Kerala Travelogue

Whilst 2009 has been an year to be remembered for the bitter and sweet experiences in my personal and official life (who would forget the recession), 2010 though not even 2 weeks old has been filled with special moments till this minute as i write this blog.  I welcomed 2010 at the god's own country Kerala with my 4 other friends, I purchased my personal laptop, I used my DSLR to capture few photographic moments and most of all this blog which am gonna publish for the first time.

The Trip

After quiet an analysis and planning we settled for a trip that would cover Allepey,Adhirapalli and Cochin in Kerala. Starting off from Tiruppur, the travel to Alleppey by car was 7 hours, but our initial guesstimate was to reach by  4 hours. We reached there by 7 pm on the 1st of Jan (friday). Though we had our apprehension of not finding a room owing to the long weekend coupled with new year, fortunately we were able to find a pretty cheap and decent hotel with the help of a localite who was looking for a customer for his boat house business.

Alleppey Back waters

We reached the boat at 8.00 am, though we promised to be at 7.00 am. The sun bestowed the bright morning rays when the boat engine was set for the ride. I was always given picture that it always showers in Kerala and for some one who travelled from a hotter chennai the climate was unbearable on that day given that we were fully surrounded by water. We were at the right place at the wrong time, nevertheless the climate was of little concern when we started to shoot the scenic beauty of allepey with our cameras.

So, here we go....

The morning breakfast was Kappa (mashed tapioca) and fish curry at a toddy shop preceded by two cups of the sweet coconut extract.

It's water and cocunut everywhere, getting used to the city streets marked with the often gory accidents, the alleppey water streets and the transportation was a unique experience. I only wished there was rain to make it more alluring.

The boat was rented for only 4 hours, by 12.30 noon we were out on the land for a relaxing head and shoulder massage at an ayurvead centre which turned out to be an absolute waste of money rather than what we expected to be a pleasant experience. Never head on to massage center unless you get to know about it from a reliable source.

Allepey Beach

The drive back to cochin started at 5.30 p.m, there was a change of plan to halt at the Alleppey beach for the sunset while the inital plan was to admire the sunset at the cochi beach. Fearing  we might miss the sun set at both place dirving in the car we settled for Allepey. It was a wise decision as we captured some spectacular sunset moments at the Allepey.

Drive to Cochi

This was a short, yet interesting chapter of the journey, we were deceived by the Fort Kochi signs taking it to be the route to Kochi and we were at Fort Kochi around 9.00 pm. For once we felt as if we were foreigners in India as the place was totally occupied by foreigners and we were not given rooms at the hotels. The streets were full of restaurants with candle lit tables on the sides. After desperate attempts to find an accommodation in vain we retreated in the same route and found a hotel accommodation at a small town (can't remember the name) some 10 km before fort kochi.

Adhirapalli Falls on 3rd Jan (Sunday)

If I name Allepey for its serenity, Adhiraplli would be named for its ferocity. You will agree to this once you get a glimpse of the gallons of gushing water from the magnificient Adhirapalli water falls. In the interest of time, we had to make the athirapalli visit a short one.

On the whole, though we spent most of the times driving (after all driving with your friends is always fun), the Kerala trip is something which I would cherish forever for the beauty and charm of the location.

Note: Anyone looking out for a fair and honest accomodation deal at Allepey can reach out for this guy, Siyas (or sreaas, sounds something like that ) - 09847502569.