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Published: March 31st 2010
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Kerala and the backwater.
Hey guys, remember Hampi and Bangalore, well now we're going to talk about God own state Kerala. This truly one of the most fantastic place I've ever been. Backwater (part of the 100 things to do before you died), Varkala beach, Kovalam Beach, Kochi and the Chinese fishing net and the highlight of the trip in that state Munar and the tea plantation. We're going to talk about all those great things that are worth every Rupees spent over there.
First we went in Kochi from Bangalore after a 9 hours train trip, nothing special on the way except a surprising beriani for 30 Rupees. The great surprise was when we got to the train station at 2 am, our pickup from the Dreamcatcher Guest house was there waiting for us. And on top of that it was the owner of the place, Bernard, that came along with his driver since he could not sleep on that night... why not. Very nice place to stay good price very good breakfast and he booked us a 1 day trip in the backwater for 550 Rupees including lunch and transports, basically everything. On that tour we learned
how the coconut industry is important to Kerala, one coconut is used for food, milk, oil and they make ropes out of it. Those ropes are use for everything including to hold the boat we are riding in. Kochi is a very good place to arrive in Kerala since you north of all the attraction except Wayanad Wild life Sanctuary. So from there we booked our trip to Munar and organized the Alleipey, Varkala and Kovalam. About the famous Chinese fishing net, according to our Lonely Planet, the best time to view them is under the sunset, the problem is that for the best picture, you have to be on the government boat that do the shuttle between Kochi and the islands where you can find Cherai beach (a very boring beach not really worth the time). Now the problem is that if you want that picture, be ready to fight your way in that boat with all the other tourists. I wasn't welling to fight the crowd, so I got a very nice shot right right on day time....
Next we had organized our self to go to Alleipey, in order to do the real backwater experience. We
decided to book a night at Jonhson's Guest House, one of the best choice we made in the trip. Johnson, the name of the owner actually have a houseboat and offer some amazing 24 hours tours. we went for the big package and book the 8000 Rupees options that seems really complete for that amazing experience. It was over budget, but where on the once in a life time mentality on that day. Seems that some powerful spirit from Kerala knew we were tight on the money and sent us a group of 7 Swedish students that were in a two weeks break from their Indian semester in Puney (one hour from Mumbai), so Johnson, which one of the nicest guy I have met in India, obviously made us a bargain, and the tour came to 1500 Rupees per head. What a tour, awesome house boat, awesome crew awesome food, which was all included in the price, so much food that the nine of us couldn't finish our plates... We did some walking in a village, some canoeing and even some fishing... Very nice one of the great tour we did.
After that we headed to Varkala. WOW the
beach is absolutely beautiful, better than Goa, yes better than Goa. We stayed at the Clafouti resort on the recommendation of Bernard from Kochi. A real dream place, like Goa with some huts, but luxury huts, including AC and TV... Food was good lot of options, Daphne spent some time in one of the numerous Ayurvedic spa getting treated like a queen while I was drinking beer with view on the sea. We even extanded our time there by 2 nights, just to relax.
From there we went to Kovalam and end up so disappointed compare of Varkala, that we even regret our trip there and stayed only 24 hours. Lots of tourist trap, actually only tourist trap. We even saw a fight between a tourist and a local. Locals around the beach where unfriendly and just wanted to sell practically anything that they can, a real waste of our last days in India.
We than got back to Kochi, with Bernard and the Dreamcatcher, this time he sent the cook to meet us, which we had lot's of fun with last time, again they where there right on time. From there we booked a tour of two
days and one night to Munar and the undescriptible tea plantations for 2500 Rupees, again including food and all the transports. Never seen something so beautiful and peaceful of my life. Most of the fields belongs to TATA company, which own pretty much everything in India, they sign a 99 years leased on the lands. We saw the tea museum, that belongs to TATA, and take probably our best pictures of the entire 2 months. Really worth the money and met some very nice people on the tour. We than went back to Kochi to catch our flight to New Delhi.
So that is it for the Kerala, we did not make the Waiyanad Sanctuary due to a lack of time, but we will be back in that state for sure in a not so far future, we promised our self.
Next time I will be writing from London, our 2nd part of our two years adventure, where we will do a working visa. So I'll be looking for work and a place to stay.
See ya guys and girls.
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