Away from the tourists

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Kannur is our first stop in Kerala and its been a great introduction. Our train journey down the coast from Mangalore was much the same as the one to Mangalore but just with increasing numbers of palm trees. It is very beautiful and unspoilt countryside and the train is a great way to see it away from the busy roads.

One thing that struck us almost immediately is that Kerala is very clean. All the cars, trucks, and even the autos seem to be cleaned on a daily basis. Most people are dressed in clean and freshly pressed clothes and the streets are all swept clean of rubbish on a regular basis. The people here also seem to take care in ensuring that at stays clean by not dropping litter.

Also the people here are very friendly and even though their english is not as good as some other places they are still keen to chat and say hello. We met some really nice local guys last night who are going to take us out to their village late and show us round. There are very few places we have visited so far that we could hope to have an experience like that.

In the 2 days we have been here we have only seen two other westerners. There is very little foreign tourism here and so it has been a really nice experience to visit somewhere where you are not immediately targetted for the colour of your skin.

The town itself is relatively compact and you can walk to most places easily although autos are very cheap. The beach here is completely deserted but there are signs up saying it is dangerous to swim so that may put some people off. Also it is a largely Muslim area so swimming costumes may cause offense (although we didn't see anyone else on the beach!).

The other thing that struck us is how many book shops there are here. Chatting to one of the restaurant owners he said that people in Kerala like to be aware of what is going on in the world and are very political. Even though the area is quite wealthy (a lot of money from the middle east) most people are left-wing/communist and there are a large number of cooperatives in this town.

All in all I'd have to recommend Kannur to anyone travelling down from Goa to Kerala. Its a great place to get away from the tourist traps and relax while seeing a bit more real life.

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