Kerala, la, love it.
My trip to Kerala started out as all good trips in India should...with a two hour flight delay. Once we'd landed and started out for our hotel, my first impression of Kerala was of BILLBOARDS. Gigantic billboards. Only, these billboards weren't depicting big advertising dollar products like Coke or Pepsi...they were advertising things like chicken seasoning packets and other Super Bowl worthy items. We arrived in Ernakulam uneventfully enough, fell into bed, and knocked out a few good hours of sleep before rising on Saturday and heading out to Alleppey, where our boat was to take off from.
Kerala has a 91% literacy rate (the highest in India), a low infancy mortality rate, and a very equitable distribution of land and income - mostly due to a freely elected communist government - the first in the world. Driving to Alleppey was beautiful. Lush jungle and huge palm trees line the clean and well paved roads. It didn't feel like we were in India anymore. We arrived into Alleppey and headed for the Tourist Center where we met up with TerriAnn, a good friend of Andy's who had just arrived into India the night before. The three of us set out to find the nicest boat we could. As this was off season, we knew we'd be able to get something pretty fantastic for a fraction of what it would cost during season. We weren't disappointed. The boat we decided on was beautiful, with a really friendly staff.
Once we decided on a boat, the staff had to go out and buy food and supplies for us. I decided to head into town with the guys, while Andy and TerriAnn stayed back at the boat to get caught up.
As we began driving through Alleppey, picking up fresh vegetables, fish, and other supplies, I realized that this, Alleppey, was EXACTLY how I had pictured India before I got to India. (Udaipur was close...this was dead on, almost as if I had been there before). It wasn't so much visual, as it was a distinct VIBE to the city. People swarmed the streets, delicately weaving through motor vehicles. Only here, the people seemed to have the right away (something I had not seen in India thus far.) Flower stands, saree shops, and trinket stores all seemed to explode from the sides of the street. Sunil, the owner of the boat, took me to a really cool area of the city so that I could buy some of the fun accessories for our trip: gardenia necklaces...
...candles, lots and lots of candles, a huge bouquet of flowers (US$2), and lungis - the male version of the saree, wrapped around one's lower half, sort of like a diaper. We all decided that we should wear the traditional garb for our trek through the Backwaters.
From the Kerala Clothing Catalogue - Monsoon Edition: "The lungi, shown here in Maharaja purple, is the comfortable, breezy way of enjoying the the Kerala Backwaters. Also comes in lychee green and temple gold. 86 rupees."
It's ridiculously comfortable. Next we went to pick up some munchies and BEER. To get our case of KingFisher, we had to go to an actual bar in town that also sold liquor to go. When Sunil and I walked into the bar, it was like the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from Star Wars. Music, talking, drinking all screetched to a halt. Awkward times. So, we finished up our shopping and headed back to the boat.
The three of us cracked open the KingFishers, cranked up the iPod and set out to explore the Backwaters of Kerala. For the next ten hours or so, we alternated between dancing, drinking, lounging around the boat, eating and soaking in the scenery. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Here is Sunil, Andy and I, modeling our lungis...
Dancing...lots of dancing...
And the aforementioned "lounging around the boat"...
This last one is of me at the bow of the boat, with the chef and driver chatting away behind me.
Kerala is truly one of those places where pictures do not nearly do it justice. There is something about how the sun lights up the huge expanses of rice paddies into a fluorescent green color, offset by the darker, more forest greens and browns of the trees that line the coast. It's stunning.
Road signs along the river...Are we there yet?
Eventually, we stopped and hiked out to a huge field for the sunset.
As dusk turned to night, we all got massages in this little hut and headed back to the boat to clean up and to have dinner. With candles all over the boat, we spent the rest of the night relaxing and listening to music before we climbed into our mosquito net hugged beds.
Morning was radiant.
I was not. (Hence, the sunglasses). There was such a different feel to the Backwaters in the light of the rising sun. Boys taking baths at the side of the river waved to us and did backflips into the water, partly to show off, partly to rinse off. A light breakfast, and we pulled into the dock where we had left 22 hours earlier.
We docked around 10am and decided to head to Fort Cochin to check it out before our flight took off that evening. When we arrived in Cochin, we checked TerriAnn into her hotel for the night: this really cute inn with huge rooms, all situated around the main dining room. Lots of Christian artifacts, pictures of Jesus, and a painting of the last supper in the dining room. Kerala, as a whole, is the most Christian place I've been in all of India. There were saint statues everywhere.
We then walked along the bustling coastline (which reminded me of Seaport Village...without the skee ball), passing fishermen with huge nets...
...and children selling various trinkets and post cards, when we eventually came to the restaurant where we decided to have lunch. Grilled prawns and pineapple skewers with coconut rice, and a bottle of white wine for good measure. After some more shopping along the streets and enjoying the breeze from the water, it was time to head to the airport.
My experience in Kerala was wonderful. As a whole, everyone is very happy there, smiles a lot, and is profusely friendly. Combined with the beautiful scenery, it was by far the most relaxing, rejuvenating trip I've had in India thus far. As the Backwaters is only a small part of Kerala, I really want to go back and explore a few more areas. If not during this stay, then the next...
