the tiger forest in the pitch black did set our imaginations off a tad.
Otherwise in Kumilly, we saw a spice plantation, hired some bikes, and enjoyed cardamom tea by the potload. Then it was back down the other side of the Western Ghats, to Kerala's main attraction - backwater country. Between the commercial capital of Kochi, and the political capital of Trivandrum, lie hundreds of kilometres of palm-fringed canals, lakes and waterways, full of boats of every size and description ferrying people and cargo between the idyllic villages that dot the area. There are many ways to enjoy the backwaters, but Suze and
Giant Dosa
Eating a gigantic masala dosa, Aleppey I went for the cheesiest and most expensive - but also the most luxurious. We ignored the budget for 24 hours, and went on a houseboat, basically a converted rice barge that has been turned into beautiful accommodation for rupee-rich tourists. You board the boat one morning, and spend the rest of the day being plied with fruit juice, beer and incredible Keralan cuisine, by your very own chef. Meanwhile, your very own skipper is driving the boat all over the backwaters. You then sleep the night in your fancy cabin, while the boat is moored along a canal somewhere, and then the next morning you return to Aleppey, the town where it all began the previous day. A real splurge, but some of the best service and food I've ever had, in one of the most stunning locations.
We loved the backwaters so much that we stayed another four days, in a lakeside hotel a few kilometres from Aleppey. For a few days, we were the only guests there, and we spent our days reading, walking and canoeing. The pace of life in the backwaters is pretty relaxed, and we didn't have too many problems with joining in.
Canoeing
Suze rows us through the backwaters Next stop was Kochi, another place I stayed 12 years ago, but was eager to see again. Kochi City is actually spread over a collection of islands and penisulae based around a lake and the Arabian Sea, but the portion that attracts tourists is the historical town of Fort Cochin. Settled over the past two millennia by Syrian Christians, Jewish and Arab traders, and Portuguese, Dutch and British empire-builders, the town is just brimming with history. Not only that, but it has a very pleasant and relaxed vibe, and is well set up for travellers with decent hotels, great food, and plenty of shops. The harbourside location is also incredibly beautiful, especially the spot where the wooden Chinese fishing nets are raised and lowered during high tide each day - the very place I chose to propose to Susan.
Our final stop in Kerala was the tea town of Munnar, 1500 metres high in the Western Ghats. Despite being in the same ranges, it feels very different to Kumilly, and the main attractions here are tea and mountain goats, rather than cardamom and tigers. We spent three lovely days trekking through vast tea plantations (all seemingly owned by
Me and my Tahr
Me getting close to nature, Eravikulam NP India's biggest company, the car-truck-bus-communications-tea behemoth, Tata), as well as motorbiking up to alpine lakes for a spell of pedal-boating (c'mon, we are engaged now, isn't that what we're supposed to do?).
We also checked out the stunningly beautiful Eravikulam National Park, one of the last refuges of the rare Nilgiri tahr (a type of mountain goat). We were lucky enough to get within touching distance of a flock of seven of these very tame creatures, which, despite looking just like your average goat, still made the heart flutter a little. Why? Well, just like at Periyar, or any of India's national parks: any place in this crowded, bursting-at-the-seams, polluted nation that you can still get close to nature, is pretty special.
Let's hope India can get the balance of development versus conservation right into the future, as it hurtles toward the point of overtaking China as world's most populous nation. Maybe Kerala can teach the rest of the country a few lessons - apart from the suicide and alcoholism, of course.
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sam
non-member comment
Congratulations
congratulatuons! no beter place to get engaged than gods own country!