Kerella, India- A land like no other

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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 rice with our hand. Harder then we had 1st thought.
Next we went to the state of Kerella, up to Alleppey to see the famous backwaters. The people in Kerella have there own langue and Christians, Muslims and Hindus all live together peacefully with their communist government. In Alleppey we stayed in an old heritage home were we got home cooked meals from “mom” that left us so happy and full. We walked around the city rented bikes and rode into the village and had the most amazing coffee in the world at a local stall. We also went house boating down the back waters. It only cost 40$ each and we got our own private house boat with a bedroom bathroom, captain and private cook, for two days and one night. The backwaters were full of village people bathing, fishing and just going about their daily life. It was one of our favorite days on our trip so far and well worth the splurge in our budget.
Jeff’s dad has a friend who’s family owns a tea, rubber ect. plantation in Kanjiriappely. The family showed us around and helped us get on the bus to our next destination, but before that we had an amazing day with the family. We got home cooked meals and got to spend a couple hours at a gentlemen’s club. We had a few beers around the card table and felt like we were on a movie set, or in England.
Now we are in Kumily. We did a spice, tea plantation and coffee factory tour that was very interesting. It was cool to see how everything was made and what it can be used for. After our tour we could not resist buying too much fresh curry, coffee and aloe. As well we also bought a lot of other stuff. It is just too cheap to resist. I think our bags are going to be very full soon. Here we also went to a tiger reserve where we saw lots of wild animals; wild dogs, boars, bison and deer, on a boat that went down the river. We also spotted a few wild elephants on a hillside in the distance.
So far India has been amazing and fairly easy to get around which is nice. However, since we haven’t been to any of the big Indian cities yet we are still ready for many frustrating moments.

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Photos

Jeff in Kumily with the biggest fruit in the world
jack fruit

Comments

[dawn sandercock]

awesome
By looking at all the wonderful pics looks like you are having an amazing time. what an experience of a lifetime. cant wait to read more.