My trip to Kerala started out as all good trips in India should...with a two hour flight delay. Once we'd landed and started out for our hotel, my first impression of Kerala was of BILLBOARDS. Gigantic billboards. Only, these billboards weren't depicting big advertising dollar products like Coke or Pepsi...they were advertising things like chicken seasoning packets and other Super Bowl worthy items. We arrived in Ernakulam uneventfully enough, fell into bed, and knocked out a few good hours of sleep before rising on Saturday and heading out to Alleppey, where our boat was to take off from.
Kerala has a 91% literacy rate (the highest in India), a low infancy mortality rate, and a very equitable distribution of land and income - mostly due to a freely elected communist government - the first in the world. Driving to Alleppey was beautiful. Lush jungle and huge palm trees line the clean and well paved roads. It didn't feel like we were in India anymore. We arrived into Alleppey and headed for the Tourist Center where we met up with TerriAnn, a good friend of Andy's who had just arrived into India the night before. The three of us set out to find the nicest boat we could. As this was off season, we knew we'd be able to get something pretty fantastic for a fraction of what it would cost during season. We weren't disappointed. The boat we decided on was beautiful, with a really friendly staff.
Once we decided on a boat, the staff had to go out and buy food and supplies for us. I decided to head into town with the guys, while Andy and TerriAnn stayed back at the boat to get caught up.
As we began driving through Alleppey, picking up fresh vegetables, fish, and other supplies, I realized that this, Alleppey, was EXACTLY how I had pictured India before I got to India. (Udaipur was close...this was dead on, almost as if I had been there before). It wasn't so much visual, as it was a distinct VIBE to the city. People swarmed the streets, delicately weaving through motor vehicles. Only here, the people seemed to have the right away (something I had not seen in India thus far.) Flower stands, saree shops, and trinket stores all seemed to explode from the sides of the street. Sunil, the owner of the boat, took me to a really cool area of the city so that I could buy some of the fun accessories for our trip: gardenia necklaces...
...candles, lots and lots of candles, a huge bouquet of flowers (US$2), and lungis - the male version of the saree, wrapped around one's lower half, sort of like a diaper. We all decided that we should wear the traditional garb for our trek through the Backwaters.From the Kerala Clothing Catalogue - Monsoon Edition: "The lungi, shown here in Maharaja purple, is the comfortable, breezy way of enjoying the the Kerala Backwaters. Also comes in lychee green and temple gold. 86 rupees."
It's ridiculously comfortable. Next we went to pick up some munchies and BEER. To get our case of KingFisher, we had to go to an actual bar in town that also sold liquor to go. When Sunil and I walked into the bar, it was like the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from Star Wars. Music, talking, drinking all screetched to a halt. Awkward times. So, we finished up our shopping and headed back to the boat.
The three of us cracked open the KingFishers, cranked up the iPod and set out to explore the Backwaters of Kerala. For the next ten hours or so, we alternated between dancing, drinking, lounging around the boat, eating and soaking in the scenery. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Here is Sunil, Andy and I, modeling our lungis...
Dancing...lots of dancing...
And the aforementioned "lounging around the boat"...
This last one is of me at the bow of the boat, with the chef and driver chatting away behind me.Kerala is truly one of those places where pictures do not nearly do it justice. There is something about how the sun lights up the huge expanses of rice paddies into a fluorescent green color, offset by the darker, more forest greens and browns of the trees that line the coast. It's stunning.
Road signs along the river...Are we there yet?
Eventually, we stopped and hiked out to a huge field for the sunset.
As dusk turned to night, we all got massages in this little hut and headed back to the boat to clean up and to have dinner. With candles all over the boat, we spent the rest of the night relaxing and listening to music before we climbed into our mosquito net hugged beds.
Morning was radiant.
I was not. (Hence, the sunglasses). There was such a different feel to the Backwaters in the light of the rising sun. Boys taking baths at the side of the river waved to us and did backflips into the water, partly to show off, partly to rinse off. A light breakfast, and we pulled into the dock where we had left 22 hours earlier.We docked around 10am and decided to head to Fort Cochin to check it out before our flight took off that evening. When we arrived in Cochin, we checked TerriAnn into her hotel for the night: this really cute inn with huge rooms, all situated around the main dining room. Lots of Christian artifacts, pictures of Jesus, and a painting of the last supper in the dining room. Kerala, as a whole, is the most Christian place I've been in all of India. There were saint statues everywhere.
We then walked along the bustling coastline (which reminded me of Seaport Village...without the skee ball), passing fishermen with huge nets...
...and children selling various trinkets and post cards, when we eventually came to the restaurant where we decided to have lunch. Grilled prawns and pineapple skewers with coconut rice, and a bottle of white wine for good measure. After some more shopping along the streets and enjoying the breeze from the water, it was time to head to the airport.My experience in Kerala was wonderful. As a whole, everyone is very happy there, smiles a lot, and is profusely friendly. Combined with the beautiful scenery, it was by far the most relaxing, rejuvenating trip I've had in India thus far. As the Backwaters is only a small part of Kerala, I really want to go back and explore a few more areas. If not during this stay, then the next...
posted by Steven | 11:04 PM
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