From Bangalore to Kerala, we’ve been looking forward to visiting this state, wowed by tales of seafood, relaxed coastline, cosmopolitan history, and remote boating along “the backwaters”.
Our first stop was Fort Cochin (Kochi), A bizarre place across the water from the modern bustling busy neon Ernakulam (pronounced eer-nakalaker-numnium-num I’m sure) it’s a small oasis on a headland surrounded by numerous small nondescript islands. The first thing that hit us was the relentless heat… we arrived at Ernakulam Junction after another 14 hour train trip and almost passed out whilst searching for a taxi, It’s been constantly above 33 C ever since (throughout day and night) so we’ve had to modify our pace still further after initially slowing down in Karnataka.
The best thing to do here is to stroll the waterfront in the evening alongside the ancient Chinese cantilever fishing nets , and buying fish from the places that line the waterfront.
As soon as it arrives though we were mobbed by up to 7 cats at a time who thankfully prefered Annes dinner and clawed at her instead.
Next we headed to Alappuzha/Allepey for our romantic backwater cruise. We had a houseboat to ourselves plus a crew of three! Cruising through the backwaters, watching the world go by, reading, listening to some music, while our chef (!) cooked up some fabulous meals for us . I honestly don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite as relaxing.
Since then we have been staying in the beachside town of Varkala which is on a cliff overlooking a beach below. Eagles occcasionaly float by on thermals (we are on the cliff) as we enjoy our breakfast.
Its a great place for just doing nothing useful, which we are now pretty much going to do.
2 Responses to “Kerala”
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Hi Both, just to say I’m keeping an eye on your wanderings!
this sounds like an awesome place. stay there i’m coming on next flight.